300+ classified documents recovered: The New York Times reports that the federal government has so far recovered more than 300 classified CIA, FBI and NSA documents from Donald Trump”™s Mar-A-Lago home in Florida. The Times also reports that there is evidence Trump himself had gone through the numerous boxes of government property at Mar-A-Lago and decided what to keep and what to give back and that some of what he decided to keep was marked top secret and even marked TS/SCI (Top Secret/Sensitive Compartmented Information), meaning the material could only legally be looked at in a special highly-secured room. The Times reports that in addition to having classified documents in a basement storage room, Trump had some documents in a closet in his office.
Trump lawyer letter: The New York Times reports that one of Trump”™s lawyers signed a letter to the Justice Department in June that said to the best of her knowledge there were no more government secrets being held by Trump at Mar-A-Lago. The attorney was identified as Christina Bobb. The representation that Trump had no more of the government secrets was made shortly before the FBI executed the search warrant on Mar-A-Lago and found a dozen additional boxes containing classified documents.
Trump sues to stop Justice review: Trump”™s lawyers have filed a lawsuit in federal court in Florida to block the Justice Department from reviewing the government documents seized from Trump. The lawsuit asks that the court appoint a special master who would be responsible to the court to evaluate the documents.
Fauci to retire in December: Anthony Fauci has announced he will retire in December from his position as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. Fauci, age 82, had been a target of the right-wing and even some mainstream Republicans for refusing to go along with false information and conspiracy theories about the Covid-19 pandemic. Donald Trump Jr. yesterday accused Fauci of retiring to avoid being investigated by Republicans.
FDA considers new Pfizer booster: Pfizer has asked the FDA to approve a new version of the Covid-19 vaccine that would be offered as a booster shot this fall. Pfizer, working with the company BioNTec, has updated the vaccine to be effective against the new BA.4 and BA.5 strains of the virus. The booster shot would be for those age 12 and over. Moderna is expected to also ask the FDA for quick approval of its version of an updated Covid vaccine.
Wrong forecast: The government of Hungarian dictator Viktor Orban has fired the top two officials of the country”™s weather service because the weather service had forecast bad weather for a national holiday, St. Stephen”™s Day, resulting in the cancellation of a fireworks celebration. The weather turned out to be good and the fireworks celebration, typically the largest in Europe, could have been held instead of having to be rescheduled. The fireworks in Budapest usually attract a million spectators.
