Cross-Examination

• Twist in Trump classified docs case: “So an entire pallet full of boxes that had been held by [the federal government’s General Services Administration] somewhere outside of DC is dumped at Mar-a-Lago. Apparently these are the boxes that ended up containing papers with ‘classified markings.’” So said the intrepid Julie Kelly, who ever since January 6, 2021, has boldly gone where no other journalist has dared. “WELL WELL WELL,” she added with more than a hint of snark, “I am pretty sure we never heard this part of the ‘classified documents/box’ story! … I am sure NOTHING hanky happened there.” The heretofore hidden revelation came earlier this week in Florida, where, as PJ Media’s Matt Margolis reports, “Judge Aileen Cannon unsealed a trove of new documents that Jack Smith fought to keep hidden.” Perhaps we’re being unfair to Trump’s special persecutor. After all, it’s not like Jack Smith has a history of deeply troubling and unscrupulous prosecutorial behavior. Oh, wait. Apparently, the unsealed items included lots of exhibits, motions, and other filings that show the communication collusion between Joe Biden’s White House and the National Archives prior to the raid on Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate and his subsequent indictment. As Kelly added, the National Archives and Records Administration “was harassing Trump throughout 2021 for what they insisted were government records apparently WITHOUT contacting GSA to search dozens of boxes in their possession.” Of course, this doesn’t deal a mortal blow to the prosecution’s case — at least not yet. Nor is this to say that Team Brandon planted evidence at Mar-a-Lago. But would any sentient being be slack-jawed and gob-smacked to learn that they did? In any case, we suspect that at least one potential Florida juror will have taken note of it.

• Trump fined for exercising First Amendment rights: It’d be comical were it not so constitutionally outrageous. And were it not a presidential election year. Donald Trump was found guilty yesterday of having violated the unconstitutional gag order of deeply conflicted Judge Juan Merchan. Thus, as Fox News reports, the judge fined Trump $9,000 “for violating a gag order that bans him from speaking publicly about witnesses and family members of court officials,” or $1,000 for each of nine violations. Fox News added a stern warning from Merchan: “The judge detailed in the order that if Trump carries out ‘continued willful violations’ of the gag order, he could face ‘incarceratory punishment’ if ‘necessary and appropriate.’” The dollar amount is a pittance, of course — especially for a guy who’s already been socked with around half a billion in kangaroo-courtish judgments. But there’s a principle at stake, as former federal prosecutor Andy McCarthy points out. “It creates this uneven balance, where people can talk about [Trump], and he can’t talk about them. … There’s an election going on here, and Trump is in a situation where everyone he is competing with in the contest is able to talk till their hearts’ content about all the allegations, and he can’t speak about them. That’s a problem not for the administration of justice; that’s a problem for the principle that the public should have robust debate in connection with a political campaign and that we want our elections decided at the ballot box and not the courtroom.”

• Biden’s 148 gaffes … this year: Dear Readers, you’re never gonna believe this, but Joe Biden’s spin doctors have had to correct his public remarks at least 148 times this year alone. And just imagine what that number would be if he actually spoke to the media on occasion rather than having his handlers shunt him from one place to another while they shout down potential questions. As The Daily Caller reports: “The White House releases an official transcript anytime the president gives a speech or takes questions. Communications staff frequently correct, add to or alter Biden’s official remarks in order to either bring them into compliance with official White House policy or, in some cases, reality, a Daily Caller analysis showed. In several cases, official statements had to be changed to convey the exact opposite of what Biden actually said.” Like this: “It was then, through no — through my American Rescue Plan — which every American [Republican] voted against, I might add — we made the largest investment in public safety ever,” as the White House transcript of Biden’s March State of the Union address read. Or sometimes, maybe his cleanup team simply deletes words that he accidentally read off the teleprompter. Like, you know, when he’s speaking to a trade union conference in DC, and he reads his teleprompter word for word, right down to its stage instruction. And he says: “Imagine what we could do next. Four more years. Pause.” Indeed, just imagine.

• Marijuana reclassified, man: On Tuesday, the Justice Department announced that it would be downgrading the formal classification of marijuana per the Controlled Substance Act. As DOJ spokesman Xochitl Hinojosa explained: “Today, the attorney general circulated a proposal to reclassify marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule III. Once published by the Federal Register, it will initiate a formal rulemaking process as prescribed by Congress in the Controlled Substances Act.” This decision comes after Joe Biden recently requested the review, likely to boost his reelection bid. However, the fact that the DOJ hasn’t gone all the way and fully legalized pot has a number of marijuana advocates frustrated. “Moving marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule III is a step in the right direction, but it doesn’t go far enough,” complained Students for Sensible Drug Policy. “Make no mistake, Schedule III is not legalization and it is not decriminalization. It will not stop arrests, especially of young people.” The irony here is that it was Biden’s 1994 crime law that resulted in stiffer sentences against marijuana possession and use.

