Friday, June 9, 2023

6/9 WAKE-UP CALL: Trump Facing Criminal Charges

Daily Mail Composite 6/9/23

Donald Trump was indicted Thursday by a federal grand jury in the investigation into his handling of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, marking the first time in history that the federal government has brought charges against a former president. Trump was charged with seven counts, a person familiar with the matter said, including violations of the Espionage Act, which bars the misuse of classified information, as well as obstruction and false statements. A lawyer for Trump, James Trusty, confirmed those counts on CNN.

In a post on Truth Social, Trump said his lawyers had been informed of his indictment in connection with what he called the “Boxes Hoax.” Trump declared his innocence and said he had been summoned to appear Tuesday at the federal courthouse in Miami.

Federal prosecutors informed Trump’s legal team of an investigation Thursday over his alleged mishandling of the documents. Trump faced another indictment by a Manhattan grand jury over allegations that he paid $130,000 in hush money to former porn actress Stormy Daniels to keep her quiet about an alleged affair in the lead up to the 2020 presidential election.


The FBI raided Trump’s home in August to retrieve 15 boxes of classified documents requested by the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). 

Federal officials have also located documents at Penn Biden and at Biden's Wilmington home, and have searched his Delaware beach house after the initial discovery at Penn Biden days before the November elections. Citing three sources, NBC News reported Thursday that not only is the end of the investigation into Biden not 'imminent,' they have yet to even question the president. The president has insisted that he and his team are being transparent and cooperative with investigators. He's also brushed off reporters' questions on the matter and outright ignored them at times.


➤BIDEN CALLS ALLEGATIONS 'MALARKEY': Congressional Republicans who read an FBI informant file accusing President Biden of a role in a $5 million bribery scheme said Thursday that it involved the Ukrainian company Burisma — but Biden tauntingly retorted, “Where’s the money?” 

“It’s a bunch of malarkey,” Biden told a reporter when asked about the bribery claim hours after FBI Director Christopher Wray agreed to let rank-and-file House Oversight Committee members read a June 2020 document in a bid to avoid being held in contempt. Reps. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.) and Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) revealed details after reading the file at the Capitol. Both said Burisma owner Mykola Zlochevsky allegedly told an FBI source that he paid $5 million apiece to Hunter and then-VP Joe Biden in an attempt to shake off a corruption investigation. 


➤NEW CUBAN CRISIS: Cuba has reached a secret agreement with China to host a spy base on the island, according to U.S. officials familiar with highly classified intelligence. The electronic eavesdropping facility in a country roughly 100 miles off the coast of Florida would enable Beijing to snatch communications throughout the southeastern U.S., where many military bases are located, and monitor U.S. ship traffic. China has agreed to pay cash-strapped Cuba several billion dollars, officials familiar with the matter said. The deal has echoes of Cold War tensions. In 1962, Cuba let the Soviet Union place nuclear missiles there, almost sparking a U.S.-USSR nuclear confrontation. For years, the Soviets operated a large eavesdropping facility near Havana, which was shut down after the USSR broke up.

➤HOUSE CONSERVATIVES REVOLT: A conservative faction of the Republican Party is holding a protest of sorts on the floor of the House of Representatives, forcing the cancellation of votes on bills for the rest of this week. The House Freedom Caucus and its allies have blocked several bills in order to demonstrate their displeasure with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy. They accuse their own party’s leader of failing to force President Biden to make enough concessions to their side to win their votes on raising the debt ceiling.

➤OFFICER ON TRIAL FOR FAILURE TO STOP SCHOOL SHOOTING: A former police officer is on trial for failing to act during the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneham Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, in 2018. Scot Peterson, who was on duty at the school, is accused of failing to follow his training to minimize casualties during the six-minute attack. Video footage shows that he did not enter the building. Seventeen people died and 17 others were injured. Peterson faces charges of felony child neglect, culpable negligence and perjury.

