THE SHOW NOTES: DeSantis Steps on Trump, Trump's Legal Calendar, & The Putin Deal
Welcome! Biden almost fell asleep in a joint press conference with Israeli President Herzog
WATCH: Here’s the full Jake Tapper interview with Ron DeSantis.
NEW: IRS whistleblowers will testify to Congress as they claim ‘slow-walking’ of the Hunter Biden case - AP
HEADLINE: Ruth Bader Ginsburg's Mysterious $1 Million Prize - WFB
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CNBC Slams Red States
In its annual report of top states to live and work, CNBC placed ten bright red states at the very bottom of its index by ignoring economic factors and focusing on transgenderism, voting access, and abortion rights. Here are the quotes:
Florida:
Florida is also one of the most difficult states to vote in, according to researchers at Northern Illinois University. DeSantis argues that none of this is stopping huge numbers of people from moving to Florida, and he has a point. The state leads the nation in just about every measure of migration. But rated strictly on Life, Health and Inclusion, the Sunshine State can be a dreary place.
Texas:
The Lone Star State keeps hacking away at inclusiveness, with laws targeting the LGBTQ+ population, voting rights, and the nation’s strictest abortion ban. Yes, there are enormous economic opportunities in Texas, and it is attracting people from far and wide. But this state also has some Texas-sized issues when it comes to life, health and inclusion.
Trump’s Legal Schedule
US District Court Judge Aileen Cannon told Trump lawyers and Jack Smith’s team that the classified document trial schedule would not be predicated on the 2024 election schedule after a two-hour meeting with both sides yesterday.
Details: Jack Smith’s team lobbied for an expedited trial that would commence before the end of the year. The judge claimed that this timetable was unlikely due to the volume of discovery materials but essentially ruled against the Trump team’s request of punting the trial until after the 2024 election.
Why this matters: Though a date was not set, Trump’s legal calendar is filling up. The hush money indictment in New York, the classified document indictment in Florida, the newly revealed January 6th investigation by Smith, and the pending election interference case in Georgia are all but certain to consume a significant portion of Trump’s 2024 calendar.
COVID Deaths
The New York Times now admits that COVID deaths were overcounted by as much as 33%.
The official number is probably an exaggeration because it includes some people who had virus when they died even though it was not the underlying cause of death. Other C.D.C. data suggests that almost one-third of official recent Covid deaths have fallen into this category. A study published in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases came to similar conclusions.
The Putin Deal
A shocking speech from the head of MI6 claims that Vladimir Putin struck a deal with Wagner’s Yevgeny Prigozhin to avoid a civil war. “He really didn’t fight back against Prigozhin… He cut a deal to save his skin, using the good offices of the leader of Belarus.”
Context: The statement paints Vladimir Putin as weak and isolated as Ukraine continues to repel Russian forces and recapture land in the far east. The MI6 chief claimed Prigozhin is alive and well while his Wagner forces have largely been pulled from the Ukrainian front.
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