US court voids conviction of influencer who tried to help Trump in 2016
The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan said no rational jury could have found that Douglass Mackey knowingly agreed to join a conspiracy to deprive people of their constitutional right to vote.
It overturned Mackey's March 2023 conviction in Brooklyn and seven-month prison sentence, opens new tab, and ordered an acquittal.
A spokesman for U.S. Attorney Joseph Nocella in Brooklyn declined to comment. Lawyers for Mackey did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Two lawyers who worked on his appeal joined the U.S. Department of Justice this year.
Mackey, a self-described "troll," was accused of trying to convince Clinton supporters they could vote for the former Democratic secretary of state by text message, which is false.
He had tweeted two memes, one showing a Black woman and another written in Spanish, and retweeted a third post depicting Clinton. All carried the message it was OK to vote from home.
Mackey is also known as Ricky Vaughn, Charlie Sheen's character in the first two "Major League" movies.
In the appeals court's 3-0 decision, Chief Judge Debra Ann Livingston said the mere fact Mackey posted the memes did not mean he conspired with anyone even if he intended to help Trump, a Republican, by suppressing votes for Clinton.
The government's case centered on discussions in private, right-wing Twitter groups such as the "War Room."
But the appeals court found a lack of evidence that Mackey even saw the discussions. It also said there was no evidence his tweets tricked anyone into voting improperly.
"The government put forward evidence that Mackey agreed with War Room members to achieve the broad--and generally lawful--objective of distributing content in support of Trump or in opposition to Clinton," Livingston wrote.
"That does not mean the government proved he knowingly reached an agreement with other War Room members" to suppress Clinton votes, she added.
Wednesday's decision was joined by Circuit Judges Reena Raggi and Beth Robinson. Republican President George W. Bush appointed Livingston and Raggi to the bench, while Democratic President Joe Biden appointed Robinson.
The case is U.S. v. Mackey, 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, No. 23-7577.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mail
34 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE I was one of New York's most notorious gangsters... and killed a child for gang initiation when I was 14: Hitman tells how he brought death to the city's streets in the 1980s... but is now a changed man
A former gangster, once branded one of the most feared men in New York, has lifted the lid on his life of crime, from committing his first killing aged just 14 to becoming a hitman and beating several attempted murder charges. Henry Medina, now 67, was the leader of a brutal street gang in the 1970s and 80s, running drugs, dodging death and taking lives, including his first victim, a 15-year-old boy, when he was still a teenager himself. After a brutal upbringing, Henry began slipping into gang life and made a bold move at age 13 to approach a feared local outfit, the Galaxy Gang, asking if he could set up a junior branch. He became the leader of the now-defunct Young Galaxy Gang, and it wasn't long before he was tested with real bloodshed. 'A few weeks after we formed the gang, some people broke into our clubhouse, and they messed it up, and we were told that it was a gang called the Caribbean Kings,' he says. 'So when we found that out, I told my gang, we're going up there. And I grabbed a big knife. 'I didn't have intentions of killing somebody at 14 - I really didn't. That wasn't my intention. 'My intention was to grab the knife so that I could look like a tough guy because at that time, that's what everybody thought of me.' But later, Henry found out the Caribbean Kings had nothing to do with the destruction - it was set up by the older members of the Galaxy Gang who wanted their younger counterparts to prove themselves. Henry bursts into tears as he adds: 'I wound up taking the life of an innocent young man. He was an innocent young man, 15 years old, and I took his life. 'And I believe that the reason I did it was because I was holding all that anger from what my father did. 'That was the thing that exploded. The anger came out, and I did what I did.' Although Henry was arrested and sent to a youth detention centre, police were forced to let him go as no one would talk. 'Snitching' meant death. 'I was in a youth house for three weeks. Nobody wanted to testify because they knew if they did, this was going to get even worse. 