Cross-Examination

• Carlson gets cease and desist letter from Fox: Tucker Carlson is technically still under contract with Fox News after he was suddenly sidelined with still no explanation given, and he has been sent a cease and desist letter from the cable news media giant following the airing of his second Twitter show. The first episode of that show drew more than 100 million views. Carlson’s legal team, headed by attorney Harmeet Dhillon, a regular guest on Carlson’s Fox News show, contended that the letter was Fox “demanding that Tucker Carlson be silent until after the 2024 election.” Apparently, Carlson is planning to ignore the letter. His executive producer, Justin Wells, who has also left Fox, noted that Carlson’s next Twitter episode will be posted today. The legal wrangling may end up revealing the real reason behind Fox’s decision to cancel Carlson.

• Polling post-Trump indictment: it’s political: An ABC/Ipsos poll following Donald Trump’s indictment for allegedly mishandling classified documents found that nearly half of Americans (48%) support it and 42% of Americans believe these charges to be very serious. The poll also showed that nearly the same percentage of Americans (47%) believe the indictment to be politically motived. Unsurprisingly, the breakdown by political affiliation shows that the vast majority of Democrats (86%) support the charges, while 67% of Republicans oppose them. As we said yesterday, whatever you thought of Donald Trump before the indictment, you likely still think of Donald Trump.

• Planned Parenthood’s “transgender” business plan: Planned Parenthood’s recently released annual report for last year reveals that the organization’s embrace of the “transgender” agenda is ultimately all about money. The country’s number one abortion provider is actively working to corner the market on providing “transgender” services. For the nation’s largest abortion mill, the financial impact of the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade has yet to be fully determined, but given the fact that abortion numbers are down, it’s bound to have negatively impacted Planned Parenthood’s bottom line. But it would appear that Planned Parenthood has long anticipated this and has become the leading organization trumpeting what is euphemistically dubbed “gender-affirming care.” Indeed, Planned Parenthood’s “other services,” which predominately include so-called gender services procedures, increased from 15,902 the year prior to 256,550 last year. In other words, “transing” the kids has become a key feature of the business model moving forward.

• The hemorrhaging of the UMC: America’s second-largest Protestant denomination has been hemorrhaging congregations in staggering numbers over the last few years. Since the United Methodist Church (UMC) General Conference approved a measure in 2019 that allows individual UMC congregations to keep their buildings and church property should two-thirds of the congregants vote to leave, more than 5,000 churches have left the denomination. But the root cause behind this mass exodus is the UMC’s embrace of LGBTQ ideology despite the fact that the General Conference voted to uphold the church’s biblical ban on ordaining homosexuals and officiating same-sex weddings. Conservative congregations are leaving the UMC in response to the Left’s advances.

• Jeffrey Epstein settlement: Yesterday, JPMorgan Chase settled a civil lawsuit that had been raised against the bank last year by a victim of Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking. In the $290 million settlement, JPMorgan did not admit liability for Epstein’s crimes, though the bank did acknowledge that it maintained an account with Epstein for years after his first sex-crime conviction. JPMorgan and the attorneys representing the victims released a statement noting, “The parties believe this settlement is in the best interests of all parties, especially the survivors who were the victims of Epstein’s terrible abuse.” The bank is not out of the legal woods yet, as it is still facing a lawsuit raised by the U.S. Virgin Islands over its business relationship with Epstein. The common thread to these lawsuits is JPMorgan’s former head, Jes Staley, who had a close relationship with Epstein and kept him as a client with the bank after his 2008 conviction.

Headlines

• Grassley: Burisma executive who allegedly paid Biden has audio recordings of conversations with Joe, Hunter (Fox News)

• Trump says he’ll plead not guilty at arraignment, won’t make statement (The Hill)

• Inflation rose at a 4% annual rate in May, the lowest in two years (CNBC)

• Feds blew $3 trillion on “improper” payments over the last 20 years (Washington Times)

• New estimate finds $420 billion in fraud and waste in COVID-19 spending (Washington Examiner)

• COVID-19 developed by Chinese military at Wuhan lab, says report (PJ Media)

• Biden admin stands by misleading denial of Chinese spy activity in Cuba (Free Beacon)

• Dozens of war games show U.S. unprepared for “horrifically bloody” war with China (Free Beacon)

• Biden preparing plans to evacuate Americans from Taiwan (Townhall)

• Biden admin says encounters with illegal aliens are way down at border. Is it true? (Daily Signal)

• Gavin Newsom admits California “has not made progress” on its homelessness crisis (Daily Wire)

• Multiple Target stores across U.S. hit with bomb threats for “betraying the LGBTQ+ community” (Daily Wire)

• New study shows that a large percentage of people who identify as LGBT end up switching to heterosexual in just a few years time (Not the Bee)

• Most Americans believe “trans” athletes should compete against those with same biological gender (Fox Sports)

• Fact-check: Nearly 100% of political contributions from fact-checkers go to Democrats (Free Beacon)

• Washington Post publisher leaving after nine years (Axios)

• Policy: The UK just banned chemical castration for kids. America should do the same and more. (The Federalist)

• Humor: Biden instructs military to shoot anyone who calls U.S. a banana republic (Babylon Bee)

For more editors’ choice headlines, click here.