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  • Hunger strike of jailed Egyptian-British activist may dominate the COP27 summit, Amnesty chief warns | CNN

    Hunger strike of jailed Egyptian-British activist may dominate the COP27 summit, Amnesty chief warns | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    The deteriorating health of jailed Egyptian-British activist, Alaa Abd El-Fattah will dominate the upcoming COP27 summit if Egyptian authorities fail to intervene, Amnesty International has warned.

    Fears have mounted for the life of writer Abd El-Fattah who escalated a more than 200-day hunger strike on Sunday by refusing to drink water.

    “Let’s be very clear, we’re running out of time. So, if the authorities do not want to end up with a death they should have and could have prevented, they must act now; 24, 48 hours, 72 hours at the most, that’s how long they have to save a life,” Amnesty International Secretary-General Agnes Callamard told a news conference in Giza, Egypt, on Sunday.

    “If they don’t, that death will be holding on to COP27, it will be in every single discussion, every single discussion there will be Alaa there,” Callamard added.

    Abd El-Fattah, who became a leading voice in the country’s 2011 uprising, has been imprisoned over the course of nine years. In 2019, he was sentenced to a further five years in prison for allegedly spreading false news after sharing a Facebook post highlighting human rights abuses in Egyptian jails.

    Callamard said that the “extraordinarily severe human rights situation” in Egypt is “at the heart” of agenda of the COP27 summit, which kicked off in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, on Sunday.

    “In other words, yes it’s about climate justice but you cannot deliver climate justice anywhere in the world, including in Egypt, if you don’t have human rights protection,” Callamard told journalists.

    British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak made a pledge on Sunday to raise the case of Abd El-Fattah to the Egyptian government when he attends the summit next week.

    In a letter to Abd El-Fattah’s sister, Sanaa Seif, Sunak conveyed his concern regarding the activist’s “deteriorating health,” adding his case “remains a priority for the British government.”

    According to Sunak, British “ministers and officials continue to press for urgent consular access to Alaa as well as calling for his release at the highest levels of the Egyptian government.”

    In a letter written to Sunak and shared with CNN, Seif said: “It is my sincere belief that if Alaa is not released within the coming days that he will die in person, quite possibly while you are in Egypt.”

    Abd El-Fattah’s mother was born in London in 1956 and in 2021 he acquired British citizenship, according to the Free Alaa campaign website. Since then, it has been his right to a consular visit by representatives of the British embassy, a right that has so far been refused by Egypt, Free Alaa said.

    The Free Alaa campaign says Abd El-Fattah has been on hunger strike since April 2.

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  • ‘The Crown’ reloads with new leads and old troubles in a more disjointed fifth season | CNN

    ‘The Crown’ reloads with new leads and old troubles in a more disjointed fifth season | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    Questions of propriety about the fifth season of “The Crown” premiering two months after Queen Elizabeth II’s death are largely eclipsed by other issues, as the Netflix series reloads with new prestige talent in key roles and old troubles, while feeling more disjointed than unusual. The result is an uneven campaign that reinforces a sense the Emmy-winning series risks extending its reign too long.

    That theme is among the juiciest bits of palace intrigue in the new season, as Prince Charles (Dominic West) chafes about his heir-in-waiting status and openly discusses “Queen Victoria Syndrome,” a reference to his mother, the Queen (Imelda Staunton), being too rooted in the past and tradition to meet the shifting demands of a modern monarchy.

    Of course, the season begins in 1991, so there’s the tantalizing knowledge that Elizabeth would retain that title for another three decades, and that Charles is about to badly damage his public image thanks to the breakup of his marriage to Diana (Elizabeth Debicki), who perfectly captures Diana’s pensive, vaguely sad gaze. The character fares less well in terms of emotional insights, since she’s portrayed less sympathetically this time around, at least in her naivete about the hell that speaking publicly about the Royal Family would unleash.

    The discomfort associated with those public flareups falls upon the new Prime Minister, John Major (Jonny Lee Miller), who recognizes the dynamics of what’s happening better than the key players, which doesn’t make his role any less uncomfortable for him.

    Writer/producer Peter Morgan again wades into all kinds of situations over the 10 episodes, including the unlikely friendship that develops between Prince Philip (Jonathan Pryce, who plays a large role) and Penny Knatchbull (Natascha McElhone), the much-younger wife of Philip’s godson, which begins as he seeks to console her over the tragic death of her daughter.

    Philip also takes it upon himself to chide Diana for failing to understand the institution into which she married, reminding her that it’s “not a family. It’s a system.”

    Still, given the focus on Diana and Charles during this decade, the digressions seem more pronounced – and in some instances, questionable – this season, from the plight of Princess Margaret (now Lesley Manville), who hasn’t entirely made peace with her past, to an extensive detour into the backstory of Dodi and Mohamed al-Fayed (“The Kite Runner’s” Khalid Abdalla and Salim Daw, respectively), Diana’s eventual boyfriend and his status-obsessed wealthy father, in whose eyes the younger man can never achieve enough.

    Throw in an episode devoted to Russia and the Royals’ sordid history around the Revolution, and it occasionally feels like a bridge or two too far.

    The upper lips remain incredibly stiff, even under the most trying of circumstances. When Charles privately tells his mother in regard to Diana, “I’ve done as you asked, mummy. I’ve tried to make it work,” she responds tartly that “Being happily married is a preference rather than a requirement.”

    The casting remains a gaudy flex at almost every level –Timothy Dalton even shows up in a small but significant cameo – and for those who can’t get enough Royal gossip, Morgan again makes the audience privy to his version of what unfolded behind closed doors, such as Charles and Diana quietly chatting after finalizing their divorce.

    “You’ve never been young, even when you were young,” she tells him.

    “The Crown” has been great, as the Emmy haul for its fourth season attests, and it’s still pretty good. Yet given the highs that the younger versions of these characters delivered, to borrow from the Queen, watching the current season feels more like a preference than a requirement.

    “The Crown” begins its fifth season November 9 on Netflix.

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  • Oath Keepers leader testifies 2020 election was ‘unconstitutional,’ paints himself as anti-violence | CNN Politics

    Oath Keepers leader testifies 2020 election was ‘unconstitutional,’ paints himself as anti-violence | CNN Politics

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    CNN
     — 

    Stewart Rhodes, the leader of the right-wing Oath Keepers who prosecutors say called for a “bloody revolution” to keep then-President Donald Trump in power, painted himself as an anti-racist Libertarian who believed the 2020 election was unconstitutional as he testified in his own defense on Friday.

    Rhodes is the first of the five defendants charged with seditious conspiracy in federal court in Washington, DC, to testify.

    The courtroom was packed during his testimony, and Rhodes choked up several times discussing his family, suicide rates among veterans and other subjects highlighted by his lawyer, Phillip Linder. He spoke directly to the jury and appeared very comfortable on the stand.

    Rhodes explained to the jury that he didn’t believe either Trump or Joe Biden won in 2020 because the election itself was “unconstitutional.”

    “I believe the election was unconstitutional, and that made it invalid,” Rhodes testified. “You really can’t have a winner of an unconstitutional election.”

    Rhodes told the jury that, as he saw it, election laws in several states were changed by “executive fiat” and not through the state legislature.

    “In multiple states especially in the swing states … you had them putting in new rules in direct violation” of state laws, Rhodes said.

    “Everyone kept focusing on the computers” and other theories of voter fraud, Rhodes said, instead of the constitutional issues, which they needed to discuss before figuring out “whether there’s fraud on the ground.”

    Rhodes did not detail any specific laws that were changed. CNN has found no evidence of widespread fraud in the 2020 election.

    Prosecutors have alleged that Rhodes wanted Trump to remain in power and that the militia leader supported a “bloody revolution” to secure the presidency.

