Good morning, and welcome to The Epoch Times News Brief for Tuesday, June 25, 2024. I’m Bill Thomas, and we’ve got several important stories to get to. Here’s what’s going on.
Costco’s recalling hundreds of thousands of portable chargers that could catch fire, and the Supreme Court says it will hear a case regarding transgender treatment for minors, but won’t hear a case regarding COVID-19 vaccines. Also, Russia is now blaming the United States for a deadly attack on its civilians.
Manhattan DA Says Trump Can Talk About Trial Witnesses
The Manhattan District Attorney’s office is agreeing with former President Trump’s attorneys, who say that his gag order should be lifted when it comes to speaking about the witnesses who testified in his New York criminal trial.The gag order, issued by New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan, prevents the former president from making statements, or directing others to make statements about trial witnesses, jurors, and court staff if those statements interfered with the case.
Some of the statements in question pertained to the prosecution’s witnesses, including ex-lawyer Michael Cohen, adult film actress Stormy Daniels, former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker, and attorney Keith Davidson.
Former President Trump’s attorneys argued that since the prosecution’s concern about witness intimidation no longer stands, the gag order should be lifted once and for all. Prosecutors disagreed, and asked Justice Merchan to keep some of the restrictions in place, including comments by the former president about jurors, court staff, and individual prosecutors.
Defense attorneys say they have no intention of making statements about individual jurors.
Just a reminder: former President Trump was found guilty on 34 counts of falsifying business records back in May. And you should know when the trial ended on May 31, Justice Merchan told the 12 jurors and six alternates that they were free to talk about the case if they wished.
567,000 Portable Chargers Sold at Costco Recalled After Reports of Fires
The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) says more than half a million portable chargers sold at Costco have been recalled following reports that they can overheat while charging, and possibly lead to a fire.The portable chargers include two attached cables for charging portable electronic devices, and retractable wall prongs to recharge the power bank.
The Michigan-based company, called myCharge, recalled its HUB All-In-One portable chargers on June 20. The units were sold exclusively at Costco stores nationwide from January 2022 through November 2023 for about $40.
The CPSC says there have been 120 reports involving the portable chargers overheating, which caused about $165,000 in property damage. No injuries have been reported in connection with the recalled items.
By the way, disposal of recalled lithium-ion batteries must be made in accordance with local and state ordinances due to their potential hazards.
Supreme Court to Hear Case on States’ Restrictions of Transgender Treatments for Minors
The Supreme Court has just agreed to hear a challenge by the federal government to a Tennessee law that prohibits the use of puberty blockers and medical treatments for minors who identify as transgender.The case in question is United States v. Skrmetti. The court didn’t explain its decision to review the case, and at least four of the nine justices must vote to grant a petition for it to move forward.
The case centers around Tennessee Senate Bill 1, which forbids all medical treatments for children up to the age of 18 who identify as transgender. It doesn’t ban those treatments though if it’s prescribed for another purpose. For example, a male teen can be prescribed testosterone, but a female teen cannot.
The federal government argues Tennessee’s law violates the equal protection clause in the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
The high court’s decision to hear the case follows laws enacted by several states regarding children and transgender treatment, participation in school sports, use of gender-specific bathrooms, and drag shows.
Tennessee’s Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti says legislators fought hard to defend Tennessee’s law protecting kids from irreversible gender treatments, and went on to say this case will bring much-needed clarity as to whether the Constitution contains special protections for gender identity.
Interesting to note, the high court has declined to hear other cases involving transgender youth.
Supreme Court Turns Away COVID-19 Vaccine Appeals
The justices turned away an appeals case yesterday that was brought by the Children’s Health Defense (CHD), a nonprofit that was founded by Robert F. Kennedy Jr.The court ruled that the CHD and its members lacked standing to sue the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) over its emergency authorizations of COVID-19 vaccines for minors.
In this particular case, the CHD and parents in Texas and Florida argued that the regulatory agency cleared the vaccines under emergency authorization despite COVID-19 posing less of a risk to children than the flu, and also without adequate clinical testing. The plaintiffs also accused the FDA of wrongly promoting the vaccines.
A U.S. District Court judge threw out the lawsuit in 2023, finding that CHD and the parents did not meet the requirements for standing under Article III of the U.S. Constitution, or the ability to sue over the actions, in part because they did not show they faced imminent harm due to the FDA issuing emergency authorization for the vaccines.
The attorney representing the nonprofit in the FDA case said it’s “disappointing that the courts are closed to FDA fraud harming millions of Americans,” and he called for Congress to pass reforms.
The justices had also turned down another CHD appeal in a case that challenged the COVID vaccine mandate imposed on students at Rutgers University in New Jersey.
The Supreme Court didn’t comment on either denial, and included both of them in a long list that dealt with dozens of cases.
Russia Says US Is Responsible for Deadly Ukrainian Attack on Crimea
Russian officials are blaming the United States for a Ukrainian attack on the Crimean peninsula over the weekend. The Russian Defence Ministry claims that five U.S.-supplied missiles killed four people, including two children, and injured 151 more.Those same Russian officials claim four of the U.S.-delivered Army Tactical Missile Systems, equipped with cluster warheads, were shot down by their air defense systems.
Footage from Russian state television showed people running from a beach and some people being carried off on beach furniture.
The Defense Ministry goes on to claim that U.S. specialists set the flight coordinates of the missiles on the basis of information from U.S. spy satellites, accusing Washington of being directly responsible for the hit. Russian officials are also saying they will respond to the attack, without elaborating, and that Russian President Vladimir Putin has been in constant contact with his military leaders.
The Biden administration began supplying Ukraine with longer-range missiles earlier this year.
Neither Ukraine nor the United States has commented on the attack.
Looks like our time is just about up for today, so that’s going to be a wrap for the Tuesday edition of The Epoch Times News Brief.
And if you have just a pinch of free time today, we hope you’ll tell some folks you know about our program, as we’re always trying to grow the ever-expanding News Brief family. Thanks a bunch for being one of our family members.
John Miller sent over a very thoughtful note, as did Christine Cook.
Linda Sutton checks in to say: “Thank you for fair and balanced reporting.”
We also heard from HawkHB, Nancy, Taylor Potter, VIc, and Deborah K from Bandon, Oregon—a beautiful coastal town.
Don’t forget, summer has begun and some parts of the country are hotter than a jalapeño pepper, so please stay hydrated—and for pet owners, we hope you’ll do all you can to keep your pets cool, hydrated, and healthy.
*(Don’t forget the News Brief Motto): We’re portable, affordable, and we’re always on-demand.
And finally, as we do each and every day on this program, we wrap things up with a very “notable” quote.
This one comes to us from entertainer Reba McEntire who said: “To succeed in life, you need three things: a wishbone, a backbone and a funny bone.”
We hope you have all three. By the way, Ms. McEntire is called the “Queen of Country Music,” and during her career, she has sold more than 75 million records worldwide. A world-class performer!
For all of us here at The Epoch Times News Brief, I’m Bill Thomas, and thanks a million for spending even a small portion of your Tuesday with us. Enjoy the rest of your day, and we’ll see you right back here next time for the Wednesday edition of The Epoch Times News Brief! Have a phenomenal day today, and bye for now.
