Good morning, and welcome to The Epoch Times News Brief for Tuesday, July 23, 2024. I’m Bill Thomas, we have a number of critical stories to share with you today, and here’s what’s going on.
The director of the Secret Service says her agency failed; the 20-year-old who tried to kill former President Donald Trump wasn’t bullied; and RFK Jr. wants the party elite to allow Democrats to select their candidate. Also, another state is banning transgender procedures for minors, and the IRS has some new rules regarding certain retirement accounts.
Secret Service Director Makes Significant Admission
Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle has told a House panel that her agency failed during the assassination attempt targeting former President Trump at a rally in Butler County, Pennsylvania, on July 13.Yesterday, Ms. Cheatle told the House Oversight Committee that the Secret Service’s solemn mission is to protect the nation’s leaders and that her agency failed. She went on to say that she takes full responsibility for any security lapse that day, calling it the agency’s “most significant operational failure in decades.”
Ms. Cheatle’s appearance before members of Congress happened after several Republican lawmakers and at least one Democrat demanded that she resign from her position, saying that her agency did not do enough to provide security for the former president. House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell are among those who are calling on her to resign, but for now, she refuses to step down saying she plans to stay on in her position.
The House Oversight panel’s chairman, Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.) criticized Ms. Cheatle, saying that the Secret Service underperformed in its “zero-fail mission” and criticized the agency for what he described as a lack of transparency. Instead of providing statements to the public, Mr. Comer said that the Secret Service is delivering information through “whistleblowers” and “leaks” to the media.
The attack on former President Trump was the most serious attempt to assassinate a president or presidential candidate since Ronald Reagan was shot in 1981. It’s just the latest in a series of security lapses by the agency that has prompted investigations and public scrutiny over the years.
President Joe Biden, the Department of Homeland Security, and a bipartisan independent panel have each ordered an investigation into the matter.
Trump Shooter Wasn’t a Member of Rifle Team and Wasn’t Bullied, School Says
Contrary to earlier reports, Thomas Matthew Crooks, who shot the former president at a rally earlier this month, turns out not to have been a member of his high school’s rifle team or bullied by former classmates.An updated statement published by the Bethel Park School District on its website corrected the record regarding several claims about Mr. Crooks, who was subsequently shot and killed by a sniper.
It said that Mr. Crooks was never a member of the school’s rifle team and they have no record of him even trying out for the team. As to the claim that Mr. Crooks was bullied, district records indicated that he did well academically, regularly attended school, and had no disciplinary incidents, including those related to bullying or threats.
The statement, which was published this past weekend, went on to say, “Mr. Crooks was known as a quiet, bright young man who generally got along with his teachers and classmates.”
By the way, the FBI has still not publicly identified the shooter’s motive, but more details about the investigation are expected to be made public when FBI Director Christopher Wray appears before the House Judiciary Committee.
RFK Jr. Responds to Biden Exit, Urges Democrats to Use ‘Open Process’ to Select Nominee
Presidential contender Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who’s running as an independent candidate, is commending President Joe Biden for stepping down and is now encouraging the Democratic Party to have an “open process” in selecting his replacement.He spoke out just hours after President Biden’s big announcement on Sunday, indicating that he would not seek reelection and that it was “in the best interest of the party and the country” for him to stand down in the campaign.
Mr. Kennedy told reporters that he entered the presidential race partly because of President Biden’s “abandonment of Democratic Party principles” and to “ensure American voters had a viable, vigorous alternative to Donald Trump.”
He has accused the Democratic National Committee (DNC) of running interference for President Biden in order to ram him through to his party’s nomination and called “on the Democratic Party to return to its traditional commitment to democracy and exemplify it with an open process.” The independent candidate says he wants the Democratic Party to use “neutral polling to identify the candidate who can best beat Donald Trump” instead of “anointing a candidate hand-picked by DNC elites.”
You should know that RFK Jr. initially ran for the Democratic Party nomination, but later chose to run as an independent candidate, claiming that the organization was “rigging the primary” to favor President Biden. Both Democrats and Republicans have expressed concern that Mr. Kennedy could take away votes from their respective presidential candidates.