➤PENTAGON WHISTLEBLOWER CLAIMS UFO COVERUP: A government analyst of UFO data told Fox News Nation that the Pentagon has a secret program that has recovered crashed UFOs and is studying the wreckage. David Charles Grusch said the government is “retrieving non-human-origin technical vehicles, call it spacecraft if you will, non-human exotic origin vehicles that have either landed or crashed.” An Air Force veteran, Grusch was involved in government research into unidentified aerial phenomena from 2019 to mid-2022. A spokesperson for the Department of Defense told Fox News Digital that there is no “verifiable information to substantiate the claims.”

➤SMOKE REACHES D-C: The shroud of polluted air emanating from Canadian wildfires pushed further down the Atlantic Seaboard on Thursday, blanketing Washington, D.C., in an unhealthy haze and prompting many residents of the nation's capital to stay indoors. Traffic was light and trains less crowded than usual as many companies in the city told employees to work from home. Some non-essential municipal services were suspended, including parks and recreation, road construction and waste collection. The hazardous smokey conditions plaguing the Northeast are expected to last until early next week as Canada’s wildfires rage. The air quality should improve when winds from the west push the smoke off the East Coast, according to the National Weather Service. However, as long as the wildfires burn, the U.S. will be vulnerable to the smoke when winds carry it south. The on-going problem disrupted everything from flights to school schedules, and state officials encouraged residents from Massachusetts to North Carolina to limit outdoor activities and mask up. N95 mask manufacturers are responding to a surge in demand, and makers of air purifiers reported a large increase in sales this week.

➤RUSSIA MAY 'KIDNAP' KIDS: Ukraine is concerned Russia will forcibly remove children from the Moscow-held front-line areas where Kyiv is expected to begin a new offensive. Russian-installed authorities have said they have started organizing civilian evacuations. Ukraine says Russia unlawfully deported more than 19,000 children since the beginning of the war, but the U.N. says it hasn’t been able to verify that. Moscow says it’s moving the children out of harm’s way and helping them recover from war trauma. It has declared occupied Ukrainian territory formally part of Russia, and Russian President Vladimir Putin claims Russians and Ukrainians are one people. Under international law, the forcible transfer of children from one group to another constitutes genocide if done to destroy a national, ethnic, racial or religious group. The International Criminal Court in March issued arrest warrants for Putin and his commissioner for children’s rights.

Daily Mail 6/9/23

➤POLL: STUDENTS OKAY WITH CENSORING: More than three-quarters of Princeton University students polled in a recent free speech survey said it was sometimes acceptable to stop a campus speaker from speaking by shouting at them. Some 43 percent said it was acceptable to block other students from attending talks they disagreed with and 16 percent supported the use of violence to stop a campus speech, according to a survey by alumni group Princetonians for Free Speech.  Progressive students screaming angrily at conservative speakers have sparked notoriety on multiple campuses, including an incident at Stanford Law School in March. That saw conservative judge Kyle Duncan screamed at by students, many of whom subsequently walked out of a speech he'd been invited to give. 

➤SUPREME COURT UPHOLDS VOTING RIGHTS ACT: The U.S. Supreme Court has thwarted an attempt at congressional redistricting in Alabama, ruling that it was an improper attempt to dilute the power of Black voters. The decision was a surprise, since previous decisions by the court have undermined rather than reaffirmed the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which attempted to end election policies designed to disenfranchise Black voters.

➤MEX SOLDIERS CAUGHT 'EXECUTING' SUSPECTS: Mexican President André Manuel López Obrador has vowed that a group of soldiers who were caught on camera 'executing' five alleged members of a criminal organization will be prosecuted. The shocking video from May 18 showed the victims' black pickup truck crashing at a high speed into the wall of a store in the border town of Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, across from Laredo, Texas. The military truck that had been chasing it then appears. The suspects were forced out of the pickup, beaten, dragged across the dirt-covered ground, forced to kneel facing the wall and later shot before the soldiers tried to cover-up the scene.
🏒NHL PANTHERS SURVIVE: The Golden Knights were on the brink of a 3-0 lead over the Florida Panthers in the Stanley Cup Finals, but yielded a late equalizer to Matthew Tkachuk in the waning moments of the third period before surrendering the game-winner to Carter Verhaeghe in overtime. Now, the never-say-day Panthers head into Saturday's Game 4 in Sunrise, Florida trailing only 2-1 with Thursday's 3-2 overtime win.

