Trump allegedly ordered evidence destroyed:Â A federal grand jury in Florida has returned a new indictment in the Donald Trump Mar-a-Lago classified documents case that supersedes the original indictment. The new indictment adds additional felony charges and names a third defendant in addition to Trump and his aide Walt Nauta. The third person indicted is Carlos de Oliveira, a maintenance worker at Mar-a-Lago. Among the new charges is that Trump ordered evidence in the case to be destroyed. The indictment details how Nauta and Oliveira allegedly discussed carrying out Trump’s orders to destroy surveillance camera recordings. The recordings showed boxes containing government documents being moved around to try to prevent the government and even Trump’s own attorneys from finding them. Prosecutors do have some surveillance recordings from Mar-a-Lago but others are missing.
Heat warnings extended:Â The extreme heat has been moving east, with heat warnings from the National Weather Service being extended from the Plains states to the East Coast. An estimated 200 million people in the U.S. were under either heat or flood warnings yesterday. European agencies that monitor the climate have already declared July to be the hottest month in recorded history.
Senate passes defense spending bill:Â The Senate has passed its version of the $886 billion defense spending bill. The vote was 86 to 11. The bill provides a 5.2% pay increase for servicemen. The Senate bill does not include restrictions on health care services for the military that are in the version of the defense spending bill that was passed by the House. Differences between the two versions need to be worked out before a final bill can be passed by both the House and Senate and then sent to President Biden for his signature.
Another drone in Moscow:Â Russia said today that it shot down a Ukrainian drone outside of Moscow. Russia’s Defense Ministry said there was no damage and no one was hurt. On Monday, a drone hit a building in Moscow near the Defense Ministry causing extensive damage.
Salaries and benefits increase: The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported this morning that the costs of salaries and benefits for civilian workers increased 1% for the 3-month period ending in June. For the 12 months ending in June, the amounts businesses paid to workers in salaries and benefits went up by 4.5%. For the 12 months ending June 2022, there had been a 5.1% increase.
Ford truck recall:Â Ford said this morning it is recalling 870,000 F-150 trucks in the model years 2021 through 2023. Ford said the electric parking brake might unexpectedly activate. It said the wiring harness may inadvertently contact the rear axle. Ford said there have been 918 complaints about the wiring and 299 reports of the electric parking brake activating unintentionally.
