FILE - Former President Donald Trump attends the Trump Organization civil fraud trial in New York State Supreme Court, Dec. 7, 2023, in New York. Trump is returning to court Thursday for closing arguments in his New York civil fraud trial. The former president had been planning to deliver his own summation, but a judge nixed that. (David Dee Delgado/Pool Photo via AP, File)
About 21 million children are likely to receive food benefits this summer through a newly permanent federal program. Thirty-five states, all five U.S. territories and four tribes opted into the Summer Electronic Benefits Transfer, known as Summer EBT. Families at or below 185% of the federal poverty line will receive $120 per child total during the summer months. Some states that opted out say there wasn't enough time to implement the program.
Former President Donald Trump says a president “has to have immunity.” But federal appeals court judges in Washington are expressing deep skepticism that the Republican former president is immune from prosecution on charges that he plotted to overturn the results of the 2020 election he lost to Joe Biden. On Tuesday Trump returned to the federal courthouse in Washington for his appeal of charges against him. The three-judge panel also questioned whether they had jurisdiction to consider the appeal at this point in the case, raising the prospect that Trump's effort could be dismissed. During lengthy arguments, the judges repeatedly pressed Trump’s lawyer to defend claims that Trump was shielded from criminal charges.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is holding talks in Israel as he seeks a plan for Gaza’s post-war future. Israeli troops, meanwhile, pushed ahead Tuesday in the beleaguered territory where heavy bombardment and fighting shook refugee camps and hampered efforts to get relief to the population. The U.N. says Israel has repeatedly rejected planned convoys of medicine and other supplies to northern Gaza. Those killed in latest strikes included seven members of the family of a well-known dentist in Gaza. Nine Israeli soldiers also died. Blinken is also trying to prevent an all-out war between Israel and Lebanon’s militant group Hezbollah.
Palestinians line up for free food during the ongoing Israeli air and ground offensive on the Gaza Strip in Rafah, Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Hatem Ali)
The White House says the administration will review what rules or procedures weren’t followed when Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin did not disclose his hospitalization for days. The Pentagon is maintaining its silence on why Austin was hospitalized and says he has no plans to resign. Austin was admitted into intensive care on Jan. 1, but President Joe Biden and senior White House officials were not notified until three days later. National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said Monday the administration will look at the processes in place and “try to learn from this experience.”
Federal officials have cleared the way for Florida to begin importing cheaper prescription drugs from Canada. It’s the first time any U.S. state has used the approach and follows years of frustration with U.S. drug prices. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the plan into law in 2019, but it required approval by the Food and Drug Administration. Importing cheaper drugs has long been popular with patients and consumer groups, but faced years of pushback by the pharmaceutical industry. The politics of the issue have shifted in recent years. Both President Biden and former President Trump supported importing medications to help lower costs.
New York state lawyers are increasing their request for penalties to $370 million in former President Donald Trump’s civil business fraud trial. But his defense is arguing that 10-plus weeks of testimony produced no evidence of conspiracy, fraudulent intentions or ill-gotten gains. Both sides filed court papers Friday previewing closing arguments, set for Thursday. Judge Arthur Engoron has said he hopes to decide the verdict by the end of this month. New York Attorney General Letitia James filed the lawsuit. It accuses the former president and current Republican front-runner of deceiving banks and insurers by vastly inflating his net worth. Trump denies any wrongdoing and says the case is a political attack by Democrats.
Three years after the attack on the U.S. Capitol, Washington’s federal courthouse is flooded with trials, guilty plea hearings and sentencings stemming from the largest criminal investigation in American history. And the hunt for suspects is far from over. Authorities are working to identify more than 80 people wanted for acts of violence at the Capitol. They also want to identity the person who placed pipe bombs outside the Republican and Democratic national committees’ offices the day before the Capitol attack. They continue to regularly make new arrests, even as some Jan. 6 defendants are being released from prison after completing their sentences. About 750 defendants have been sentenced, most receiving time behind bars.
Tampa Bay Rays shortstop Wander Franco has appeared in a Dominican court to face allegations that he had a brief relationship with a 14-year-old girl and gave her mother a small car and thousands of dollars in exchange for her consent, according to court documents obtained by The Associated Press. The 22-year-old All-Star is accused of commercial sexual exploitation and money laundering. A judge who is scheduled to issue a ruling in the case on Friday has several options, including releasing Franco on bond and preventing him from leaving the Dominican Republic. The girl’s mother faces the same charges as Franco.
