🎧News Brief: Judge Postpones Trump Sentencing Indefinitely; Senators Reach Deal Giving Trump More Judicial Selections; Gaetz Not Returning to Congress

President-elect Donald Trump visits Havana Express Cuban Kitchen and Bakery in Las Vegas on Oct. 24, 2024. Trump was joined by Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Vivek Ramaswamy. Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

Good morning, and welcome to The Epoch Times News Brief for Saturday, Nov. 23, 2024. I’m Bill Thomas, we have some impactful stories to share with you right now, and here’s what’s going on.

A New York judge makes a critical and surprising decision regarding the sentencing of President-elect Donald Trump, members of Congress reach a consequential deal that impacts the federal court system, and Matt Gaetz weighs in on his future after pulling his name from consideration for attorney general.

Also, Russian President Vladimir Putin issues an alarming proclamation regarding the ongoing war in Ukraine, and a global company that produces key components for electric vehicles says it can no longer pay its bills.

We have a number of pressing stories to share with you today, and we begin with a major courtroom win for President-elect Donald Trump who will not be sentenced next week, and here’s more on our lead story.

Judge Postpones Trump Sentencing Indefinitely

Yesterday, New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan delayed the sentencing date in Trump’s business records case indefinitely, raising substantial questions about the future of the case and whether or not sentencing will ever take place at all.

The judge said that he was granting a request to adjourn the sentencing date, which was scheduled for this Tuesday, Nov. 26. He also set a deadline of Dec. 2 for a motion by Trump’s legal team to dismiss the case entirely.

A response from Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office to the Trump team’s motion to dismiss is now due on Dec. 9.

Merchan’s decision came after he received a letter from Trump’s attorneys earlier this week. The letter said that the immediate dismissal of the case is “mandated by the federal Constitution” in order to “facilitate the orderly transition of Executive power” following Trump’s election victory.

Trump’s attorneys have also argued that a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision grants different levels of criminal immunity for the conduct of a U.S. president.

To refresh your memory, earlier this year, a jury found Trump guilty on 34 felony counts, and a few days ago, Bragg’s office argued that “no current law establishes that a president’s temporary immunity from prosecution requires dismissal of a post-trial criminal proceeding.”

However, this latest decision also casts serious doubt over whether the other state-based cases against the president-elect can continue once he enters office.

As we continue, it’s not often that politicians in Washington agree on something, but a surprising deal has just been made in the U.S. Senate that benefits both parties, and here’s what we know.

Senators Reach Deal Giving Trump More Judicial Selections

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) says that both Republicans and Democrats have reached an agreement that will give Democrats the opportunity to quickly confirm 13 judges in return for withdrawing votes on four other nominees.

Under the arrangement, Democrats promised not to move forward with four of President Joe Biden’s appellate court nominees, instead leaving those vacancies for President-elect Donald Trump to fill once he takes office.

In return, Republicans say they will not delay the confirmation of those 13 other judges.

A spokesperson for Schumer said that the trade involved four circuit nominees who were all “lacking the votes to get confirmed” in exchange for “more than triple the number of additional judges moving forward.”

So you know, the vacancies that will be left open for Trump to fill are all on the U.S. Court of Appeals, and the confirmation battles for these circuit court judges are generally difficult fights because those judges often have the last word on a wide variety of consequential legal matters.

By the way, the president-elect recently called on Senate Republicans to block Biden’s nominees during the remainder of his term, but although they can slow down the confirmation process, they do not have enough votes to defeat most nominations.

Moving along, one of President-elect Donald Trump’s Cabinet picks may have dropped out of the race, but he says he’s not giving up the fight, and here’s more on that story.

Gaetz Not Returning to Congress

Yesterday, former Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz said that he will not be going back to the U.S. House of Representatives, just a day after he withdrew his name from consideration to be the next U.S. attorney general.

Gaetz said that he’s still going to be in the fight, but it’s going to be from a new perch.

He also said that there are a number of “fantastic Floridians” who have stepped up to run for his vacated seat, and that those candidates have inspired people with their heroism as well as their devotion to public service.

Moving forward, Gaetz said that he’ll continue “fighting for President Trump,” adding that he’ll always do whatever the president wants him to do, as he has in the past.

Hours after Gaetz withdrew from consideration, Trump named Republican former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, who at one time was also his personal attorney, to become the next U.S. attorney general. He’s also named a number of other Florida politicians to serve in his upcoming administration.

