Hat Tip: National Enquirer
The ultimate fall from grace, a Federal grand jury is about to indict John Edwards, The ENQUIRER has learned exclusively.
In another shocker, close sources say Edwards’ estranged wife Elizabeth could help send the former presidential candidate to jail!
Edwards, the disgraced two-time Presidential loser, is being investigated by the feds, including the FBI and IRS, for possible campaign violations related to paying his mistress Rielle Hunter.
Hat Tip: D. Aileen Dodd, Atlanta Journal Constitution
National evangelist Juanita Bynum has filed for divorce in Gwinnett County and has been granted a restraining order as the proceedings move forward.
The petition for divorce and the mutual restraining order was received by the Gwinnett County Superior Court Thursday afternoon.
Bynum, who separated from her estranged husband Bishop Thomas W. Weeks III in June, is seeking a divorce based on the argument that her marriage has been “irretrievably broken,” and that she is a victim of “cruel treatment.”
Bynum, 48, told police in August that Weeks beat, choked and stomped her to the ground in the parking lot of an Atlanta hotel. Weeks, also a pastor, has denied the alleged abuse.
He was charged with felony aggravated assault, felony terroristic threats and two counts of simple battery in connection with the alleged attack.
The wealthy evangelist is also asking the court for possible financial support “that the court may deem equitable or appropriate.”
The divorce petition in Gwinnett mirrors a petition Bynum had filed earlier this month in Ware County. That petition was dismissed because it was filed in the wrong jurisdiction. Lawyers for Weeks, 40, said the case had to move north to Gwinnett because that’s where Weeks resides. The couple have a $2.5 million home at a Duluth country club.
Attorneys for Weeks said Friday they will respond to the divorce petition, but said they question Bynum’s motives for her recent media appearances. In recent weeks Bynum has appeared on the front page of The New York Times and has been a guest on Christian radio and Good Morning America.
Bynum, who has declared herself the “face of domestic violence,” has said she plans to launch a ministry to help women who suffer partner abuse.
“She thinks she is going to get some benefit by going public with this,” said Randy Kessler, Weeks’ attorney. “It is not necessary for divorce purposes. We are going to take the high road.”
Bynum’s attorney Karla Walker also sought a restraining order in the divorce petition.
The protection order prohibits both Bynum and Weeks from “any act that injures, maltreats … intimidates or harasses” each other. It also prevents the couple from retaliating against each other by disconnecting the utilities or canceling insurance policies.
Bynum, who uses the married name Bynum-Weeks, is asking the court that her last name be restored to Bynum, which she uses for professional purposes on occasion.
Bynum and Weeks married in an elaborate ceremony in 2002. They moved to metro Atlanta in 2006 to start Global Destiny Church in Duluth.
I thought the Negro was broke and had been evicted from his place. How can you get support from a brotha with no endz.
Just When I thought this was pretty much played out, another wrinkle develops in the melodrama that is the Weeks-Bynum divorce.
Turns out that Bishop held a press conference today in which he denies beating her. Amazing. From what I can tell, he told a boldfaced lie. This press conference is a naked PR ploy to cloud the issue of domestic violence and play on the sympathies of the weak minded. You be the judge and read for yourself.
Hat Tip: by John Shriek, 11Alive News
“She said,” last week.
“He said” on Friday afternoon.
Ten days after Evangelist Juanita Bynum proclaimed herself “the face of domestic violence,” her estranged husband, Bishop Thomas Weeks, told reporters he wanted to speak out to try to set straight “the many discrepencies, dramatizations and untruths.” Weeks denied violence toward Bynum, and insisted he walked away from a confrontation with her on August 21, the night he’s accused of assaulting her.
“I have always loved my wife and have been nothing but faithful to her,” Weeks said in a statement he read to reporters at his church, Global Destiny Ministries, in Duluth. “I want to be clear in saying I do not condone in any way, shape or form, violence of any kind towards women. My role has always been to operate as a protector and not as an aggressor. I have walked away from many situations between the two of us, just like I walked away that night.”
Weeks did not answer questions from reporters, on the advice of his attorneys, and did not comment further on the criminal assault charges against him.Atlanta police say a hotel bellhop saw Weeks kicking, beating and choking Bynum in the parking lot of the hotel that night, and that the bellhop heard Weeks threatening to kill Bynum as the bellhop pulled Weeks off of Bynum.
“I want to share my heart with the people,” Weeks said Friday, “to inform all that will listen that there are two sides to every story.”
He asked people to keep an open mind while he fights the criminal charges against him.
“I am asking that everyone that has already judged me to take the time to consider other perspectives. I understand that my silence to date has given me the perception of guilt,” but he said he does not believe in speaking publicly about what he considers to be private matters between him and his estranged wife.
Weeks said their current troubles began on June 3, when, he said, Bynum suddenly announced to their congregation that she was quitting the church, the church that she and Weeks had founded together, never to return. “It was the first time I knew she felt this way about our church family,” Weeks said. Bynum has always maintained her own, separate ministry that she founded and led prior to their marriage in 2002.
“The shock to the congregation was the start of many rumors,” Weeks said of Bynums’ surprise announcement.
