National and international media news & headlines compiled by CLG.

Trump pleads not guilty to classified documents charges –‘We most certainly enter a plea of not guilty’ | 13 June 2023 | Former President Donald Trump has pleaded not guilty to 37 charges related to alleged mishandling of classified documents. Trump’s lawyers asked for a jury trial during the former president’s arraignment Tuesday at a federal courthouse in Miami. “We most certainly enter a plea of not guilty,” Trump attorney Todd Blanche told the judge. Before the arraignment, deputy marshals booked the former president and took electronic copies of his fingerprints. They did not to take a mugshot of Trump since he is easily recognizable. The booking process took about 10 minutes. Trump’s aide and co-defendant, Walt Nauta, was also arrested, fingerprinted and processed.

Trump and Aide Walt Nauta ‘Under Arrest’ At Miami Federal Courthouse – Booked, Fingerprinted | 13 June 2023 | Joe Biden had his political opponent arrested on Tuesday…meanwhile, the Republican party is doing NOTHING to fight back. President Trump on Tuesday arrived to the Miami federal courthouse for his arraignment. Trump’s aide, Walt Nauta, who was indicted along with the former president, also made an appearance in court. Both Trump and his aide Walt Nauta were placed “under arrest,” booked and fingerprinted as they awaited Tuesday’s court proceedings. Trump was not placed in handcuffs and no mugshot was taken. President Trump pleaded not guilty.  

Trump says he should be exonerated because jury was not informed about law or Clinton case | 13 June 2023 | Former President Donald Trump on Tuesday said that he should be exonerated of the federal charges he faces relating to his handling of classified materials because the grand jury in the case was not informed about the Presidential Records Act or about another case involving former President Bill Clinton’s storage of presidential materials in his sock drawer. “THE GRAND JURY WAS NEVER TOLD ABOUT THE PRESIDENTIAL RECORDS ACT OR THE CLINTON SOCKS CASE, BOTH EXONERATING!” Trump posted on Truth Social as he is scheduled to appear in a federal court in Miami later in the day for his arraignment on 37 counts for allegedly mishandling classified documents. The grand jury issued the indictment containing the more than three dozen counts against Trump last week. Trump has said that he is protected under the Presidential Records Act, which he argued allows him to continue negotiating with the National Archives about which materials he could retain from his time in the Oval Office. The National Archives has said this claim is “false.”  

Russian soldiers seize American Bradleys and German Leopard –The captured NATO hardware was abandoned by Ukrainians in battle, the Defense Ministry has claimed | 13 June 2023 | The Russian Defense Ministry has released footage which it said shows Russian troops in Zaporozhye Region inspecting NATO-supplied armor that they captured from its Ukrainian operators. The video released on Tuesday appears to show an excited Russian soldier circling several damaged pieces of equipment, including a German-made Leopard 2 main battle tank and US-produced Bradley infantry fighting vehicles. He remarked that some of their engines were still running. “This [explicit] hardware is not as scary as it seemed,” the man is heard saying. The ministry, which shared the clip on social media…and argued that the condition in which they were found “indicates the rapid pace of the engagement and the abandonment of the battle-ready hardware by the Ukrainian armed forces.” (Video)

‘Death Sentence for Millions’: WHO, EU Launch New Global Vaccine Passport Initiative –Technology expert Michael Rectenwald, Ph.D., told The Defender that, under the guise of preserving freedom, a digital passport system “means restraints on movement and living for the unvaccinated and forced vaccination to participate in life.” | 6 June 2023 | The World Health Organization (WHO) and the European Commission — the executive branch of the European Union (EU) — on Monday launched a “landmark digital health partnership” marking the beginning of the WHO Global Digital Health Certification Network (GDHCN) to promote a global interoperable digital vaccine passport. Beginning this month, the WHO will adopt the EU’s system of digital COVID-19 certification “to establish a global system that will help facilitate global mobility and protect citizens across the world from on-going and future health threats, including pandemics,” according to Monday’s announcements by the WHO and the European Commission. Michael Rectenwald, Ph.D., author of Google Archipelago: The Digital Gulag and the Simulation of Freedom [and CLG News Founder], told The Defender that, under the guise of preserving freedom, a digital passport system “means restraints on movement and living for the unvaccinated and forced vaccination to participate in life.”

Biden admin green-lights Chinese EV battery factory in Michigan, despite local opposition | 13 June 2023 | The Biden administration is allowing Chinese electric vehicle battery company Gotion to move forward with construction of a facility in Michigan after a months-long national security review. The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) — an interagency task force overseen by the Department of the Treasury and tasked with reviewing certain foreign investments that may pose a national security threat — determined Tuesday that Gotion’s proposed facility was not a covered real estate transaction or purchase under the Defense Production Act. “We voluntarily submitted all the needed documents to the U.S. Department of Treasury Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. to be transparent and accountable and received the response that it is not a covered transaction,” Chuck Thelen, Gotion’s vice president of North American operations, said in a statement.

New California Law Will Base Electricity Bills on Income Level | 10 June 2023 | A new law in California will force those who make more m-ney to pay more for their electricity. Under the new rules, higher-income earners will pay seven times more than low-income earners. CNET reported: “If you live in California, how much you pay for electricity will soon be tied to much you earn. A state law passed last summer requires the California Public Utilities Commission, or CPUC, to approve a pricing structure that incorporates a flat fee with a sliding scale based on income. Currently, Californians pay for the energy they use and the cost of upgrading the grid, settling lawsuits related to wildfires and providing assistance to low-income customers is built into the per-kilowatt-hour price. Under the new system, however, funds for these programs would come from ‘income-graduated fixed charges.'” Customers will see the new changes starting in 2025.

Federal Agency Extends Stay for More Than 300,000 Immigrants | 13 June 2023 | The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) will extend the temporary legal status for tens of thousands of immigrants from several countries, according to a statement issued by the agency on Tuesday. Under President Donald Trump’s administration, DHS ended the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) designations for El Salvador, Honduras, Nepal, and Nicaragua. But on Tuesday, those designations were brought back, impacting more than 300,000 people from those countries. The agency, which oversees the U.S. Customs and Border Protection and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, will publish the explanation for procedures, timelines, and eligibility criteria in the Federal Register in the near future.

Dad of teen killed in Seattle CHOP Zone sues city: ‘Encouraged lawlessness to reign’ | 10 June 2023 | A father whose teenage son was fatally shot in Seattle’s “CHOP” Zone in 2020 has filed a wrongful death complaint against the city, saying it “encouraged lawlessness” to prevail in the protest area that summer. Protesters occupied the Capitol Hill Organized Protest zone, originally called the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone, in the weeks following George Floyd’s killing by a police officer in May 2020. In his suit filed with Oshan & Associates this week, Antonio Mays, Sr., says the city was well aware of the violence in the Capitol Hill Occupied Protest Zone but had abandoned it “without a working plan to provide essential services.” His 16-year-old son, Antonio Mays, Jr., was fatally shot after he had traveled there from California for what he thought was a “peaceful protest in support of the Black Lives Matter movement.”

White House accused of U.S. Flag Code violation over Pride Month display –Biden spoke in front of Pride Month display Saturday | 11 June 2023 | Joe Biden’s administration is receiving backlash online over its Pride Month display at the White House on Sunday as many Twitter users are saying it violates the U.S. Flag Code. Biden celebrated the LGBT community in a post Saturday, revealing a set of flags hanging from the White House that faced the South Lawn. The display includes a rainbow-colored Pride flag flanked by two American flags. Twitter users argue the display violates a section of the U.S. Flag Code that mandates the American flag be in the center of any display featuring multiple national flags or pennants.