Trump’s Cases, Calls For Ceasefire, & Self-Driving Cars Get The Boot
October 25, 2023
Leadership That Inspires…People To Snitch
The walls are closing in on former President Donald Trump. On Tuesday, multiple members of Trump’s organization abandoned and testified against their former boss as cases against Trump in many different districts continue to develop.
In the Georgia election subversion case, former Trump campaign lawyer Jenna Ellis pleaded guilty to one count of aiding and abetting false statements (a felony) before announcing that she would be cooperating with county prosecutors. In return, she’ll receive five years of probation and have to pay $5,000 in restitution. In her plea, Ellis implicated fellow Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani, saying that she “intentionally aided and abetted” him and another Trump lawyer “in knowingly, willfully, and unlawfully making … false statements to members of the Georgia Senate.”
In New York, Trump’s former lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen testified against his ex-boss in a civil trial. That case alleges that Trump and his associates committed financial fraud, including overvaluing his assets to get better business deals and tax benefits. Cohen said his role in the scheme “was to reverse engineer the very different asset classes, increase those assets in order to achieve the numbers” that Trump requested of him.
To round out the day, ABC News revealed that Trump’s former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows had struck a deal with special counsel Jack Smith’s investigation into Trump’s attempts to overturn the 2020 election. Meadows has apparently spoken to Smith’s team three times, including once before a federal grand jury, after he was granted immunity by the Justice Department. Meadows might prove to be a key witness in the investigation due to his leadership in the Trump White House, but experts also say that his testimony might not be able to nail Trump should the investigation come to a courtroom trial.
Last week, we shared a story about Elon Musk charging $1/year to use X (formerly Twitter). We asked our Daily Pnut readers if they would be willing to pay for the platform. Here are the results of that survey.
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Pleading For Peace In The Middle East
- On Tuesday, the U.N., U.S., and Canada all called for a humanitarian pause in the Israel-Hamas war. The pause would allow organizations to send much-needed humanitarian aid into Gaza, which has been fully besieged by Israel over the past two weeks. U.N. agencies said they were begging “on our knees” for Israel to lift its siege of the area, adding that Gaza needs 20 times the amount of aid it’s currently receiving in order to support its population.
- According to the Palestinian health ministry, at least 5,791 Palestinians have been killed in the conflict so far, with over 700 of those deaths occurring after a recent spike in IDF airstrikes. Hospital workers in Gaza say that the situation in the area is only getting worse, with diseases spreading due to overcrowding and poor sanitation. All hospitals in the area say they’re running out of fuel for generators, which will leave them largely unable to treat those in need. Israel, for its part, seems to be ramping up for its ground invasion of Gaza, with thousands of troops undergoing rapid urban warfare training at one of its army bases.
Probing For A Political Purpose
- On Monday, China’s state-backed Global Times released a story claiming that Taiwanese electronics giant Foxconn is facing a tax probe in China. The news, confirmed by the company, is expected to disrupt Taiwan’s upcoming presidential election, where Foxconn founder Terry Gou is running as an independent candidate.
- Gou’s election bid is projected to play spoiler for Taiwan’s opposition Kuomintang party, which is trying to win the presidency over the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP). The probe might harm Gou’s chances given his ties to the company, making it easier for the Kuomintang to win the election.
- This, in turn, might help China – the Kuomintang seems more open to dialogue with Beijing than the DPP, and has said that it will reopen talks with China if it gains power in January’s election. The DPP has called the tax probe an example of Chinese meddling in Taiwanese elections.
Additional World News
- 40 years after bombing that killed Americans in Beirut, US troops again deploy east of Mediterranean (AP)
- White House says Iran ‘actively facilitating’ some attacks on US military bases (Reuters)
- 2 cargo ships collide off coast of Germany. At least 1 sailor dead and 4 missing (ABC)
- Air pollution: Delhi air turns very poor but ‘worst is yet to come’ (BBC)
- At least 24 killed, including at least 12 police officers, in attacks in Mexico (CBS)
- 4 suspected North Korean defectors found in a small boat in South Korean waters (ABC)
- China’s Xi makes first known visit to central bank (Reuters)
“Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes.” – Carl Jung
Too Moderate To Succeed
- Just a few hours after getting enough votes to be the GOP nominee, Minnesota Representative Tom Emmer withdrew his name from consideration when it became clear that he wouldn’t be able to secure the 217 votes necessary to be elected Speaker of the House. This marks the third failed candidate, after Reps. Steve Scalise and Jim Jordan – only Jordan made it to the House vote stage.
