Trump’s 77th birthday:Â After remaining silent in federal court in Miami in the afternoon and allowing his lawyers to enter not guilty pleas to a 37-count indictment, Donald Trump appeared at a fundraising event at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey last night. Between 100 and 200 people attended the event that also celebrated his 77th birthday. In his speech, Trump admitted that he took classified government documents containing military secrets when he left the White House and again claimed that the documents were his property and that the Presidential Records Act gave him the right to take whatever he wanted, which it clearly did not.
No plea by Trump’s aide:Â Trump’s co-defendant in the documents case, Walt Nauta, his aide and valet, also appeared in federal court in Miami for yesterday’s arraignment. Nauta was not represented by an attorney licensed to practice law in Florida so a plea was not entered. He has been ordered to appear again with appropriate counsel. Nauta and Trump were ordered by the federal magistrate who presided at the arraignment not to discuss the case with each other. They were released without bond or bail and without travel restrictions and were allowed to retain their passports.
Wall Street Journal against Trump nomination:Â The editorial board of the Wall Street Journal, which is one of conservative publisher Rupert Murdoch’s newspapers, today called for Republicans to nominate someone other than Donald Trump as the GOP Presidential Nominee in 2024. The editorial referred to Trump as self-destructive and urged Republicans to spare the country from additional years of distress and chaos dealing with Trump’s legal problems.
EU takes on Google:Â The European Commission in Brussels today notified Google that it believes Google has broken European Union anti-trust laws by ensuring preferential treatment for Google’s own ads over those of other advertisers and dominating the online advertising market. The EU hinted that it may try to break up what it alleges is a monopoly by forcing Google to sell off some of its advertising operations in Europe.
Blinken’s trip to China:Â The State Department announced today that Secretary of State Antony Blinken is scheduled to visit China beginning Friday for talks that originally had been scheduled to take place last February. Those talks were canceled as result of the U.S. shooting down a Chinese spy balloon. The U.S. hopes the talks will help ease tensions between the two countries.
Cormac McCarthy dies:Â Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Cormac McCarthy has died of natural causes at his home in Santa Fe, New Mexico. He was 89 years old. His book “The Road” won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 2007. Among McCarthy’s other books were “Blood Meridian” and “All the Pretty Horses.”
Cover photo by Gage Skidmore / Flickr Creative Commons