    Rhodes told the jury Friday how he was honorably discharged from the military and went on to study law at Yale, focusing his attention on the Bill of Rights – which Rhodes called “the crown jewel of our Constitution” – and protecting civilian rights in the wake of the 9/11 terror attacks.

    Rhodes, a self-described Libertarian, testified that he founded the Oath Keepers in 2009 to “reach, change and inspire” people about what rights the Constitution afforded them.

    Pushing back on what he saw as narratives that the Oath Keepers were racist or white nationalists, Rhodes said the organization traveled to various cities for racial justice protests, claiming the group protected “minority business owners” in Ferguson, Missouri.

    “Frankly we kind of embarrassed the police, Rhodes testified, “because we showed them how to do it right, protecting the business owners while still respecting the rights of the protesters.”

    Oath Keepers rules, Rhodes claimed, specifically bar any member who “advocates for the overthrow of the United States.”

    During the first several weeks of the seditious conspiracy trial against the far-right organization, prosecutors presented evidence that the Oath Keepers stockpiled weapons at a hotel in Virginia on January 6 as part of a so-called quick reaction force. Prosecutors alleged that the five defendants intended to use those weapons in case called upon by Trump to stop the transfer of power to Biden.

    Rhodes told the jury that wasn’t the case and claimed that the QRF’s were set up at an event the Oath Keepers attended to “respond in case there is an emergency,” including if his men were ever injured.

    The Oath Keepers also used QRFs every time they provided security, Rhodes said, including several events in Washington, DC. After the election, Rhodes testified he was concerned Antifa would “attack the White House,” and claimed the leftist organization was threatening to “drag Trump out” if the president refused to concede.

    In November, “I was concerned that this might actually happen,” Rhodes told the jury, citing his rhetoric on a recorded meeting prosecutors showed the jury in which Rhodes allegedly said that “there’s going to be a fight.”

    If Antifa did try to attack the White House, Rhodes said that “President Trump could use the Insurrection Act, declare this an insurrection, and use myself and other veterans to protect the White House.”

    No such attack at the White House occurred.

    Rhodes is expected to continue his testimony on Monday.

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  • What you should know about getting a flu vaccine this year, according to an expert | CNN

    What you should know about getting a flu vaccine this year, according to an expert | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    Welcome to this year’s flu season.

    This year’s flu strain has already begun spreading across the United States, according to new data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. There have been at least 880,000 cases of influenza, nearly 7,000 hospitalizations and, tragically, 360 deaths from the flu this fall, including one pediatric death. Not since 2009, during the height of the H1N1 swine flu pandemic, have there been this many cases of influenza so early in the season.

    Despite these numbers, many people wonder if the flu is really that serious of an illness. What’s the benefit of the vaccine, especially if some people may still get the flu despite being vaccinated? Could you get the flu from the vaccine? If you get the Covid vaccine, do you still need the flu vaccine?

    To guide us through these questions and more, I spoke with CNN Medical Analyst Dr. Leana Wen, an emergency physician, public health expert and professor of health policy and management at the George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health. She is also the author of “Lifelines: A Doctor’s Journey in the Fight for Public Health.”

    CNN: Is the flu a serious illness? What symptoms do people experience?

    Dr. Leana Wen: It certainly can be serious. The CDC estimates that flu resulted between 9 million and 41 million illnesses, 140,000 to 710,000 hospitalizations, and 12,000 to 52,000 deaths annually across the US between 2010 and 2020.

    Symptoms of the flu include fever, muscle aches, headaches, fatigue, coughing and a runny nose. A lot of people recover within several days, but some may still be feeling unwell as long as 10 days to two weeks after the onset of their symptoms. Some will develop complications, including sinus and ear infections, pneumonia, and inflammation of the brain. The flu can also exacerbate underlying medical conditions — for example, people with chronic lung and heart diseases can see their conditions worsen due to the flu.

    Even generally healthy people can become very ill due to the flu. However, those particularly susceptible to severe outcomes include those 65 and older, young children under 2, pregnant people and people with underlying medical conditions.

    CNN: What’s the benefit of the vaccine, especially if some people may get the flu despite being vaccinated?

    Wen: The flu vaccine does two things. First and most importantly, it reduces your chance of severe illness — that is, of being hospitalized or dying. Second, it can also reduce your likelihood of getting sick from the flu at all.

    In a sense, this is not too different from the Covid-19 vaccine. The most important reason to get vaccinated against both the flu and the coronavirus is to prevent severe illness. New data released in the CDC’s latest morbidity and mortality report shows this year’s flu vaccine reduces the risk of hospitalization by about 50%. A 2018 study found that people vaccinated against the flu were 59% less likely to be admitted to the ICU due to influenza when compared with those who were unvaccinated.

    The vaccine’s effectiveness can vary depending on how well matched the vaccine is to circulating influenza strains. The CDC cites vaccine effectiveness against “medically attended illness” anywhere from 23% to 61% depending on the year and vaccine-to-strain match. It’s true, then, that you could get the flu vaccine and still contract the flu. But the vaccine does reduce your chance thereof — and, crucially, it reduces the likelihood that you could end up very ill.

    Another thing to consider is that there are a lot of other viruses that can cause flu-like symptoms. The flu vaccine helps protect against viral infections caused by influenza, but there are a lot of other causes of viral syndromes, including adenovirus, rhinovirus, parainfluenza and others. These other viruses spread easily, too, and there aren’t vaccines against them. I often hear patients say they once got the flu the same year they had a flu vaccine, and that’s why they don’t want to get vaccinated again. But when I ask them whether they were actually diagnosed with the flu or just had flu-like symptoms, they would say the latter.

    CNN: Should children and pregnant people also get the flu vaccine?

    Wen: Absolutely. These are groups particularly vulnerable to severe outcomes, so it’s very important they receive the flu vaccine.

    One study found the flu vaccine reduces children’s risk of severe life-threatening influenza by 75%. Another found it reduced flu-related emergency department visits in children by half.

    Similar results are found in people who are pregnant. Not only does the flu vaccine protect the pregnant person, if the vaccine is given during pregnancy it also helps protect their baby from the flu for the first few months of its life. That’s important, because the flu vaccine is not available to babies until they are 6 months or older.

    CNN: Could you get the flu from the vaccine?

    Wen: No. The flu vaccine is an inactivated vaccine, which means it does not contain the live virus and therefore cannot cause the flu. It is also a very well-tolerated vaccine, with the most common side effect being discomfort at the injection site that is gone after a day.

    CNN: If you got the Covid-19 vaccine, do you still need the flu vaccine?

    Wen: Yes. Different vaccines target different viruses. The Covid vaccine helps to protect against Covid, but does not protect against the flu, and vice versa. You can receive the Covid vaccine (or bivalent booster) at the same time as you receive the flu vaccine, just in a different injection site.

    CNN: Some people have been waiting until later in the flu season to get the flu vaccine. Is this a good idea?

    Wen: At this point, no, because it’s now clear this flu season is starting earlier than usual. Cases are already high, and it takes about two weeks to reach optimal immune protection after vaccination. I’d encourage people who have not yet received the flu vaccine to get it now.

    CNN: What should people know about treatments for the flu?

    Wen: Most cases of the flu can be treated symptomatically, meaning patients get rest, hydration and treatment for symptoms that come up — such as fever-reducing medicines like acetaminophen or ibuprofen. There are also antiviral treatments available. These are really important for people at high risk for severe influenza complications and/or who are very ill. The earlier such treatments are started, the better. An oral medication, oseltamivir (Tamiflu), can also be given to non-high-risk patients, too, within 48 hours of the start of their illness.

    I’d encourage everyone to have an influenza plan, the same way they should have a Covid plan. Ask your doctor in advance if you should receive Tamiflu or another antiviral treatment. Know how you can get testing and where you can access treatment, including after hours and on weekends.

