Zooey Archive

FBI Director Christopher Wray reveals new details about Trump shooting at House hearing

cbsnews.com – By Melissa Quinn, Caitlin Yilek -Washington — FBI Director Christopher Wray testified before House lawmakers Wednesday about the investigation into the assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump, and he revealed new details about the gunman’s actions in the lead-up to the July 13 shooting in Pennsylvania.

Wray told members of the House Judiciary Committee that the gunman, 20-year-old Thomas Crooks, flew a drone near the site of the rally roughly two hours before he opened fire. Wray said investigators recovered the drone in Crooks’ vehicle, and the bureau believes he was watching video streamed from the device to scout the area.

The FBI chief also said agents recovered a total of three “relatively crude” explosive devices: two from Crooks’ vehicle and one from his residence. Crooks had a transmitter that would have allowed him to detonate the devices in his car remotely, but the receivers on the bombs were turned off, Wray said.

Eight cartridges from spent bullets were found on the roof where Crooks opened fire, Wray confirmed. The gunman killed one attendee and wounded Trump and two others.

Investigators have managed to gain access to Crooks’ phone, which Wray said was a “significant technical challenge.” He said agents discovered Crooks was using encrypted messaging apps to communicate.

more… https://www.cbsnews.com/live-updates/shooting-of-trump-christopher-wray-testifies-congress/ 

Elon Musk Says He Never Pledged to Donate $45 Million Per Month to Trump

rollingstone.com – On Monday, Tesla CEO Elon Musk denied a report that he is donating $45 million per month to a Super PAC to boost Donald Trump, while taking credit for starting the group.

The Wall Street Journal reported last week that “Musk has said he plans to commit around $45 million a month” to the pro-Trump Super PAC, citing “people familiar with the matter.” Musk, the world’s richest man, rejected the WSJ report in an interview on Monday with conservative commentator Jordan Peterson.

“What’s been reported in the media is simply not true,” Musk said. “I’m not donating $45 million a month to Trump. What I have done is I have created a PAC, or Super PAC, whatever you want to call it. I simply call it the America PAC.”Over the weekend, Trump bragged about Musk’s reported donations at a campaign rally in Michigan.

Global Tech Outage Grounds Flights and Hits Businesses

nytimes.com – by Adam Satariano and Derrick Bryson Taylor – A massive global technology outage on Friday took down airlines, medical services, TV broadcasts, banks and scores of other business and services around the world, a stunning example of the fragile dependence the global economy has on certain software and the cascading effect it can have when things go wrong.

The outage was attributed to CrowdStrike, a cybersecurity firm whose software is used by scores of industries around the world to protect against hackers and outside breaches. Several governments said they found no evidence of a computer attack. A software update issued by CrowdStrike appeared to be at the root of problem, resulting in crashes of machines running Microsoft Windows operating system.

Here’s how the spillover effects are being felt all over the world:

  • At least three major U.S. airlines, American, United and Delta, grounded all flights, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.

  • The issues were also being felt at airports around the world, including Hong Kong International Airport, Sydney Airport, Berlin Brandenburg Airport and Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam. At the Manchester Airport in Britain, there were long lines in the departures area as many machines at check-in counters were not working. Ryanair, one of the largest airlines in Europe, said it was experiencing disruption because of a third party IT outage that is “entirely out of our control.”

  • In the U.S., the outage appeared to be affecting emergency 911 lines in multiple states, the U.S. Emergency Alert System said on social media. It said people experiencing emergencies should call the number for their local police or fire department.

  • In Britain, the National Health Service was experiencing a loss of access to its computer systems across a number of hospitals and doctors offices.

  • More… https://www.nytimes.com/live/2024/07/19/business/global-tech-outage 

Trump Ally Forced to Pay $215 Million for Deporting Migrants

newsweek.com – By Nick Mordowanec – Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban is lashing out after the European Union fined his nation nearly $215 million for violating the EU‘s asylum and migration laws.

