BISHOP BARBER CLEARED
OF EX-WIFE’S FINANCIAL
ALLEGATIONS
By Cash Michaels
Contributing writer
Bishop William J. Barber II, president and founder of the nonprofit social advocacy group, Repairers of the Breach, has been cleared by an independent investigation of allegedly mixing organizational funds with his own personal money.
That false allegation had been made his ex-wife, Rebecca, during the course of their ongoing post-marriage property dispute after mediation talks broke down. Rebecca Barber had falsely claimed in court papers last month that her ex-husband had been paying her alimony from funds actually belonging to Repairers of the Breach. She alleged that since November 2023, she had been receiving monthly support in the sum of $7,000 to her through a joint account for alimony from an account that Bishop Barber controlled which mixed his personal funds with the organization’s.
“Defendant contends that Repairers of the Breach, Inc. is functionally an alter ego of Plaintiff and may possess or control assets that are marital in nature or otherwise relevant to this Court’s equitable distribution determination,” Rebecca Barber’s attorney alleged in a motion in Durham County court in May.
The ten-member board of Repairers voted to investigate last month, and hired a Raleigh law firm to look into the matter. Last Saturday, the board issued a statement about the law firm’s findings:
“We can confirm that all payments made to Reverend Barber align with approved amounts, and any transfers made to a personal account were made from his own salary, independent of Repairers of the Breach.”
Part of the report reviewed by the board concluded, “In summary, based on the documentation reviewed, there is no indication that Reverend Barber directed or received funds beyond his authorized salary.”
In effect, Bishop Barber has been paying his monthly alimony to Rebecca Barber from the $224,000 annual salary he has been receiving from Repairers of the Breach.
Board Chair Jonathan Wilson-Hargrove added that the organization is now moving on with its social justice work, which includes a revival of Moral Monday demonstrations in Washington, D.C.. The next will be June 30th.
Bishop William Barber and his ex-wife, Rebecca had been married for over 37 years before they divorced in November 2024.
Bishop Barber has since remarried.
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R. KELLY
NEW DRAMA SURROUNDING
SINGER R. KELLY IN N. C.
PRISON
By Cash Michaels
Contributing writer
There’s new, explosive drama surrounding disgraced convicted singer/songwriter R. Kelly as his attorneys in Illinois have filed a motion for a new trial and an emergency motion for bond, a day after a federal judge denied Kelly’s request to be temporarily released from the Federal Correctional Institution Medium 1 in Butner.
Kelly, 58, is serving a 30-year combined sentence for racketeering and sex trafficking, including having sex with underage girls, at the Butner federal facility.
The court denied Kelly’s request after his attorneys alleged that the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) was attempting to have the entertainer killed behind bars.
Kelly’s attorneys further alleged that federal prosecutors and prison officials have obstructed justice, intimidated witnesses during his 2021 trial and violated R. Kelly’s constitutional rights, saying in a statement, "In their zeal to become Me Too warriors who brought down R. Kelly, federal prosecutors and Bureau of Prisons officers have intimidated witnesses, obstructed justice, and violated Mr. Kelly's constitutional rights. Our motion sets forth the entire sordid story of both the crimes they committed in pursuing R. Kelly and of the plot to forever silence him to prevent these crimes from being exposed. We will not rest until Mr. Kelly is free."
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Kelly’s attorneys are seeking home detention for his safety.
Kelly was recently hospitalized at Duke University Hospital in Durham on June 13th for an alleged drug overdose after given a lethal dose of his own medicine while being held in solitary confinement. His lawyers contend this was part of an assassination plot on his life.
Again, according to The Hollywood Reporter (THR), Kelly’s attorneys purportedly have a signed declaration from Mikael Glenn Stein, said to be "a kingpin in the Aryan Brotherhood" prison gang, in which he explains “how he did the bidding of the Bureau of Prisons in exchange for better treatment and privileges while in prison, working directly for a BOP official he names as “Childress.”
“Childress told me that I would be sent to FCI Butner. He said I would go to the medical center first; and I would then be moved to Kelly’s unit. There, Childress told me that I was to execute R. Kelly,” the declaration reads, THR reported.