'That was the rule in the street. You don't talk about anything you do with your gang. That's how I got away with it. 'I eventually told them I did so they could let my friends go, but they still had no evidence to charge me, so they dismissed the case.' That deadly code of silence allowed Henry to continue rising through the ranks of the underworld, and his crimes grew darker. 'Do I have other secrets? Yes. But the statute of limitations does not run out on homicides, so I'm not going to sit here and write a book and tell on myself about who I did what to,' he admits. 'I became a hitman, and I kept coming in and out of jail. So I cannot speak about certain things because I got away with them. 'There're some of it I just have to hold it in and never speak on it because the time of limitation never goes away. 'The only things I speak about are things that can't hurt me. I had five counts of attempted homicide - I beat that case. 'The last time I went to jail, I was caught with 800 bags of heroin.' Henry was only arrested that day by pure chance - police happened to raid the flat just as he walked in with the drugs. Throughout the 70s and 80s, Henry cheated death again and again. He lived life on the edge every single day. He remembers a time when he and his friends were caught in a sticky situation that ended up in a rooftop chase and an escape reminiscent of a Hollywood movie. He recalls: 'I had a friend called Johnny - we used to go rob cocaine drug dealers - the big-time drug dealers. Not the little ones you see in the streets. 'I'm talking about the ones that came off the ships and aeroplanes with kilos. One of our rules was not to rob the same place twice. 'We robbed this place and made away with around $80,000 worth of money, drugs and jewellery.' But with Johnny desperate for more money, he enlisted Henry and another friend, Jay, to go loot the same place, breaking their own cardinal rule. Henry says he knew he had to be there to protect Johnny, as Jay could not be trusted. 'Jay is a straight killer. He will kill his own mother if he wants to', Henry says. But this time, the trio were not so lucky. Henry explains: 'Johnny had this lady by the neck and used her as a shield as we made our way into the apartment. 'There was commotion, but we didn't know that it had led people to call the cops. 'Some kid came running out of a room with his hands around his waist. I didn't know what he had there, so I shot at him and hit him twice. 'We got some money and drugs, but as we were coming down the apartment, we saw two cops who told us to freeze. 'Jay ran to the rooftop, and one of the cops chased after him. The other one stayed with me and kicked the gun out of my hands. 'But what he didn't know was that Johnny always kept two guns with him. We suddenly heard a gunshot sound on the roof. 'When the policeman who was with us looked up at the roof, Johnny shot at him and we ran away in opposite directions. His friend Jay was chased all across the roof of the building but miraculously escaped. In another incident, Jay provoked an altercation with drug dealers, leading to catastrophic consequences. 'These Cubans chased us into a room, and there was no means to escape. Although they knew me, but started shooting at us. 'I pulled Jay on top of me because I thought if they were going to keep shooting, they might as well shoot him. 'They finally told us to leave, but Jay was all bloodied and shot up. I put him in the back of a cab and took him to the hospital - he survived, man. But unlike Henry, his two friends didn't live long enough to tell the tales of their colourful past. Not too long afterwards, Jay was killed when a man opened a machine gun on him while he was in the toilet. Henry says: 'Jay did so much dirt to people. You live by the gun, you die by the gun. Johnny was also killed when a rival slit his throat. Henry emotionally says he was in prison at the time of Johnny's murder, so he could not do anything to help him. Henry also had his own encounters where he was targeted by people he had wronged, including a man who wanted revenge for getting robbed. 'He saw me in an apartment and pulled out a gun and started shooting at me. Of course, I ran. I didn't go back to the neighbourhood for a long time. 'When I robbed him, I had a mask on, but he was still able to know who I was. That told me that somebody had ratted me out to him.' 'I beat five counts of attempted murder,' he says calmly. His gang's power was so entrenched that they even had an informant inside the NYPD - a federal agent who helped them outsmart authorities and taught them military-style tactics. 