Good Morning,
Trump In Court Tuesday
Former U.S. President Trump has been charged in the classified document scandal and he could face 20 years in prison.
Let that sink in for a moment…
A former U.S. President will appear in a court facing conspiracy to obstruct, willful retention of documents and false statements.
Is it the political witch hunt Trump says it is? No it’s not.
The essence here, is not only the fact that Trump removed classified top secret documents from the White House, including topics like North Korea’s leadership. (There are others documents we don’t know about yet.)
But, Trump kept the documents even after it was demanded by the National Archives that he turn them all over.
Thus the obstruction of justice charge, and suggestions he made false statements implying he hid documents and denied holding some of those documents.
Trump calls it election interference. And right wing commentators are already saying it’s all a conspiracy to steal the election.
As the NYTimes reported today - “It puts the nation in an extraordinary position, given Mr. Trump’s status not only as a one-time commander-in-chief but also as the current front-runner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination to face President Biden, whose administration will now be seeking to convict his potential rival of multiple felonies”.
President Biden has said previously, he has no part in the Justice Department investigations, and the White House said today they didn’t know the indictment was coming, and played no part in directing the Justice Departments investigation.
Trump removed classified materials that could endanger U.S. Security. Maybe he had a right to take them, but he certainly didn’t have a right to keep them once notified he had to give them back.
Trump thought he was above the law.
He now has multiple criminal cases ahead of him, including the hush payments to a stripper, and likely charges in the Georgia election interference case.
Trump may be spending more time in court than on the campaign trail.
Canada Fires
The U.S. is rushing to help Canadian fire fighters, battling forest fires in Quebec where some 130 fires were started by lightning strikes.
The fires have spread a blanket of smoke across parts of Canada and south to New York.
Around 20,000 people are evacuated in total in Canada, as fires continue to burn across the country in Alberta, British Columbia, Nova Scotia and the Northwest Territories as well.
Some 690 thousand acres are burning say officials, and the politics of the disaster is multi level in Ottawa, where the two main political parties can’t agree even on what caused the environmental disaster.
Prime Minister Trudeau blames global warming and wants to spend Federal funds on new measures to combat it. He is under criticism for under funding Provinces for fire fighting.
The Conservatives in opposition have repeatedly voted down measures to officially recognize climate change, much like the Republicans in the U.S.
The US experienced its worst toxic air pollution from wildfire smoke in its recent recorded history on Wednesday, with people in New York exposed to levels of pollution more than five times above the national air quality standard.
Ukraine Rescue Effort
Officials in Ukraine say they have rescued hundreds from the flooding after the destruction of the Kakhovka dam, which appears to have been blown up, and was under occupation by Russian forces.
President Zelensky put the blame squarely at the feet of the Kremlin saying “The disaster is Putin, what he does, what he personally orders to do”.
Videos appear to show the Russian’s near Kherson, actively shelling areas, already under water as rescue workers attempted to help stranded families.
On Back Story this week an interview with Jade McGlynn, from the Department of War Studies at Kings College on Putin's Russia.
Dana Lewis speaks to McGlynn about how Putin uses politics of the past to frame his war in Ukraine, and campaign for a new Russian Empire.
The audio podcast link can be copied and pasted into your browser:
https://www.buzzsprout.com/1016881/12996148
Or if you prefer the actual video version of the interview here’s the link.
Have a good day everyone.
Dana