Good morning, and welcome to The Epoch Times News Brief for Thursday, July 18, 2024. I’m Bill Thomas, we have a number of impactful stories to share with you today, and here’s what’s going on.
The Department of Homeland Security wants answers following the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump, federal prosecutors are dropping some Jan. 6 obstruction charges, and a former presidential adviser is out of prison. Also, the Israeli military says it’s closer to getting rid of Hamas, and the Chinese regime continues to be considered a critical threat to our nation’s infrastructure.
DHS Inspector General Opens Investigation Into Secret Service Lapses at Trump Rally
The attempted assassination of former President Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, last weekend has raised questions about how the shooter, who’s been identified as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, managed to get on a rooftop with a clear line of sight to the former president, even with the presence of multiple law enforcement agencies.The Department of Homeland Security inspector general’s investigation will focus on the process that the Secret Service followed in securing the former president’s campaign event last Saturday. President Joe Biden also wants an independent review of the security protocols that were in place at the rally.
Mr. Crooks was able to fire shots from a distance of about 160 yards to the stage where former President Trump was speaking. This was despite heightened security measures taken by the Secret Service due to reported credible assassination threats coming from Iran against the former president.
One of the bullets fired by the shooter hit former President Trump in the upper part of his right ear while other bullets hit multiple rallygoers, killing father and firefighter Corey Comperatore and injuring two other men.
You should know that Secret Service counter-snipers killed the shooter seconds after the initial shots rang out.
And now, Kim Cheatle, director of the Secret Service, says her agency is fully committed to cooperating with the review, which has been ordered by President Biden, and several congressional committees are also investigating this incident.
Federal Prosecutors Start Dropping Jan. 6 Obstruction Charges After Supreme Court Ruling
Government prosecutors have begun dropping obstruction charges against defendants alleged to have been involved in the breach at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. They told the defendants and the judge overseeing the cases that they will drop the charges due to a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling.In that ruling, the high court said that federal prosecutors went overboard in their application of Section 1512, a law approved by Congress in the aftermath of the Enron scandal. The law banned altering, destroying, or concealing records and added that a person who obstructs, influences, or impedes any official proceeding will be fined or imprisoned for up to 20 years, or both.
Prosecutors had claimed that part of the law covered the crimes carried out by the Jan. 6 defendants, but the Supreme Court ultimately rejected their arguments in its ruling and returned the cases back to the lower court for proceedings that are consistent with the new ruling.
Meanwhile, other people who have already been convicted of crimes under Section 1512 and are awaiting sentencing, have asked judges to consider the impact of the high court’s ruling. Some of the judges have ordered prosecutors to file briefs presenting their positions on what impact the ruling has on charges against those defendants.
More than 1,400 people have been charged in connection to the Capitol breach. Of the 259 defendants charged under Section 1512, 133 have already been convicted and sentenced. All of those individuals were charged with at least one additional crime.
U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said that he was disappointed in the Supreme Court’s ruling because it “limits an important federal statute,” but said the Department of Justice will comply with the ruling
Former Trump Adviser Peter Navarro Released From Prison, Headed to RNC
Peter Navarro, who was part of former President Trump’s administration, has just been released from a federal prison in Miami after serving a four-month sentence for a contempt of Congress conviction. Mr. Navarro, a former economic assistant in the administration, is now at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee.To refresh your memory, the 75-year-old trade expert had defied subpoenas from the U.S. House of Representatives special panel convened to investigate the Jan. 6 breach of the U.S. Capitol.
Mr. Navarro said that former President Trump held executive privilege over records and testimony that the House panel wanted, but the judge overseeing his trial blocked Mr. Navarro from presenting that position to the jury.
This resulted in Mr. Navarro’s prosecution from the federal government and a conviction by a jury in Washington. His appeal is ongoing.
You should know that Mr. Navarro “did great” during his time in prison, according to his prison consultant Sam Mangel, and was well prepared for his four-month stay, but he’s happy to be out. Interesting to note that he’s the first former White House official to be imprisoned for contempt of Congress.
Steve Bannon, who served as a White House strategist during the Trump administration, was also later convicted of contempt of Congress for defying subpoenas from the House committee, and he surrendered to a federal prison in Connecticut earlier this month.
Israeli Military Says It Has Eliminated Half of Hamas’s Leaders
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) says it’s eliminated about half of Hamas’s military leaders, with 14,000 terrorists killed or captured.The military group says it’s taken out six Hamas brigade commanders, more than 20 battalion commanders, and about 150 company commanders since its operation began in the Gaza Strip following the attack by Hamas on Israel last Oct. 7.
The IDF has ramped up pressure across the strip in the past week, as the Israeli government is under pressure to reach a deal with the terrorists in order for the IDF to bring home the remaining hostages taken during the October attack.
