The U.S. Capitol Police announced that a small bag of cocaine had been found in a “heavily trafficked” hallway of its headquarters.

In a press release Wednesday, the agency announced that around 1 p.m., a roughly one-inch-by-one-inch bag filled with a “white powdery substance” was found in the middle of the floor at the U.S. Capitol Police (USCP) headquarters in Washington, D.C.

The USCP said that the substance field tested positive for cocaine.

The cocaine was found on the second floor of the USCP headquarters in an area that was used for storing furniture and other supplies.

USCP said that the hallway area was frequented by various contractors and employees and is also near the Prisoner Processing, Crime Scene, Intel and Reports Processing offices.

An officer found the bag “in the middle of the floor” and immediately reported it to a supervisor, USCP said.

USCP announced that it had opened an investigation and will test the residue further and conduct DNA testing of the bag.

The finding of the “powdery white substance” came just 10 months after cocaine was also found in the White House.

On July 2, 2023, the cocaine, which was found in the West Wing, sparked an evacuation and emergency response.

“The White House complex went into a precautionary closure as officers from the Secret Service Uniformed Division investigated an unknown item found inside a work area,” the U.S. Secret Service said in a statement to Fox News Digital.

“The DC Fire Department was called to evaluate and quickly determined the item to be non-hazardous. The item was sent for further evaluation and an investigation into the cause and manner of how it entered the White House is pending,” the statement added.

President Biden is planning executive action that would allow him to shut down the US-Mexico border once the number of migrant crossings reaches 4,000 per day, a source close to the White House told The Post Wednesday.

The order would match a provision in the bipartisan border bill that failed to pass the Senate in February, which gave the president authority to expel migrants when border crossings reached the same daily average.

The legislative proposal would have given the homeland security secretary discretionary authority to carry out removals — but would have made deportations mandatory when illegal entries surpassed 5,000 per day over a one-week period.

The bill allowed for the suspension of that authority two weeks after the seven-day average falls to 75% of those levels.

A federal government source confirmed to The Post that an executive order to limit entries was coming, though it was unclear when it would be announced.

In April, southwestern border authorities stopped an average of 5,990 migrants per day, according to US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) — a figure which does not include so-called “gotaways” who escaped detection and arrest.

Traditionally, the number of border crossing dips in the summer months, with migrants less inclined to try and enter the US illegally in the intense heat. However, last year, the average number of border crossers encountered per day rose from 4,819 in June to 5,919 in July to 7,515 in August to 8,991 in September.

The US Border Patrol currently has more than 10,000 migrants in custody nationwide, according to internal CBP data exclusively obtained by The Post.

Five Border Patrol sectors have exceeded their migrant holding capacity, with the San Diego region keeping 1,675 migrants in facilities that can only hold a total of 1,000 individuals.

A spokeswoman for House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) — who has repeatedly called on Biden to take action on the border — said the executive order would “prove” the president “doesn’t need Congress to pass legislation to take action on the border.”

In January, Biden insisted that lawmakers had to approve the border bill before he could take further action to limit illegal immigration, telling reporters he had “done all I can do.”

“Just give me the power. I’ve asked from the very day I got into office,” he said at the time. “Give me the Border Patrol, give me the people, the judges — give me the people who can stop this and make it work right.”

However, the president has changed his tune since public polling has consistently shown that he faces an uphill battle for re-election in November, with illegal immigration and enhanced border enforcement ranked as a top concern for voters.

The administration recently introduced new restrictions for asylum interviews taking place at the southern border to allow officers to quickly remove migrants who don’t have a “credible fear” of returning to their home country from the US.

“We’re examining whether or not I have that power,” Biden, 81, told Univision’s Enrique Acevedo last month of another order reportedly under consideration that would raise the “credible fear standard” for asylum seekers.

The president had also mulled executive action to ban migrants from being granted asylum if they cross the border illegally between ports of entry — and remove others at designated entries when crossings met an unannounced threshold, Politico reported in February.

Meanwhile, congressional Democrats have shifted their own border messaging.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) is also considering resurrecting the failed border legislation, a source familiar with the matter confirmed to The Post.

In February, the bill came up short of the 60-vote filibuster threshold by 11 votes — five of whom were Democrats.

“The status quo cannot continue,” Schumer said on the Senate floor Wednesday. “The only way we’ll solve this issue is with real, bipartisan action, not partisan talk.”

“Apparently it’s time to give the commander-in-chief kudos on his handling of a crisis that still lets nearly 5,000 people cross our border illegally in a day,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said wryly in his own floor speech.

“Of course, President Biden does have the authority he needs to start rapidly undoing the damage of the historic crisis that unfolded on his watch,” added McConnell, who voted against the Senate border bill.

Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.), who also voted against the bill, called the move “a cheap election year ploy” since “Biden has lost all credibility on the border.”

“Democrats have completely failed on the issue for the past three and a half years and will have to own that failure in front of American voters,” Schmitt told The Post.

“Chuck Schumer should spend his time convincing Biden to reinstate the successful Trump policies Biden reversed like Remain in Mexico that created a 45-year low in illegal immigration,” he added, referencing the levels of Border Patrol arrests in 2017.

Axios first reported on Schumer discussed bringing the border bill back to the floor during a Senate Democratic caucus lunch meeting last week.

“Senator Schumer and Senate Democrats already have a House-backed bill that has bipartisan support which will solve the southern border catastrophe engineered by the Biden Administration, but they’re letting it collect dust in the Senate,” Johnson also told The Post in a statement.

“The End the Border Catastrophe Act, which includes core components of H.R. 2, the Secure the Border Act of 2023, would institute Remain in Mexico, reform the parole and asylum laws, and build the border wall,” Johnson added.

On Friday, the campaign arm for House Democrats also released a memo encouraging members to go “on the offensive” against Republicans “who joined [former President Donald] Trump in killing a bipartisan border deal so that they could campaign on the border.”

Trump, 77, has promised to roll out the “largest mass deportation effort” in US history if he wins election to another term Nov. 5, removing “nearly 20 million” illegal immigrants who they say are currently in the US.

By October, more than 8 million migrants are expected to be living illegally in the US, according to a court docket of asylum cases involving non-citizens released into the interior by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

President Biden just missed taking a brutal spill Wednesday, catching his foot on a step as he took the stage at the National Peace Officers Memorial Service at the Capitol.

The 81-year-old Biden managed to reach the microphone without further incident before paying his respects to law enforcement officers who have given their lives in the line of duty.

Eagle-eyed critics of the president were quick to share video of the near-tumble, led by the Republican National Committee’s rapid response X account.

Biden trips (again) as he’s led on stage at the national Peace Officers Memorial Service pic.twitter.com/qRWUBQAUmx

— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) May 15, 2024

The close call with the stairs came hours after Biden released a dramatic challenge to his rival, former President Donald Trump, to face him in a debate.