⚾MLB METS LOSE SIXTH STRAIGHT: The Mets led 10-7 in the eighth inning and still had a one-run advantage in the ninth but were unable to put away the Braves as they fell 13-10 in 10 innings. New York got off to a tough start as Justin Verlander allowed three runs in the first inning, but the visitors responded in the top of the second with five runs as Brandon Nimmo hit a grand slam. From there, the Mets mostly led the rest of the way and added to their tally with two home runs from Francisco Alvarez. However, after Drew Smith allowed a two-run homer to Travis D'Arnaud in the bottom of the eighth and David Robertson was taken the distance by Orlando Arcia in the ninth, Ozzie Albies finished things off in the 10th inning with a three-run shot. Verlander, who joined on a two-year, $86.6million deal in the offseason, lasted just 3.0 innings, giving up four earned runs and seven hits. The loss marks the sixth in the row for the Mets, who are now 30-33.

⚾MLB DODGERS 6, REDS 0 Clayton Kershaw pitched seven sharp innings, Chris Taylor hit his 10th home run and the Los Angeles Dodgers defeated the Cincinnati Reds 6-0 on Thursday.

⚾MLB WHITE SOX 6, YANKEES 5, YANKEES 3, WHITE SOX 0  Randy Vásquez pitched two-hit ball into the sixth inning for his first major league win, Billy McKinney hit his first home run with the Yankees and New York beat the Chicago White Sox 3-0 on Thursday night for a doubleheader split. Chicago extended its winning streak to a season-high five games with a 6-5 victory in the opener, when Eloy Jiménez hit a go-ahead homer in the seventh off Michael King. Jake Burger had a two-run shot off Yankees starter Luis Severino before Luis Robert Jr. and Yoán Moncada also went deep against the right-hander.

After Wednesday´s game was postponed by Major League Baseball because of hazardous air quality from Canadian wildfires, conditions in the Bronx had improved by Thursday's first pitch. According to the website IQAir, the air quality was graded 142 before the doubleheader began and was at 135 shortly after the nightcap started. An AQI ranging from 101-150 is considered unhealthy for sensitive groups.

⚾MLB SCORES:

  • Rays 4 Twins 2
  • Phillies 3 Tigers 2
  • Dodgers 6 Reds 0
  • Orioles 6 Brewers 3
  • Giants 6 Rockies 4
  • Blue Jays 3 Astros 2
  • Guardians 10 Red Sox 3
  • Angels 3 Cubs 1
  • Dbacks, Nationals PP Smog

🎾MUCHOVA FACES SWIATEK IN FRENCH OPEN FINALS: Iga Swiatek defeated Beatriz Haddad Maia yesterday, advancing to the finals at the French Open for the third time in four years. Swiatek will be up against Karolina Muchova in tomorrow’s match. It’s the first Grand Slam final for Muchova, the number 43-ranked player who beat number-two-ranked Aryna Sabalenka yesterday.The next big event at the French Open is Novak Djokovic versus Carlos Alcarez. The semifinal match starts around 8:45 a.m. Eastern time today.

⚽LIONEL MESSI ALREADY WINNING FOR INTER MIAMI: If Inter Miami thought they were going to grab some attention by hiring Lionel Messi, they were right. The Major League Soccer team had about one million followers on Instagram before the international superstar announced earlier this week that he was joining the team. Now it has about 5.7 million followers. That’s more than the New York Yankees have. Stay tuned. It will be at least a month before Messi plays for Miami.



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