Trump bought stocks days before his administration made favorable rulings
Financial disclosure forms that federal regulations require Donald Trump to file have revealed that the president bought stocks in companies that were about to receive favorable rulings from his administration. The filings also show instances in which Trump’s account bought stocks in companies and then Trump later used his office to present positive images of those same companies. For example, Trump’s account purchased from $1 million to $5 million of Nvidia stock before Trump’s Commerce Department announced approval for Nvidia to sell computer chips to China. Trump’s account purchased from $500,000 to $1 million in Eli Lilly stock which was benefitting from action taken by Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services regarding its weight-loss drugs. The Trump account bought up to $5 million in Axon stock before the company received a $220 million contract from ICE. The Trump account also bought stock in AMD before the Commerce Department approved the company doing business in China.
Trump’s plan to give $1.8B to supporters under scrutiny
The announcement of the $1.8 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund” by the Justice Department on Monday immediately drew criticism from Democrats, public interest groups and former government officials who argued that Trump was using the levers of the government he controls to set up a vast piggybank for his supporters. “It’s highly unusual. It seems to me that it’s a fairly thinly veiled attempt to funnel federal money to people that are sympathetic to the president’s cause and points of view without following the kind of usual procedures,” said retired Judge William Smith, who was appointed to the federal bench in Rhode Island by former President George W. Bush. Trump tied the fund to settlement of the lawsuit he filed against the IRS in his personal capacity in January over the disclosure of his and his company’s tax returns in 2019 and 2020. However, Trump actually withdraw the lawsuit.
Putin’s visit to China
Less than a week after Xi Jinping welcomed Donald Trump, the Chinese leader is hosting Russian President Vladimir Putin. Putin’s state visit beginning Tuesday shows Beijing and Moscow’s alignment in the face of global geopolitical upheaval. Both Beijing and Moscow are navigating shifting relationships with Trump’s United States, and are weighing up whether to play any role in helping to end the U.S.-Iran conflict that’s ensnared global oil supplies. Both Beijing and Moscow have also looked to seize on Trump’s upending of traditional U.S. foreign policy to advance their own vision of a world that’s not dominated by American power or a U.S.-led alliance system. This week’s visit is Putin’s 25th to China in his more than two decades as Russia’s president.
Ebola death toll climbs
As of Tuesday, there were 131 deaths linked to the current outbreak of Ebola in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), according to the DRC’s health minister, Dr. Samuel Roger Kamba, with more than 500 cases suspected. The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared the Ebola outbreak in the DRC and Uganda a “public health emergency of international concern.” On Monday, the U.S. invoked a public health law to limit entry into the country from the affected region, just as one U.S. national tested positive for the virus in the DRC. Ebola is spread through direct contact with the bodily fluids of an infected person, according to the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC). It can also be spread through contact with contaminated materials or a person who has died from the disease. In Uganda, two laboratory-confirmed cases, including one death, have been reported. Ebola fatality rates have varied in past outbreaks from 25% to 90%, WHO said. The average death rate is about 50%.
Supreme Court justice blasts court’s handling of redistricting case
Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson offered a blistering critique Monday of the Supreme Court’s handling of a recent high-profile redistricting case, asserting that the court needed to be “really, really careful” in the churn of an election year to avoid appearing political and suggesting it had failed to do so in that case. “Courts are apolitical, not supposed to be issuing rulings that are in the political realm,” Jackson said at an event in Washington hosted by the American Law Institute. “We have to be scrupulous about sticking to the principles and the rules that we apply in every case and not look as though we’re doing something different in this kind of context.” The Supreme Court rushed through a ruling allowing Louisiana to quickly move ahead with redistricting before the November elections.
Authorities investigate San Diego shooting
Authorities are investigating what led a 17-year-old and an 18-year-old to allegedly open fire on San Diego’s largest mosque on Monday, killing three people in what police have called a hate crime. In addition to the three dead, the suspects were found dead in a car on a street close to the mosque with apparent self-inflicted gunshot wounds, according to multiple law enforcement officials. The FBI is working closely with law enforcement partners, said Mark Remily, the special agent in charge of the FBI’s San Diego field office, adding investigators were interviewing family and friends of the suspects and “gathering all the evidence from the scene for review.” About two hours before the shooting was reported, police received a call from the mother of one of the alleged shooters who reported her son and vehicle missing, as well as several of her weapons, San Diego Police Chief Scott Wahl said.
