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Tuesday, April 23, 2024

4/23 WAKE-UP CALL: Trump Trial Features Competing Narratives


The prosecution and defense offered competing narratives of the events surrounding the 2016 election as Donald Trump’s hush-money trial got underway.

Manhattan prosecutor Matthew Colangelo told jurors that the former president and his co-conspirators orchestrated a criminal scheme to sway the 2016 election by buying the stories of people who had bad things to say about Trump’s behavior, including porn star Stormy Daniels’ allegations of an affair, in order to silence them. The former president’s lawyer countered that prosecutors couldn’t prove their case because they couldn’t show the former president had criminal intent and there is nothing wrong with trying to influence voters. Trump faces 34 felony counts of falsifying business records for allegedly covering up a payment to Daniels. He has pleaded not guilty and denied the sexual encounter.

➤EVEN TRUMP FOE THINKS TRIAL IS POLITICALLY MOTIVATED: Michael Avenatti, the one-time "most dangerous enemy" of Donald Trump who liberals hoped would bring down his presidency, thinks the hush money case against him in New York is flawed, politically motivated and part of a wider anti-democratic effort to take 2024 out of the voters' hands.


And to prove his point, consider the source, Avenatti told Fox News Digital in a phone interview from federal prison. "I certainly see him as a victim of the system," he said. "And that's something that I never thought I would say. So if Michael Avenatti is coming to his defense, and I was one of his staunchest opponents for a very significant period of time, that should tell people something."

➤DEMONSTRATIONS GROW: As tensions over the Israel-Hamas war boil on campuses across the country, Columbia University on Monday moved classes online. Dozens of students were arrested in protests at Yale, and school officials closed Harvard Yard to the public. What's going on? Demonstrations at Yale and Harvard were planned in part out of solidarity with protesters at Columbia who set up an encampment last week that led to the arrest of more than 100 students. The protests have raised concerns for the safety of Jewish students and fueled a national debate over student demonstrations as campuses grapple with growing unrest over the war.

➤COLUMBIA COURSES GO ONLINE: Columbia canceled in-person classes amid pro-Palestinian protests. University president Minouche Shafik said the school would move classes online for the day in an effort to “de-escalate the rancor and give us all a chance to consider next steps.” Pro-Palestinian protesters have congregated on the New York City campus since Thursday, when police arrested more than 100. 

Protests, arrests and security concerns have popped up in recent days at other high-profile universities. At Yale, police arrested more than 47 student protesters following a week-long demonstration on and around the school’s campus plaza. At Harvard, metal gates closed off access to Harvard Yard, the heart of the Cambridge, Mass., campus. The Yard is closed to the public through Friday, the school said on its website.

➤TOP ISRAELI SPY RESIGNS: Israel’s military spy chief resigned Monday, becoming the first senior official to step down over intelligence failures that enabled the Hamas-led attacks on Oct. 7 that sparked the war in Gaza. The resignation of Maj. Gen. Aharon Haliva, the head of the military’s intelligence directorate and a 38-year veteran of the military, illustrates the growing sense among many Israelis that the country’s leaders need to be held accountable for the security and intelligence failures that led to the war and the chaotic aftermath of the invasion of Gaza. Israel has battered Hamas’s forces, and much of the Gaza Strip is now in rubble, but many of the group’s leaders have held on to power and dozens of hostages taken on Oct. 7 remain in the group’s captivity. Israeli observers had expected senior military officials to remain in their posts while Israel fought the war and that a reckoning would come afterward. Thousands of protesters, however, in recent weeks have called on the government to resign as frustrations boiled over.


➤U-N FINDS BIAS IN ATTACK REPORT: The U.N. found its Palestinian refugee agency suffers from political bias. A report on the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, known as Unrwa, described antisemitic content in some textbooks and a host of social-media posts by employees that were biased. The probe was launched after the U.S. and most of Unrwa’s top donors suspended funding to the agency in January in response to accusations that at least a dozen of its employees in Gaza took part in the Hamas attacks in southern Israel on Oct. 7.  The investigation released Monday didn’t address those accusations, which are being examined in a separate probe. 

➤HOMELESSNESS COULD BE A CRIME: The Supreme Court on Monday wrestled with how far cities can go in cracking down on homeless encampments as it heard arguments in the case of an Oregon tourist town that banned sleeping in public with a blanket. Homeless residents of Grants Pass, Oregon, faced fines of $250 and jail time for breaking the city’s strict anti-camping laws until a federal appeals court said the ordinances violate the Constitution’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment.  Now the city says its parks will be overrun by unsanitary homeless encampments unless the justices reverse the appeals court's decision. Lawyers for homeless residents of Grants Pass said police have plenty leeway to enforce disruptive behavior without turning people into criminals when they have nowhere to stay.