New Hampshire Bans Transgender Procedures for Children, Reserves Girls’ Sports for Females
New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu signed three bills last Friday and vetoed one that affects how schools, businesses, and medical establishments should consider transgender-related issues.House Bill 1205 will keep girls’ sports exclusive to females, and students will have to verify their sex by providing the school with a birth certificate or other evidence that demonstrates their sex at birth. Opponents claim that this bill denies sports participation from transgender students, many of whom would not feel comfortable playing on teams that don’t align with their preferred gender. Supporters say the bill prioritizes fairness over inclusion, since male players generally have a physical advantage over female competitors. House Bill 1205 takes effect next month.
House Bill 619 bans minors from receiving “genital gender reassignment surgery,” saying that patient’s informed consent requires “adequate information, capacity to decide, and absence of coercion,” and goes on to say that there’s a high risk of parental coercion that may prevent children from providing informed consent on medical procedures they could regret later in life.
The law, which goes into effect at the beginning of 2025, also allows the minor patient or their parents to sue any doctor who carries out those types of surgeries, for up to two years after the procedure.
The third bill, House Bill 1312, requires school district staff to notify parents at least two weeks in advance of any material related to “sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, or gender expression.” Parents who object to the material may choose to keep their child out of that class, as long as they propose a different learning plan in line with the district and cover the cost of that plan if necessary. So you know, this law will take effect coming up in September.
Interesting to note that the state’s largest teachers union says this particular bill makes it harder for teachers to do their job by “dramatically expanding” existing requirements to give parents advanced notice about curricula and teaching materials.
IRS Sets Rules on Minimum Annual Withdrawals for Inherited IRAs
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has published the final rules specifying how much money will need to be pulled out of inherited Individual Retirement Accounts, yearly. The rule, which goes into effect in 2025, is based on the Secure Act 2.0, which is related to the required minimum distributions (RMD), or the minimum amounts that IRA owners have to withdraw from their accounts each year when they reach a certain age.You should know that an inherited IRA is opened when someone inherits an IRA and those assets are moved from the original owner’s account to the beneficiary’s account. Before the Secure Act became law in 2022, beneficiaries could withdraw funds from an inherited account at their discretion, but it now requires that beneficiaries pull out all funds within 10 years of the original owner’s death.
The new RMD rules are applicable from Jan. 1, 2020. Not making the required RMD for any year can draw penalties, but the IRS waived penalties from 2021 to 2024. However, the 10-year window will still be calculated from 2021.
So, for example, if the original owner died in 2021, the beneficiary is still expected to empty the account by 2031, but that person won’t be penalized for not making RMDs between 2021 and 2024.
By the way, the updated regulations do not apply to beneficiaries if the original account holder died before starting withdrawals. In those cases, the person can withdraw the funds at any time within the 10-year period.
If the new rules regarding required minimum distributions seem complicated, you’re not alone. Even at 260 pages, the chief planning officer at Buckingham Wealth Partners says there will likely be a lot of things not covered that the IRS will need to address.
The RMD final regulations announced this past week follow a SECURE Act provision on emergency withdrawals that went live earlier this year.
As you know, we are smack dab in the middle of summer and some parts of the country are brutally hot, so just a brief summertime reminder to keep you healthy and to help you avoid sunburn.
A sunburn is a radiation burn caused by UV (ultraviolet) ray exposure from the sun. Ouch! You already know that sunburns contribute to premature skin aging and skin cancer, and in the short term, severe sunburns—the kind that blister and make you feel sick—can lead to dehydration, sun poisoning, and infection.
If you’re going to be outdoors in the summer heat, dermatologists say to remember to use sunscreen and don’t forget about your ears, your eyelids, your lips, your scalp, and even the top of your feet. Just trying to keep you safe and healthy.
And now, looks like our time is just about up for today, so we’re going to call it a wrap for the Tuesday 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 everything up with a very notable quote.
This one comes to us from the band Badfinger—very popular back in the early 1970s.
“Sweet Tuesday morning / You came and you smiled / And all of my fears,/ They have left me.” That’s from their song “Sweet Tuesday Morning.”
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 Tuesday, and we’ll see you right back here tomorrow for the Wednesday edition (the midweek edition) of The Epoch Times News Brief. Have a superb day today, please eat healthy, let’s all watch out for one another, and bye for now.