'We called him Mandigo. He went rogue, and he hung out with us. So he taught us a lot of different tactics on how to approach people in the street and how to get inside apartments,' Henry says. 'And then he had practice - we would flip over cars like we're running, and we would throw ourselves, flip over the car. 'It was crazy. I don't know what the f**k had us doing this type of stuff.' Mandigo was eventually killed. He was set up, shot in the neck and paraded around the neighbourhood for people to see he had been slaughtered. Now in his late 60s, Henry lives with the scars of his past. He suffers from PTSD and says the trauma of his crimes still haunts him to this day. Henry believes his shocking childhood growing up in the tough streets of New York's Lower East Side is what plunged him into a life of chaos. Henry grew up in a home plagued by domestic violence and fear. 'My dad was a drinker, and he used to get violent when he was drunk', he explains. He would put his hands on my mum, and I was too young to do anything about it. When I got in the middle, he'd start whipping on me. Eventually, his mother found the courage to leave - but the terror didn't end there. 'One day, my father showed up to kill all of us. He had a knife to my mum's throat. 'I didn't know what to do, so I jumped on my dad and began beating on him with my older brother. 'I took the razor from him and I wanted to cut his throat. My mum stopped me. She yelled at me and stopped me.' To ask for forgiveness for the crimes of his childhood, Henry went back to the place where he had killed the 15-year-old boy. He emotionally says: 'I lit a candle up exactly where I stuck a knife in him, and I wrote a letter explaining to him how sorry I am and asked him to forgive me. But instead of running from his past, he's trying to turn his story into a warning. Henry tearfully says: 'God has a reason for me to stay alive after everything I have done to people - there's got to be a reason. I'm now trying to do the right thing. He's written a book and now speaks publicly about his violent past in the hope of steering young people away from gangs. 'I'm regretful for everything I've done,' he says. 'I want to give back. I want to help.' After his last stint in prison, Henry worked with gang members to help turn their lives away from a life on the streets. His work, recognised by several organisations, has earned him many accolades. These days, he lives with his 90-year-old mother, who he takes care of full time. He has also held on to his lifelong passion as a graffiti artist, which he says always helped him in his dark days. He was one of the people who pioneered graffitiing in New York City and made it the phenomenon it is today. Many of his iconic designs, featuring his name Henry 161, can still be seen on trains and subways. Once a feared gangster who ruled the streets and dodged the law for decades, Henry Medina is now a man searching for redemption.
The Independent
36 minutes ago
- The Independent
Ukraine-Russia war latest: Trump to send weapons to Kyiv after Putin's forces kill two in drone attack
Russia has launched a new barrage of drones and missiles in an overnight attack on Ukraine, killing at least two people. Vladimir Putin 's forces launched 597 drones and 26 missiles targeting the west of the country on Saturday, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said on Telegram. At least two people were killed in the city of Chernivtsi on the border with Romania. Western Ukrainian cities of Lviv, Lutsk, and Chernivtsi suffered the most due to the Russian attacks, and other Ukrainian regions were also hit, foreign minister Andriy Sybiha said. " Russia continues to escalate its terror,' he said in a post on X. The attack comes as Donald Trump is expected to send weapons to Kyiv. The US president said he is set to make a 'major statement' on Russia on Monday as he grows frustrated with the Mr Putin amid intensified attacks on Ukraine. 'We're sending weapons to Nato, and Nato is paying for those weapons, 100 per cent,' Mr Trump told NBC News. The US president has also issued an ominous warning to the Russian president after a maternity ward in Kharkiv was damaged in a drone strike. 'You'll be seeing things happen,' he said. Mr Zelensky confirmed that among the nine wounded were women in the hospital – 'mothers with newborns, women recovering from surgery'. Ukraine says Russian attacks hit cities 30 miles from EU border Ukraine's first deputy prime minister says Russia has continued to escalate the scale of its attacks on Ukraine, after Moscow launched 597 drones and 26 cruise missiles at targets across the country. Yulia Svyrydenko said cities just 50 km (31 miles) from the border with the European Union were attacked, highlighting the risk to the rest of the continent. 