    CNN: How can people prevent catching the flu?

    Wen: The flu is primarily spread through droplets — if an infected person coughs or sneezes, these droplets can land on someone else nearby. It’s also possible that the droplets land on a surface, from which someone gets infected after touching it and then touching their nose, mouth or eyes.

    We can help to reduce flu transmission by staying away from others while symptomatic. We should all cough or sneeze into our elbow or a tissue, and wash our hands frequently, including after touching high-contact surfaces. Individuals particularly vulnerable to severe outcomes should consider wearing a mask to reduce their chance of contracting viral illnesses like the flu. And, of course, get vaccinated!

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  • How to vote for the 2022 CNN Hero of the Year | CNN

    How to vote for the 2022 CNN Hero of the Year | CNN

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    Anderson Cooper shows you hwo to vote. You can vote up to 10 times a day, every day through Tuesday December 6.

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  • Julia Roberts reveals Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King paid the hospital bill for her birth | CNN

    Julia Roberts reveals Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King paid the hospital bill for her birth | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    A previously little known fact about Julia Roberts is now more widely known, thanks to social media.

    It all started recently when a Twitter user shared a compilation video of Roberts, writing “Martin Luther King Jr. paying for her birth is still a little known fact that sends me.”

    A few days later, in honor of Roberts’ 55th birthday on October 28, consultant Zara Rahim tweeted a clip of Roberts sharing the story about her birth with journalist Gayle King (no relation to Dr. King).

    Roberts explained that Dr. King and his wife, Coretta Scott King, took care of the hospital expenses since her parents couldn’t pay the bill.

    “My parents had a theater school in Atlanta called the Actors and Writers’ Workshop,” Roberts said. “And one day Coretta Scott King called my mother and asked if her kids could be part of the school because they were having a hard time finding a place that would accept her kids.”

    Roberts’ mother said sure and thus began the friendship between the civil rights leaders and Walter and Betty Lou Roberts.

    That led to the Kings paying for the birth of the woman who would go on to become an international star.

    “They helped us out of a jam,” Julia Roberts said.

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  • Brooklyn Nets star Kyrie Irving defends his tweet about a documentary deemed antisemitic and stands by sharing a video by Alex Jones | CNN

    Brooklyn Nets star Kyrie Irving defends his tweet about a documentary deemed antisemitic and stands by sharing a video by Alex Jones | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    Brooklyn Nets star Kyrie Irving said that he is “not going to stand down on anything I believe in” after he was condemned by the owner of his NBA team for tweeting a link to a documentary deemed to be antisemitic.

    The star guard tweeted a link Thursday to the 2018 movie “Hebrews to Negroes: Wake Up Black America,” which is based on Ronald Dalton’s book of the same name. Rolling Stone described the book and movie as “stuffed with antisemitic tropes.”

    In a fraught post-game press conference after the Nets lost to the Indiana Pacers on Saturday, Irving defended his decision to post a link to the documentary.

    “In terms of the backlash, we’re in 2022, history is not supposed to be hidden from anybody and I’m not a divisive person when it comes to religion, I embrace all walks of life,” he said.

    “So the claims of antisemitism and who are the original chosen people of God and we go into these religious conversations and it’s a big no, no, I don’t live my life that way.”

    Several organizations have condemned Irving’s tweet, including the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), the NBA, the Brooklyn Nets, and Nets’ owner Joe Tsai.

    “I’m disappointed that Kyrie appears to support a film based on a book full of anti-semitic disinformation,” Nets owner Joe Tsai tweeted Friday night.

    “I want to sit down and make sure he understands this is hurtful to all of us, and as a man of faith, it is wrong to promote hate based on race, ethnicity or religion.”

    Tsai added, “This is bigger than basketball.”

    Irving said in the press conference that he “respects what Joe [Tsai] said,” but claimed that he had not tweeted something harmful.

    “Did I do anything illegal? Did I hurt anybody, did I harm anybody? Am I going out and saying that I hate one specific group of people?”

    “It’s on Amazon, a public platform, whether you want to go watch it or not, is up to you,” Irving said. “There’s things being posted every day. I’m no different than the next human being, so don’t treat me any different.”

    CNN has asked Amazon for comment but, at the time of publication, had not received a response.

    At the same time, Irving acknowledged his “unique position” to influence his community, but said “what I post does not mean that I support everything that’s being said or everything that’s being done or I’m campaigning for anything.”

    Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of the Anti-Defamation League, in a tweet on Friday called Irving’s social media post “troubling.”

    “The book and film he promotes trade in deeply #antisemitic themes, including those promoted by dangerous sects of the Black Hebrew Israelites movement. Irving should clarify now.”

    Kyrie Irving during the Indiana Pacers game on Saturday.

    The Nets also spoke out against the star guard’s tweet.

    “The Brooklyn Nets strongly condemn and have no tolerance for the promotion of any form of hate speech,” the team said in a statement to CNN.

    “We believe that in these situations, our first action must be open, honest dialogue. We thank those, including the ADL (Anti-Defamation League), who have been supportive during this time.”

    The NBA issued a statement saying, “Hate speech of any kind is unacceptable and runs counter to the NBA’s values of equality, inclusion and respect.

    “We believe we all have a role to play in ensuring such words or ideas, including antisemitic ones, are challenged and refuted and we will continue working with all members of the NBA community to ensure that everyone understands the impact of their words and actions.”

    Rolling Stone, meanwhile, said the movie and book include ideas in line with some “extreme factions” within the Black Hebrew Israelite movement that have expressed antisemitic and other discriminatory sentiments.

    During the press conference, Irving was also asked about his decision to share a video created by far-right talk show host and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, who was recently ordered to pay nearly $1 billion in damages to Sandy Hook families for his lies about the massacre.

    Irving clarified that he did not agree with Jones’ false claims that the Sandy Hook shooting was staged but stood by sharing Jones’ post in September “about secret societies in America of occults,” that Irving believed to be “true.”

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  • Rick Scott calls attack on Paul Pelosi ‘disgusting’ but dodges questions about election conspiracies shared by alleged assailant | CNN Politics

    Rick Scott calls attack on Paul Pelosi ‘disgusting’ but dodges questions about election conspiracies shared by alleged assailant | CNN Politics

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    CNN
     — 

    Florida Sen. Rick Scott, who chairs the Senate Republicans’ campaign arm, on Sunday called the attack on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband, Paul Pelosi, “disgusting” but dodged questions about election conspiracy theories that were shared by the alleged attacker on social media.

    “It’s disgusting, this violence is horrible,” Scott said on “State of the Union” in an interview with CNN’s Dana Bash. “We had a door-knocker in Florida that was attacked. I mean, this stuff has to stop. … And my heart goes out to Paul Pelosi, and I hope he has a full recovery.”

    Asked by Bash if Republicans should do more to reject false conspiracy theories about the 2020 election and the January 6, 2021, insurrection that were shared on social media by Paul Pelosi’s alleged assailant, Scott did not directly respond.

    “I think what we have to do is, one, we have to condemn the violence, and then we have to do everything we can to get people – make sure people feel comfortable about these elections,” the senator said.

    “I think what’s important is everybody do everything we can to make these elections fair,” he reiterated when Bash asked him again about it.

    An intruder, identified by police as David DePape, 42, confronted the 82-year-old Paul Pelosi with a hammer early Friday morning at his San Francisco home, shouting, “Where is Nancy? Where is Nancy?” according to a law enforcement source. The assailant attempted to tie Pelosi up “until Nancy got home,” two sources familiar with the situation told CNN.

    The alleged assailant had posted memes and conspiracy theories on Facebook about Covid vaccines, the 2020 election and the January 6 attack, and an acquaintance told CNN that he seemed “out of touch with reality.”

