Additional videos have been released of a Michigan judge who made national headlines last month for her inflammatory and racist rhetoric against black people.

Judge Kathleen Ryan was faraway from the docket in August, WXYZ reported, after a court official who worked together with her in Oakland County Probate Court released audio recordings of her quite a few homophobic and racist tirades, calling herself the “new racist” and calling Black Americans “lazy bullshit.”

Newly released recordings obtained by the network this week reveal much more of Ryan’s racist sentiments, in addition to her belief that her judgeship and ties to influential figures within the county and state protect her from disciplinary motion.

“I hate to say it, knock on wood. I actually am untouchable. … They cannot touch me. … They cannot touch my salary. They cannot touch my work. The only thing they can do is make someone turn against me. Good luck!” Ryan is I heard in a single recording.

In one other video, Ryan allegedly said, “…with this whole Black Lives Matter thing, you realize, they’re like… everybody’s entitled and shit… Let’s assume they actually got scammed just due to color of your skin and the colour of your skin. that is America, systemic racism, it’s all shit! Thin. But don’t they even have an obligation to rise to the occasion? I mean, give it some thought, all they have to do is take a look at their history as an entire, when we’ve got little kids and dads pass away, it’s like you’ve responsibilities too. You want us to treat you equally – you’ve to goddamn step in and do the identical job! You know, you possibly can’t be a lazy ass.

Defense attorney Edward Hutton, the clerk who released the recordings, recorded the judge for years in hours-long phone conversations during which she shared her inflammatory viewpoints with him.

According to Hutton, Ryan has repeatedly bragged concerning the circle of judges she is related to and who’ve supported her previously.

“I’m pretty untouchable. So you guys really want to be ds… You have 22 judges who’re puppies. Guess what: they’ll still support me,” Ryan can be heard saying in a single recording.

Ryan, Oakland County’s chief probate judge, has served on the bench for over 13 years.

Hutton filed a criticism with Linda Hallmark, Chief Probate Judge of Oakland County in May, but no motion was taken, so he sent the recordings to the Michigan Supreme Court and Oakland County authorities.

“I have never met anyone who enjoys hurting people and bragging about it like (Ryan) does, or intimidating people or scaring people,” Hutton told WXYZ.

Ryan has been suspended from the bench without pay while the Judicial Tenure Committee investigates her alleged conduct. Commission officials are interviewing Oakland Probate Court staff to learn more about her behavior.

Ryan’s lawyers haven’t issued any latest statements since news of the recordings emerged.

“We respect the authority of the Michigan Supreme Court. However, we glance forward to the chance to vindicate Judge Ryan in the suitable forum,” Ryan’s lawyers previously said he told WXYZ.

Patient and consumer advocates expect Kamala Harris to speed up federal efforts to assist people fighting medical debt if she wins next month’s presidential election.

They also see the vice chairman and Democratic nominee as their best hope for maintaining Americans’ access to medical insurance. According to experts, comprehensive protection that limits the patient’s out-of-pocket expenses is the perfect protection against debt.

The Biden administration has expanded financial protections for patients, including a landmark proposal by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to remove medical debt from consumer credit reports.

In 2022, President Joe Biden also signed the Inflation Reduction Act, which limits the quantity Medicare enrollees must pay out-of-pocket for pharmaceuticals, including a $35 per 30 days insulin cap. And in statehouses across the country, Democrats and Republicans alike remained calm He’s workingg together enact laws to stop debt collectors.

But advocates say the federal government could do more to deal with an issue that weighs on 100 million Americans, forcing many to tackle extra work, leave their homes and cut spending on food and other essentials.

“Biden and Harris have done more to confront this country’s medical debt crisis than any other administration,” said Mona Shah, senior director of policy and strategy at Community Catalyst, a nonprofit that’s leading national efforts to strengthen protections against medical debt. “But there is still much work to be done, and it should be a top priority for the next Congress and administration.”

At the identical time, patient advocates fear that if former President Donald Trump wins a second term, he’ll weaken insurance coverage by allowing states to chop Medicaid programs or limit federal aid to assist Americans afford medical insurance. This would put hundreds of thousands of people at greater risk of falling into debt in the event that they grow to be unwell.

During his first term, Trump and Republicans in Congress in 2017 tried to repeal the Affordable Care Act, which independent analysts said would deprive hundreds of thousands of Americans of medical insurance and lift costs for individuals with pre-existing conditions reminiscent of diabetes and cancer.

Trump and his GOP allies proceed to attack the ACA, and the previous president has said he desires to roll back the Inflation Reduction Act, which also includes aid to assist low- and moderate-income Americans afford medical insurance.

“People will face a wave of medical debt from paying premiums and prescription drug prices,” said Anthony Wright, executive director of Families USA, a consumer group that supports federal health care. “Patients and the public should be concerned.”

The Trump campaign didn’t reply to inquiries concerning the health care program. The former president typically doesn’t touch on health care or medical debt issues through the campaign, although he said during last month’s debate that he had a “conceptual plan” to enhance the ACA. Trump didn’t provide details.

