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Wednesday, May 22, 2024

5/22 WAKE-UP CALL: Trump Team Quickly Rests


Donald Trump’s defense team rested its case in his hush-money trial, with the former president opting not to testify. His lawyers called two witnesses. Trump had previously said that he intended to testify, but on other occasions he hedged. Criminal-defense attorneys typically advise their clients not to testify because of the unpredictability of cross-examination. Trump pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of falsifying business records to conceal a $130,000 payment to porn star Stormy Daniels before the 2016 presidential election to buy her silence about an alleged sexual encounter with him.

The presumptive GOP presidential nominee, who denies having sex with her, has said that the office of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, a Democrat, charged him out of political spite. Closing arguments are scheduled for Tuesday.

➤TIM SCOTT AS VEEP HELPS TRUMP: A recent poll found that voters say they would be more likely to support former President Donald Trump if Republican South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott is on the ticket in 2024. Scott leads the field of possible vice presidential contenders, including former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, Republican Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York and former independent Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii, according to a recent Harvard-Harris Poll. Scott drew 25% among voters who said they were more likely to vote for Trump if he was on the ballot, followed by 23% for Ramaswamy and 22% for Rubio.

➤BIDEN DOES IT AGAIN: President Joe Biden asked students at historically black Morehouse College in Atlanta what the point of democracy is if cops are killing black men “in the street," but a cursory review of police-involved shootings in 2024 showed Biden’s remarks were extremely misleading. “You started college just as George Floyd was murdered and their was a reckoning on race. What is democracy if black men are being killed in the street?” Biden said. Of the 74 black men who died as a result of a police shooting in 2024, only three were identified as being unarmed in The Washington Post’s database for tracking fatal police shootings in America.

➤AIR TURBULENCE KILLS 1:   One person died and at least 30 others were injured aboard a Singapore Airlines flight that encountered “sudden extreme turbulence” while en route from London to Singapore. The Boeing 777-300ER with 211 passengers and 18 crew on board was diverted to Bangkok, the airline said. The deceased was a 73-year-old Brit who had a history of heart problems and likely died from cardiac arrest, and seven of the injured were in critical condition, according to a Bangkok airport official. The airline said 18 people had been hospitalized. The turbulence occurred at 37,000 feet over the Irrawaddy Basin, an area largely located in Myanmar, according to Singapore Airlines.

➤EGYPT JINXED CEASEFIRE DEAL: Egyptian intelligence quietly changed the terms of a ceasefire proposal that Israel had already signed off on earlier this month, ultimately scuttling a deal that could have released Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners, and set a pathway to temporarily end the fighting in Gaza, according to three people familiar with the discussions. The ceasefire agreement that Hamas ended up announcing on May 6 was not what the Qataris or the Americans believed had been submitted to Hamas for a potential final review, the sources said. The changes made by Egyptian intelligence, the details of which have not been previously reported, led to a wave of anger and recrimination among officials from the US, Qatar and Israel, and left ceasefire talks at an impasse. “We were all duped,” one of those sources told CNN.


➤TLAIB FUNNELS MONEY TO TERROR ACTIVIST: “Squad” Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) has paid hundreds of thousands of dollars since being elected to Congress to a consulting firm led by an anti-Israel activist working on behalf of groups linked to Palestinian terrorist factions, records show. The routine cash transfers from Rashida Tlaib for Congress and Rooted in Community Leadership PAC to Unbought Power underscore how the congresswoman has aligned herself with activists helping to coordinate operations for entities sharing connections to Hamas, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, and other terrorist factions. (Washington Examiner)


➤THE WEST EXPECTS VOLATILITY IN IRAN: Western officials are bracing for increased volatility with Iran as the country prepares to choose a successor to President Ebrahim Raisi, who died in a helicopter crash on Sunday.They say that they don’t expect major foreign-policy shifts from Tehran because ultimate authority lies with Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who is deepening ties with China and Russia, supporting Hamas and other regional proxies and pursuing a nuclear program. The vote is scheduled for June 28. How Iran might react to threats, real or imagined, from adversaries trying to take advantage of political upheaval has some people worried. Longer term, Khamenei could view the U.S. elections and a possible White House transition as an opportunity to be more aggressive.


⚾PHILLIES REMAIN HOT: Bryce Harper hit a solo home run and double, Ranger Suarez improved to 9-0 with seven strong innings and the host Philadelphia Phillies defeated the Texas Rangers 5-2 on Tuesday. Alec Bohm, Kyle Schwarber and J.T. Realmuto each had two hits as the Phillies won their fourth in a row. Bohm drove in two runs. Suarez allowed one run on five hits and tied his career high with 10 strikeouts. Phillies closer Jose Alvarado threw a scoreless ninth inning for his ninth save. Alvarado struck out Corey Seager with runners on first and third to end the game.

⚾MLB SCORES:

  • Mariners 6 Yankees 3
  • Red Sox 5 Rays 2
  • Phillies 5 Rangers 2
  • D-Backs 7 Dodgers 3
  • Astros 6 Angels 5
  • Royals 10 Tigers 3
  • Cubs 4 Braves 3
  • White Sox 5 Blue Jays 0
  • Twins 10 Nationals 0
  • Reds 2 Padres 0
  • Pirates 7 Giants 6
  • Brewers 7 Marlins 5
  • Guardians 7 Mets 6
  • Orioles 1 Cards 1 (Suspended)

🏀NBA SCORES: 

  • Celtics 133 Pacers 128

🠊Jaylen Brown's stunning shot helps Boston strike first in the Eastern Conference finals. The Pacers started Tuesday's game by missing six shots in a row, but made just about everything after that. And they were on the verge of sending the Celtics to a stunning home loss to open the Eastern Conference finals when they had the ball and a 3-point lead with just 8.5 seconds left in the fourth quarter. But after the Pacers threw away an inbounds pass, Jaylen Brown, who had not made a 3-pointer all night, lined one up from the left corner and drilled it with 5.7 seconds left, helping send the game to overtime, where Boston rode its momentum to a 133-128 win.

🏒NHL SCORES

  • Oilers 3 Canucks 2

STORMS HIT IOWA:  Multiple tornadoes struck Iowa on Tuesday, with one causing multiple deaths and at least a dozen injuries in a small town, after severe weather brought numerous rounds of rain and thunderstorms in the Plains and Midwest. The tornado touched down in Greenfield, a town about 60 miles southwest of Des Moines, Iowa, on Tuesday afternoon. Iowa State Police confirmed that there were multiple deaths after the tornado almost completely flattened the town of more than 2,000.

Sgt. Alex Dinkla, spokesperson with the Iowa State Patrol, said at a news conference Tuesday night that authorities were working to confirm the exact number of those killed or injured, but estimated at least a dozen people were hospitalized.

➤WEDNESDAY WEATHER:



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