In case you’re not aware, earlier this month, Gaetz won his congressional reelection bid, but he later resigned from his position to seek the nomination for attorney general, and based on historical data, it appears unlikely that the seat he vacated will be flipped by a Democratic candidate.

By the way, the former congressman won his reelection bid by a large margin, and a Democrat hasn’t represented Florida’s District 1 since 1995.

On to the international stage now, where Russian leaders say a regional war has become something much larger due to missile exchanges with Ukraine, and here’s what you need to know.

Putin: Conflict in Ukraine Has Assumed ‘Global Nature’

Russian President Vladimir Putin now says that the escalating war has taken on “elements of a global nature.”

So you know, Putin made his remarks during a televised address to his nation after Moscow fired an advanced hypersonic missile at Ukraine’s central-eastern city of Dnipro.

The Russian leader said that the ballistic missile attack was a response to “attacks by Western long-range weapons” against Russian territory. He also appeared to confirm reports that Ukraine had fired six U.S.-made missiles into Russia’s Bryansk region earlier this week, followed a couple of days later by a second salvo of both U.S.- and UK-manufactured missiles into Russia’s Kursk region.

Putin added that the attack on Kursk had caused a number of deaths and injuries among Russian “perimeter security units and servicing staff,” but he did not give specific figures.

He said that in response to the twin missile attacks, Russia’s military had successfully struck a Ukrainian defense-industrial facility in Dnipro with a “non-nuclear hypersonic ballistic missile.”

That strike has since been confirmed by both U.S. and Ukrainian officials, but it remains unclear how much damage it caused. One Pentagon spokeswoman said that Russia had used an “experimental intermediate-range ballistic missile” to hit the targets in that region.

Now this is something very interesting: Yesterday, a spokesman for the Kremlin said that Moscow had informed the United States of the impending strike 30 minutes in advance, and the spokeswoman for the Pentagon confirmed Washington received a warning ahead of time.

This is a story that we’ll all be watching very closely in the coming days.

Just enough time to squeeze in one more story, and if you drive an electric vehicle, you should know that a major EV battery manufacturer has just filed for bankruptcy, and more now on that story.

European EV Battery Maker Files for Bankruptcy

Swedish electric vehicle (EV) battery manufacturer Northvolt just filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in Texas, after the company’s dreadful liquidity position left the business with only one week’s worth of cash to fund its operations.

So you know, Northvolt is an energy-storage company that makes lithium-ion batteries and it’s a leading manufacturer in the European Union, where it competes with a pair of Chinese companies to supply crucial batteries to a number of carmakers.

A financial adviser for Northvolt said in the bankruptcy filing that “the company has yet to turn a profit,” that any generated revenues have been invested back into the business, and that they’ve “faced production shortfalls.”

The filing said that the company’s business plan was based on the expectation that the EV industry would see consistent growth. However, EV sales started slumping last year, and as a result, battery manufacturers experienced low orders and a number of canceled contracts.

At the same time, Asian manufacturers continued to ramp up production while bringing down battery prices. The competition put “further stress” on Northvolt, and last year, the company suffered a net loss of over $1 billion.

The battery maker now says that the bankruptcy-restructuring process will help it put together new funding, and that business will go on as usual while the reorganization proceedings move ahead.

And now, it looks like our time is just about up for today, so we’re going to call it a wrap for the Saturday edition (the weekend edition) of The Epoch Times News Brief.

So you know, you’re always encouraged to share your thoughts, comments, or suggestions with the News Brief crew, and please reach out to us via email—we’re at [email protected]. You can also leave comments for us on the Epoch Times app, which you can download for free on either the App Store or Google Play.

Don’t forget the News Brief Motto: We’re portable, affordable, and always on-demand. Anywhere you go, we’re happy to tag along.

And finally, as we do each and every day on this program, we wrap everything up with a very notable quote, and this one comes to us from the great Lawrence Welk, who said:

“Over and over I marvel at the blessings of my life: Each year has grown better than the last.”

Welk was an accordionist, bandleader, and television impresario who hosted “The Lawrence Welk Show” from 1951 to 1982. He was one of the great ones.

For all of us here at The Epoch Times News Brief, I’m Bill Thomas.

The Epoch Times News Brief program is written each day by David Ross.

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 day, and we’ll see you right back here next time for another edition of The Epoch Times News Brief.

For now, let’s all continue to watch out for one another, and have an absolutely superb day today. Bye for now.