• Illegal immigration is big business: Nicaragua, controlled by communist dictator Daniel Ortega, received over a billion dollars in remittance money from illegal aliens living within the U.S. in just the first quarter of 2024. Since 2018, some 800,000 Nicaraguans have immigrated to the U.S., fleeing Ortega’s dictatorship. However, having residents flee his rule has proved to be an economic boon for Ortega. Last year alone, Nicaragua received roughly $4.6 billion in remittances from Nicaraguans living abroad, who were sending money to their families, and most of that total came from Nicaraguans living in the U.S. To put things in perspective, in 2022, Nicaragua received a total of $3.22 billion in remittances, which accounted for 23% of the Central American country’s entire GDP that year. In other words, illegal immigration is big business for Ortega, as it sustains Nicaragua’s economy, keeping him in power. As Nicaraguan analyst Jose Davila put it, “It seems to be the perfect business of the regime that Nicaraguans leave en masse in search of freedom and then send remittances to their families.” This is just one of the myriad negative consequences of Joe Biden’s open border — the propping up of a communist dictator.

• AZ rancher will not be retried: Santa Cruz County prosecutors announced on Monday that they will not retry 75-year-old rancher George Alan Kelly for the death of a Mexican national who was illegally in the U.S. and found on his land. Chief Deputy Attorney Kim Hunley stated, “Because of the unique circumstances and challenges surrounding this case, the Santa Cruz County Attorney’s Office has decided not to seek a retrial.” The decision comes after the jury failed to reach a consensus on a verdict after a four-week trial. The hung jury came down to a vote of 7-1 to acquit Kelly of the second-degree murder charge. Kelly’s defense lawyer, Kathy Lowthrop, responded to the county’s decision by saying: “I’m just so happy for [the Kellys]. We got the right answer. I think he’s ready to get out of the area. This has not been a very fun year and a half.”

• Another knife attack: A 14-year-old boy is dead and another four individuals are injured after being attacked by a 36-year-old man wielding a long knife that some are describing as a sword. The attack occurred on Tuesday morning in a suburb of London, England. Authorities say there is no indication that the attack was terror-related. Two of those injured by the sword-wielding individual were police officers responding to the attack. Police used tasers to subdue the suspect, who had crashed his vehicle into the house where the boy and another individual were and subsequently attacked them. No motive for the crime has yet been determined. Like Australia, England has strict laws regulating knives, yet those laws didn’t stop this criminal action.

• American Spirit: Yesterday, we reported the grim news that four law enforcement officers were murdered and four others wounded Monday afternoon in Charlotte, North Carolina, when a convicted felon opened fire on a U.S. Marshals Fugitive Task Force as they tried to serve him with a warrant for firearm possession. With that loss still weighing heavily on us, we report a different sort of story out of Indiana. Gene Eyster, a retired police lieutenant and a 47-year veteran of the department, recalls a day, December 22, 2000, when a call came in about a newborn who’d been found abandoned in a common hallway. After getting the baby to the hospital, Eyster says: “I went back with a teddy bear. Just a symbol to let everyone that walked past know that he was cared about.” As CBS News reports: “For more than two decades, Eyster wondered what became of that boy. Unfortunately, records were sealed so there was no way to find out. That was until just a few weeks ago, when Eyster got a phone call from a fellow officer, who asked Eyster if he remembered the case of the baby left in the cardboard box. And he (the officer) said, ‘he’s (the baby) sitting next to me, he’s my rookie.’ The rookie in question was Matthew Hegedus-Stewart, the baby in the box. After his rescue, he was placed for adoption. He always knew he had been left in a box, but only connected the dots to Eyster after joining the department.” So, an abandoned baby who was rescued by a cop grows up to become a cop himself. Some stories just can’t be made up.

Headlines

• Police clear protesters from occupied Columbia University building (CBS News) | Columbia says it’ll expel pro-Hamas agitators occupying school building (Townhall)

• Columbia student demands pro-Hamas protesters get “basic humanitarian aid” (Daily Wire)

• Columbia suspends media access to campus “as a safety measure” (Washington Free Beacon)

• Police called in as violent clashes erupt at UCLA anti-Israel protests (Daily Caller)

• White House considers welcoming some Palestinians from war-torn Gaza as refugees (CBS News)

• Biden administration forgives $6.1 billion in student debt for 317,000 former Art Institute students (CNBC)

• James Carville’s message to young voters opposed to Biden: “F—k you" (NY Post)

• House Democratic leaders announce they would save Johnson in ouster threat (ABC News)

• Major U.S. newspapers sue OpenAI, Microsoft for copyright infringement (Axios)

• Girls who dropped out of shot-put competition against boy have been BANNED from future competitions (Not the Bee)

• DA George Gascon’s Number 3 is charged with 11 felonies (RedState)

• BlackRock in China: Nuclear buildup underwritten in part by leading Wall Street firm (Washington Times)

• A small miracle: A completed new U.S. nuclear power plant (National Review)

• Netanyahu vows to invade Rafah "with or without a deal” as ceasefire talks with Hamas continue (AP)

• Humor: Biden drops support for pro-Palestine protestors after realizing how bad their hair smells (Babylon Bee)

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