- A key issue for Emmer was his “moderate” stance on issues – Emmer voted to certify the 2020 election and codify same-sex marriage. He also got a shout-out from former President Trump on Truth Social that might have tanked his chances as well, where Trump called him “RINO” and said he “never respected the Power of a Trump Endorsement.”
- Late last night, Reps. Chuck Fleischmann and Mark Green, of Tennessee, and Roger Williams of Texas were eliminated in the first round of speaker votes. This left Byron Donalds of Florida and Mike Johnson of Louisiana. In the final vote of the night, Mike Johnson secured the nomination for the speakership – a roll-call vote will be held this morning to determine if he can reach the 217-vote threshold.
Will Facebook Face The Music?
- In a federal lawsuit filed against Meta in California by 33 attorneys general, over half the states in the country are arguing that the social media company’s products, which include Instagram and Facebook, have harmed minors and contributed to a mental health crisis. The lawsuit accuses Meta of using addictive features like infinite news feeds and constant notifications.
- “Meta’s design choices and practices take advantage of and contribute to young users’ susceptibility to addiction,” the complaint reads. “They exploit psychological vulnerabilities of young users through the false promise that meaningful social connection lies in the next story, image, or video and that ignoring the next piece of social content could lead to social isolation.”
Additional USA Reads
- Former NSA worker pleads guilty to trying to sell US secrets to Russia (AP)
- TSA investigating after Washington state senator arrested in Hong Kong for bringing firearm in luggage (ABC)
- Winter weather punch for northern US this week: Blizzard possible, glacial temps (USA Today)
- 8 kids abducted from Arkansas found safe in California parking lot; mom arrested (NBC)
- Sen. Bob Menendez pleads not guilty to foreign agent charge (NBC)
- Kevin McCarthy dismissed Liz Cheney warning before January 6, book says (Guardian)
- ‘Delusional’: Capitol Hill hawks skewer Gavin Newsom’s China trip (Politico)
Self-Driving Cars Hit A Wall
- California has quickly shut down part of a self-driving car experiment that it expanded in August. On Tuesday, the state’s DMV announced it had ordered Cruise, General Motors’ self-driving car unit, to immediately stop operating its driverless cars in the state due to safety concerns with the autonomous vehicles. “When there is an unreasonable risk to public safety, the DMV can immediately suspend or revoke permits,” California’s DMV wrote in a statement. There is no set time for a suspension.
- The shutdown comes after a series of incidents involving Cruise cars. Earlier this month, a car hit a pedestrian walking in downtown San Francisco, continuing to roll over her before coming to a stop with the victim still under its wheels. Rescuers were forced to use the jaws of life to get her out, and she survived the incident after sustaining life-threatening injuries.
- Cruise’s cars have developed a bad reputation in the city, where 300 of the vehicles were operating earlier this year (that number was halved after one of the cars hit a firetruck in August). For our self-driving car fans out there, though, don’t worry – other self-driving cars, such as Google’s Waymo vehicles, are still allowed to fully operate in California.
Additional Reads
- Runaway zebras delighted the nation — and exposed their owner’s dark past (WaPo, $)
- How the Israel-Hamas War Imperils Action Against Global Warming (NYT, $)
- Skeletons unearthed in ‘incredibly rare’ 5,000-year-old Scottish tomb (CNN)
- Rapid melting in West Antarctica is ‘unavoidable,’ with potentially disastrous consequences for sea level rise, study finds (CNN)
- Rock star Poison frontman Bret Michaels adopts namesake stray dog (WaPo, $)
- Ancient face carvings exposed as Amazon water level drops to record lows (CNN)
- Scientists have discovered an ancient river landscape hidden beneath the East Antarctic Ice Sheet (ABC)