By midday, the presumptive Republican and Democratic nominees had agreed to showdowns on June 27 and Sept. 10, hosted by CNN and ABC News, respectively.

In his remarks, Biden told his audience of police officers that Americans “owe you as a nation.”

“Police officer is not just what you do,” the president said. “It’s who you are.”

Age has loomed large in the Nov. 5 presidential election. Biden is the oldest commander-in-chief in US history and would be 86 at the end of a second four-year term.

Trump, 77, would surpass Biden as the oldest president if he wins the rematch and serves out a full term himself.

Biden has acknowledged his age is a legitimate concern and poked fun at it from time to time. His aides and allies have been adamant that he is as sharp and vibrant as ever.

However, voters may be spooked by a number of incidents of Biden struggling to keep his balance, including repeated stumbles on the steps of Air Force One and a heavy fall on the stage of the Air Force Academy’s graduation ceremony in June last year.

When told Biden is too old to be effective as president, 69% said they either somewhat or strongly agreed, while only 27% somewhat or strongly disagreed, according to a recent New York Times/Siena College survey.

By contrast, just 41% somewhat or strongly agreed that Trump was too old to be effective, compared to 56% who either strongly or somewhat disagreed.

The CNN debate moderators were named after President Trump and Joe Biden agreed to a debate.

Joe Biden and President Trump on Wednesday accepted an invitation from CNN for a debate on June 27 without a live audience.

The CNN debate will take place in Atlanta, Georgia. Jake Tapper and Dana Bash will moderate CNN’s June debate.

Trump also accepted ABC News’ invitation to debate Biden on September 10.

This is months after President Trump has repeatedly challenged Joe Biden to a debate. Joe Biden is such a coward that he has avoided committing to a debate until he was practically forced to because of pressure.

ANYTIME, ANYWHERE, ANYPLACE! pic.twitter.com/uIpMYI6qjb

— Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) April 11, 2024

However, Biden will only debate Trump if there is no audience, Trump’s mic is muted while he’s speaking, and if left-wing networks/moderators are in charge of the matchup.

President Trump challenged Joe Biden to a third debate hosted by Fox News and moderated by Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum.

Biden snubbed the invite to a third debate.

“President Biden made his terms clear for two one-on-one debates, and Donald Trump accepted those terms,” Biden Campaign Chair Jen O’Malley Dillon said in a statement. “No more games. No more chaos, no more debate about debates.”

Stormy Daniels’ fellow porn star husband Barret Blade said the couple will probably pack up and flee the United States if Donald Trump wins his hush money trial.

Blade, 50, was also heavily critical of women’s groups and other objects of Trump’s ire for abandoning his wife – whose $130,000 hush money payment from the former president’s team before the 2016 election is at the center of the case – and spent two days last week on the witness stand in the ongoing trial.

In an interview Tuesday, Blade said he’s saddened by what he describes as the anger toward his wife and doesn’t really see a positive future for the couple in America.

‘Either way, I don’t think it gets better for her. I think if it’s not guilty, we got to decide what to do. Good chance we’ll probably vacate this country,’ he said.

Whether the former president wins or loses the case, he believes they will face reprisal from Trump’s MAGA supporters.

‘I don’t see it as a win situation either way,’ Blade told CNN. ‘I know that we would like to get on with our lives. I know that she wants to move past this.

‘We just want to do what I guess you’d say “normal people” get to do in some aspects but I don’t know if that ever will be, you know, and it breaks my heart.’

He appeared to choke back tears when he wondered where the movements that have risen up to try and protest Trump and other men accused of misdeeds were when his wife needed them, or Trump’s other antagonists like E. Jean Carroll.

‘I don’t see people fighting back for her, for instance, E. Jean Carroll. Although we’re super happy that everything happened for her happened… Stormy opened the door. Stormy got sued for the exact same two comments but she’s gotta pay legal fees. No one wants to help her for that.’

He then said: ‘Or the women’s groups. She fights for women’s groups all day long. I don’t see anyone doing Gofundmes to try and help with her legal fees and help her.’

Blade also attacked former Daniels attorney turned convicted felon Michael Avenatti.

‘Michael Avenatti, he did a Gofundme to try to help her, then he ended up stealing all her money!’

Daniels was grilled during cross examination last week about her porn career as the former president’s attorney tried to portray her as someone who wanted to get rich off selling the story of her alleged affair with Trump.

The proceedings concluded with Trump’s defense attorney Todd Blanche is arguing for a mistrial, calling Daniels’ testimony ‘extraordinarily prejudicial.’

It was just over a year ago that DailyMail.com revealed that Daniels had quietly tied the knot with her fourth husband.

Blade and Daniels have known each other for 25 years.

They originally met in a bar but it was only in recent years that their friendship became romantic.

Daniels did not reveal where she and Blade, who turned 50 in March, got married.

Both of them use their stage names. Daniels’ real name is Stephanie Clifford while Blade’s is Russell Barrett.

As well as acting in porn movies, California-born Blade is a businessman, running a company called Alienwerxs – which sells alien-themed clothing as well as Stormy Daniels merchandise such as T-shirts and calendars.

‘When you marry your best friend, life is always going to be good…even on days it’s hard,’ Daniels wrote shortly after their marriage.

‘Thank you @barrettblade777 for giving me my dream home, life and family,’ she wrote on Instagram shortly after their wedding.

‘The diamonds and amazing sex are awesome too!’ she added in parentheses.

Daniels – who was born Stephanie Gregory in Baton Rouge, Louisiana – first married porn star Pat Myne in 2003. His real last name is Clifford, and she has used that name ever since.

They divorced in 2005 and she married Mike Moz – real name Michael Mosny – two years later. Again the marriage was short-lived and they divorced in 2009.

Her third marriage was to Glendon Crain – another one-time porn star who acted under the name Brendon Miller and has also played drums in several rock bands.

They were wed from 2015 to 2018.

The porn star claims she was paid $130,000 to keep quiet about her liaison with Trump while his wife Melania was pregnant with their son Barron, now 17.

The charges – the first criminal charges against the former president – relate to reimbursements made through an LLC to his former attorney and ‘fixer’ Michael Cohen, who himself testified Tuesday.

Trump has said the payments were legitimate expenses, and not illegally disguised.

The porn star revealed new details about the alleged 2006 hookup while speaking under oath during a criminal trial with Trump seated just feet from the witness stand, including repeating her claim about swatting the future 45th president’s behind.

‘I had my clothes and my shoes off. I believe my bra however was still on. We were in the missionary position,’ Daniels said.

Trump, 77, was already motioning to his defense. ‘Objection,’ said Susan Necheles, raising her umpteenth objection of that morning.

