Month: June 2023

A federal grand jury has indicted former President Donald Trump on seven criminal charges in connection with his mishandling of more than 100 classified documents that were discovered last year at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.

The new charges make Trump, who was twice-impeached, the first former president to face federal criminal charges. The nature of the charges were first reported by The New York Times, with sources noting that seven charges don’t necessarily mean seven counts, as multiple counts can be associated with each charge.

Trump said on Thursday night that his attorneys were informed that he has been indicted in the special counsel’s investigation into his handling of classified documents. Trump has denied doing anything wrong, rebuffing allegations that he mishandled classified documents by claiming that he had already declassified them. Trump posted his social media platform, Truth Social: “The corrupt Biden Administration has informed my attorneys that I have been Indicted, seemingly over the Boxes Hoax, even though Joe Biden has 1850 Boxes at the University of Delaware, additional Boxes in Chinatown, D.C., with even more Boxes at the University of Pennsylvania, and documents strewn all over his garage floor where he parks his Corvette, and which is “secured” by only a garage door that is paper thin, and open much of the time.” 

Minutes after his post, Trump sent out a fundraising appeal citing the charges, asking supporters to ‘make a contribution to peacefully stand’ with him: “The Biden-appointed Special Counsel has INDICTED me in yet another witch hunt regarding documents that I had the RIGHT to declassify as President of the United States.”   Trump later posted a four-minute video, saying in part: “I’m an innocent person. I did nothing wrong. And we will fight this out just like we’ve been fighting for seven years. It would be wonderful if we could devote our full time to making America great again.”

The White House declined to comment on the Trump indictment. Secret Service officials said its personnel will meet with Trump’s team Friday to begin security and logistics planning related to his court appearance Tuesday afternoon.

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Christian evangelist Pat Robertson, the founder of the Christian Broadcasting Network empire and perhaps best known for his political commentary on “The 700 Club”, has died at the age of 93. The Christian Broadcasting Network announced Robertson’s death, sharing that he died at his home in Virginia Beach: “With great sadness, we announce that Dr. M.G. ‘Pat’ Robertson has gone home to be with his Lord and Savior today … Pat Robertson dedicated his life to preaching the Gospel, helping those in need, and educating the next generation …..Thank you for your prayers for the Robertson family and the ministry of CBN at this time.”

Robertson was born in Virginia in 1930 to Sen. A. Willis Robertson, and became an ordained minister as a Southern Baptist. He started The Christian Broadcasting Network in 1960, and led the Christian Coalition, founded in 1987, the year before he ran for the Republican nomination for president in 1988, vying to take over for President Ronald Reagan. The nomination, and eventually presidency, was won by George H.W. Bush. Although he was never expected to get the nomination, he made an impressive enough showing in the first contest in Iowa to remain a force in GOP politics.

Robertson provided political commentary from his Christian viewpoint weekly on “The 700 Club,” appearing on the show for 60 years before retiring at 91 years old in 2021. He handed over the reins of “The 700 Club” to his son, Gordon, but continued to make appearances on the program. In addition to his TV network, he also started Regent University, previously CBN University, a private Christian university, in 1977 in Virginia Beach.

Robertson’s wife of 67 years, Dede, died in 2022. He is survived by four children, Tim, Elizabeth, Gordon, and Ann, along with 14 grandchildren and 24 great-grandchildren.

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Joran van der Sloot, the prime suspect in the 2005 disappearance of American Natalee Holloway in Aruba, arrived in the United States to face charges of extortion and wire fraud. On Thursday, van der Sloot was transferred to U.S. law enforcement custody in Lima, Peru, and a plane departed at 9 a.m. Eastern carrying him to Birmingham, Alabama. It was unclear when he might first appear in a U.S. court.

van der Sloot was indicted in the U.S. on extortion and wire fraud charges in 2010 in connection with an offer he allegedly made to sell information about the whereabouts of Holloway’s remains to her mother, Beth, for $250,000. The indictment alleges that Beth Holloway paid van der Sloot some of that money directly, and made another payment through a lawyer, but the information turned out to be false.

van der Sloot, a Dutch national, lived on the Caribbean island nation of Aruba when then 18-year-old Holloway went missing during a high school senior trip. She was last seen alive leaving a bar with van der Sloot; but noone has ever been charged in her disappearance, and her body has never been found. In 2012, an Alabama judge declared her deceased.

van der Sloot is currently serving a 28-year prison sentence in Peru for the 2010 murder of 21-year-old Stephany Flores, whom he confessed to killing in his hotel room in Lima. Temporary extradition is allowed under the terms of a 2001 treaty between the U.S. and Peru, where a suspect can face trial in the other country. van der Sloot will remain in the U.S. until the end of the American criminal proceedings, and is then expected to be returned to Peru to complete his sentence.

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As hundreds of Canadian wildfires burn, unhealthy levels of smoke and haze continued to spread across portions of the Northeast, worsening air quality for millions of people. More than 400 active wildfires were burning across Canada Wednesday, with the worst affecting the eastern province of Quebec, which borders Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, and New York. Skylines looked orange and the air was smokey, as officials instructed people to stay indoors.

About 128 million people were under air quality alerts because of wildfire smoke and ozone in the U.S. as of Wednesday night, and the Federal Aviation Administration slowed air traffic at some major airports. For smoke alone, around 100 million were under alerts across 16 states.

The National Weather Service said that the smoke in major metro areas, including Boston, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., was expected to continue through Thursday and cause air unhealthy for all groups
Air quality advisories were in place for all five boroughs of the city of more than 8 million people, and NY Mayor Eric Adams called the situation unprecedented.

An Air Quality Alert issued by the National Weather Service remains in effect in parts of New Jersey, New York and Connecticut through Thursday night.

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Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie entered the Republican primary race, launching his second presidential campaign. Christie took aim at former President Donald Trump as he announced his candidacy Tuesday night at a town hall at the New Hampshire Institute of Politics in Manchester. Said Christie: “The person I am talking about who is obsessed with the mirror, who never admits a mistake, who never admits a fault and will always find someone else — and something else — to blame for whatever goes wrong but finds every reason to take credit for anything that goes right is Donald Trump.”

In 2016, Christie ran against Trump for the GOP nomination but dropped out after he finished sixth in the New Hampshire primary. Trump and Christie became allies, with Christie heading up Trump’s presidential transition team until shortly after the election. However after Trump refused to concede his loss in 2020, Christie became a vocal GOP critic.

Christie was the U.S. attorney for New Jersey from 2002 to 2008 under President George W. Bush, and then served two terms as New Jersey governor from 2010-2018, but came under scrutiny after a political scandal in 2013 involving lane closures at the George Washington Bridge dubbed “Bridgegate” – allegedly retaliation against a Democratic mayor who refused to endorse Christie’s re-election. Christie allies were sentenced to short prison terms in 2017 after a jury determined that they had shut down two of the three lanes leading to the bridge, resulting in a monumental traffic jam in Fort Lee, New Jersey.

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