News Dump for Apr. 20, 2024

US

CNBC – Citadel Securities blasts Trump Media CEO Devin Nunes over DJT short-selling letter
Citadel Securities ripped Trump Media CEO Devin Nunes for a letter he sent to the Nasdaq that mentioned Citadel Securities and other major market companies after warning of possible illegal short selling of Trump Media shares. “Devin Nunes is the proverbial loser who tries to blame ‘naked short selling’ for his falling stock price,” a spokesperson for Citadel Securities said of the former Republican congressman.
https://www.cnbc.com/2024/04/19/citadel-securities-blasts-trump-media-ceo-over-djt-short-sale-letter.html

Newsweek – Mike Lindell Faces Potential Court Hearing Over Dire Financial Situation
In a court filing submitted on Tuesday, Smartmatic requested a status hearing in the next 30 days expressing concern that because of Lindell’s financial situation, they may not recuperate these costs. The court has not yet ruled on Smartmatic’s fee petition.
https://www.newsweek.com/mike-lindell-court-hearing-mypillow-finances-1892109

Daily Beast – Whiplash as Russia Toasts Derided Marjorie Taylor Greene as Their Top New Hero
Speaker Mike Johnson is no longer Russia’s No.1 favorite, he’s been replaced by a congresswoman who was once roundly mocked on Russian TV.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/whiplash-as-russia-toasts-derided-marjorie-taylor-greene-as-their-top-new-hero

NBC – Judge locks up ‘Three Percenter’ militia members in Jan. 6 obstruction case
The obstruction of an official proceeding charge is in jeopardy before the Supreme Court, meaning that some of the defendants could ultimately only serve a year in prison.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/judge-locks-three-percenter-militia-members-jan-6-obstruction-case-rcna148456

NBC – Charlottesville tiki torch carrier pleads guilty in Jan. 6 riot case
Tyler Bradley Dykes, who served a prison sentence in connection with the 2017 “Unite the Right” rally in Virginia, pleaded guilty to two felony counts tied to the attack on the Capitol.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/charlottesville-tiki-torch-carrier-pleads-guilty-jan-6-riot-case-rcna148644

AP – House on the brink of approving Ukraine and Israel aid after months of struggle
The House is preparing in a rare Saturday session to approve $95 billion in foreign aid for Ukraine, Israel and other U.S. allies, Democrats and Republicans joining together behind the legislation after a grueling months-long fight over renewed American support for repelling Russia’s invasion into Ukraine.
https://apnews.com/article/ukraine-aid-israel-tiktok-congress-a8910452e623413bf1da1e491d1d94ba

Thank goodness!
NBC – Senate passes bill renewing key FISA surveillance power moments after it expires
The bill now goes to President Joe Biden, whose administration says FISA’s warrantless spying power is vital to national security. Amendments to expand privacy safeguards failed.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/senate-renews-fisa-section-702-spying-privacy-rcna148394

AP – Tennessee Volkswagen employees overwhelmingly vote to join United Auto Workers union
Employees at a Volkswagen factory in Chattanooga, Tennessee, overwhelmingly voted to join the United Auto Workers union Friday in a historic first test of the UAW’s renewed effort to organize nonunion factories. The union wound up getting 2,628 votes, or 73% of the ballots cast, compared with only 985 who voted no in an election run by the National Labor Relations Board.
https://apnews.com/article/volkswagen-union-vote-united-auto-workers-chattanooga-51544590d8a06efddfa2f6ac7db00fbe

CBS – New York Attorney General Letitia James opposes company holding Trump’s $175 million bond in civil fraud case
New York Attorney General Letitia James on Friday filed a memorandum of opposition to the surety company that holds the $175 million bond for former President Donald Trump as he appeals the $460 million decision against him in the civil fraud trial earlier this year. The attorney general’s office says it is concerned about the financials of the bondholder, Knight Specialty Insurance company, and the collateral for the bond.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/new-york-attorney-general-letitia-james-opposes-trump-bond-in-civil-fraud-case/