    Meanwhile, Minnesota Rep. Tom Emmer, the chair of the House GOP campaign arm, condemned violence broadly in an interview with CBS on Sunday.

    “There’s no place for violence period in our society. Physical violence or violence against someone’s property,” Emmer, who heads the National Republican Congressional Committee, said when asked about political violence. “The incident in San Francisco, tragic as it is, I think we need some more information about it. But we should all be feeling for Paul Pelosi and his family. Hopefully, there’ll be a 100% recovery.”

    But Emmer refused to commit to pulling advertisements targeting Nancy Pelosi. Nor would he commit to taking down a recent tweet, which included a video of him firing a gun and read, “Enjoyed exercising my Second Amendment rights … Let’s #FirePelosi,” telling CBS that he disagreed that the tweet was dangerous.

    “I never saw anyone after Steve Scalise was shot by a Bernie Sanders supporter trying to equate Democrat rhetoric with those actions. Please don’t do that,” Emmer said.

    On Sunday, Bash asked Scott if his successor as Florida governor, Republican Ron DeSantis, should attend an upcoming rally in South Florida headlined by former President Donald Trump. The rally will feature Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, who, like DeSantis, is also up for reelection next month, but not DeSantis, amid reports that the relationship between Trump and the governor has grown distant ahead of a possible presidential showdown in 2024.

    “That’s a choice everybody makes. I mean, I know President Trump is trying to make sure we get a majority back in the Senate,” Scott said.

    Scott, who chairs the National Republican Senatorial Committee, also predicted the GOP will control “52-plus” Senate seats after the midterm elections.

    “Herschel Walker will win Georgia. We’re going to keep all 21 of ours. (Mehmet) Oz is going to win against Fetterman in Pennsylvania. And Adam Laxalt will win in Nevada,” he said, while also expressing optimism about GOP chances in Arizona and New Hampshire and noting that Republicans “have got shots” in Washington state, Colorado and Connecticut.

    “This is our year,” Scott said.

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  • Lucianne Goldberg, key figure in Clinton impeachment, dies at 87 | CNN Politics

    Lucianne Goldberg, key figure in Clinton impeachment, dies at 87 | CNN Politics

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    CNN
     — 

    Lucianne Goldberg, the literary agent who suggested to Linda Tripp that she record her phone calls with Monica Lewinsky talking about her relationship with then-President Bill Clinton, has died at the age of 87.

    Jonah Goldberg, the conservative political columnist who also is a CNN political commentator, confirmed his mother’s death on Twitter Thursday.

    “My beloved mom, Lucianne Goldberg, passed away yesterday. She died peacefully at home, surrounded by people – and pets! – who loved her.”

    “I’m still working through my shock and grief. It was a very hard week at the end of an intensely difficult year,” he tweeted.

    Lucianne Goldberg was working in Washington, DC, as an author and conservative literary agent when Tripp, then a confidante of Lewinsky, approached her with a story about then-President Clinton, Goldberg would tell PBS in an interview years later. Goldberg told Tripp she needed proof of the accusations she was leveling about Clinton and Lewinsky.

    “And I said, ‘Well you got to do something to prove to me so I can prove to a publisher that this wild story was true.’ And I said, ‘You say you talk to her every day, how about taping your phone conversations?’

    “And she agreed that that would be a cool idea, and she went to Radio Shack and bought a tape recorder and plugged it into her phone,” Goldberg said.

    The resulting scandal brought on, in part, by the disclosure of the tapes ultimately led to Clinton’s impeachment for perjury and obstruction of justice, though he was acquitted in the Senate.

    At the time of her death, Goldberg was running a website, Lucianne.com, that posts conservative news articles. A statement on the website remembered her as a “loving wife, mother, and grandmother.”

    “She was also a patriot who expressed her love of this country with both political fierceness and penetrating wit,” it reads.

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  • DOJ asks judge to force Trump White House lawyers to testify in Jan. 6 probe | CNN Politics

    DOJ asks judge to force Trump White House lawyers to testify in Jan. 6 probe | CNN Politics

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    CNN
     — 

    The Justice Department is asking a federal judge to force the top two lawyers from Donald Trump’s White House counsel’s office to testify about their conversations with the former President, as it tries to break through the privilege firewall Trump has used to avoid scrutiny of his actions on January 6, 2021, according to three people familiar with the investigation.

    The move to compel additional testimony from former White House counsel Pat Cipollone and deputy White House counsel Patrick Philbin just last week is part of a set of secret court proceedings. Trump has been fighting to keep former advisers from testifying before a criminal grand jury about certain conversations, citing executive and attorney-client privileges to keep information confidential or slow down criminal investigators.

    But the Justice Department successfully secured answers from top vice presidential advisers Greg Jacob and Marc Short over the past three weeks in significant court victories that could make it more likely the criminal investigation reaches further into Trump’s inner circle.

    Jacob’s testimony on October 6, which has not been previously reported, is the first identifiable time when the confidentiality Trump had tried to maintain around the West Wing after the 2020 election has been pierced in the criminal probe following a court battle. A week after Jacob spoke to the grand jury again, Short had his own grand jury appearance date, CNN reported.

    All four men previously declined to answer some questions about advice and interactions with Trump when they testified in recent months in the secret criminal probe. Trump lost the court battles related to Jacob and Short before the chief judge of the trial-level US District Court in Washington, DC, last month.

    Attorneys for the men whom the DOJ is seeking to compel have declined to comment for this story or haven’t responded to requests. Cipollone and Philbin didn’t respond to requests for comment. A spokesman for the Justice Department also declined to comment.

    All four men have been willing to be as cooperative as the law demands, leaving Trump’s team to handle the fight over certain details in the investigation, the sources say.

    The litigation around Cipollone and Philbin’s testimony may be important for investigators in the long run, given how close the pair was to the Trump leading up to and during the Capitol riot. Prosecutors are likely to aim for the grand jury to hear about their direct conversations with the then-President.

    The disputes – conducted under seal in court because they involve grand jury activity – may also spawn several more court fights that will be crucial for prosecutors as they work to bring criminal charges related to Trump’s post-election efforts.

    Witnesses the federal grand jury has subpoenaed, such as former White House officials Mark Meadows, Eric Herschmann, Dan Scavino, Stephen Miller and campaign adviser Boris Epshteyn, also could decline to describe their conversations with Trump or advice being given to him after the election, several sources familiar with the investigation say.

    Trump and his allies have used claims of confidentiality – both executive privilege and attorney-client privilege – with mixed results in multiple legal quagmires that surround the former President. Those include the January 6 federal criminal investigation, the Mar-a-Lago documents federal criminal investigation, Georgia’s Fulton County investigation of election meddling, and the House select committee probe of January 6 as well. Some of the privilege arguments Trump has raised have never been settled in federal court, and some of the fights could lead to the Supreme Court.

    Trump spokesman Taylor Budowich slammed the “weaponized” Justice Department in a statement and referred to the probes surrounding the former President as “witch hunts.”

    According to the sources, the Justice Department won a trial-level judge’s order at the end of September that said Jacob and Short must testify in response to certain questions over which Trump’s team had tried to claim presidential and attorney-client confidentiality.

    The sealed court case, stemming from the grand jury’s work, had been before the chief judge of the DC District Court, Beryl Howell. Howell refused to put on hold Jacob and Short’s testimony while Trump’s team appealed, a source said.

    The Trump team, meanwhile, took several days to respond to their loss before Howell in court. The Justice Department set a quick-turnaround subpoena date for Jacob, leaving him to head into the grand jury under subpoena on October 6, according to several sources.

    The DC Circuit Court of Appeals is still considering legal arguments from Trump’s defense lawyers and the Justice Department over his ability to make executive and attorney-client privilege claims.

