Good morning, and welcome to The Epoch Times News Brief for Wednesday, June 19, 2024. I’m Bill Thomas, and I’m glad you’re here today because we’ve got some very important stories to share with you. The DOJ is going after a surgeon who blew the whistle about a hospital’s transgender program, New York’s appeals court sides with prosecutors against the former president, and the current president, Joe Biden, announces executive action aimed at protecting hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants. Also, a federal agent is robbed at gunpoint, and another whistleblower is speaking out against Boeing.
DOJ Charges Texas Doctor Who Exposed ‘Gender-Affirming’ Care for Minors
The Department of Justice (DOJ) has just unsealed an indictment against a children’s hospital surgeon, Dr. Eithan Haim. The DOJ is charging Dr. Haim for obtaining protected individual health information for patients who were not under his care, allegedly acting without authorization and with intent to cause malicious harm to Texas Children’s Hospital (TCH). He’s now facing four felony counts for alleged violations of a medical records law that could land him in prison for up to 10 years.It started last year, when Dr. Haim leaked evidence of cross-sex hormone procedures being performed at TCH. The controversy centers on the fact that TCH, the largest children’s hospital in the country, publicly declared in March 2022 that it was no longer performing “hormone-related prescription therapies for gender-affirming services” for minors. At the time, officials cited potential legal and criminal liability after the attorney general in Texas declared that the prescription of puberty blockers was “child abuse” under Texas law.
Dr. Haim went public and leaked documents that showed the hospital continued to perform some “gender-affirming” therapies even after their announcement, including one procedure on an 11-year-old child. The journalist who received Dr. Haim’s documents has said they did not include any patient’s personal information.
Ultimately, Texas legislators adopted a ban on sex-change procedures and puberty blocker prescriptions for children, which went into effect in mid-2023.
New York’s Top Court Declines to Hear Trump’s Gag Order Appeal
The New York Court of Appeals is declining to hear the former president’s appeal of a gag order relating to his criminal business records case in Manhattan and dismissed it, ruling that “no substantial constitutional question is directly involved.” Simply put, the gag order remains in place, which prevents former President Trump from publicly commenting on specific people connected to the case. New York State Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan has not signaled when he will lift the order.
The justice issued a gag order earlier this year against the former president, prohibiting him from speaking publicly about witnesses, jurors, court staff, and others. Later, Justice Merchan expanded the order to include members of his own family. During the trial, the justice fined the former president $10,000 for what he said were violations of the gag order.
On multiple occasions, former President Trump and his attorneys asked the justice and other courts in New York to terminate the gag order, arguing that, as the leading Republican presidential candidate, it violated his constitutional right to free speech. They also say it violated the fundamental right of the voters to hear from the leading candidate for president on public issues that matter a great deal to them.
Attorneys for Mr. Bragg’s office urged the Court of Appeals to dismiss former President Trump’s appeal because he made what they described as threatening and inflammatory comments about individuals connected to the trial.
The former president’s attorneys say they will continue to fight against the unconstitutional gag order imposed by Justice Merchan. Just a reminder: the former president was found guilty on all 34 counts of falsifying business records and is set to be sentenced July 11, four days before the start of the Republican National Convention.
Biden Announces Protection Against Deportation for Some Illegal Immigrants
President Biden says that his administration will not deport illegal immigrants who are married to U.S. citizens or have a parent who is married to a U.S. citizen.This new executive action will prevent 500,000 spouses of U.S. citizens and about 50,000 children from being deported. According to the White House, it will also allow them to gain legal status without leaving the United States.
As of this week, adults who have lived in the United States for at least 10 years and are married to a U.S. citizen will now qualify under the president’s new policy, which Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas says will help achieve family unity and also boost the economy.
Meanwhile, a top adviser on immigration policy during the Trump administration described President Biden’s new executive action as “unconstitutional amnesty to illegal aliens.”
Illegal immigration has spiked under President Biden, with 2.4 million encounters at the U.S.–Mexico border in 2023 alone.
Interesting to note that it was this week in 2012 that The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program was announced by then-President Barack Obama. That program allowed illegal immigrants who came to the United States as children to stay and work here legally.
Secret Service Agent Robbed at Gunpoint in California During Biden’s Visit
A U.S. Secret Service agent was robbed at gunpoint in the City of Tustin, about an hour outside of Los Angeles. This all happened on the same night as President Biden’s star-studded fundraiser in Los Angeles this past weekend.Tustin police say it happened in a residential community and that the agent managed to fire his gun, but it’s unclear if anyone was hit. The agent wasn’t injured, but his bag was stolen and the suspect got away.
Tustin police say it remains an open and active criminal investigation, and they’re encouraging anyone with additional information about last weekend’s incident to come forward and call the Tustin Police Department.
It is unclear at this time if the agent who was robbed was part of the president’s Secret Service detail. President Biden was in downtown Los Angeles for the fundraiser hosted by late-night host Jimmy Kimmel. The president attended the event after flying in from the G7 summit in Italy.
New Boeing Whistleblower Comes to Light Hours Before CEO Set to Testify Before US Senate
A new Boeing whistleblower has come forward just before Boeing’s CEO Dave Calhoun is set to testify before the U.S. Senate. Sam Mohawk is a quality assurance investigator at Boeing’s Material Review Segregation Area in its Renton, Washington, facility.Mr. Mohawk alleges that Boeing mishandled, improperly tracked, and stored faulty or “nonconforming” parts that were likely installed later on planes, including the 737 Max, which is built at the Renton facility.
He also alleges that Boeing cut “most of the highly trained and experienced quality inspectors” at Renton to deal with high overhead costs from parking the 737 Max after the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) temporarily grounded the aircraft following fatal crashes in 2018 and 2019.
The Senate Homeland Security’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, which is hosting Mr. Calhoun, says that Mr. Mohawk also claims he’s been told by supervisors to conceal evidence from the FAA, and that he’s being retaliated against because of his testimony.
Boeing has responded, stating it continuously encourages employees to report all concerns and that its priority is to ensure the safety of its airplanes and the flying public.
Looks like our time is just about up for today, so we’re going to call it a wrap for the Wednesday edition (the midweek edition) of The Epoch Times News Brief.
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And finally, as we do each and every day on this program, we wrap things up with a very “notable” quote:
Movie director David Lynch said: “It’s so freeing, it’s beautiful in a way, to have a great failure, there’s nowhere to go but up.”
Mr. Lynch is a filmmaker, visual artist, and musician, and he actually studied painting before he began making short films in the late 1960s.
For all of us here at The Epoch Times News Brief, I’m Bill Thomas. We appreciate you spending a bit of your Wednesday with us, enjoy the rest of your day, and we’ll see you right back here tomorrow for the Thursday edition of the Epoch Times News Brief! Have an awesome day today. Bye for now.