Bloomberg – Giuliani’s Son, Former Aide Hit With Subpoenas in Asset Search
Rudolph Giuliani’s creditors expanded their probe into the former New York mayor’s finances, filing more than a dozen subpoenas in his bankruptcy case on Friday. The formal requests, filed Friday in the US Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York, were made by Giuliani’s official committee of unsecured creditors, who are seeking to uncover any hidden assets they believe should be distributed to them.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-04-19/giuliani-s-son-former-aide-hit-with-subpoenas-in-asset-search

WOOHOO! Let’s do this!
AP – Final jurors seated for Trump’s hush money case, with opening statements set for Monday
The final jurors were seated Friday in Donald Trump’s hush money trial, and an appellate judge rejected the former president’s latest bid to halt the case as a hectic day in court set the stage for opening statements to begin Monday.
https://apnews.com/article/trump-trial-hush-money-jury-selection-24147c3774c8a411044c530cafcab292

No paywall
Daily Beast – Trump Fumes as Judge Orders Him to Sit Like a Dog
While the judge maintains a stoic demeanor at all times, the tone was decidedly sharper than even the one he’d taken when expressing disappointment in Trump’s lawyers.
https://au.news.yahoo.com/trump-fumes-judge-orders-him-210004033.html

AP – Trump forced to listen silently to people insulting him as he trades a cocoon of adulation for court
Over the past week, Donald Trump has been forced to sit inside a frigid New York courtroom and listen to a parade of potential jurors in his criminal hush money trial share their unvarnished assessments of him. It’s been a dramatic departure for the former president and presumptive GOP nominee, who is accustomed to spending his days in a cocoon of cheering crowds and constant adulation.
https://apnews.com/article/trump-trial-jurors-hush-money-criticism-b4fe05a61ed566a587523d1120b46a76

AP – Crews turn sights to removing debris from ship’s deck in Baltimore bridge collapse cleanup
An estimated 3,000 to 4,000 tons of steel and concrete landed on the ship’s deck after it crashed into one of the bridge’s supporting columns and toppled the span, officials said at a news conference Friday. Crews will have to remove all that before refloating the stationary ship and guiding it back into the Port of Baltimore.
https://apnews.com/article/baltimore-bridge-collapse-salvage-cleanup-263245c32314d85cf17beff16675e86e

BBC – Man who set himself on fire outside Trump’s Manhattan hush money trial dies
Maxwell Azzarello, 37, doused himself in a liquid before throwing conspiracy-theory pamphlets into the air. It happened as the jury selection for Mr Trump’s trial was completed. He was taken to hospital on Friday in critical condition, where he later died, CBS News the BBC’s US partner confirmed.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-68863157

Rolling Stone – Trump Privately Rages About His Sketch Artist, Courtroom Nap Reports
Donald Trump has been incredibly mad in private about how the first week of his criminal trial went, sources tell us. Targets of his rage have included Maggie Haberman, the courtroom sketch artist, and late-night hosts.
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/trump-trial-mad-haberman-sketch-artist-1235007794/

Imagine that. The con suddenly wants to vouch for the bigger con.
Daily Beast – Stormy Daniels’ Ex Lawyer Michael Avenatti Wants to Testify for Trump: Report
“I’d be more than happy to testify, I don’t know that I will be called to testify, but I have been in touch with Trump’s defense for the better part of year.”
https://www.thedailybeast.com/stormy-daniels-ex-lawyer-michael-avenatti-wants-to-testify-for-trump-report

AP – The House passes billions in aid for Ukraine and Israel after months of struggle. Next is the Senate
The House swiftly approved $95 billion in foreign aid for Ukraine, Israel and other U.S. allies in a rare Saturday session, Democrats and Republicans joining together after months of political turmoil over renewed American support for repelling Russia’s invasion.
https://apnews.com/article/ukraine-aid-israel-tiktok-congress-a8910452e623413bf1da1e491d1d94ba