    How that is resolved – either by the appeals court or even the Supreme Court, if Trump pursues it that far – could have significant consequences for the January 6 criminal investigation, and for multiple witnesses who may be refusing to share some of what they know because of Trump’s privilege claims.

    Among a large group of former top Trump officials, Jacob has been one of the most searing voices condemning the then-President’s actions after the election, especially regarding the pressure he and his election attorney, John Eastman, tried to place on then-Vice President Mike Pence to block the congressional certification of the presidential vote.

    Jacob has been a harsh critic of Eastman, who is also of interest to prosecutors, dating back to when Eastman tried to convince Pence’s office the vice president alone could override the vote. He told Eastman at the time the right-wing attorney was a “serpent in the ear” of the President, and wrote while Trump supporters stormed the Capitol on January 6, 2021, “thanks to your bulls**t, we are now under siege.”

    Jacob added to a parade of star witnesses at public House select committee hearings this summer, speaking candidly about his disgust with what he witnessed inside the White House complex from his high-ranking position administration.

    “There is almost no idea more un-American than the notion that any one person would choose the American President, and then unbroken historical practice for 230 years, that the vice president did not have such an authority,” Jacob testified in July.

    But what Jacob and Short knew of Trump’s conversations, they wouldn’t disclose to the House nor to the grand jury until this month.

    In a taped House select committee deposition, Cipollone answered many questions about what happened inside the West Wing on January 6 but declined to describe communications between him and Trump.

    Cipollone’s and Philbin’s roles as White House lawyers raise complicated legal questions about whether Trump can claim confidentiality over the legal advice they gave him, as well as whether a former president can assert executive privilege to hold off criminal investigators.

    President Joe Biden has repeatedly declined to assert executive privilege around January 6 information, essentially leaving the fight for Trump to wage opposite the Justice Department.

    While the courts will look at each situation individually, history isn’t on Trump’s side. Federal prosecutors investigating former Presidents Bill Clinton and Richard Nixon were able to overcome attorney-client privilege assertions for White House counsel as well as executive privilege assertions so the grand jury could hear closely guarded information.

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  • Liberal Democrats call on Biden to shift Ukraine strategy | CNN Politics

    Liberal Democrats call on Biden to shift Ukraine strategy | CNN Politics

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    CNN
     — 

    More than two dozen liberal House members are calling on President Joe Biden to shift course in his Ukraine strategy and pursue direct diplomacy with Russia to bring the months-long conflict to an end.

    In a letter sent to Biden on Monday, the group of 30 Democrats praise Biden’s efforts to date at supporting Ukraine while avoiding direct US involvement on the ground. But they suggest a more forceful attempt at bringing the war to an end through diplomacy is necessary to prevent a long and slogging conflict.

    “Given the destruction created by this war for Ukraine and the world, as well as the risk of catastrophic escalation, we also believe it is in the interests of Ukraine, the United States, and the world to avoid a prolonged conflict,” the group, led by Congressional Progressive Caucus chairwoman Pramila Jayapal, write in the letter. “For this reason, we urge you to pair the military and economic support the United States has provided to Ukraine with a proactive diplomatic push, redoubling efforts to seek a realistic framework for a ceasefire.”

    The letter comes at a critical moment in the war, as Russia increasingly targets civilian infrastructure with a particular focus on cutting power supplies to Ukrainian citizens ahead of winter.

    In Congress, questions have grown at the willingness of lawmakers to sustain the massive financial and military support that has gone to Ukraine. Some Republicans have threatened to cut aid to the country if they take control of Congress in November.

    The liberal Democrats, in their letter, say that more direct attempts at engaging Moscow in diplomacy were necessary as the war drags on.

    “We are under no illusions regarding the difficulties involved in engaging Russia given its outrageous and illegal invasion of Ukraine and its decision to make additional illegal annexations of Ukrainian territory,” the lawmakers wrote. “However, if there is a way to end the war while preserving a free and independent Ukraine, it is America’s responsibility to pursue every diplomatic avenue to support such a solution that is acceptable to the people of Ukraine.”

    John Kirby, the strategic communications coordinator at the National Security Council, said the White House had received the letter.

    “We certainly appreciate the sentiments expressed by these members of Congress,” Kirby said.

    “We have been working with members of Congress throughout this entire process, especially when we have needed additional funding to support Ukraine’s defense needs,” Kirby said. “And it’s been done in full collaboration in full transparency with members of Congress. And that is exactly the way the President wants to continue going forward.”

    Still, Kirby said there were no indications that Russian President Vladimir Putin was willing to engage in serious diplomacy to bring the war to an end.

    “When you see and you listen to his rhetoric, and you see the other things, be they atrocities, the war crimes, the airstrikes against civilian infrastructure that the Russians are committing, it’s clear Mr. Putin is in no mood to negotiate,” Kirby said.

    He said it would be up to Ukraine and its president, Volodymyr Zelensky, when the time is right to return to the negotiating table.

    “Mr. Zelensky gets to determine when he thinks that’s the right time, and Mr. Zelensky gets to determine, because it’s his country, what success looks like, what victory looks and what sort of terms he willing to negotiate on,” Kirby said. “We’re not going to dictate that.”

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  • Ethan Crumbley is expected to plead guilty Monday in shooting at Michigan high school that killed 4 students, prosecutors say | CNN

    Ethan Crumbley is expected to plead guilty Monday in shooting at Michigan high school that killed 4 students, prosecutors say | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    A teenager accused of killing four students and wounding seven others at a Michigan high school last year is expected to plead guilty to murder charges Monday, prosecutors said.

    Ethan Crumbley is set to plead guilty to all 24 charges against him, including one count of terrorism causing death and four counts of first-degree murder, for fatally shooting the four students at Oxford High School on November 30, according to the prosecutor’s office.

    Crumbley, who was 15 when the shooting happened, previously pleaded not guilty to the charges, but is expected to change his plea at a hearing in Oakland County Circuit Court.

    Crumbley will receive no plea deal, according to Oakland County Chief Assistant Prosecutor David Williams.

    CNN has reached out to Crumbley’s attorneys for comment.

    The teenager’s parents, Jennifer and James Crumbley, were each charged with four counts of involuntary manslaughter related to the shooting after prosecutors accused them of giving their son easy access to a gun and ignoring signs that he was a threat before the shooting.

    Prosecutors argued Jennifer and James Crumbley played “a much larger role than just buying their son a gun,” and there were many things the parents could have done, other than simply locking up the gun, which could have prevented the tragedy.

    The parents have pleaded not guilty, and their attorneys have argued in court documents the charges have no legal justification and the couple should not be held responsible for the killings their son is accused of committing.

    The trial for the parents was initially scheduled to begin Monday but was postponed last month to start in January. Meanwhile, Jennifer and James Crumbley remain in custody at a county jail.

    James Crumbley had purchased the gun used in the shooting just four days before the deadly attack, prosecutors have said.

    During the teenager’s arraignment, prosecutors described Ethan Crumbley “methodically and deliberately” walking the hallways, aiming a gun at students and firing at close range after emerging from a school restroom holding the firearm.

    Students and teachers relied on tactics they’d learned in active shooter drills to protect themselves. When the gunfire erupted, frightened students barricaded doors, turned off the lights, and called for help. Some of the children armed themselves with scissors, in case they needed to fight back.

    Four students died that day: Madisyn Baldwin, 17; Tate Myre, 16; Hana St. Juliana, 14; and Justin Shilling, 17. Six other students and one teacher were injured.

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  • Author Salman Rushdie has lost sight in one eye and hand is “incapacitated” following August stabbing attack, agent says | CNN

    Author Salman Rushdie has lost sight in one eye and hand is “incapacitated” following August stabbing attack, agent says | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    Author Salman Rushdie has lost his sight in one eye and one of his hands is “incapacitated” following a stabbing attack in August, according to an interview given by his agent to a Spanish newspaper.

