Day: April 18, 2024

Prosecutors won’t reveal who the first witnesses are to Trump’s lawyers, noting Trump ‘has been tweeting’ about them  POLITICO

We’re now down to five jurors – Live Updates – POLITICO  POLITICO

Even after Donald Trump posted a conspiracy theory about unnamed jurors last night, Judge Merchan still opted not to move up the date of next week’s hearing about Trump’s gag order violations. It seems Merchan intends to let Trump continue to hang himself with such posts, so that he can deliver an appropriately severe punishment at the hearing. But in the meantime, Merchan did crack down on Trump in a different way.

When prosecutors inquired about a certain aspect of witness testimony, Trump’s lawyers demanded advance information about those witnesses. But prosecutors argued that Trump is no longer entitled to such things because he’s been making social media posts about witnesses, and the judge agreed.

So now Trump and his legal team won’t have access to what they consider an important piece of information about witness testimony, specifically because Trump violated his gag order with regard to witnesses. These kinds of consequences can end up doing more harm to a misbehaving defendant than anything else, because it can increase the odds of conviction. As for Trump’s specific punishment for his gag order violations, that’ll have to wait until next week.

The post Judge Merchan cracks down on Donald Trump for misbehavior appeared first on Palmer Report.

(NewsNation) — In the wake of allegations from the infamous Club New York shooting in 1999, Jamal “Shyne” Barrow has spoken out, saying he’s the “fall guy” but isn’t placing the blame on Sean “Diddy” Combs.

“It opens wounds. Everyone knew all along I was the fall guy,” Barrow said. “My political enemies tried to make me into this criminal. Everyone knew I took the fall.”

Barrow maintained his innocence, saying, “All this time, I was defending myself. I did not shoot those people. I maintain that I never shot nobody.”

Barrow faced three counts of attempted murder and criminal possession of a weapon in connection to the shooting, the New York Times reported. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

Shooting victim Natania Reuben says she is willing to have doctors remove a piece of a bullet that remains in her face to prove Combs shot her at the club.

“I’m willing to have a doctor remove a part of the 9 mm bullet in my face so that they can use it as evidence if need be for this trial,” Reuben said during an interview in March on NewsNation’s “Elizabeth Vargas Reports.”

“Who better to tell you what happened than the person who got shot smack dab in between my eyes?” asked Reuben.

Reuben said she has spent the past 25 years trying to get justice for the night she claims Combs shot her in the face at the club, not Barrow. She tells NewsNation she doesn’t believe Combs was properly charged, and she continues to fear for her life.

Infamous NYC club shooting backstory

Around 2:55 a.m. on Dec. 27, 1999, shots rang out at Club New York in Manhattan. Three people were struck by gunfire, sending all other clubgoers into a panic, according to a New York Times report that year. The victims of the shooting were reported as innocent bystanders and didn’t suffer any life-threatening injuries, the report said.

But while Combs, Barrow and Jennifer Lopez were all arrested in connection to the shooting, only Barrow was officially charged. Both Combs and Lopez were arrested on possible weapons charges but were ultimately not charged in connection to the shooting.

Reuben has remained adamant since the shooting that it was Combs who shot her in the face. She said she was facing them when they pulled out the guns and saw Combs shoot her in the nose. She filed a $130 million lawsuit for compensation against Combs in 2008 and settled in June 2011.

Reuben wants to see similar charges for the others she claims were involved in her shooting.

NewsNation’s Sean Noone and Devan Markham contributed to this report.

washington — Efforts by China-linked hackers to infiltrate computer systems and networks that run key sectors of the U.S. economy — only to lie in wait for an opportunity to strike — appear to predate Chinese cyber operations that sparked warnings by U.S. officials earlier this year.

FBI Director Christopher Wray on Thursday said Chinese government efforts to penetrate critical U.S. infrastructure for the purpose of setting up a possible cyberattack go back more than a decade.

“China-sponsored hackers pre-positioned for potential cyberattacks against U.S. oil and natural gas companies way back in 2011,” Wray told the audience at a Vanderbilt University security conference in Nashville, Tennessee.

“It took the hackers all of 15 minutes to steal data related to the control and monitoring systems while ignoring financial and business-related information, which suggests their goals were even more sinister than stealing a leg up economically,” he said.

Multiple U.S. agencies, led by the FBI and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, warned in February that hackers associated with a Chinese-linked group known as Volt Typhoon had been hiding in key computer systems and networks for at least five years.

At the time, CISA’s director said China’s penetration of key systems linked to U.S. communications, energy, water and wastewater, and transportation sectors was “likely the tip of the iceberg.”

But Wray on Thursday made clear China’s attempts to hack into systems and hide while waiting to attack — a technique known as “living off the land” — is part of Beijing’s long-running strategy.