By then, Daniels, 45, had taken us through her career as an erotic dancer, her first pornographic film (‘I’ll spare you the details,’ she said) and her regimen of STD testing (once a month at the time she said she met Trump; twice a month now).

The jury had heard her talk about ‘condom mandatory’ porn shoots, a description of herself with ‘blond hair and big boobs,’ and how she spanked Trump with a rolled-up magazine.

But it was two moments, when she described not being able to remember how she ended up on a hotel bed with Trump and how he allegedly failed to wear a condom, that briefly threatened to derail the whole hush money case.

Either way, Daniels was determined to tell her story of how she met Trump at a celebrity golf event in 2006, before having sex with him and then selling the rights to her story just ahead of the 2016 election.

And tell it she did… using all her skills as an actress to deliver it with hand waves, lip pouts and nose wrinkles, interspersed with laughter as if to underline the absurdity of it all.

The jury listened to the deluge of words entranced. After a day of dull but essential testimony about invoices and checks on Monday, Daniels was the showstopper.

Some of the jurors kept their eyes fixed downwards as they took notes. Others looked hypnotized.

The trial follows the legal victory of E. Jean Carroll – which Blade mentioned in his interview.

The 80-year-old writer held hands with her attorneys, who were sat either side of her, before the verdict was read out.

She sued Trump for his defamatory statements disparaging her, and denying her rape allegations.

Last year a jury found that Carroll proved Trump had sexually abused her in the late 1990s in the changing room of Bergdorf Goodman department store in Manhattan, and defamed her. The jury awarded her $5 million in damages in her civil trial.

He continued to hurl insults at her and call her a liar, so she sued him again for defamation. The case concluded in late January, after the panel of seven men and two women deliberated for approximately two hours 45 minutes.

Avenatti, who rose to fame representing porn star Daniels in her lawsuit against Trump, was sentenced in 2022 to 14 years in federal prison for dodging taxes and stealing millions of dollars from clients, including Daniels.

In a district court in Orange County on Monday Avenatti, 51, was also ordered to pay nearly $8million in restitution after admitting he secretly took settlement money paid to his clients and spent some of it to buy a private jet.

He is now serving time in a Southern California prison on two separate cases. In one he was convicted of stealing book proceeds from Daniels and in the other of trying to extort Nike for $25million.

Avenatti represented Daniels in her lawsuit to break a confidentiality agreement with Trump to stay silent about an affair she said they had. Daniels became one of Trump’s leading adversaries, attacking him on news programs and Twitter.

The government dropped all other remaining charges against Avenatti stemming from a 36-count indictment.

Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, argued that President Joe Biden should have pardoned Donald Trump after the Justice Department brought indictments against the former president and pressured New York prosecutors not to pursue Trump’s ongoing hush money trial.

In an exclusive interview on MSNBC’s “The 11th Hour with Stephanie Ruhle,” Romney expressed his dismay in response to Republican lawmakers, including the presumptive Republican presidential nominee’s vice presidential prospects, rallying to Trump’s defense outside the Manhattan courthouse where Trump’s hush money trial is taking place.

“How does that make you feel about Republicans?” Ruhle asked Romney.

Romney, a vocal critic of Trump, said, “I think it’s a terrible fault for our country to see people attacking our legal system — that’s an enormous mistake. I think it’s also demeaning for people to quite apparently try and run for vice president by donning a red tie and standing outside the courthouse. It’s just — I’d have felt awkward.”

The Utah Republican argued that Biden should have pardoned Trump when the Justice Department announced charges against him and that the president “made an enormous error” by not pressuring New York prosecutors to drop their case against Trump. (Presidents can pardon only in federal cases.)

“He should have fought like crazy to keep this prosecution from going forward,” Romney said, referring to Biden. “It was a win-win for Donald Trump.”

Pressed by Ruhle whether that is Biden’s job to pardon Trump, Romney said he believes that Biden should have taken a cue from former President Lyndon B. Johnson, saying that the president could have stepped in and urged New York prosecutors to drop the case.

“I have been around for a while. If LBJ had been president, and he didn’t want something like this to happen, he’d have been all over that prosecutor saying, ‘You better not bring that forward or I’m gonna drive you out of office,’” he said.

Ruhle then noted that Romney supports having separate but equal branches of government.

“I do. … You may disagree with this, but had I been President Biden, when the Justice Department brought on indictments, I would have immediately pardoned him. I’d have pardoned President Trump. Why? Well, because it makes me, President Biden, the big guy and the person I pardoned a little guy.”

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and several of Trump’s potential vice presidential picks issued public remarks in front of the Manhattan courthouse where Trump is required to attend court proceedings in the hush money trial against him, expressing their support and loyalty for him as the trial limits his time on the campaign trail. The potential VP picks, which include Sen. JD Vance of Ohio and former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, have echoed, without evidence, Trump’s accusations of the trial being a Democrat-led effort to interfere with his campaign.

Biden and Trump on Wednesday agreed to participate in general election debates in June and September, at least the first of which will not have a live audience. Asked whether debates matter today and if he thinks it would influence votes, Romney, who unsuccessfully ran for president against Barack Obama in 2012, said people have “low expectations” for Biden but “much higher expectations” about Trump.

“The image that comes to mind is those two old guys on the Muppets, you know, that sat in the back … that’s what comes to mind. But I actually think there’ll be a huge audience for these debates,” he said. “I think people have very low expectations as to what President Biden will do. I think they have much higher expectations about President Trump and his competitiveness.”

Romney added that he has had “good exchanges” with Biden and that Trump “seems energetic and forceful” during his rallies, but he’s unsure about what to expect when they go head-to-head in debates.

“You have got a cheering crowd and you have got teleprompters you could read, so how will they do in person?” Romney said, referring to presidential campaign rallies. “I don’t know the answer to that, but I think America will be watching.”

A black man from New Jersey was charged in federal court with threats after allegedly planning a mass murder of white people, who he said were privileged.

In December 2022, federal prosecutors say Joshua Cobb wrote online that he wanted “to cause mayhem on the white community,” according to court records filed late last week.

“The reason i specifically want to target white people is because as a black male, they will NEVER understand my struggles,” Cobb wrote, according to the prosecutors. “Same way I will never understand their struggles, but I don’t care to. I want to erase them. All of them really, but in this case as many as I possibly can.” Cobb added that he had “officially began planning my attack” to occur in New Jersey during “an important holiday to their race,” and that he had “already acquired 2 of the 4 firearms I plan to use for my attack.”

The next year, Cobb attended Marine Corps basic training in South Carolina. He was stationed at the Marine Corps Air-Ground Combat Center in Twentynine Palms, California this year.

In April 2024, FBI agents interviewed Cobb on base and he “provided detailed information on three locations he chose as possible targets for his attack,” and said he “continued to have homicidal ideations and still harbored feelings of contempt towards those whom he perceived as privileged white people.”