Two days later, he said, her office sent a fax to his staff, “cancelling a major, international event and noted the reason was due to our marital separation. I was then informed by my staff about the fax. It was the first time that I was made aware of our separation.”
Thenn on June 14th, Weeks said, Bynum’s attorney mailed him a “cease and desist” letter ordering him to stop using Bynum’s name, face image, sound or likeness in anything related to the church.
“We were not legally allowed to mention her name even in prayer,” Weeks said. “Many people were offended by my removal of her image, as it appeared that it was of my own doing…. I did not share her letter from her lawyers to the church family in an effort to cover and protect her from negativity and perceptions, as I have done countless times over the past five years.”
Weeks said he still hoped he and Bynum could work out a reconciliation, and on August 16 he said she showed up at his office saying she, too, wanted to reconcile. “It was that day that I first began to believe that our marriage was moving in a positive direction. It was my understanding that the relationship was salvageable,” Weeks said.
On August 20, he said, “I was with my wife the entire night… and felt that our love for each other was going to get us through these hard times.”
Weeks emphasized that, contrary to earlier statements and reports, the reason he met with his wife on August 21 was not that he was seeking a reconciliation. He thought that their previous night together meant that they were already reconciling.
On August 21, he said, she called him asking to meet with him at a hotel, saying to him that, as he described it Friday, “Juanita Bynum Ministries was in need of our church facility and members’ support in order to raise monies” for one of Bynum’s projects. “She shared her urgency that we meet that night,” Weeks said.
Weeks did not describe, in his statement Friday, his August 21 meeting with Bynum, what led to their confrontation or anything else about it, and he did not discuss the indictment against him. He has pleaded Not Guilty.
“I would like for Juanita to know that I respect but regret her decision for a divorce. My church family is fully aware that I have always supported her in every endeavor. I have never hindered her from pursuiing her ministry vision or personal goals in life…. I want her to know that I am praying God’s best for her.”
Weeks’ divorce attorney, Randy Kessler, told reporters after Weeks read his statement that “he can’t stop the divorce from happening.” Kessler said Weeks just wants it to be settled as soon as possible, in private.
“The Bishop is not interested in money, this is not a case about money,” Kessler said. “We’d like all offers to remain private” as the two negotiate a financial settlement.
“Everybody, all of us, have blemishes, have flaws, that we do not want exposed” in a public courtroom, Kessler said, and Weeks is hoping to settle both the divorce and the criminal charges against him out of court.
There was no pre-nuptual agreement, Kessler said.
“The truth will eventually be known by all,” Weeks said. “In the end, God will always get the glory.”
Hat Tip: Errin Haynes, Associated Press, Atlanta Journal Constitution
The Rev. Thomas W. Weeks III had held out hope that he and Bynum could reconcile even after she filed a petition for divorce Monday, but now “has come to the personal resolve, that if Juanita is insistent on a divorce, he will not stand in the way,” his attorneys said in a statement.
Bynum’s attorney Karla Walker said she is withdrawing a divorce petition filed in south Georgia’s Ware County, where Bynum has a home, and refiling the case in Gwinnett County, where Weeks lives.
Bynum, known for her message of female empowerment, claims Weeks choked, pushed and stomped on her in a hotel parking lot after an Aug. 21 meeting in which the couple failed to reconcile.
Weeks faces charges of aggravated assault and making terroristic threats. He is free on $40,000 bond and is not allowed to have contact with Bynum.
Bynum, 48, is head of a dynamic ministry that also includes a gospel record label and seminar tours. She has sold thousands of motivational books, CDs and DVDs related to empowerment and marriage.
She has now emerged as a self-appointed “face of domestic violence” and has said she wants to be seen as a survivor, not a victim, of abuse.
Weeks, 40, is known to his followers as Bishop Weeks and is head of Global Destiny Ministries, based in the Atlanta suburb of Duluth. He co-wrote “Teach Me How to Love: The Beginnings” with Bynum, and the two wed in a million-dollar, televised ceremony in 2002. They have been estranged since June.
The developments of the past few weeks may have put things in perspective for Weeks regarding the relationship, his attorney Randy Kessler said Thursday, who added that his client will speak out Friday.
“He put the word out there, said he was open for reconciliation,” Kessler said. “I guess he got no positive response. At this point he’s not going to fight whether or not there’s going to be a divorce.”
It ain’t like he had grounds to contest the divorce, noway.
Hat Tip: by D. Aileen Dodd, S.A. Reid, Atlanta Journal Constitution
A relative on Thursday said that Bynum has filed for divorce but court records were not available early Thursday. Bynum’s publicist, Amy Malone, would not comment.
the alleged beating by Weeks, the pastor and co-founder of Global Destiny Ministries in metro Atlanta.
Bynum called a press conference on Tuesday, a few hours before she hosted an international Christian talk show on Trinity Broadcasting Network. She appeared poised and soft-spoken before news cameras. She wore her wedding ring on her right hand. The pastor has been separated from her husband for more than three months.
Calling herself “the new face of domestic violence,” Bynum is expected to be part of an A-list crowd Saturday at a fund-raiser for Barack Obama’s presidential bid.