“The PRC [People’s Republic of China] has made it clear that it considers every sector that makes our society run as fair game in its bid to dominate on the world stage,” he said. “Its plan is to land low blows against civilian infrastructure to try to induce panic and break America’s will to resist.”

VOA has reached out to the Chinese Embassy in Washington about the latest U.S. allegations.

Earlier this year, following the U.S. allegations regarding Beijing’s use of Volt Typhoon, China slammed the U.S. for what it termed “irresponsible criticism” and said China “has been categorical in opposing hacking attacks and the abuse of information technology.”

Wray’s comments, however, came just one day after another top U.S. cyber official called out Chinese behavior in cyberspace while speaking at the same conference.

“The PRC is engaged in a deliberate campaign to challenge the United States and our allies technologically while putting our critical systems and national infrastructure at risk,” said General Timothy Haugh, who heads both the National Security Agency and U.S. Cyber Command.

Haugh was especially critical of the actions taken by Volt Typhoon, calling it “an example of how China has approached establishing access to put things under threat.”

“There is not a valid intelligence reason to be looking at a water treatment plant from a cyber perspective,” he said. China is “sending a pretty loud signal of how they intend to use cyberspace in a crisis. We should listen to that.”

A threat assessment published last week by the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency also concluded China uses its cyberspace capabilities “to lay the groundwork for malicious cyber activities and cyberattacks.”

The DIA report also noted that China’s military “has called for using space, cyber operations and electronic warfare as weapons to paralyze adversary information systems during a conflict.”

jakarta, indonesia — Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi criticized the United States on Thursday for its votes on previous United Nations resolutions for a Gaza cease-fire, following talks in Jakarta with his Indonesian counterpart, Retno Marsudi.

During the talks, Wang highlighted the importance of maintaining peace and stability in the Middle East, and he called on all parties to exercise restraint in the conflict.

“The conflict in Gaza has lasted for half a year and caused a rare humanitarian tragedy in the 21st century. The United Nations Security Council responded to the call of the international community and continued to review the resolution draft on the cease-fire in Gaza, but it was repeatedly vetoed by the United States,” Wang said at a news briefing at the Indonesian Foreign Ministry.

Wang acknowledged the passage of a Security Council cease-fire resolution in March, saying, “This time, the U.S. did not dare to stand in opposition to international morality and chose to abstain.”

He added that the U.S. claimed the resolution was not binding and said, “In the eyes of the United States, international law seems to be a tool that can be used whenever it finds useful and discarded if it does not want to use it.”

The United States has said it vetoed previous resolutions for not being linked to the release of Hamas hostages.

Both ministers expressed frustration over the humanitarian disaster caused by the Palestinian-Israel conflict. “We agree that the U.N. Security Council resolution on a cease-fire must be fully implemented and without any condition,” said Wang.

China and Indonesia both support full Palestinian membership in the United Nations. Currently, the Palestinian Authority is a nonmember observer state, but it has sought full membership since 2011.

Indonesia does not recognize Israel and has strongly supported the Palestinian cause.

Meeting with Widodo

At a meeting with President Joko Widodo, Wang expressed China’s interest in deepening cooperation and investment in energy transition, infrastructure, and the production and marketing of refined petroleum products.

Widodo highlighted bilateral trade between Indonesia and China and expressed hopes that China will further open its market for Indonesian goods, including by resolving disputes over Indonesian agricultural and fishery products.

Widodo also urged the construction of a strategic petrochemical project in Northern Kalimantan and further collaboration on food security, including replicating Chinese-style cultivation methods in growing rice, horticultural crops and durian fruit.

China is Indonesia’s biggest trade partner, with a yearly trade volume reaching more than $127 billion. China is also one of Indonesia’s biggest foreign investors, with an investment value of more than $7.4 billion in 2023.

Indonesia and China will discuss the details of increasing cooperation on Friday in Labuan Bajo, East Nusa Tenggara province.

Apart from economic cooperation, Marsudi said that efforts to tackle cross-border crimes, including online fraud, will be discussed at the event.

Wang will also visit Papua New Guinea and Cambodia.

Later Thursday, Wang met with Widodo and his soon-to-be successor, President-elect Prabowo Subianto, the current defense minister of Indonesia.

Prabowo won the presidential election in February, and like his predecessor, he supports close ties with Beijing while seeking to balance diplomatic relations between the U.S. and China.

The Indonesian Defense Ministry said Thursday that Wang and Prabowo discussed plans for joint military exercises.

Some information for this report came from Reuters, The Associated Press and Agence France-Presse.

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Judge denies bid by Trump’s co-defendants to dismiss classified documents case  Courthouse News Service

Poland arrests man over suspected plan to kill Zelensky  Black Hills Pioneer