March 13 top stories
It is March 13. Here are today’s top stories.
Boeing whistleblower found dead
Police in Charleston, S.C., are investigating the death of John Barnett (62), a former Boeing quality control manager who became a whistleblower when he and other former Boeing employees went public by making international headlines in April of 2019 with their concerns about serious safety issues in the company’s commercial airplanes.
Barnett had repeatedly alleged that Boeing’s manufacturing practices had declined – and that rather than improve them, he added, managers had pressured workers not to document potential defects and problems.
Police said Barnett’s body was found in a vehicle in a Holiday Inn parking lot in Charleston on Saturday suffering a gunshot wound to the head in an apparent suicide. One day earlier, he testified in a deposition about the string of problems he says he identified at Boeing’s plant where he once helped inspect the 787 Dreamliner aircraft before delivery to customers.
Barnett, who spent decades working for Boeing at its plants in Washington and South Carolina, accused the company of adopting a culture that prioritized raw numbers and profits over quality – and by extension, passenger safety.
Takeaways from Hur’s testimony on Biden special counsel report
Former special counsel Robert Hur appeared before Congress on Tuesday to explain his investigation into President Biden’s handling of classified documents – which led to no charges against the president.
Here are the takeaways from Tuesday’s hearing:
Hur was drilled by both sides where he would not exonerate Biden but would not call him ‘senile’ either. Members of both parties were unhappy with aspects of Hur’s report. Republicans were upset that Biden was not charged with crime. Democrats accused Hur of smearing Biden’s mental acuity.
Democrats teased the differences between the two cases by asking Hur. “Did you find that President Biden directed his lawyer to lie to the FBI?” “Did you find that President Biden directed his personal assistant to move boxes of documents to hide them from the FBI?” Hur responded we identified no such evidence and no to these questions.
Republicans attacked Biden as they pressured Hur on his decision not to prosecute the president, making their claim that the lack of charges against Biden shows a two-tiered system of justice. In their definition, it means someone’s political affiliation can determine whether they will be held accountable for committing a crime.
Hur denied partisan influences throughout the testimony to both sides. He defended his report saying that ‘what I wrote is what I believe the evidence shows. I did not sanitize my explanation. Nor did I disparage the President unfairly.’
US to send Ukraine $300 million in weapons
Multiple sources reported that President Biden’s administration said on Tuesday, the United States will send a new military aid package for Ukraine worth $300 million.
The first such move in months as additional funds for Kyiv remain blocked by Republican leaders in Congress.
The White House has been scrambling to find ways to send more military assistance given the situation on the battlefield and the resistance to the funding from Republican hardliners.
U.S. National Security Advisor, Jake Sullivan, said the funding was coming from unanticipated cost savings from Pentagon contracts and would be used for artillery rounds and munitions for HIMARS.
Sullivan told reporters “This ammunition will keep Ukraine’s guns firing for a period, but only a short period. It may only be helpful to Ukraine for a couple of weeks. It is nowhere near enough to meet Ukraine’s battlefield needs and it will not prevent Ukraine from running out of ammunition.”
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Border protection officer charged with bribery and trafficking
Officials said a former Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officer, Emanuel Isac Celedon, 35, who worked at the Juarez-Lincoln Port of Entry in Laredo, Texas on the U.S.-Mexico border. He let people through the lane he controlled without inspection at least nine times from September to November 2023 and told smugglers in advance what his lane assignment was.
Celedon also took a $6,000 bribe to allow vehicles with what he believed were kilograms of cocaine – but which was actually “sham cocaine” and part of an undercover investigation into the U.S.
Prosecutors said Celedon pleaded guilty in two federal cases Monday to four counts of bringing an undocumented alien to the U.S. in one criminal case and to counts of bribery and attempted importation of a controlled substance in the second.
See Alex for an update on Tuesday’s primary results. Here you go.
Biden and Trump head toward rematch after securing party nominations
Thanks, Callie.
After yesterday’s Republican and Democratic primaries in Georgia, Mississippi and Washington — and caucuses in Hawaii — both President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump have clinched their parties’ presidential nominations.
It’s official - we will have a rematch of Biden vs Trump in November.
Biden said in a statement that he is honored to be the Democratic nominee. He warned that Trump poses a threat to America and said voters now have a choice to make about the future of our country.
Trump said in a statement that now “we have to get to work to beat Biden.” Trump told his supporters that the vote in November is going to be the most important vote you’ve ever cast.
We have around 240 days until the general election. We’ve had two other instances of a long general election season in the past — in 2004 between George W. Bush and John Kerry and in 2000 between Bush and Al Gore.
Thanks for that update. That is all the top stories for today. See you tomorrow and stay with the light!
Boeing whistleblower found dead
Takeaways from Hur’s testimony on Biden special counsel report
US to send Ukraine $300 million in weapons
Border protection officer charged with bribery and trafficking
https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdtx/pr/former-federal-officer-receives-more-charges-alien-smuggling
Biden and Trump head toward rematch after securing party nominations
https://www.axios.com/2024/03/13/trump-biden-nominations-election-rematch-history