Cobb was arrested Friday, May 10, and was also discharged from the Marine Corps that day, according to court affidavits. He was charged with transmitting threats in interstate commerce, which could bring up to five years in prison. According to court records, he is being held in jail and is represented by a public defender.

He allegedly told investigators that one location he targeted was a gym or a grocery store, where “you just see all these f—ing rich-ass white people,” or simply a “rich white area and just like start shooting. That was like all my little ideologies.”

He said he had access to weapons through “my boy” since “it’s no secret guns are in bad areas.”

When the FBI told him it was confiscating his cell phone, he said, “this is why people like me shoot people.”

The military has struggled with recruiting and talent after the Biden administration fought efforts to promote based on merit rather than race.

It was slated to spend $270 million on DEI programs over three years, and has faced severely waning interest from white, blue-collar men as the military put on events like drag shows.

Perhaps no federal agency has embraced radical and divisive rhetoric as the Department of Veterans Affairs, even though its workforce is disproportionately black. The agency said, pursuant to a Joe Biden equity directive, that it wants more black veterans to be declared mentally disabled so that they could receive government checks — even though black vets already get those disability checks at twice the rates of whites.

Each of the major U.S. stock indexes closed Wednesday at record highs after new federal data showed inflation slowing down.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average, S&P 500 and Nasdaq composite all rallied Wednesday after the Labor Department reported inflation falling to a 3.4 percent annual rate in April after a 0.3 percent monthly increase in prices, according to the consumer price index.

The Dow rose roughly 350 points Wednesday to close at 39,908, a gain of 0.9 percent. The S&P rose 1.2 percent and the Nasdaq climbed 1.4 percent.

The slowdown in price gains is welcome news to Wall Street after several months of higher-than-expected inflation.

Federal Reserve officials had expected to cut interest rates as soon as this spring, according to projections released in December, but held off as both job gains and inflation came in hot.

If inflation continues to fall, the Fed could be inclined to cut interest rates and loosen its foot on the brake of the economy.

Lower interest rates tend to stimulate the stock market as companies spend less money on debt costs and consumers have more money to spend.

In a whirlwind few hours, President Biden and former President Trump have upended the traditional presidential debates — and moved to box out RFK Jr.

Biden’s campaign announcedthis morning it wouldn’t take part in fall debates by the nonpartisan Commission on Presidential Debates. It offered one-on-one debates with Trump in June and September, with no studio audience and microphones that could be cut.

Trump immediately accepted, telling Salem Media radio host Hugh Hewitt he’ll debate with any moderator.

Biden and Trump accepted a CNN invite for a debate on June 27, the two candidates said this morning. That’s before either party has its national convention to officially pick presidential nominees.

The Trump campaign then proposed extra debates in July and August.

RFK Jr. then accused the two campaignsof “colluding” against his campaign to “avoid discussion of their eight years of mutual failure.”

Trump and Biden thenaccepted invites from ABC News for a debate on Sept. 10.

The campaigns have agreed to no audience for the CNN debate, but they’re still negotiating on how to handle cutting off microphones.

The Trump and Biden campaigns recently held back-channel conversations about cutting the commission out of the process, the Washington Post reports.

RFK Jr. had a real chance at making the presidential debate stage for the traditional fall debates, but could be cut out by the moved-up timelines of the new contests.

CNN’s rules say a candidate needs four polls at 15% and they have to be on the ballot in enough states to secure 270 electoral votes.

Kennedy recently scored one poll at 16%, CNN’s Harry Enten pointed out earlier this week.

Kennedy is on the ballot in four states, with ongoing efforts in 38 more.

Slovakia’s populist Prime Minister Robert Fico is in life-threatening condition after being wounded in a shooting after a political event Wednesday afternoon, according to his Facebook profile.

Reports on TA3, a Slovakian TV station, said Fico, 59, was hit in the stomach after four shots were fired outside the House of Culture in the town of Handlova, some 93 miles northeast of the capital, where the leader was meeting with supporters. A suspect has been detained, it said.

The individual, who attempted to “assassinate” PM Robert Fico, was identified by Slovakian media as Juraj Cintula, a 71-year-old poet. European media Nexta cited Slovak media as reporting that “the attacker was a former employee of a private security company and author of a poetry collection Juraj Cintula. This is reported by local TV channel Markiza.”

A message posted to Fico’s Facebook account said the leader “has been shot multiple times and is currently in life-threatening condition. At this moment he is transported by helicopter to Banská Bystrica, because it would take too long to get to Bratislava due to the necessity of an acute procedure. The next few hours will decide.”

The shooting in Slovakia comes three weeks ahead of crucial European Parliament elections, in which populist and hard-right parties in the 27-nation bloc appear poised to make gains.

Deputy speaker of parliament Lubos Blaha confirmed the incident during a session of Slovakia’s Parliament and adjourned it until further notice, the Slovak TASR news agency said.

Slovakia’s major opposition parties, Progressive Slovakia and Freedom and Solidarity, canceled a planned protest against a controversial government plan to overhaul public broadcasting that they say would give the government full control of public radio and television.

“We absolutely and strongly condemn violence and today’s shooting of Premier Robert Fico,” said Progressive Slovakia leader Michal Simecka. “At the same time we call on all politicians to refrain from any expressions and steps which could contribute to further increasing the tension.”

President Zuzana Caputova condemned “a brutal and ruthless” attack on the premier.

“I’m shocked,” Caputova said. “I wish Robert Fico a lot of strength in this critical moment and a quick recovery from this attack.”

Fico, a third-time premier, and his leftist Smer, or Direction, party, won Slovakia’s Sept. 30 parliamentary elections, staging a political comeback after campaigning on a pro-Russian and anti-American message.

Critics worried Slovakia under Fico would abandon the country’s pro-Western course and follow the direction of Hungary under populist Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.

Thousands have repeatedly rallied in the capital and across Slovakia to protest Fico’s policies.

Condemnations of political violence quickly came from leaders across Europe, although no motive for the attack was immediately apparent.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen condemned what she described as a “vile attack.”

“Such acts of violence have no place in our society and undermine democracy, our most precious common good,” von der Leyen said in a post on X.

Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala called the incident “shocking,” adding, “I wish the premier to get well soon. We cannot tolerate violence, there’s no place for it in society.” The Czech Republic and Slovakia formed Czechoslovakia until 1992.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk wrote on X: “Shocking news from Slovakia. Robert, my thoughts are with you in this very difficult moment.”

Former Trump adviser Steve Bannon should begin serving a four-month prison sentence now that a federal appeals court has upheld his contempt-of-Congress conviction, the Justice Department told a federal judge Tuesday.