    Rushdie, 75, underwent emergency surgery after he was stabbed several times before his scheduled lecture at the Chautauqua Institution in New York on August 12.

    Staff members and guests then rushed onto the stage and held down the suspect, identified as 24-year-old Hadi Matar, of Fairview, New Jersey, before a state trooper assigned to the event took him into custody, according to New York State Police.

    Matar has pleaded not guilty to attempted murder in the second degree, and second-degree assault, over the attack.

    Speaking to El País, literary agent Andrew Wylie said, “[His wounds] were profound, but he’s [also] lost the sight of one eye … He had three serious wounds in his neck. One hand is incapacitated because the nerves in his arm were cut. And he has about 15 more wounds in his chest and torso. So, it was a brutal attack.”

    Wylie declined to tell the newspaper if Rushdie was still hospitalized and did not specify when he had last been updated on Rushdie’s condition, according to an English language write-up of the interview. He said the most important thing was the writer was going to live.

    Wylie also told El País he and Rushdie had talked about the possibility of such an attack in the past. “The principal danger that he faced so many years after the fatwa was imposed is from a random person coming out of nowhere and attacking [him],” he said. “So, you can’t protect against that because it’s totally unexpected and illogical. It was like John Lennon’s murder.”

    El Pais said the interview was conducted from a hotel suite Wednesday evening, during the Frankfurt book fair.

    CNN has contacted Wylie but did not receive an immediate response.

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  • Donald Trump’s Boeing 757 rehabbed and back in West Palm Beach | CNN Politics

    Donald Trump’s Boeing 757 rehabbed and back in West Palm Beach | CNN Politics

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    CNN
     — 

    Whether Donald Trump is prepared to take-off on another bid for the presidency remains up in the air, but his fabled Boeing 757 is definitely getting off the ground.

    According to flight data studied and analyzed by CNN and aviation experts consulted by CNN, Trump’s jet has spent several hours over the last week running pattern flights above a small airport in Lake Charles, Louisiana, likely testing various updated components before heading to the Palm Beach International Airport, where it arrived Wednesday evening. Trump has previously indicated that the plane would be in Louisiana for repairs.

    The plane’s arrival in West Palm Beach comes less than three weeks before the 2022 midterm elections and with the political world on constant watch for Trump to announce another run for the White House. While Trump’s world has felt under siege with multiple investigations and legal actions open against him, the return of so-called “Trump Force One” to its home base could provide a jolt to Trump’s fans.

    The arrival of the plane at the airport that’s just 15 minutes from Mar-a-Lago is a significant indicator that not only is it airworthy – the 31-year-old jumbo jet had been idle for the four years of Trump’s presidency and many months afterward – it may be getting prepped to assume its former life as Trump’s biggest campaign prop.

    CNN has reached out to a representative for Donald Trump for comment on the plane’s activity and has not yet received a response. The plane appeared to be in use Saturday as Trump traveled to Texas for a rally, according to a tweet from Trump aide Dan Scavino Jr.

    Trump’s jet has twice in recent days made a series of short flight loops at varying altitudes, taking off and landing at Chennault International Airport in Louisiana. Some of the flights lasted less than 10 minutes, according to the data, and did not go beyond altitudes of 3,000 feet. Others were longer, 20 to 30 minutes, at altitudes ranging from 9,000 to 23,000 feet.

    “It is common after a plane has had upgrades – or other new equipment or general avionic tweaks – for pilots to make a series of test flights to ensure safety and function,” said Peter Goelz, a former managing director of the National Transportation Safety Board. “The series of passes at different altitudes, such as the ones completed in Louisiana, are indicative of standard checks.”

    That the plane, which Trump purchased in 2010 from the late Microsoft founder Paul Allen, has been improved to the point of taking flight is a recent development. In March 2021, CNN was first to report Trump’s once omnipresent 757 was sitting idle on a tarmac at a small New York state airport with one engine shrink-wrapped, mechanically grounded. It remained just north of New York City at Stewart Airport in New Windsor, New York, for several more months before it was flown to Louisiana on November 1, 2021, according to flight tracker information obtained by CNN.

    That flight was presumably made with an engine worthy enough for the plane to obtain a Special Flight Permit – or “Ferry Permit” – from the FAA, multiple experts told CNN. The permits allow registered planes to be approved for flight. According to FAA data, a reason for granting a ferry permit is for an aircraft to fly to a location where “repairs, alterations, or maintenance are to be performed, or to a point of salvage.”

    CNN has requested a confirmation of the ferry permit issued for Trump’s plane, which is owned by DJT Operations LLC, from the FAA and has not yet received the information.

    A standard passenger Boeing 757-200 series has about 228 seats. Trump’s custom 757 features 43 seats – along with a main bedroom, guest suite, dining room, VIP area and custom galley. Trump has mainly flown to-and-from various destinations on his much smaller, eight-seater, 1997 Cessna 750 Citation X. That plane does have a small Trump-family crest painted on the fuselage but lacks the giant Trump name on its outside.

    According to flight records, when Trump is not on the Citation, he typically flies on chartered planes belonging to other people.

    Yet in July of this year, the 757, a regular backdrop for Trump’s campaign appearances and rallies during the run-up to the 2016 election, was featured in a slick video posted by Eric Trump to social media. That video featured the 757 getting a new paint job at a hangar in Louisiana.

    “She’s back,” he wrote.

    In the caption of Eric Trump’s Instagram post of the video, the former President was quoted teasing the rebirth of his beloved private plane, saying the sparkly new exterior tune-up done so “Trump Force One” – the plane’s nickname – could be “back to the skies in the Fall of 2022, or maybe sooner.”

    The reveal of the new paint job showed a fresh, gold “TRUMP” on the fuselage, and a new addition of an American flag on the tail. The paint job was completed in 26 days, according to Tyson Grenzebach, of Landlocked Aviation, who in a July interview with Louisiana Radio Network said his company did full “scuff, sand and paint” on Trump’s plane.

    Though the interior, exterior and – as of Wednesday – the sky worthiness of Trump’s 757 appears to be updated, according to experts who spoke to CNN, the purpose of getting the plane ready for some sort of grand reveal near the midterms or a campaign announcement has yet to be confirmed by the former president.

    For Trump, the plane is one of his prized possessions. He oversaw the hundreds-of-thousands-of-dollars’ worth of renovations done to his prized possession shortly after he took ownership; any metal in the plane’s interior – lights, seat buckles, handles, latches, knobs – was plated in 24-karat gold.

    In March of last year, following CNN’s story about the 757, Trump did release a statement confirming his plane was in “storage” and getting repairs.

    “When completed, it will be better than ever, and again used at upcoming rallies!” wrote Trump wrote at the time.

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  • Trump appears for deposition in E. Jean Carroll lawsuit | CNN Politics

    Trump appears for deposition in E. Jean Carroll lawsuit | CNN Politics

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    CNN
     — 

    Former President Donald Trump appeared Wednesday for a deposition as part of the defamation lawsuit brought by former magazine columnist E. Jean Carroll.

    Last week, a federal judge cleared the way for Trump’s testimony saying the former President had already taken steps to delay the case and he “should not be able to run out the clock.”

    “We’re pleased that on behalf of our client, E. Jean Carroll, we were able to take Donald Trump’s deposition today. We are not able to comment further,” said a spokesperson for Kaplan Hecker & Fink, the law firm representing Carroll.

    Lawyers for Trump have not responded to a request for comment.

    It is not clear what Trump said during the deposition, which was taken at his Mar-a-Lago resort.

    Carroll sued Trump in 2019 for defamation after he denied her claim that he raped her in a New York department store in the mid-1990s. She was scheduled to sit for her deposition last Friday.