➤VOTING CHALLENGE REJECTED: The Supreme Court on Monday rejected a challenge to voting rules in Texas that automatically let senior citizens − but not younger people − vote by mail. Mail-in balloting has become a partisan debate as Democrats champion it as a way to increase turnout and Republicans argue it increases the risk of voter fraud. Documented cases of voter fraud, including those related to voting by mail, are rare. But while uncommon, fraud seems to occur more often with mailed-in votes than with in-person voting, according to the MIT Election Data & Science Lab. Seven states – Texas, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina and Tennessee – allow older voters to request an absentee ballot for any reason but let others do so only under certain circumstances.  

MOM OF 10 DEAD FROM DOMESTIC VIOLENCE: A family is mourning the loss of a Wisconsin mother of 10 whose killing was the result of domestic violence, according to police. The homicide investigation started Wednesday morning in Milwaukee, when police found the body of 41-year-old Tomitka Jurnett-Stewart, inside the trunk of her vehicle. The vehicle was found at about 10:30 a.m. that morning, according to the Milwaukee Police Department. Police took a 41-year-old man into custody in connection to the case.  Authorities haven’t named the man but family members said he was in a long-term relationship with the victim. “This incident is Domestic Violence related,” police said in a statement. “Charges are pending review by the Milwaukee County District Attorney's Office.”

➤5 FOUND DEAD IN OKC HOME: Police say they've begun investigating after five people, including children, were found dead inside an Oklahoma City home Monday morning. Around 9:35 a.m. Monday morning, police were notified of five deceased people inside a residence near Yukon, roughly 20 miles west of downtown Oklahoma City. At least two of the deceased people were children, said Master Sgt. Gary Knight with the Oklahoma City Police Department. All five had injuries consistent with homicide, Knight said. "This is not a carbon monoxide or fentanyl deal," Knight said. "These people died violently." Police wouldn't comment further on manner of death.


⚾BOONE TOSSED FROM GAME AFTER 5 PITCHES: The New York Yankees manager, Aaron Boone, was unexpectedly ejected from Monday afternoon’s game against the Oakland Athletics in a rather unusual manner. During the top of the first inning at Yankee Stadium, home plate umpire Hunter Wendelstedt engaged in a heated exchange with Boone after the manager questioned whether Athletics hitter Esteury Ruiz had swung during a hit-by-pitch advancement to first base. Wendelstedt, caught by hot microphones on the field, was seen yelling at Boone, saying, “You got anything else to say, you’re gone.” However, right after this exchange, a fan in the crowd heckled the umpire. Mistakenly believing that the fan’s comment came from Boone, Wendelstedt promptly ejected him. 

In the video, Boone can be seen standing in the dugout, not uttering a word. He later protested by running onto the field and shouting some colorful language at the umpire. Boone clarified, “I did not say a word,” pointing to the actual fan responsible for the comment. The replay confirmed that the fan sitting in the front row behind the Yankees dugout was the one who had yelled the unknown comment toward Wendelstedt. Quite the unexpected turn of events!

⚾MLB SCORES:

  • Tigers 7 Rays 1
  • Phillies 7 Reds 0 (7 straight wins)
  • Athletics 2 Yankees 0
  • Giants 5 Mets 2
  • Orioles 4 Angels 2
  • Padres 3 Rockies 1
  • Cardinals 5 D-Backs 3
  • Blue Jays 5 Royals 3
  • Twins 7 White Sox 0
  • Braves 3 Marlins 0
  • Pirates 4 Brewers 2

JETS TRADE WILSON: Monday, the New York Jets agreed to trade Zach Wilson, the second overall pick of that year's draft, to the Denver Broncos. According to a person familiar with the situation, the Jets pick up a sixth-round draft pick in the deal while also sending a Round 7 selection to Denver. The person spoke on the condition of anonymity because the deal is not yet official. Wilson becomes the fourth passer selected in Round 1 of the 2021 draft to wash out with the team that drafted him. He joins Trey Lance, Justin Fields and Mac Jones, who have all switched addresses within the last year. However Wilson's failures are among the most glaring.

🏀NBA SCORES:
  • Nuggets 101 Lakers 99
  • Knicks 104 76ers 101
  • Cavaliers 96 Magic 86

➤TUESDAY WEATHER:



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