'Cities 1,000 km from the front — and just 50 km from the EU border — were attacked. This is rapidly growing threat to all of Europe, and failure to recognise it as such only assures the eventual cost increases with every passing day,' she said. 'This cycle of escalation must be stopped. It requires stronger sanctions, more air defence systems, and greater investment in interceptors. Signals are no longer enough. Lives depend on decisive action.' 12 July 2025 09:48 What would Trump's weapons supply to Ukraine include? Donald Trump on Tuesday said the US would send more weapons to Ukraine to help the country defend itself against intensifying Russian advances. The package could include defensive Patriot missiles and offensive medium-range rockets but a decision on the exact equipment had not been made, sources said. One of the people said this would happen at a meeting on Thursday. The Trump administration had so far only sent weapons authorised by former president Joe Biden, who was a staunch supporter of Kyiv. The Pentagon and the White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Mr Trump had pledged to swiftly end the war but months into his presidency, little progress has been made. The Republican president has sometimes criticised US spending on Ukraine's defence, spoken favorably of Russia and publicly clashed with Ukraine's leader. However, sometimes he has also voiced support for Kyiv and expressed disappointment in the leadership of Russia. Rachel Clun12 July 2025 09:38 Russia launches 597 drones and 26 missiles on Ukraine, Zelensky says Russia launched 597 drones and 26 missiles in an overnight attack on Ukraine on Saturday, President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Telegram. Tara Cobham12 July 2025 08:41 Watch: Trump's warning to Putin after Russia drones hit maternity ward Tara Cobham12 July 2025 08:30 Russian foreign minister arrives in North Korea to discuss Ukraine conflict, state media reports Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov arrived in North Korea on Friday, North Korea's state media KCNA said on Saturday, the latest visit by a senior Russian official to the isolated state amid warming ties between the countries. Lavrov's visit, scheduled to Sunday, includes a meeting between the countries' foreign ministers, KCNA reported. Lavrov flew out of the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur following the ASEAN foreign ministers' meeting and arrived in Wonsan, North Korea's eastern coastal city, which is home to a recently opened resort and known for its missile and naval facilities. Lavrov's visit is the latest high-level meeting between the two countries amid a dramatic upgrading of their strategic cooperation that now includes a mutual defence pact. The South Korean intelligence service has said North Korea may be preparing to deploy additional troops in July or August, after sending more than 10,000 soldiers to fight with Russia in the war against Ukraine. North Korea has agreed to dispatch 6,000 military engineers and builders for reconstruction in Russia's Kursk region, where Ukrainian forces launched a mass cross-border incursion nearly a year ago. Russian news agencies also reported Lavrov's arrival and said after North Korea he is expected to travel to China to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation meeting, which is set to take place on Monday and Tuesday. Russia's state TASS news agency said Lavrov and his North Korean counterpart, Choi Son Hui, would discuss the 40-month-old Ukraine conflict and the situation on the Korean peninsula. Tara Cobham Russia's drones and missile barrage targets Ukraine's west killing two Russia launched a new barrage of drones and missiles in an overnight attack on Ukraine on Saturday, targeting the west of the country and killing at least two people in the city of Chernivtsi on the border with Romania. Western Ukrainian cities of Lviv, Lutsk, and Chernivtsi suffered the most due to the Russian attacks, and other Ukrainian regions were also hit, Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha said. "Russia continues to escalate its terror, launching another barrage of hundreds of drones and missiles, damaging residential areas, killing and injuring civilians," Sybiha said in a post on X, reiterating the call for stronger sanctions against Moscow. "Russia's war machine produces hundreds of means of terror per day. Its scale poses a threat not only to Ukraine, but to the entire transatlantic