The party is being hosted by media magnate Oprah Winfrey at her 42-acre estate in California.
Bynum is part of a guest list that includes celebrities, politicians and other news makers.
“She received an invitation to attend the event at Oprah’s home,” said Malone. Bynum is hoping to talk directly with Obama or members of his presidential campaign team about national domestic violence concerns.
Weeks’ lawyer, Louis Tesser, has said that Weeks “hopes he doesn’t wind up getting a divorce.” On Wednesday, Weeks broke his silence for the first time since the alleged Aug. 21 domestic violence incident by issuing a written statement through his lawyers.
In it, Weeks cautioned against a rush to judgment and said he would share his version of what happened that night at the appropriate time.
Bynum was allegedly beaten, choked, and stomped to the ground in an attack. Weeks was charged with felony aggravated assault, felony terroristic threats and two counts of simple battery in connection to the incident.
Weeks’ appearance in Fulton County Superior Court originally set for Friday has been postponed indefinitely. The case has been reassigned to a different judge. He could face up to 27 years in jail if convicted.
Hat Tip: By D. Aileen Dodd, John Hollis, Atlanta Journal Constitution
A Fulton County grand jury indicted the husband of national evangelist Juanita Bynum for what Bynum said was an attack on her in the parking lot of an Atlanta hotel.
Weeks faces one count of aggravated assault, one count of terroristic threats and two counts of simple battery in connection with the Aug. 22 incident at the Renaissance Concourse Hotel.
Weeks fled the scene before police arrived, but later told members of his congregation the devil had been responsible for his actions.
The charges against him carry a maximum possible sentence of 27 years.
Weeks’ church was also facing possible eviction before the alleged attack.
According to police and court records, Weeks, 41, was struggling to pay the bills since he and Bynum separated three months ago.
Weeks was evicted from his home in Duluth in late June. And he was close to losing the church he built with his wife.
An attorney representing the landlord for Global Destiny Church in Duluth said Friday that Weeks had received several notices that he was in violation of his lease agreement for the church for nonpayment of funds. GrimesSquare Executive Inc. proceeded with an eviction lawsuit when the matter was not resolved within its timeline.
“I wrote the letter to comply with the law,” said Stephanie Friese, attorney for GrimeSquare Executive. “I am sure they did others.”
According to court records, Friese backed up the threat of eviction on Aug. 23. She filed a lawsuit against Weeks in Gwinnett County Civil Court that started eviction proceedings “for the non-payment of rent,” Friese said.
Two days later, Weeks was facing litigation again — for allegedly beating his wife after they met at the Concourse Renaissance Hotel in Atlanta to discuss what family has described as “personal business.”
Friese, the attorney for the landlord, called the incident “coincidental.”
Weeks turned himself in to police last Friday at the Fulton County Courthouse and was released on a $40,000 bond. He was charged with two felonies — aggravated assault for allegedly beating, choking and stomping Bynum and making terrorist threats for threatening to kill her, police said.
Bynum’s publicist did not have a comment early Friday.
Weeks could not be reached for comment. However, his attorney, Ed Garland, said he is not aware of any money problems Weeks may be having.
“I have not concerned myself with his financial status,” Garland said.
Garland said Weeks and Bynum discussed many things the night of the alleged incident. He said he did not know about a possible eviction from the church.
“They had been meeting a couple of hours discussing everything about their relationship,” he said. “There was a huge number of things being talked about.”
An out-of-court deal was reached Friday to stop the eviction proceedings against Global Destiny, Friese said.
“This morning the parties reached an agreement,” he said. “The settlement document has already been signed.”
Friese would not discuss whether GrimeSquare Executive received full payment for the church’s rent and other fees under the lease or whether Weeks was put on a payment plan. The bishop continued to have church services there. The church is located at 4830 Rivergreen Parkway in Duluth.
“If he complies with the terms of the settlement, he will be able to remain in possession,” she said.
The New York Times, in further proof that it is nothing more than an establishment mouthpiece, has done what amounts to a fluff piece with a light treatment of Judi Giuliani’s homewrecking.
Photo by Kiino Villand is not of Caroline Giuliani, just used for illustrative purposes
Hat Tip: From NBC’s Mark Murray, First Read
Is Giuliani’s daughter, Caroline, supporting Obama? From Slate: “According to the 17-year-old Caroline Giuliani’s Facebook profile, she’s supporting Barack Obama. On her profile, she designates her political views as ‘liberal’ and—until this morning—proclaimed her membership in the Facebook group ‘Barack Obama (One Million Strong for Barack).’ According to her profile, she withdrew from the Obama group at 6 a.m. Monday, after Slate sent her an inquiry about it.”
If Rudy’s little girl doesn’t support him, why the hell should anyone else? Screwing around on Momma is a perfectly good reason for her heart not to belong to Daddy.
Rudy wouldn’t meet with the highest black elected officials in New York for years during his tenure as Mayor. Wouldn’t you just love to have been a fly on the wall when Rudy was told that his baby supports a black man for President over her own father.
Skeptical Brotha 