WORLD

NBC – Germany arrests men accused of spying on U.S. military sites for Russia in sabotage plot to undermine Ukraine aid
The German Federal Prosecutor’s office said in a statement that two German Russian nationals — named only as Dieter S. and Alexander J. in line with the country’s privacy rules — were working with a Russian secret service agent to undermine international military support for Ukraine.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/germany-arrests-russia-spy-sabotage-plot-us-military-sites-ukraine-aid-rcna148331

CBS – U.S. agrees to withdraw troops from Niger
The U.S. has agreed to withdraw its forces from the West African nation of Niger, an official confirmed to CBS News Friday.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/us-agrees-withdraw-troops-niger/

CNN – Explosions injure three people at pro-Iran military base, Iraqi security official says
At least three people were wounded after five explosions rocked a military base belonging to an Iran-backed militia in Iraq, a local security official told CNN Saturday. The blasts happened at a site belonging to the Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), according to Muhannad al-Anazi, a member of the Security Committee in Babylon Governorate, south of the capital Baghdad.
https://www.cnn.com/2024/04/19/middleeast/iraq-explosion-military-base-intl/index.html

CNN – Ukraine launches drone attacks targeting Russian energy infrastructure, Ukraine special services source says
Ukraine launched attacks on eight Russian regions with long-range strike drones in the early hours of Saturday morning, targeting a fuel depot and power substations, according to a statement from a Ukrainian special services source. The overnight attacks, which were confirmed by the Russian Defense Ministry, come amid a renewed effort by Moscow to disable Ukraine’s energy infrastructure and plunge its citizens into darkness, using the freezing temperatures as a weapon of war.
https://www.cnn.com/2024/04/20/europe/ukraine-drone-attacks-russia-intl/index.html

SCIENCE

NBC – Scientists push new paradigm of animal consciousness, saying even insects may be sentient
Far more animals than previously thought likely have consciousness, top scientists say in a new declaration — including fish, lobsters and octopus.
https://www.nbcnews.com/science/science-news/animal-consciousness-scientists-push-new-paradigm-rcna148213

Fox – Local Marion County Health Department warns of possible measles exposure at Children’s Museum on Eclipse day
The Marion County Public Health Department announced Friday that those who attended an eclipse event at the Children’s Museum of Indianapolis earlier this month might have been exposed to measles. MCHD said individuals who attended the solar eclipse event on April 8 might have been exposed to a person with measles who traveled from out of state to attend the event.
https://fox59.com/news/marion-county-health-department-warns-of-possible-measles-exposure-at-childrens-museum-on-eclipse-day/

TEXAS

He can be, but probably won’t be.
AP – Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton can be disciplined for suit to overturn 2020 election, court says
A disciplinary committee of the State Bar of Texas accused Paxton in 2022 of making false claims of fraud in a lawsuit that questioned President Joe Biden’s victory. On Thursday, a three-judge panel of the 5th District Court of Appeals said Paxton can be sanctioned by the committee because the lawsuit seeks to punish him in his personal capacity as an attorney and not as a public official.
https://apnews.com/article/texas-attorney-general-2020-election-ae4d4e0ea614b6476c56cf7de2f87d3d

KXAN – Students plan affinity graduations in just months after University of Texas ban
After a Texas law banned diversity, equity and inclusion offices at public universities in the state, the University of Texas at Austin canceled several minority graduation events it had previously hosted for several years. This news was dropped on minority students around three months before the May 8 graduation weekend, leaving those communities to self-organize their own celebrations without any assistance from the school or its faculty.
https://www.kxan.com/news/education/students-plan-affinity-graduations-in-just-months-after-university-of-texas-ban/

MISC

Reuters – Tesla to recall 3,878 Cybertrucks over faulty accelerator pedal, NHTSA says
Tesla (TSLA.O), opens new tab is recalling 3,878 Cybertrucks to fix an accelerator pedal pad that could come loose and get lodged in the interior trim, the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said on Friday. A trapped accelerator pedal could cause the vehicle to accelerate unintentionally, increasing the risk of a crash, the auto safety regulator said in a notice, opens new tab.
https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/tesla-recall-3878-cybertrucks-nhtsa-says-2024-04-19/