Another former Trump attorney pleads guilty: The third former Donald Trump attorney who was indicted by a Georgia grand jury for attempting to overturn the election in Georgia has pleaded guilty. Jenna Ellis was in Fulton County Court this morning and pleaded guilty to making false statements. She is expected to testify for the prosecution. Meanwhile, lawyers for Donald Trump just before midnight filed motions seeking to dismiss the federal case brought against Trump by Special Counsel Jack Smith for the Jan. 6 attempted coup. They argued that the indictment by a grand jury violates Trump’s free speech rights. They also said that the failure of the Senate to convict him after he was impeached by the House protects Trump from being prosecuted for anything he did while in the White House.
Gaza hospitals: The World Health Organization said today that 12 of the 35 hospitals in Gaza are no longer functioning. Electric generators have run out of fuel at some hospitals and are running low on fuel at the others. Israel hit about 400 targets in airstrikes on Gaza from Monday into Tuesday morning. Hamas said more than 700 people were killed in Gaza by the airstrikes. French President Macron during a visit to Israel today expressed French solidarity with Israel and called for peace talks to end the fighting.
Released hostage speaks: An 85-year-old grandmother who had been taken hostage by Hamas and was one of two Israelis released yesterday has met with reporters in Tel Aviv. Yocheved Lifshitz was taken into Gaza on the back of a motorcycle. She described being hit with sticks and being taken into a maze on underground tunnels. She described being held in a room with four other hostages. She said she was fed the same food as her Hamas captors, mostly cucumbers.
Speaker situation: House Republicans have selected Rep. Tom Emmer of Minnesota, who is the House GOP whip, as their nominee to become Speaker of the House. Reports say 10 voted against him in a GOP conference this morning. It was not immediately clear whether he woul have the required 217 votes to be selected speaker in a vote by the full House. Congressman James Comer, chairman of the House Oversight Committee, says that the move by eight far-right Republicans that brought about the ouster of Rep. Kevin McCarthy as Speaker of the House was a “dumb” move. Comer also said he’s ashamed that his fellow Republicans had so far been unable to elect a replacement for McCarthy.
Pilot booked: A pilot for Alaska Airlines, Joseph Emerson, has been booked on 83 counts of attempted murder, 83 counts of reckless endangerment and one count of endangering an aircraft for attempting to turn off an aircraft’s engines during a flight from Everett, Washington to San Francisco. Emerson was off-duty on the Horizon Air flight. Horizon is a subsidiary of Alaska Airlines. He was riding in the cockpit jump seat when he tried to turn off the engines by pulling the fire suppression handles, which when pulled cut off the fuel supply. He was subdued by the cockpit crew. The airplane landed at Portland, Oregon, where Emerson was arrested.
Accident death toll: The death toll stood at seven this morning with 25 people injured in the massive pileup of 158 vehicles on Interstate 55 in St. John the Baptist Parish, Louisiana, near New Orleans. Thick fog and smoke from wildfires combined to reduce visibility on the highway to zero. The condition is known as a “super-fog.” The highway crosses Lake Pontchartrain and the pileup occurred on the overwater stretch of the road.