community." Ruslan Zaparaniuk, the governor of the Chernivetskyi region, said that two people were killed and 14 others wounded as Russian drones and a missile struck the city, located about 40 kilometres (24 miles) from Ukraine's border with Romania. Several fires broke out across the city, and residential houses and administrative buildings were damaged, regional officials said. In the city of Lviv, on Ukraine's border with Poland, 46 residential houses, a university building, the city's courts, and about 20 buildings housing small and medium-sized businesses were damaged in the attack, mayor Andriy Sadovyi said. Tara Cobham12 July 2025 08:05 Recap: 'Wartime censorship is justified', says Kremlin spokesperson Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said wartime censorship in Russia is justified amid the conflict with Ukraine. Russian authorities swiftly blocked Russian-language media outlets in February 2022 to quash dissenting voices as Russia invaded Ukraine, and they introduced laws threatening many years in prison for those "discrediting" the army, Reuters reported. Speaking to a Russian magazine called Expert, Peskov said that many media outlets have been closed and some reporters have emigrated from the country in the past three years. "But don't forget the situation we are in. Now is the time of military censorship, unprecedented for our country. After all, the war is going on in the information space too," Peskov is quoted as saying by the magazine. "It would be wrong to turn a blind eye to the media that are deliberately engaged in discrediting Russia. Therefore, I believe that this regime (censorship) is justified now," Peskov told the magazine. Bryony Gooch12 July 2025 03:00 Recap: NATO needs more long-range missiles to deter Russia, US general says NATO will need more long-range missiles in its arsenal to deter Russia from attacking Europe because Moscow is expected to increase production of long-range weapons, a U.S. Army general told Reuters. Russia's effective use of long-range missiles in its war in Ukraine has convinced Western military officials of their importance for destroying command posts, transportation hubs and missile launchers far behind enemy lines. "The Russian army is bigger today than it was when they started the war in Ukraine," Major General John Rafferty said in an interview at a U.S. military base in Wiesbaden, Germany. "And we know that they're going to continue to invest in long-range rockets and missiles and sophisticated air defences. So more alliance capability is really, really important." Bryony Gooch12 July 2025 02:00 Trump's stark warning to Putin after Russia drones hit maternity ward: 'You'll be seeing things happen' Trump's stark warning to Putin after maternity ward strike President has become increasingly frustrated with Russian leader as efforts to broker Ukraine ceasefire have faltered Bryony Gooch12 July 2025 01:00 European court finds Russia responsible for human rights abuses during Ukraine invasion Bryony Gooch12 July 2025 00:00
Daily Mail
39 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Barron Trump's 'best friend' Bo Loudon is influencer who flaunts his lavish lifestyle
Barron Trump's best friend Bo Loudon has been loudly supporting President Donald Trump and the Republican Party for years - and has managed to nicely nestle his way into the First Family's inner circle. The 18-year-old social media star describes himself as a 'pro-Trump influencer' and has recently taken pride in getting TikTok personality Khaby Lame deported. When Bo's not acting as the political party's mouthpiece - or wearing an ICE-emblazoned cap, he's busy showing off his lavish lifestyle, including hanging out with celebrities and traveling by private jet. Here, we take a closer look at Bo from his upbringing with his ultra-Republican parents to his 'inseparable' friendship with 19-year-old Barron. Bo, who hails from Palm Beach, Florida, was born to Gina Loudon and John William Loudon in August 2006 and is one of their five children. His mother is a conservative media personality and former co-chair of Women for Trump in 2020, while his father is a former Republican member of the Missouri State for the 7th District and former member of the Missouri House of Representatives. Both parents are members Mar-a-Largo, Trump's notorious private members club located in Palm Beach, Florida, and they have been outspoken about their support for the President. Notably, Gina and John appeared in an episode of the reality television show Wife Swap in 2013, where they swapped with polyamorous and bisexual family, the Envys. At the end of the