The EU’s Court of Justice, based in Luxembourg, said in a statement issued Thursday that Hungary must pay a lump sum of 200 million euros and a penalty payment of 1 million euros per day of delay for failure to comply with a judgment derived from “deliberately avoiding the application of a common EU policy as a whole,” adding it constitutes “an unprecedented and extremely serious infringement of EU law.”

Orban, a right-wing lawmaker and strong ally of former U.S. President Donald Trump, called the fines “outrageous and unacceptable” in a post on X, formerly Twitter.

More… https://www.newsweek.com/trump-orban-hungary-eu-asylum-migrants-1912543 

After backlash, Trump pulls social media post with reference to ‘unified Reich’

Reuters

By Nathan Layne

Donald Trump deleted a video posted to his Truth Social account that included reference to a “unified Reich” after President Joe Biden’s campaign and others criticized the use of language often associated with the Nazi regime.

The 30-second video, which was posted on Monday afternoon, was no longer available on the website by early morning on Tuesday. A person familiar with the matter confirmed the post had been removed from the site.

The video portrayed a positive vision for the country should the Republican presidential candidate defeat Biden, a Democrat, in November’s election, featuring hypothetical newspaper headlines about a booming economy and a crackdown on immigration at the southern border.

At two points in the video, text below a larger headline reads: “INDUSTRIAL STRENGTH SIGNIFICANTLY INCREASED… DRIVEN BY THE CREATION OF A UNIFIED REICH.” The text is somewhat blurred, making it difficult to make out at first glance.

Trump has made a series of inflammatory remarks on the campaign trail, calling political enemies “vermin” and saying immigrants who entered the nation illegally were “poisoning the blood of our country.” Those drew heavy criticism from Democrats and some historians who said they echoed Nazi rhetoric.

Speaking at two fundraisers in Boston on Tuesday, Biden criticized the use of a word often associated with Nazi Germany’s Third Reich under Adolf Hitler.

more… https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/after-backlash-trump-pulls-social-media-post-with-reference-to-unified-reich/ar-BB1mOoPN?ocid=BingNewsSerp 

NYT: RFK Jr. says worm ‘got into my brain and ate a portion of it’

cnn.com – By Michelle Shen – Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. experienced a series of health issues in recent years, including an abnormality that he said was caused by a worm that entered his brain and then died, The New York Times reported on Wednesday.

In 2010, Kennedy, now 70, experienced severe memory loss and mental fog, he said in a deposition two years later. According to the Times, he consulted top neurologists familiar with the medical history of his uncle, the late Sen. Ted Kennedy, who had died of brain cancer in 2009. A New York doctor, after reviewing a scan of his brain, told him that his health issues could be “caused by a worm that got into my brain and ate a portion of it and then died,” Kennedy said in the 2012 deposition, which concerned a divorce from his second wife, Mary Richardson Kennedy. Robert Kennedy said at the time that his earning power had been negatively affected by the cognitive issues, the Times reported.

https://www.cnn.com/2024/05/08/politics/rfk-jr-mercury-poisoning-brain-parasite/index.html 

Cluster of ‘UFOs’ spotted in night sky after powerful 5.6-magnitude earthquake

May 6, 2024

The cluster of gold simmering so-called UFOs sparked widespread curiosity after they were spotted in the night sky above following a 5.6 magnitude earthquake close to Turhal, in Turkey

mirror.co.uk – By Anders Anglesey – A cluster of what appeared to be UFOs stunned onlookers after they were spotted in the night sky following a 5.6-magnitude earthquake.

The tremor was recorded about 25 miles from Turhal, about 481 miles east of Turkey’s largest city Istanbul, at about 6:10pm on April 18. While the quake had a shallow depth of six miles, it was widely felt in the region.