US District Judge Carl Nichols, who presided over Bannon’s trial, had paused Bannon’s sentence while an appeal of his conviction played out.

He has given Bannon until Monday to respond to the DOJ’s request, extending an earlier deadline following a motion to delay from the defense team.

Bannon was found guilty in July 2022 by a federal jury of two counts of contempt of Congress for defying a subpoena by the House January 6 select committee in its investigation into the 2021 attack on the US Capitol.

The Justice Department said in its court filing that a person who is found guilty must report for their term of imprisonment unless the defendant can establish “the appeal is not for the purpose of delay and raises a substantial question of law or fact likely to result in reversal.”

“The D.C. Circuit rejected defendant’s appeal on all grounds, including the primary argument on appeal: the requisite mental state required for a contempt of Congress violation,” the Justice Department wrote.

The unanimous decision by the appeals court was a win for Congress, potentially paving the way for how others will be held accountable for defying a congressional subpoena.

The timing of when Bannon will be expected to report to prison is still unclear.

JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon warned that the US needs to reduce its fiscal deficit sooner rather than later otherwise the issue will become ‘far more uncomfortable.’

The billionaire banker, 68, pointed to the nation’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic as the cause of the issue, as it triggered a period of rapid interest rate hikes, stimulus programs and tax hikes.

‘America has spent a lot of money. During Covid and after Covid, our deficit is at 6% now,’ Dimon told Sky News. ‘That’s a lot, but obviously that drives growth.’

Through the 2024 fiscal year so far, the US deficit stands at $855 billion, which is $59 billion less than through the same period in the prior fiscal year, according to the Bipartisan Policy Center.

Dimon said the efforts made by the US government to prop up its economy have not been counter-corrected, and leaving the deficit to grow could allow it to become out of control.

‘Any country can borrow money and drive some growth, but that may not always lead to good growth,’ he said.

‘So, I think America should be quite aware that we have got to focus on our fiscal deficit issues a little bit more, and that is important for the world.’

The deficit skyrocketed during the pandemic, reaching $3.13 trillion in 2020 and $2.71 trillion in 2021.

Through 2023 that figure had dropped to $1.7 trillion, but Dimon said moves by President Biden’s administration – such as the Inflation Reduction Act – have not turned the tide as much as he would have hoped, reports CNBC.

However, when questioned over whether Americans should be bracing for immediate economic turmoil, he downplayed the issue – but warned that things may also not be getting any better.

‘I don’t think it’s a big comeuppance and I don’t think it’s the next couple of years, but I think it is why we have higher inflation,’ he said.

‘I think if you want to do a great job in your country, and you have a 6% deficit and 100% debt to GDP, this can go [on] for a while, but the sooner we focus on it, the better.’

Dimon added that he is hoping Biden ‘really focuses’ on handling the deficit, and felt it was an issue that would only become dire if ignored.

‘At one point it will cause a problem and why should you wait?’ he said.

‘The problem will be caused by the market and then you will be forced to deal with it and probably in a far more uncomfortable way than if you dealt with it to start.’

Dimon was once rumored to be in consideration for former President Trump’s Treasury Secretary, and was questioned by CNBC earlier in the year as he waded into politics.

Speaking to the outlet’s ‘Squawk Box’, he said Democrats should be ‘more respectful’ of Trump’s supporters, and praised the former president for being ‘kind of right’ about a number of controversial issues.

But when questioned whether he was chiming in on the political scene to launch his own role in the cabinet, he said it was ‘absolutely not’ the case.

‘Made those comments to make a point that we should listen to each other and talk to each other, whether you agree with someone or not,’ he said.

‘I think people should be very clear about what polices work and what policies don’t work. Whoever wins the presidency, I hope they have policies that work for both America and the free and democratic world.’

Frank McCourt, the former LA Dodgers owner, announced Wednesday morning that he’s putting together a “people’s bid” to buy TikTok from China’s ByteDance.

McCourt is a vocal critic of tech and social media, having stepped down as CEO of his eponymous investment firm to launch an effort that would give users more control and ownership of their personal data.

Unlike other potential bidders, McCourt says he doesn’t want TikTok’s algorithm.

News of the effort was first reported by Semafor.

McCourt doesn’t have enough cash to buy TikTok on his own, so he’s retained Guggenheim Securities to effectively crowdfund via both institutions and individuals.

Among those endorsing his effort is Tim Berners-Lee, the person credited with inventing the World Wide Web.

ByteDance is subject to a new U.S. law requiring it to divest TikTok on national security grounds, or else risk the app being banned.

It’s filed a legal challenge, and big questions remain about whether the Chinese government would even allow ByteDance to sell TikTok (particularly with its algorithm included).

“I’ve been involved in a lot of large deals, and things take different twists and turns,” McCourt tells Axios.

“There’s a distinct possibility that ByteDance will be willing to sell TikTok U.S. without the algorithm, which we don’t want, so we want all our ducks lined up.”

TikTok has several willing buyers. It just doesn’t yet have a willing seller.

The Peruvian government has officially classified transgender, nonbinary and intersex people as “mentally ill.”

The decision was made to ensure the country’s public health services could “guarantee full coverage of medical attention for mental health” for the trans community, the Peruvian health ministry explained, according to the Telegraph.

The decree will supposedly alter the language in the Essentials Health Insurance Plan to reflect that trans and intersex people have a mental disorder, LGBTQ+ outlet Pink News reported.

Despite the change, trans and other LGBTQ+ people will not be forced to undergo conversion therapies, the health ministry insisted in a statement issued on Friday, the outlet reported.

LGBTQ+ activist groups across Peru, however, slammed the decision as a major step backward in the fight for their rights and safety.

“100 years after the decriminalization of homosexuality, the @Minsa_Peru has nothing better to do than to include trans people in the category of mental illnesses,” Jheinser Pacaya, director of OutfestPeru, wrote on X.

A 100 años de la despenalización de la homosexualidad el @Minsa_Peru no tiene mejor idea que incluir a las personas trans en la categoría de enfermedades mentales. Exigimos y no descansaremos hasta su derogaracion. pic.twitter.com/gKczZeq0OI

— Jheinser Pacaya 🏳️‍🌈 (@jheinserrr) May 14, 2024

“We demand and we will not rest until its repeal,” they added.

Percy Mayta-Tristán, a medical researcher at Lima’s Scientific University of the South, told the Telegraph that the decision showed a lack of awareness around the complexity of LGBTQ+ issues.

“You can’t ignore the context that this is happening in a super-conservative society, where the LGBT community has no rights and where labeling them as mentally ill opens the door to conversion therapy,” he explained.

King Charles III marked another first in his reign this week, unveiling the first official portrait of himself since his coronation last year.

Charles and his wife Queen Camilla were on hand Tuesday as the king’s portrait was unveiled at Buckingham Palace.