two-week swap, Gina and John refused to participate in the roundtable discussion with the other couple, the first time in the show's history. Bo's parents' affinity for right-wing politics meant that he was only a youngster when he attended his first Republican National Convention, with reports claiming he attended his first rally in 2016 at just nine years old. Three years later, Bo made his first social media post, a photo of himself and his brother with Trump and Melania. In May 2024, a source told Daily Mail that he and Barron are 'inseparable' when they are both at home in Florida. The insider said: 'Bo is very ideological and extremely Pro-Trump. He's over at Mar-a-Lago every night that Barron is home. The two of them are inseparable.' Together, the duo are said to be key players in organizing Trump's media appearances, and reportedly set up his 90-minute interview with Kick influencer Adin Ross, which was watched live by 500,000 people. The duo have also pressed him to forge close links with their favorite content creators, from YouTuber turned boxer Jake Paul to billionaire business mogul Patrick Bet-David, host of the PBD podcast. 'He has no issues turning to them for advice on a subject that many of his middle-aged campaign aides wouldn't have much of a clue about.' Although Barron has remained out of the limelight and off social media, Bo has amassed close to 350,000 followers across Instagram, TikTok and Twitter – where he proudly declares 'Gen-Z stands with Trump.' His feed is filled with pro-Trump videos, critiques of the 'fake news' media and photos taken with leading conservatives such as Donald Trump Jr., Tucker Carlson and UFC mogul Dana White. Bo is often seen rubbing shoulders with celebrities too. In recent years, he has uploaded photos of himself hanging out with famous faces, including the likes of Snoop Dogg, Dennis Quaid, Jake Paul, and Chris Brown. In a social media post uploaded on Thursday (July 10), he said: 'I've been around many elites from Satanic Hollywood. 'President Trump is nothing like them. Trump is a stand-up guy that treats everyone around him the best he can.' And according to insiders, Bo is 'determined to win more of Gen Z for Trump.' Last year, a souce told the Daily Mail: 'He even got in trouble once at school for wearing so much Trump gear. 'The boys are business minded; they're patriots. But they are also normal, good kids who are finding their way.' Last April, Bo and Barron teamed up to host an April 'power summit' banquet for Bet-David, MMA fighter Colby Covington, and the entrepreneur Justin Waller, a business partner of the controversial internet personality Andrew Tate. The guests came away purring about the boys' business acumen and social skills with Bet-David praising Barron as a 'freaking stud of a kid' in clips that soon went viral. Justin told 'Bo reached out to me and told me that Barron watches my content and would like to invite me to dinner at Mar-a-Lago.' Last month in June 2025, Bo bragged that he was responsible for getting the world's biggest TikTok star, Khaby Lame, deported out of the United States with the help of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Taking to X (formerly Twitter) on June 6, he wrote that Khaby is an 'illegal alien' in all caps before proclaiming that he has 'been working with the patriots at Trump's DHS' to deport the Senegal-born influencer. ICE confirmed Lame was detained at Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas on June 6, the same day Bo made his supposed involvement public. Khaby, who has over 162 million TikTok followers, overstayed his visa after entering the country on April 30, according to an ICE spokesperson. He was granted 'voluntary departure,' a bureaucratic euphemism for being kicked out. The spokesperson confirmed in a statement: 'Serigne Khabane Lame, 25, a citizen of Italy, was detained… for immigration violations. Lame was granted voluntary departure… and has since departed the US.' Bo claimed Khaby was detained at Henderson Detention Center, southeast of Las Vegas proper, though it's unclear how long he may have been in custody before leaving. ICE have not confirmed whether Bo was involved in reporting Khaby to authorities, but Bo has continued to celebrate his alleged role in the TikToker's removal. In the aftermath of the deportation, Bo denounced various media outlets' coverage of this incident, who reportedly called him a 'rat' and a 'rat extraordinaire.' He asked: 'Why? Because I helped President Trump's DHS deport TikTok's biggest star, Khaby Lame, for being in the U.S. illegally. I wish Khaby well and hope he returns as a LAW-ABIDING citizen.'