Locals were left stunned when a swarm of bright lights shimmered in the night sky later that night. In one recording, dozens of bright lights could be seen shooting across the night sky as a couple discussed what it could be. The man said: “You need to see this.” A woman replied: “What are those? Why are the birds shining like white gold?”

More…. https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/weird-news/cluster-ufos-spotted-night-sky-32745820 

‘SNL’ Cold Open Mocks Donald Trump’s Bible Venture: “Sounds Like a Joke. And in Many Ways It Is, But It’s Also Real”

hollywoodreporter.com –  by Kimberly Nordyke – Trump’s Bible product, which is being sold for $59.99, includes the U.S. Constitution, the Bill of Rights, the Declaration of Independence, the Pledge of Allegiance and the handwritten chorus to “God Bless the USA.”

Saturday Night Live mocked Donald Trump‘s most recent venture — promoting the “God Bless the USA Bible” — on its most recent episode.

The product, which is “inspired by” country musician Lee Greenwood’s song “God Bless the USA,” is being sold for $59.99. It includes the U.S. Constitution, the Bill of Rights, the Declaration of Independence, the Pledge of Allegiance and the handwritten chorus to “God Bless the USA.”

In Saturday’s cold open, Trump (played by James Austin Johnson) noted that it’s Easter — “the time of year when I compare myself to Jesus Christ. That’s just the thing I do now and people seem to be OK with it. I’m gonna keep doing it. And if you think that this is a bad look, imagine how weird it would be if I started selling Bibles. Well, I’m selling Bibles.” 

More… https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/snl-cold-open-mocks-donald-trump-bible-venture-1235863610/ 

Sam Bankman-Fried Sentenced to 25 Years in Prison in FTX Fraud Trial

rollingstone.com – by Daniel Kreps – Sam Bankman-Fried has been sentenced to 25 years in prison after being found guilty of fraud charges in connection to his collapsed cryptocurrency exchange FTX.

Bankman-Fried was charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, securities fraud, money laundering, and violations of campaign finance law in December 2022. The then-30-year-old allegedly defrauded millions of investors through FTX crypto schemes, including using customer investments in the amount of $8 million to fund side investments and pay off debts.

In November 2023 – after a trial that featured both shocking testimony from ex-girfriend/co-conspirator Caroline Ellison as well as evasive testimony from Bankman-Fried himself in his own defense – SBF was convicted of the federal charges, which carried a sentence of up to 115 years in prison.

Prior to sentencing, Bankman-Fried addressed the court and said the FTX collapse “haunts him every day.” “A lot of people feel really let down, and they were very let down, and I am sorry about that.” he said. “I am sorry about what happened at every stage. And there are things I should’ve done and things I shouldn’t have.”

SBF added prior to sentencing (via CNN), “My useful life is probably over. It’s been over for a while now.”

His lawyer, Marc Mukasey, told the judge, “Sam was not a ruthless financial serial killer who set out every morning to hurt people. His real motivations were misapprehended and misunderstood. Really, he’s an awkward math nerd.”

more…  https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/sam-bankman-fried-sentenced-prison-ftx-fraud-trial-1234995536/ 

Trump can’t post $464M bond in New York civil case, lawyers say

politico.com – Donald Trump told an appellate court here Monday that he can’t obtain a bond for the full amount of the civil fraud judgment against him — more than $450 million, including interest — raising the possibility that the state attorney general’s office could begin to seize his assets unless the court agrees to halt the judgment while the former president appeals the verdict.

Trump’s lawyers said in a court filing that “ongoing diligent efforts have proven that a bond in the judgment’s full amount is a ‘practical impossibility,’” adding that those efforts “have included approaching about 30 surety companies through 4 separate brokers.”

When a defendant appeals a civil judgment, the defendant can prevent collection efforts while the appeal proceeds by either posting the full amount into an escrow fund or securing a third-party bond to guarantee the full amount.

More… https://www.politico.com/news/2024/03/18/trump-cant-post-bond-new-york-civil-case-00147563