The portrait, which stands over 6 feet tall, was painted over the course of three years by Jonathan Yeo, a U.K.-based artist, according to the palace.

The painting features a striking red background and shows Charles wearing the uniform of the Welsh Guards, of which he was made Regimental Colonel in 1975, according to the palace.

The painting was first commissioned in 2020, when Charles was the Prince of Wales, a title that has since been passed to his eldest son Prince William, after the death of Queen Elizabeth II in 2022.

The butterfly located above Charles’ shoulder in the painting is representative of his transformation as king, according to Yeo.

“When I started this project, His Majesty The King was still His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales, and much like the butterfly I’ve painted hovering over his shoulder, this portrait has evolved as the subject’s role in our public life has transformed,” Yeo said in a statement. “I do my best to capture the life experiences etched into any individual sitter’s face.”

He continued, “In this case, my aim was also to make reference to the traditions of Royal portraiture but in a way that reflects a 21st Century Monarchy and, above all else, to communicate the subject’s deep humanity. I’m unimaginably grateful for the opportunity to capture such an extraordinary and unique person, especially at the historic moment of becoming King.”

Yeo painted the portrait in his London studio in between four sittings with Charles from 2021 to 2023, according to the palace.

The painting will be on display for one month beginning May 16 at the Philip Mould Gallery in London. Then the painting will go on to hang in Draper’s Hall, an historic building in London that was originally owned by King Henry VIII.

The unexpectedly modern painting and it’s bold red tone quickly drew backlash online, including in the comments section of the palace’s Instagram post about the portrait.

“I’m sorry but his portrait looks like he’s in hell,” wrote another commenter.

Others in the comments section saw a little of both sides, with one person writing, “I would have loved this if it was any other color than red. He really captured the essence of him in the face, but the harshness of the red doesn’t match the softness of his expression.”

And still others commented that they would have expected a more nature-based portrait for Charles, who is known as a champion for the environment.

“Given his love of nature and preservation, I am surprised there was not a natural landscape portrayed behind him,” wrote one commenter.

A pro-life leader was given a nearly five-year prison sentence Tuesday for blocking an abortion clinic, as fellow activists accused the Biden administration of using federal law enforcement to go after political opponents.

U.S. District Court Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly handed down a 57-month sentence to Lauren Handy — who authorities discovered had five fetuses in her home when she was charged two years ago — for organizing a 2020 blockade of a D.C. abortion clinic that saw 10 pro-life advocates infiltrate the facility and chain up the entrance.

Co-defendants John Hinshaw and William Goodman were also sentenced Tuesday to 21 and 27 months behind bars, respectively, for their roles in the blockade at Washington Surgi-Clinic in Northwest.

One of the demonstrators pleaded guilty in March 2023, and the remaining six are scheduled to be sentenced later this month.

Friends of the defendants packed the D.C. courtroom to shout “You’re a hero, Lauren!” to Handy and reciprocate the wide grin with which Hinshaw greeted the crowd during their separate hearings.

Others were seen clasping their hands in prayer or saying the rosary while Judge Kollar-Kotelly laid out their respective punishments.

The sentencing comes as the Justice Department has cracked down on pro-life advocates for clinic demonstrations in recent years.

Federal prosecutors are threatening some activists with long prison sentences while other protesters have been taken into custody at gunpoint during early-morning raids.

Supporters said authorities are trying to make an example of Handy by giving her one of the harshest sentences.

“She’s clearly being used as a pawn by the government because, as they said … she’s the first one in history to be sentenced for this exact combination of charges,” Caroline Smith, the executive director of Progressive Anti-Abortion Uprising, told The Washington Times.

Handy is part of the organization.

“They’re clearly trying to … put her on the pedestal and say, ‘You don’t want to be this,” Ms. Smith said.

Handy, 30, of the District of Columbia; Hinshaw, 69, of New York; and Goodman, 52, of New York, were convicted last year, along with five other defendants, on conspiracy charges and for violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances, or FACE Act.

Prosecutors said Handy and co-defendant Jonathan Darnel orchestrated the October 2020 blockade at the Washington Surgi-Clinic after Handy made an appointment under a fake name.

Once Handy was allowed inside, prosecutors said the codefendants shoved their way in and blocked off the entrance.

A nurse at the facility sprained her ankle during the fracas while one woman climbed through a window to access the clinic. Darnel livestreamed the incident.

Ms. Smith said Handy and others were protesting late-stage abortions performed at the clinic.

Handy previously acquired 115 aborted fetuses from a disposal worker outside the facility, Ms. Smith said, and at least five of the unborn children were at 28 weeks gestation or older.

Federal authorities confiscated the fetuses when Handy was indicted in March 2022.

Handy said they searched for three days for a private pathologist to examine the fetuses, but were unsuccessful. They claim they made the decision to have 110 of the fetuses buried in a private ceremony overseen by a Catholic priest and to turn over five of the fetuses they believed to be at late gestational ages to law enforcement.

Prosecutors had sought a sentence of more than six years, at the higher end of Handy’s offense range. But Judge Kollar-Kotelly gave the defendant a 57-month prison term, with credit for the nine months she’s already spent locked up in Alexandria.

Handy didn’t speak at her sentencing, but Hinshaw used the hearing as a chance to bash the Justice Department, Judge Kollar-Kotelly and the practice of abortion, which he called “court-protected murder.”

Hinshaw said he accepted his punishment but advised Judge Kollar-Kotelly that they both must face the “true judge” — God.

The judge told both defendants that, despite letters of support detailing their compassion for others, she didn’t find their actions at the Washington Surgi-Clinic to be compassionate or empathetic.

Richard Hinshaw, the older brother of defendant Hinshaw, said afterward that the prosecution of pro-life activists is going too far.

“Put them in jail briefly, the punishment for a sit-in as it’s always been, but not these draconian sentences like the FACE law that are specifically targeting pro-life civil disobedience,” Mr. Hinshaw told The Times.

With fewer than 175 days until Election Day, voters in three more states cast ballots in primaries on Tuesday — including in several contentious intraparty contests set to determine the likely victor in red states come November.

This round, voters in Maryland, West Virginia, and Nebraska chose which candidates should carry their respective party’s banner into November while adding more delegates to former President Donald Trump and President Joe Biden’s tallies ahead of this summer’s conventions in Milwaukee and Chicago.

WEST VIRGINIA – Polls Close at 7:30 p.m. ET

Republicans in the Mountain State will allocate 20 delegates with Tuesday’s presidential primary vote while Democrats have 32 delegates at stake.

The leading candidates seeking to fill retiring Democratic Senator Joe Manchin’s U.S. Senate seat — likely to be the easiest GOP flip of any up for election this cycle — are Republican Governor Jim Justice and U.S. Rep. Alex Mooney.

