Good morning, and welcome to The Epoch Times News Brief for Tuesday, June 4, 2024. I’m Bill Thomas, and today, we’ll share a story with you about a judge who’s getting far too many complaints, a DA who says former President Donald Trump won’t spend time behind bars even with his recent conviction, and Dr. Anthony Fauci, who is back in the news. Also, the Supreme Court is looking into an important voting issue in Arkansas and there’s a health scare regarding cucumbers and Salmonella.
Top Judge Blocks Complaints Against Trump Judge Aileen Cannon
Chief Judge William Pryor Jr. of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit has stepped in to address the flood of complaints against U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, who’s currently presiding over one of former President Donald Trump’s criminal cases. Since May 16, the appeal court’s clerk has received over 1,000 complaints alleging misconduct by Judge Cannon.Judge Pryor says these complaints “appear to be part of an orchestrated campaign.”
Court rules allow each judicial council to limit the number of essentially identical complaints. As a result, Judge Pryor recommended that the council instruct the clerk to stop accepting additional complaints against Judge Cannon, which the council accepted.
The judge said he had dismissed four complaints against Judge Cannon because they lacked sufficient evidence to prove that misconduct had occurred.
Most of the complaints focus on Judge Cannon’s rulings and other actions in the case against President Trump, which centers on his handling of documents containing sensitive information.
Judge Pryor said that Judge Cannon’s orders remain subject to review from the appeals court.
In a previous case, Judge Pryor was part of a panel that overturned one of Judge Cannon’s orders, which had blocked federal authorities from examining documents seized from President Trump’s Florida resort. The panel said Judge Cannon issued that order despite having no jurisdiction.
Former Manhattan DA Says Trump Likely Will Get No Prison Time
Former Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. believes that President Trump is unlikely to serve prison time following his conviction. He told NBC over the weekend that President Trump’s multiple contempt charges, along with the timing of the Republican convention and the upcoming election, could influence the sentencing decision. But he mentioned that the court might postpone sentencing until after the general election.President Trump was convicted of 34 counts of falsifying business records after a six-week trial. New York State Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan, who is overseeing the case, ordered a sentencing date for July 11, four days before the Republican National Convention.
Mr. Vance said that he had previously investigated President Trump for various issues and he had focused on financial crimes. But he said that he didn’t prosecute the former president in the end.
President Trump’s attorneys plan to appeal the conviction and have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene. They would challenge the jury instructions given by Justice Merchan and his decision not to recuse himself from the case.
As a former president, Trump has a lifetime Secret Service detail, and the logistics of keeping him safe behind bars could become complicated.
A spokesperson for the U.S. Secret Service told The Epoch Times last Friday that the agency’s mission to protect current and former presidents has not changed in light of the conviction.
Fauci Disavows Adviser Who Deleted Emails
Dr. Anthony Fauci, former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), testified yesterday at a congressional hearing, distancing himself from Dr. David Morens, who is a senior scientific adviser to the office of the NIAID. Dr. Fauci said that Dr. Morens was not an adviser to him on institute policy and did not participate in regular meetings.Dr. Fauci also said that Dr. Morens violated federal rules by using personal email for official business and editing a government grantee’s press release.
Dr. Morens admitted to deleting emails to avoid the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and frequently communicating with Peter Daszak, the head of the EcoHealth Alliance, which funneled NIAID grant money to a lab in China.
Dr. Morens said that he often talked with Dr. Fauci and suggested that Dr. Fauci was trying to protect Mr. Daszak, but Dr. Fauci denied this allegation and said “that’s not true.”
Dr. Morens wrote in a letter that he could avoid FOIA requests by sending things to Dr. Fauci’s private email or handing them to Dr. Fauci at work or at his home. He wrote that Dr. Fauci “is too smart to let colleagues send him stuff that could cause trouble.”
In response, Dr. Fauci said he might have spoken to Dr. Morens over personal email addresses about chapters they write for medical books, but he added that he does not do government business on his private email.
The hearing also brought up the actions of Greg Folkers, an aide to Dr. Fauci, who appeared to have misspelled words to evade FOIA scrutiny.
Republican representatives questioned Dr. Fauci’s knowledge and approval of these actions, while Democrats expressed support for him.
Dr. Fauci also denied trying to suppress the lab leak theory of the COVID-19 virus.
Supreme Court Reinstates Racial Gerrymander Lawsuit in Arkansas
The U.S. Supreme Court has revived a lawsuit challenging the boundaries of a congressional district in Arkansas, which allegedly diluted the voting power of the black community. This decision comes shortly after the court rejected a similar claim regarding racial gerrymandering in South Carolina. The case will now return to a lower court in Arkansas for further consideration.The lawsuit was filed by Jackie Williams Simpson, a black voter, against John Thurston, Arkansas’s Republican secretary of state. Initially, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas dismissed the case, stating that the electoral map did not violate Section 2 of the federal Voting Rights Act (VRA), which prohibits racial discrimination in voting practices.
Last year, the Supreme Court found Alabama’s electoral map to be racially discriminatory and in violation of the VRA.
Recently, however, the court upheld a congressional redistricting plan in South Carolina, ruling that the challengers failed to prove that race was the primary factor in the redistricting.
The Supreme Court has dismissed the previous judgment on the Arkansas case and sent it back to the lower court for further consideration.
FDA Recalls Cucumbers in 14 States Over Potential Salmonella Contamination
Fresh Start Produce Sales Inc., based in Florida, has issued a recall for certain batches of cucumbers due to bacterial contamination concerns. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced that these cucumbers were shipped to 14 states between May 17 and May 21. The FDA has posted images of the cucumbers on its website for identification.These cucumbers were sent in bulk cartons to distributors in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, North Carolina, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia.
Fresh Start Produce Sales made the recall after it was informed by the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture that a product sample tested positive for salmonella. While the cucumbers are “unlikely” to be in the marketplace, the recall notice warned that people who have bought the items should not consume them and that the purchased items should either be discarded or returned for a refund.
The FDA is conducting whole genome sequencing to identify whether the sample is tied to an ongoing salmonella outbreak.
Judging by the position of both hands on the clock, I can see that we’re pretty much out of time, so we’ll wrap things up and make that one our last story for the Tuesday edition of the Epoch Times News Brief.
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*(You know our 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:
It was one of our great American Founding Fathers, Thomas Jefferson, who said: “I’m a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work, the more I have of it.”
I reviewed his resume: In addition to being one of our Founding Fathers, Thomas Jefferson was also a lawyer, architect, philosopher, the third president of the United States from 1801 to 1809, and he was the primary author of the Declaration of Independence. A well-accomplished soul.
For all of us here at The Epoch Times News Brief, I’m Bill Thomas. We appreciate you starting your day with us, enjoy the remainder of your day, and we’ll see you right back here tomorrow for the Wednesday edition (midweek edition) of The Epoch Times News Brief! Have a sensational day today. Bye for now.
