Summary of the day
Here’s a recap of today’s developments:
Special counsel Jack Smith has brought three new felony charges against former president Donald Trump in the investigation into his alleged mishandling of classified documents after leaving the White House. Trump has been charged with one additional count of willful retention of national defense information and two additional obstruction counts, according to the court docket.
Federal prosecutors also added a third defendant, Carlos de Oliveira, who they say joined Trump and aide Walt Nauta to seek the destruction of security footage.
Lawyers for Trump met with members of Smith’s team investigating the former president’s efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election. Trump said his attorneys had a “productive” meeting with the Department of Justice this morning, and that “no indication of notice” was given during the meeting.
Joe Biden will not pardon his son Hunter on tax- and gun-related charges, the White House said. In court in Wilmington, Delaware, on Wednesday, Hunter Biden pleaded not guilty to two tax charges, both misdemeanours. He had been expected to plead guilty as part of a deal with federal prosecutors that also included a pre-trial diversion program on the guns charge, a felony.
Joe Biden announced new steps to help Americans face the “existential threat of climate change” and extreme heat. The new measures will shield workers from high temperatures, improve weather forecasting, strengthen access to drinking water and otherwise improve heat resilience, Biden said.
The supreme court cleared what may be the last obstacle to construction of the Mountain Valley pipeline, a controversial natural gas conduit in West Virginia and Virginia.
The Senate Republican leader, Mitch McConnell, suffered an initially unreported fall earlier this month, before a very public health scare this week revived questions about his age and fitness.
The Trump campaign has released a statement following the news that the former president faces additional charges in the case surrounding his alleged mishandling of classified documents after leaving the White House.
The statement reads:
This is nothing more than a continued desperate and flailing attempt by the Biden Crime Family and their Department of Justice to harass President Trump and those around him.
Deranged Jack Smith knows that they have no case and is casting about for any way to salvage their illegal witch hunt and to get someone other than Donald Trump to run against Crooked Joe Biden.