On the other side, three Democrats are competing in the primary, the outcome of which is unlikely to prevent Republicans from picking up the seat in November.

At least one U.S. House primary remained contentious through primary day, with GOP Rep. Carol Miller facing a challenge in the First Congressional District from Derrick Evans, a former member of the state legislature who stepped down after he was arrested and plead guilty for participating in the events of January 6, actions for which he apologized upon completion of his sentence.

In the Second Congressional District, a handful of candidates including State Treasurer Riley Moore, a warrior against ESG on behalf of his state’s investors and industry, are running to replace incumbent U.S. Rep Alex Mooney who is on Tuesday’s ballot in the U.S. Senate primary.

The Republican primary for governor is also a tight race, with Moore Capito — the son of U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito — and Attorney General Patrick Morrisey battling it out with a slim margin between them ahead of Tuesday’s election. One Democrat, Steve Williams, is running unopposed

MARYLAND – Polls Close 8:00 p.m. ET

At the top of the ticket, Democrats will allocate 95 delegates to their national convention this August while there are 37 delegates at stake in the Republican presidential primary.

In the race to fill the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by retiring Sen. Ben Cardin, the leading two candidates — U.S. Rep. David Trone and Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks — are fighting it out for their party’s nomination.

Across the aisle, former Governor Larry Hogan is expected to lock up the GOP nomination for the U.S. Senate race, setting up a likely harder-than-Democrats-wanted contest in November.

There are a few crowded primaries playing out for Maryland’s U.S. House seats as well, including Democrats in the Third Congressional District and Republicans in Sixth Congressional District.

NEBRASKA – Polls Close at 9:00 p.m. ET

Republicans in the Cornhusker State will allocate 36 delegates to this July’s national convention in Milwaukee while Democrats have 29 delegates at stake.

In an unusual situation, Nebraska is the only state to have both U.S. Senate seats up for election this cycle — the regular primary in which Sen. Deb Fischer has one challenger and Democrats did not put up a candidate to oppose her in November and the special primary to elect someone to serve the remainder of former Senator Ben Sasse’s term following his departure to become president of the University of Florida.

The incumbent in the special, Sen. Pete Ricketts, was appointed by Gov. Jim Pillen in 2022 but now faces two Republican challengers in Tuesday’s special primary.

The GOP primary for the Second Congressional District is one to watch as Rep. Don Bacon faces off against Dan Frei, but the incumbent retained a substantial fundraising advantage over his challenger.

NORTH CAROLINA – Polls Close at 7:30 p.m. ET

Voters in the Tarheel State also turned out on Tuesday to cast ballots in a few runoff elections to settle the nominations ahead of November’s general election.

Donald Trump’s attorney Todd Blanche began his confrontation with Michael Cohen on Tuesday by throwing the former fixer’s language back in his face.

Blanche confirmed the two had never spoken, but asked Cohen whether he knew who he was already, since Cohen “went on TikTok and called me a crying little sh*t” just before the trial began.

“Sounds like something I would say,” responded Cohen, Trump’s former lawyer and fixer.

The question set the tone for the cross-examination of the Manhattan district attorney’s key witness in the hush money trial against the former president. For roughly two hours, Blanche began a cross-examination to try to discredit Cohen’s allegations against Trump.

But after the initial fireworks over Cohen’s TikTok post, much of his cross-examination Tuesday was more subdued, as Blanche quizzed him on the many compliments he gave Trump when he was still a loyal fixer and the money he’s made from books and podcasts since turning against him. Cohen did not get rattled when his nasty statements were read back to him, and Trump hardly reacted to his lawyer’s interrogation.

Still, there’s a long way to go – Blanche indicated the cross-examination would continue through most of the day Thursday, when court resumes.

Over two days, Cohen has detailed the hush money scheme involving adult film actress Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election, walked the jury through the $130,000 he paid at Trump’s direction and described his fallout with the former president. Cohen’s testimony ties together the prosecution’s allegations that Trump broke the law by falsifying business records to reimburse Cohen and conceal the payment. Trump has pleaded not guilty and denies having an affair with Daniels.

If Cohen gets off the stand Thursday, the prosecution appears poised to rest its case against Trump. Assistant District Attorney Joshua Steinglass confirmed to Judge Juan Merchan on Tuesday that Cohen is the final witness for the prosecution.

Blanche tries to use Cohen’s words to discredit him

Blanche’s opening question was just the first in a series of colorful quotes from Cohen that Blanche raised to jurors to try to paint Cohen as someone who hated Trump and who was hellbent on getting revenge while making money off the former president and trying to get his prison sentence reviewed.

Blanche had plenty of material to work with. Cohen has written two books, “Disloyal” and “Revenge,” and has recorded hundreds of podcasts – confirming he mentions Trump in every episode of “Mea Culpa.”

Regarding Cohen’s first podcast in 2020, Blanche asked whether he called Trump a “boorish cartoon misogynist.”

“Sounds like something I would say,” Cohen responded again.

Blanche then asked whether Cohen called Trump a “Cheeto-dusted cartoon villain.”

“That also sounds like something that I said,” Cohen said.

Blanche fired more lines at Cohen, asking whether he said on his podcast in 2020: “I truly f***ing hope Donald Trump ends up in prison.”

“Sounds more like my language on ‘Mea Culpa,’” Cohen responded.

Blanche then asked Cohen to listen to audio from the podcast, which Cohen, the judge, the lawyers and Trump all put on headphones to hear.

Blanche continued by asking Cohen how much money he had made from his books, his podcasts and the TikTok account he launched six months ago.

The upshot of the questioning was that Cohen was making a living off attacking Trump after he lost his law license following his 2018 guilty plea to charges including campaign finance violations linked to the hush money scheme.

Cohen tried to put another spin on it. Asked what his goal was of putting out a TikTok nearly every night, he said: “Build an audience, to create a community, to really vent because I have a difficult time sleeping, so I found an outlet.”

The tug-of-war over Cohen’s words is sure to continue into Thursday as Blanche tries to convince the jury not to trust Cohen’s allegations related to the case itself.

Blanche questions Cohen on his drastically shifting views about Trump

Blanche took Cohen through the evolution of the former fixer’s feelings about Trump, pinpointing the shift from admiration to hatred in the summer of 2018, when Cohen turned on his former boss.

Asked whether he was “obsessed” with Trump, Cohen said, “I wouldn’t say obsessed. I admired him tremendously.”

He went on, “I can’t recall using that word. I wouldn’t say it would be wrong.”

Cohen also used his admiration to try to explain his shift, responding to a series of questions about the nice things he had said about Trump by saying: “At that time I was knee-deep into the cult of Donald Trump, yes.”