Harris has repeatedly pledged to guard the ACA and renew expanded subsidies for monthly insurance premiums created by the Inflation Reduction Act. This aid is scheduled to run out next 12 months.

The vice chairman also expressed support for increasing government spending to buy and forgive patients’ old medical debt. In recent years, many states and cities have purchased medical debt on behalf of their residents.

These efforts have reduced the debt burden of lots of of hundreds of people, although many patient and consumer advocates argue that writing off old debts is at best a short-term solution because patients will proceed to rack up bills they can’t pay without more concrete motion.

“It’s a boat with a hole in it,” said Katie Berge, a lobbyist for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Last 12 months, the patient group was amongst over 50 organizations sent letters to the Biden administration urging federal agencies to take more aggressive steps to guard Americans from medical debt.

“Medical debt is no longer a niche problem,” said Kirsten Sloan, who works on federal policy for the American Cancer Society’s Cancer Action Network. “It is key to the economic prosperity of millions of Americans.”

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is developing rules that will prohibit medical bills from appearing on consumer credit reports, which might improve credit scores and make it easier for hundreds of thousands of Americans to rent an apartment, discover a job or secure a automobile loan.

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Harris, who called medical debt “critical to the financial health and well-being of millions of Americans,” enthusiastically supported the proposed rule. “No one should be denied access to economic opportunity simply because they have experienced a medical emergency,” she said in June.

Harris’ colleague, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, who says his family struggled with medical debt when he was young, signed the state bill into law in June fight against debt collection.

CFPB officials have said the principles will probably be finalized early next 12 months. Trump has not indicated whether he’ll pursue medical debt protections. During its first term, the CFPB did little to deal with medical debt, and Republicans in Congress have long criticized the regulatory agency.

If Harris prevails, many consumer groups want the CFPB to crack down much more, including tightening oversight of medical bank cards and other financial products that hospitals and other healthcare providers have begun to impose on patients. These loans lock people into paying interest on top of their medical debt.

“We’re seeing a lot of new medical financial products,” said April Kuehnhoff, senior staff attorney on the National Consumer Law Center. “They may raise new consumer protection concerns, which is why it is critical for the CFPB and other regulators to monitor these companies.”

Some supporters want other federal agencies to get entangled.

This includes the big Department of Health and Human Services, which controls lots of of billions of dollars through the Medicare and Medicaid programs. This money gives the federal government an enormous advantage over hospitals and other health care providers.

So far, the Biden administration has not used this leverage to cope with medical debt.

But in a possible sign of future motion, state leaders in North Carolina recently won approval from the federal government for a medical debt initiative that will force hospitals to take steps to cut back patient debt in exchange for presidency aid. Harris praised the initiative.

Mark Robinson, the Republican Party’s candidate for governor of North Carolina, did sued CNN over its reporting in September that linked him to offensive comments on a pornographic website.

According to , Robinson’s defamation lawsuit alleged that CNN’s reporting was “recklessly false,” even though it offered no evidence beyond the claim that Robinson was the victim of “multiple data breaches.”

CNN has not commented on the lawsuit, but previously said it determined the account belonged to Robinson by matching his email address and username on the Nude Africa website to other online accounts belonging to Robinson.

According to CNN, the account discussed conversation topics consistent with Robinson’s interests and biographical information.

According to the lawsuit, “CNN – a politically left-wing media outlet whose reporting is often indistinguishable from Democratic Party talk and opposes politically conservative candidates for office, including Lt. Robinson – intended to harm Lt. Robinson in the gubernatorial election.”

Although Robinson’s campaign was already struggling before CNN’s report, it collapsed after its publication. After the allegations against Robinson were published, Republican allies reportedly began defecting. The lawsuit seeks $50 million in damages.

According to the civil grievance filed in Wake County Superior Court, Robinson also named Louis Money as a co-defendant within the lawsuit.

Money worked at several adult video stores within the Nineties and early 2000s, and in September 2024 said Robinson regularly visited porn stores in Greensboro, North Carolina, during that point.

According to the grievance, the comments CNN attributed to Robinson actually “came from hacked files containing data breaches obtained from the dark web.”

At a press conference on October 15, along together with his lawyer Jesse Binnall, Robinson said he intended to fight to the tip.

“When trouble comes, in what we call politics, you separate the strong from the weak,” Robinson said. “The weak will turn and flee, however the strong will stand and fight. And that is what we’re doing here today.”

Binnall, who previously represented former President Donald Trump, declined to supply evidence to support the lawsuit’s claims.

“We will have the opportunity to go further and prove what we have stated in the complaint and we are confident that we can do that,” Binnall said.

Notably, Republicans, including Trump, who vouched for Robinson before the report was released, have withdrawn from publicly supporting Robinson. Some have asked Robinson to withdraw from the race and fear that an association with Robinson could hurt Trump’s probabilities of winning North Carolina.