    The legal stakes for Trump were recently raised when Carroll said she intends to sue him next month under a new New York State law that allows victims of sexual assault to sue years after the attack. His testimony in the defamation case could be used in a future lawsuit.

    The defamation case has been in legal limbo for over a year.

    Trump and the Justice Department argued Trump was a federal employee and his statements denying Carroll’s allegations were made in response to reporters’ questions while he was at the White House. They argued the Justice Department should be substituted as the defendant, which, because the government cannot be sued for defamation, would end the lawsuit.

    Judge Lewis Kaplan ruled against Trump and DOJ. They appealed. Last month a federal appeals court in New York ruled that Trump was a federal employee when he denied Carroll’s claim of rape and sexual assault.

    However, the federal appeals court asked the Washington, DC, appeals court to determine if Trump was acting within the scope of his employment when he made the allegedly defamatory statements. If the DC court finds in favor of Trump, then the Justice Department would likely be substituted as a defendant and the case dismissed. The DC appeals court has not yet taken up the matter and it is unclear if or when they will.

    This year Trump was ordered by a New York State judge to sit for a deposition with the New York attorney general’s office. Trump refused to answer questions, citing his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.

    Last month the New York attorney general’s office filed a $250 million lawsuit against Trump, his eldest children and the Trump Organization for allegedly defrauding lenders and insurers through false financial statements. Trump has denied any wrongdoing and said the lawsuit was politically motivated.

    In civil cases if someone declines to answer questions the jury is allowed to apply an adverse inference against the person when deciding their potential liability.

    Last year Trump sat for a deposition for a civil lawsuit brought by protestors who claimed they were injured outside of Trump Tower during his first presidential campaign. He is also expected to testify in another civil lawsuit relating to a marketing campaign by the end of the month.

    This story has been updated with additional details.

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  • ‘Descendant’ and ‘Rosa Parks’ provide new windows into chapters in Black history | CNN

    ‘Descendant’ and ‘Rosa Parks’ provide new windows into chapters in Black history | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    Two powerful documentaries explore different aspects of Black history this week, in each case shedding light on misrepresented or under-covered chapters. Presented by Barack Obama’s company under its Netflix deal, “Descendant” examines the discovery of a long-sunk ship that brought enslaved Africans to Alabama, while “The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks” reclaims a figure whose legacy was too often characterized as the product of tired feet.

    “Descendant” tells the story of the Clotilda, the last known ship to convey Africans to America in 1860, before being intentionally scuttled in the Mobile river to conceal the crime. The history of that period echoes through to the present, given that relatives of those who endured that voyage are among the interested parties when remnants of the vessel – long the stuff of local legend – were located in 2019.

    Directed by Margaret Brown, “Descendant” brings the issue of reparations into a stark focus that’s lost in the course of these discussions, illustrating this painful past through the thoughts and feelings of those living in the area today.

    A bit slow-moving at first, the history gives way to a thoughtful conversation about how best to remember this history and honor its victims, while simultaneously highlighting the modern science surrounding identifying the ship and, thanks to DNA, potentially linking its captives to their descendants.

    Although “Descendants” plays on the more prominent platform via Netflix, “Rosa Parks” is more compelling in a different way, contemplating the story of another daughter of Alabama – and how her contribution to the civil-rights movement was downplayed because she was a woman, while her image was “distorted and misunderstood.”

    The film opens with Parks featured on the quiz show “To Tell the Truth,” where the celebrity panelists struggle to identify her, making vaguely condescending assumptions about her quiet dignity.

    Yet as Parks’ great nephew, Lonnie McCauley, notes, Parks was hardly an idle bystander in the movement but rather “a soldier from birth” – points reinforced by both interviews with her and portions of her writing as read by LisaGay Hamilton.

    “I’ve never gotten used to being a public person,” Parks says, while noting that in all her talks with reporters through the years regarding the act of silent defiance that launched the Montgomery bus boycott in 1955 – refusing to go to the back of the bus to give her seat to a White patron – she “never told anyone” it was because her feet were tired.

    Like “Descendant,” directors Yoruba Richen and Johanna Hamilton connect Parks’ story directly to the present, as historians note that the statue commemorating her that sits in the Capitol was dedicated in 2013, the same year the Supreme Court invalidated key parts of the Voting Rights Act, a signature accomplishment of the activism that Parks championed.

    Perhaps foremost, “Mrs. Rosa Parks” highlights the selflessness of its subject and seeks to provide a detailed portrait of a woman who, through the vagaries of history, was frequently reduced to a symbol. “She didn’t want the awards. She didn’t want the money. She didn’t want the fame,” McCauley states.

    Parks, rather, wanted – indeed devoted her life to fighting for – justice and equality. And as these two projects make clear, the struggle for that continues.

    “Descendant” premieres October 21 in select theaters and on Netflix.

    “The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks” premieres October 19 on Peacock.

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  • N.O.R.E. apologizes to George Floyd’s family for Kanye West’s comments | CNN

    N.O.R.E. apologizes to George Floyd’s family for Kanye West’s comments | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    N.O.R.E., co-host of “Drink Champs,” is expressing regret over allowing Kanye West to make controversial comments during the podcast.

    The rapper called “The Breakfast Club” radio show Tuesday to address what happened with West on the Revolt.TV show.

    “I just want to be honest, I support freedom of speech,” N.O.R.E said. “I support anybody not being censored. But I do not support anybody being hurt. I did not realize that the George Floyd statements [made by West] on my show were so hurtful.”

    During his appearance, West made antisemitic comments and suggested George Floyd was killed by a fentanyl overdose, despite a medical examiner’s testimony that fentanyl was not the direct cause of Floyd’s death, only a contributing factor when he died after being knelt on by a police officer.

    N.O.R.E. has come under fire for not pushing back on West during the interview. He explained to “The Breakfast Club” that the controversial Floyd comments happened during the “first five minutes of the show” and said West told the producer that if they stopped filming he would walk out.”

    “I wanted the man to speak,” N.O.R.E. said. “Later on I actually checked him about the George Floyd comments, I actually checked him about the ‘White Lives Matter’ but it was so later in the episode…I was so inebriated at the time that maybe people looked over it.”

    “But I apologize to the George Floyd family, I apologize to anybody that was hurt by Kanye West’s comments,” he added.

    Lee Merritt, a civil rights attorney who has represented the Floyd family on matters in the past, told CNN Monday that he has put together a team to explore a possible suit against West at the request of Floyd’s brother, Philonise Floyd.

    On Tuesday, lawyers representing Roxie Washington, the mother of George Floyd’s daughter, provided CNN with a cease-and-desist letter addressed to West. They indicated they intend to also file a lawsuit “for harassment, misappropriation, defamation, and infliction of emotional distress.”

    N.O.R.E. was asked during his call with “The Breakfast Club” if he was aware of the possible legal action and whether he too might he be a target of that. He said that while he knew about it, “It’s not even about suing or the money, It’s about the hurt from the thing.”

    “I was locked down, I’m a supporter of the George Floyd movement,” he said. “I saw that video too. I seen that cop’s knee on his neck. I seen [Floyd] calling for whoever. I’m embarrassed of myself.”

    N.O.R.E. said he spoke with West Tuesday and told him he would be addressing what happened. The episode has since been removed.

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  • Lawyers for George Floyd’s daughter draft cease-and-desist letter to Kanye West | CNN

    Lawyers for George Floyd’s daughter draft cease-and-desist letter to Kanye West | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    Lawyers representing Roxie Washington, the mother of George Floyd’s daughter, have drafted a cease-and-desist letter to Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, over comments he made claiming Floyd was killed by a fentanyl overdose.

    On the podcast “Drink Champs,” West claimed George Floyd was killed by a fentanyl overdose, despite a medical examiner’s testimony that fentanyl not the direct cause of Floyd’s death, only a contributing factor when he died after being knelt on by a police officer.

