Cross-Examination

• Secret Service will release Biden residence visitor records: In a significant development regarding Joe Biden’s classified document cover-up, the U.S. Secret Service will now provide information on visitors to Biden’s Delaware home — if Congress requests it. The acknowledgement of these records appears to contradict earlier statements from the White House that the Secret Service kept no visitor logs from Biden’s home, though it is clear that nobody would visit that residence without Secret Service knowledge and clearance. The agency’s head of communications, Anthony Guglielmi, explained the contradiction by noting that while the “Secret Service does not maintain visitor logs at the private residences of protectees [they do] generate law enforcement and criminal justice information records for various individuals who may come into contact with Secret Service protected sites.” Games with semantics, then. Meanwhile, Biden continues to dismiss the scandal as “DC noise.” While the content of those classified documents may not be more sensitive than those Donald Trump retained, the real issue is the abject hypocrisy regarding how the Trump investigation was politicized versus the Biden investigation. A bigger issue for Biden may be the effort to cover up the discovery of his documents ahead of the midterm election — who knew what and when?

• Alec Baldwin charged with involuntary manslaughter: New Mexico District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies on Thursday announced that the state is filing two counts of involuntary manslaughter against actor Alec Baldwin for the negligent discharge shooting death of Halyna Hutchins on the set of a movie Baldwin was filming. Following a year-long investigation, Carmack-Altwies stated, “There is sufficient evidence to file criminal charges against Alec Baldwin and other members of the ‘Rust’ film crew.” Also facing two counts of involuntary manslaughter is the film’s armorer, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, who has maintained that she doesn’t know how live rounds ended up in the gun Baldwin fired. Baldwin’s attorney called the charges a “terrible miscarriage of justice” that “we will fight … and we will win.” Baldwin maintains he never pulled the trigger on the firearm despite the conclusion of an FBI forensic investigation that the revolver could not have fired without the trigger being pulled. Hutchins’s family gave a statement in support of charging Baldwin, who faces up to 18 months in prison if convicted.

• DeSantis purges ESG from FL retirement system: In a move to keep political interests out of Florida’s public retirement pension, Republican Governor Ron DeSantis signed off on a resolution on Tuesday that ensures public fiduciaries “invest state funds in a manner that prioritizes the highest return on investment for Florida’s taxpayers and retirees without considering the ideological agenda” of the leftist Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) movement. DeSantis explained that “corporations across America continue to inject an ideological agenda through our economy rather than through the ballot box.” The resolution forbids the State Board of Administration from including “the consideration of the furtherance of social, political, or ideological interests” in its investment decisions, noting that investments “must be based only on pecuniary factors.” In other words, DeSantis is effectively saying that the State Board of Administration’s job is determining how to invest taxpayer money in a manner that produces the best financial return with no political or ideological agenda attached. The resolution also bars “discriminating against consumers for their religious, political, or social beliefs.” This move comes a month after DeSantis divested some $2 billion from the asset company BlackRock due to its promulgation of the ESG agenda.

Headlines

• Supreme Court “unable to identify” person who leaked abortion decision overturning Roe (CBS News)

• FBI offers $25,000 reward for info on attacks on pro-life centers; critics ask what took so long (Washington Times)

• Minnesota poised to legalize infanticide, nuke protections for women and babies in radical abortion bill (The Federalist)

• Virginia teen sex-trafficked twice after school hides gender identity from her parents (The Federalist)

• U.S. sending another $2.5 billion in military aid to Ukraine (Fox News)

• McCarthy puts the kibosh on proxy voting (Daily Wire)

• Biden has “no regrets” about mishandling classified documents (PJ Media)

• Trump claims he saved 100 million lives because of the COVID vaccine, dismisses any side effect concerns (Not the Bee)

• Hollywood lost over $500 billion in market value in 2022 (Epoch Times)

• Amazon shutting down charity program in cost-adjustment shift (Daily Wire)

• U.S. union membership rate hits all-time low despite campaigns (AP)

• Nationwide strike hits France as unions fight Macron’s plan to raise retirement age (AP)

• Policy: Embracing failure: Despite recent crime spikes, decarceration advocates are unrepentant (City Journal)

• Satire: Al Gore again warns the earth will not make it past the year 2012 (Babylon Bee)

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