Blanche read a list of compliments Cohen paid Trump publicly in 2015 and 2016, including calling Trump “a good man,” “a man who cares deeply about his family” and “a man who tells it straight.”

Throughout cross-examination Blanche asked Cohen pointed questions about when he was telling the truth or lying when it came to Trump.

“You were telling the truth, correct?” Blanche asked in regards to the compliments Cohen gave Trump.

“That’s how I felt,” Cohen said. “I was expressing my feelings, so yes, it would be the truth.”

Cohen confirmed his feelings about Trump changed in the summer of 2018 around the time he pleaded guilty to federal charges.

Trump’s attorney pushed Cohen on his motivations since turning on the former president, suggesting Cohen is now driven by revenge and money.

Blanche quoted an excerpt of Cohen’s book “Disloyal” to him: “I wanted it all: power, the good life, public acclaim, fame, big deals, fast cars, private planes, the excess and glamor and zest for life.”

“Those are my words, yes,” Cohen confirmed.

There were no fireworks from Trump or Cohen on Tuesday afternoon during the cross-examination.

Trump’s former fixer kept his measured manner for the more than two hours of questioning from Blanche. Trump, meanwhile, rarely engaged with Cohen’s testimony. He turned to Cohen initially when Blanche began but spent most of the time with his eyes closed, appearing to zone out, with his mouth hanging open at some points.

Occasionally, Trump would look in Cohen’s direction, craning his neck at one point when Cohen was asked whether he lied to special counsel Robert Mueller’s office in 2018.

Hunter Biden’s legal team appeared to seek a delay for his impending June 3 trial date in Delaware, which was set by a federal judge two months ago.

The first son was not in attendance Tuesday at the federal courthouse in Delaware’s largest city, Wilmington, but attorney Abbe Lowell as well as Special Counsel David Weiss were. Weiss sat in court taking notes during the proceedings.

Special counsel attorney Derek Hines told the court the Biden matter is a “simple case,” and that he was prepared to go forward with U.S. District Judge Maryellen Noreika’s June 3 trial date.

But Tuesday afternoon, Noreika rejected Hunter Biden’s request to delay the trial. His case will go to trial next month, according to the Associated Press.

Hines predicted the trial would take less than a week.

Lowell told Noreika, “We are not ready,” for that start date, which appeared to frustrate the judge. Noreika asked Lowell for an explanation, pushing back that the case is not complicated.

Lowell said he is working on both Biden’s Delaware and California cases simultaneously, and instead proposed a September trial date in Wilmington.

He indicated he plans to file an appeal by Wednesday with the Third Circuit seeking an injunction to block the trial from commencing before merit-based motions are worked through.

A 56-page indictment against Biden was handed down in Los Angeles in December, which included felony charges and laid out his salacious spending habits and lifestyle while cataloging alleged related tax violations.

In Delaware, other issues scheduled to be presented in court Tuesday pertained to admissibility of evidence. Both the defense and prosecution were reported to be preparing “in limine” motions to exclude certain information from the jury as part of a typical timeline in normal litigation.

One argument from the special counsel’s office obtained by Fox News questioned why the jury should not hear the reasons Delaware state law enforcement did not charge Biden with a 2018 count relating to the first son’s application for and possession of a firearm while using controlled substances.

Another court document reflected evidence from the 2018 police report in which Beau Biden’s widow Hallie, who was in a relationship with Hunter at the time, purportedly tossed the gun in a trash receptacle near the A.I. duPont High School in Greenville, Del.

On Thursday, a federal appeals court decided against tossing the gun charges after Biden asked the Philadelphia-based Third Circuit to dismiss them.

A man has been arrested for eight counts of DUI manslaughter after eight migrant workers were killed and dozens of others were injured with a bus and a pickup truck collided in Marion County on Tuesday morning, officials said.

The Florida Highway Patrol said the crash happened shortly after 6:30 a.m. on SR-40, west of SW 148 Court, on the outskirts of Dunnellon.

During a news conference, troopers said a 2010 retired International school bus, transporting 53 farmworkers, was traveling westbound on SR-40. For unknown reasons, officials said a 2001 Ford Ranger truck traveling eastbound on the same road collided with the bus in a sideswipe manner.

After the collision, the bus traveled off the roadway through a nearby fence, struck a tree and overturned, FHP Lt. Patrick Riordan told reporters.

The driver of the private Ford Ranger truck, Bryan Maclean Howard, 41, was arrested and charged with eight counts of driving under the influence – manslaughter, according to an update from Florida Highway Patrol.

Over 40 people injured in the crash were taken to local hospitals, including the driver of the pickup truck. That person had serious injuries, FHP said.

“Some of those are also in very serious condition. So there’s high probability this may be beyond eight fatalities,” Riordan said. “We do not get in a hurry to conclude what happened until we have all the facts. And with that, I can tell you that it’s going to be probably six months at least, before we conclude factually what transpired here today.”

Marion County Sheriff Billy Woods said crews will investigate to see if weather played a factor in the crash.

“That always a factor because, one, the time in the morning, you know, people claim the sun was in their eyes… it’s always a factor,” Woods said. “We have to look into it. We have to know if the roads were wet, what other circumstances out here. Was there something else that caused the crash? We don’t know right now.”

FHP said the farmworkers were headed to a farm in the area when the crash happened.

“We are a very big agricultural county. So this time of year, we always have migrant workers that are in our county that are on buses just like this,” Woods said.

SR-40 is currently shut down from S.W. 180th Avenue Road to S.W. 140th Avenue. The Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) said the area will be closed for an “extended period of time” as crews investigate.

AdventHealth Ocala said they are providing the media staging area due to the crash scene being cleared. They issued the following statement about the incident:

“Our prayers are with all those affected by the tragic bus accident in Ocala this morning. … Our immediate priority is to provide exceptional medical care to those injured, and compassionate support to our patients and their loved ones. We will continue to provide updates as more information becomes available.”

According to Marion County Fire Rescue, 34 people were transported to local hospitals. Eight of them were listed in critical condition, while the other 26 had non-life-threatening injuries. AdventHealth Ocala added that two of the 16 patients brought to its hospital have been transferred to other facilities, and the remaining 14 patients are in the process of being discharged.

Cannon Farms in Dunnellon shared the following statement on its Facebook page:

“We will be closed today out of respect to the losses and injuries endured early this morning in the accident that took place to the Olvera Trucking Harvesting Corp. Please pray with us for the families and the loved ones involved in this tragic accident. We appreciate your understanding at this difficult time.”

Alternate routes

Drivers wishing to head eastbound on SR-40 can take U.S. 41 northbound to West CR-328, then take West CR-328 eastbound back to SR-40, FDOT said.

Westbound SR-40 drivers can take West CR-328 westbound to U.S. 41, then take U.S. 41 southbound back to SR-40.