Hamas says that negotiations are continuing with Qatari and Egyptian mediators, and the Israeli media is reporting that an Israeli delegation is also committed to participating in those talks in either Qatar or Egypt this week.
IDF officials say they remain focused on locating the terrorists who embed themselves in sensitive sites across the Gaza Strip, including in hospitals, schools, and humanitarian shelters. They say those sites are exploited by terrorists who attempt to use them as hiding places and bases for terrorism.
Just to refresh your memory, the surprise attack by Hamas on Israel, which happened on Oct. 7, 2023, killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and the terrorists took 250 people hostage. Israeli officials say around 120 of those hostages remain in captivity, and they believe as many as 40 of those hostages may already be dead.
China Had Persistent Access to US and Allied Networks for Years: White House Official
A Biden administration official says hackers in communist China maintained persistent access to U.S. and allied systems for many years. Israel Soong, director for East Asia and Pacific cyber policy at the National Security Council, says the cyber campaign appears to be part of a wider effort by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to prepare for attacks on critical U.S. infrastructure. He made those comments a few days ago during a speech at the Hudson Institute, which is a conservative think tank in Washington.Mr. Soong’s comments appeared to reference a malicious cyber campaign acknowledged by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) in February. Back then, CISA said that CCP-backed hackers were “seeking to pre-position themselves on IT networks for disruptive or destructive cyberattacks against U.S. critical infrastructure.”
At the time, intelligence leaders told Congress that the intrusion was detected in December 2023 and that malware had been removed from 600 U.S. government systems, but it still remained in multiple infrastructure systems that are run by private companies.
Mr. Soong went on to say the Chinese regime is not just targeting our infrastructure systems, but the systems of other countries as well, including some of our allies. He says, “Beijing sees cyber and emerging technology as critical to the strategy to reshape the United States-led international order to be more favorable to the priorities of the Chinese Communist Party.”
His comments follow other reports earlier this year by Dutch intelligence agencies, which found that state-backed hackers in China had compromised more than 20,000 systems across dozens of Western governments, international organizations, and a large number of companies within the defense industry.
That campaign, known as COATHANGER, allowed China-based hackers to achieve “permanent access” to vital systems, but even today, it remains unclear if it was designed purely for espionage purposes or as part of the broader CCP effort to prepare critical systems in foreign nations for sabotage.
It’s a story that has many of us on high alert and one which we’ll continue to follow very closely.
One more very quick note. White House officials say that President Joe Biden has tested positive for COVID-19 and is experiencing mild symptoms.
The president, who is 81, tested positive yesterday.
The White House says he is vaccinated and boosted and he is experiencing mild symptoms. They also said, “He will be returning to Delaware where he will self-isolate and will continue to carry out all of his duties fully during that time.”
Just a reminder now: we are smack dab in the middle of summer and that means the heat is on. Be sure to drink plenty of fluids to stay hydrated, and nothing’s better than water. Avoid high-energy activities or work outdoors, especially during the midday heat, if that’s possible—and don’t forget to check on family members, older adults and your neighbors as well. Summer is fun, but the heat can take a toll on all of us, so please be careful.
Looks like our time is just about up for today, so we’re going to call it a wrap for the Thursday edition of The Epoch Times News Brief.
If you have some free time today, it would sure mean a great deal to us if you could tell some folks you know about our program, and that’s because word of mouth is the best advertising on the planet. And thank you for helping us grow the always expanding News Brief Family!
With that, let’s go to the email bag and see who’s checking in.
Here’s a note from Joe Travers, who’s getting briefed in Wake Forest, North Carolina, and that is a prime part of the country to wake up in every day.
John Nichols is also getting briefed in Avondale, Arizona, just west of Phoenix.
Louise sent over a very thoughtful email, as did Cynthia Webster.
We also heard from Wayno Williams and Dinah Argo, and Mary Padelt checked in to say that she loves the News Brief program.
*(Don’t forget the News Brief Motto): We’re portable, affordable, and always on-demand.
And finally, as we do each and every day on this program, we wrap everything up with a very “notable” quote.
It was Vincent Price who said: “In art, religion, and politics the respect must be mutual, no matter how violent the disagreement.”
Vincent Price was a stunning American actor known for his work in the horror film genre. He appeared in more than 100 films and he also provided the narration in Michael Jackson’s song “Thriller,” which was way back in 1982.
For all of us here at The Epoch Times News Brief, I’m Bill Thomas.
Thank you for making us your one-stop source for a concise, accurate, and unbiased daily synopsis of many of the news stories you need to know about.
Enjoy the remainder of your Thursday, it’s almost the weekend, and we’ll see you right back here tomorrow for the Friday edition of The Epoch Times News Brief. Have a majestic day today, and bye for now.