“Stein, however, had a change of heart and decided not to help the BOP officials any further, as stated in the signed declaration. Closing out his missive to the court, Stein said that he is not confessing all of this information to help Kelly, who he believes should pay for his crimes after his sensational trial and 2021 RICO conviction,” THR added.
Kelly’s attorneys also indicated that they will be petitioning President Donald Trump to pardon R. Kelly, noting that the two do not have a prior relationship, even though Kelly once rented an apartment in Chicago’s Trump Tower prior to his arrest.
The Board of Prisons has maintained that it will not comment on the allegations made by R. Kelly’s attorneys.
In a statement, the BOP said:
"For privacy, safety, and security reasons, we do not discuss the conditions of confinement for any incarcerated individual, including medical and health-related issues. Additionally, the Bureau of Prisons does not comment on pending litigation or matters that are the subject of legal proceedings."
At presstime, the court had not yet ruled on Kelly’s attorneys motion.
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NCNAACP JOINS DNC IN
INTERVENING IN JUSTICE
DEPT. LAWSUIT AGAINST
NC ELECTIONS BOARD
By Cash Michaels
Contributing writer
The North Carolina NAACP has joined the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and the League of Women Voters of North Carolina (LWVNC) in intervening in a U.S. Justice Dept. lawsuit against the NC Board of Elections.
The Trump Justice Dept. alleged in a May 27th filing that the state Elections Board maintains corrupted voter rolls in violation of federal law.
“Accurate voter registration rolls are critical to ensure that elections in North Carolina are conducted fairly, accurately, and without fraud,” Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division said in a press release.“The Department of Justice will not hesitate to file suit against jurisdictions that maintain inaccurate voter registration rolls in violation of federal voting laws.”
But the DNC, NC NAACP and LWVNC see the case differently.
“Hundreds of thousands of North Carolina voters are once again facing the threat of losing their right to vote because of voter registration database issues that stem from the state’s efforts to comply with the Help America Vote Act (HAVA),” the NC NAACP and LWVNC court filing explained. “Over the last 18 months, these voters have experienced a seemingly endless loop of scrutiny, despite doing everything they can to confirm that they were (or currently are) properly registered.”
“This case rests on the threadbare allegation that the State’s voter list maintenance practices were defective because the State accepted voter registration forms from voters who had driver’s license numbers or social security numbers but failed to list them on the form,” attorneys for the DNC added.
That allegation was also the crux of Republican state Supreme Court candidate Jefferson Griffin’s case in trying to get over 60,000 votes thrown out of his contest to unseat current Democratic NC Supreme Court Justice Allison Riggs in their November 2024 contest. After six months of litigation, a Trump appointed federal judge finally put an end to the case by ruling that Griffin, a state appellate court judge, could not succeed in his lawsuit.
The state and national Republican parties supported Griffin in his efforts, however. And now, the Trump Justice Dept. has filed suit making a similar allegation, stating that the North Carolina Board of Elections has violated the Help America Vote Act of 2002 (HAVA).
“But even assuming arguendo that the federal government’s speculative allegations are well-founded, HAVA specifies what a state must do if a voter does not provide their driver’s license number or social security number when they register: (1) the voter must be assigned a unique identifying number, and (2) the voter must provide photo identification or a document establishing residency when they vote in their first federal election,” notes DNC legal filing. “The federal government has not alleged any well-pleaded facts which show North Carolina failed to follow these two steps.”
“More importantly, the federal government’s prayer for relief — seeking to compel the State to collect driver’s license numbers or social security numbers from some unspecified number of voters — finds no statutory support from HAVA,” they continue.
Now that the state Elections Board is in Republican majority hands, it is more likely to work with the Justice Dept. than fighting the lawsuit as it did when Judge Griffin sued the board to get votes thrown out.
“We are still reviewing the complaint,” new state elections director Sam Hayes said in a prepared statement, “but the failure to collect the information required by HAVA has been well documented. Rest assured that I am committed to bringing North Carolina into compliance with federal law.”
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