    Attorneys at Witherspoon Law Group told CNN the comments were especially damaging to Gianna Floyd, George Floyd’s daughter.

    “She’s a little girl that’s been traumatized and is being re-traumatized by Kanye West,” attorney Kay Harper Williams said of George Floyd’s daughter. It’s “intentional infliction of emotional distress,” she added.

    When CNN sat with then-6-year-old Gianna Floyd in June 2020 she didn’t say a word during the interview.

    The attorneys have indicated they intend to also file a lawsuit “for harassment, misappropriation, defamation, and infliction of emotional distress.”

    CNN has reached out to a representative of Ye for comment.

    As of Tuesday, the episode of “Drink Champs” appeared to have been removed from YouTube and Revolt TV. However, “it still exists, that does not remove it from the universe,” said Williams.

    “Too little too late, the harm has been done to our client,” she added.

    A cease-and-desist letter, provided to CNN, was addressed to an attorney they believed was representing Ye, however, they told CNN they were informed this attorney was not actually affiliated with Ye in this matter. They’re actively trying to make sure it’s received, though they added there will be more pressure once the lawsuit is formally filed.

    Regarding a separate legal effort being explored by attorney Lee Merritt, who has represented the Floyd family on matters in the past, Williams told CNN the two legal have not been coordinating efforts up to this point.

    Merritt told CNN on Monday that Floyd’s brother contacted him to pursue a defamation suit against the star.

    While that’s not legally possible because George Floyd is deceased, Merritt said, there are other legal avenues to pursue, including the Floyd family possibly suing for intentional infliction of emotional distress.

    “I have put together a working team to investigate [Ye’s] statements and to investigate the source of those statements,” Merritt said.

    CNN has reached out to Merritt for comment on the cease-and-desist letter.

    “George Floyd, just like Gianna said, changed the world so to have Kanye West come back and speak in a way that’s harmful to that legacy,” Williams said, “I’m offended as a human, as a black woman, as a mother.”

    “Gianna is a child and she’s being harmed,” she added.

    “There’s a really important discussion right now around the country about speech,” said Witherspoon. “But at the end of the day you cannot say these things that are false.”

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  • Biden admin has been in touch with Russia in recent days as part of efforts to secure Griner and Whelan’s release | CNN Politics

    Biden admin has been in touch with Russia in recent days as part of efforts to secure Griner and Whelan’s release | CNN Politics

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    CNN
     — 

    The Biden administration has had communications with Russia to try and secure the release of Brittney Griner and Paul Whelan “as recently as within past days” said a senior administration official, speaking to CNN on Griner’s 32nd birthday, which she will be spending in a Russian jail.

    The United States first put an offer for a prisoner swap on the table with Russia back in June – the details of which CNN exclusively reported – and “conversations have not been static since then” the official said.

    Despite the “pretty persistent” pace of discussions between the US and Russia to secure the Americans’ release, the official said that the Biden administration has yet to receive a serious counteroffer from the Russian side.

    “We have worked hard to try to demonstrate the sorts of things that could well be the basis for resolving this and each time we have articulated that it’s been met not with a serious counteroffer,” the official said.

    They said the Russians have countered with “something not in our control, not in our ability to deliver,” but did not go into further specifics.

    “They’re not non-responsive. I would say that they continue to respond with something that they know not to be feasible or available,” the official said of the Russian response.

    The official said the US has used multiple channels for discussions with the Russians and conversations have taken place both in-person, by phone, and “through other forms.” The US has dangled multiple ideas for “things that could be in play” to urge a serious response from the Russians.

    As negotiations continue, Griner and Whelan both remain behind bars, with the WNBA player detained since February and the ex-Marine detained since December 2018.

    Griner was sentenced to nine years in prison in August, and the US Embassy has not had consular access to her since then, State Department spokesperson Ned Price said last week.

    Griner released a statement on her birthday Tuesday thanking “everyone for fighting so hard to get (her) home.”

    “All the support and love are definitely helping me,” she said in the statement, which was shared by Maria Blagovolina, a partner at Rybalkin, Gortsunyan, Dyakin and Partners law firm.

    The US senior administration said said that “every day is too long” for Griner to remain wrongfully detained.

    “I wish you weren’t spending this birthday in Russian detention. I wish you weren’t spending the past weeks and months there,” the official said in a message to Griner.

    “As far as we’re concerned, each day is too long and we will keep working this until we resolve it and get her home. Regrettably, the other side gets a vote in this. They’re the ones who created this horrific situation. They’re the ones we regrettably need to deal with to resolve it.”

    Next week Griner will appeal her 9-year prison sentence. It is unclear if the passage of that court date will bolster ongoing efforts to get her home.

    “To the extent that that different phases of that decidedly imperfect system pass and open the possibility on the other side of real negotiations, we would welcome that. But the most candid answer is, we don’t know,” the official said.

    President Joe Biden said last week that he would consider meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the G-20 in November if he wanted to discuss Griner. When asked if there has been discussion between the US and Russia about that possible meeting on Griner the official said they would let Biden’s remarks “speak for themselves.”

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  • Trump’s company charged Secret Service ‘exorbitant’ hotel rates to protect the first family, House committee report says | CNN Politics

    Trump’s company charged Secret Service ‘exorbitant’ hotel rates to protect the first family, House committee report says | CNN Politics

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    CNN
     — 

    The Trump Organization charged the Secret Service “exorbitant rates” – upwards of $1.4 million over four years – to protect the former President and his family at properties they owned, according to documents released by the House Oversight Committee on Monday.

    The committee found that the Trump Organization charged the Secret Service “excessive nightly rates on dozens of trips” as high as $1,185 per night despite claims by the former President’s company that federal employees traveling with him would stay at those properties “for free” or “at cost.”

    “The exorbitant rates charged to the Secret Service and agents’ frequent stays at Trump-owned properties raise significant concerns about the former President’s self-dealing and may have resulted in a taxpayer-funded windfall for former President Trump’s struggling businesses,” the panel’s chairwoman, New York Democratic Rep. Carolyn Maloney, wrote in a letter to the service’s director on Monday.

    When he was president, Trump traveled frequently to properties his company ran as businesses, including Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, and the Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey. While he was there, some agents and officers stayed in rooms at those properties, though others rented rooms at nearby hotels.

    Charging his protective detail for lodging at his own properties was a controversial practice when Trump was in office and has continued in his post-presidency.

    Maloney also notes that her committee has been seeking a full accounting of the Secret Service’s expenditures at Trump-owned properties for more than two years but still has not received complete information on nightly rates or the total amount the agency spent, which “appears to exceed $1.4 million of taxpayer money.”

    The committee is still seeking records from the Secret Service, noting the panel is looking at potential legislation to prevent “presidential self-dealing and profiteering, as well as to curb conflicts of interest by ensuring that future presidents are prevented from exercising undue influence on Secret Service spending.”

    In a statement, Eric Trump said that “any services rendered to the United States Secret Service or other government agencies” at Trump-owned hotels “were at their request and were either provided at cost, heavily discounted or for free.”

    The committee said the Trump Organization charged the Secret Service more than the government rate at least 40 times from January 2017 to September 2021.

    One of those times was in March 2017 when the Trump Organization charged a nightly rate of $1,160 to stay at the Trump hotel in Washington, DC, to protect Eric Trump, who was promoting a golf tournament at the Trump National Golf Club. According to the General Services Administration’s website, the per diem rate was $242 in March 2017 in Washington, DC.

    In a statement, Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said the agency has received the letter from the committee but didn’t discuss the specific details.

    “Safeguarding our protectees is part of the agency’s zero fail mission and our absolute highest priority. Protective details must always be within arm’s reach of a protective 24 hours a day and that requires us to travel to where they travel,” Guglielmi said.

    This story has been updated with additional details.

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