New York County Judge Juan Merchan has ruled that former President Donald Trump violated a gag order during his trial, holding him in criminal contempt and threatening him with jail time for any further infractions.

Merchan also ordered Trump to remove the “seven offending posts” from Truth Social.

“Defendant is hereby warned that the Court will not tolerate continued willful violations of its lawful orders and that if necessary and appropriate under the circumstances, it will impose an incarceratory punishment,” the judge wrote in the order:

ORDERED, that Defendant pay a $1,000 fine for each of the nine violations of this Court’s lawful order by the close of business on Friday, May 3, 2024; and it is further ORDERED that Defendant remove the seven offending posts from Defendant’s Truth Social account and the two offending posts from his campaign website by 2:15pm Tuesday, April 30, 2024.

Merchan had the authority to send Trump to jail for up to 30 days for allegedly violating his gag order. Democrat Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg backed down from asking the judge to jail Trump for allegedly violating the order, according to court reporters.

Trump appeared to call Bragg’s bluff. Trump said in April that it would be a “GREAT HONOR” to become a “modern-day Nelson Mandela” in the “clink” for speaking the truth about Merchan.

The gag order prevents Trump from making public comments about witnesses participating in the trial, counsel other than Bragg, “members of the court’s staff and the District Attorney’s staff, or … the family members of any counsel or staff member, if those statements are made with the intent to materially interfere with … counsel’s or staff’s work” on the case. It also encompasses prospective jurors.

“The gag order has to come off,” Trump previously told reporters outside the Manhattan courthouse. “People are allowed to speak about me, and I have a gag order, just to show you how much more unfair it is.”

“They can say anything they want,” Trump said about his political foes. “They can continue to make up lies and everything else. They lie. They’re real scum. But you know what, I’m not allowed to speak.”

“So why am I gagged about telling the truth?” Trump questioned. “I’m only telling the truth. They’re not telling the truth.”

Bragg charged Trump with 34 felonies in the criminal case concerning alleged election interference and a legal retainer paid to Michael Cohen. The trial is the first-ever criminal trial of a president of the United States. Trump could face jail time if convicted.

A majority of Americans doubt Trump’s criminal trial will conclude with a fair outcome, a CNN poll on Friday found. Increasing numbers of Americans see the criminal trial of Trump as irrelevant to his fitness for reelection, the CNN poll further found, while only 13 percent believe Trump is being treated the same as other “criminal defendants.”

Only about one-third of American adults believe Trump did anything illegal regarding the case, an AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll found Tuesday.

The case is New York v. Trump, No. 71543-23, in the New York Supreme Court for New York County.

Student protesters occupying Hamilton Hall will face expulsion, University spokesperson Ben Chang wrote in a Tuesday press release.

“Protesters have chosen to escalate to an untenable situation – vandalizing property, breaking doors and windows, and blockading entrances – and we are following through with the consequences we outlined yesterday,” Chang wrote.

Dozens of protesters have occupied Hamilton Hall—which they renamed “Hind’s Hall,” in honor of Hind Rajab, a six-year-old Palestinian child killed by the Israeli military—since 12:30 a.m. on Tuesday. Upon entry, protesters sealed the building within five minutes, barricading entrances with wooden tables, chairs, and zip ties.

“We regret that protesters have chosen to escalate the situation through their actions,” Chang wrote. “Our top priority is restoring safety and order on our campus.”

Chang also stated that students who remain in the “Gaza Solidarity Encampment” will face interim suspensions. Columbia began suspending students involved in the encampment on Monday, according to a University spokesperson.

Suspended students do not have access to any University properties, including academic buildings and residence halls, and may not complete the semester nor graduate.

“As we said yesterday, disruptions on campus have created a threatening environment for many of our Jewish students and faculty and a noisy distraction that interferes with teaching, learning, and preparing for final exams, and contributes to a hostile environment in violation of Title VI,” Chang wrote.

The disciplinary action comes against the backdrop of the University’s ongoing Commencement preparations, as staff continues to set up bleachers on Low Plaza and tents on the lawns across south campus.

Columbia University Apartheid Divest identified the protesters occupying Hamilton Hall as an “autonomous group” in a Tuesday 2:07 a.m. press release posted on X.

In a Monday substack post, CUAD reaffirmed their demands for Columbia: divestment from companies with ties to Israel, financial transparency on direct and indirect holdings, and amnesty for all disciplined pro-Palestinian students.

“Admitted students day is over—commencement is on its way,” CUAD wrote in the post. “Let’s see how much of this campus we can reclaim by then!”

House Republicans on Tuesday announced an investigation into the federal funding for universities where students have protested the Israel-Hamas war, broadening a campaign that has placed heavy scrutiny on how presidents at the nation’s most prestigious colleges have dealt with reports of antisemitism on campus.

Several House committees will be tasked with a wide probe that ultimately threatens to withhold federal research grants and other government support to the universities, placing another pressure point on campus administrators who are struggling to manage pro-Palestinian encampments, allegations of discrimination against Jewish students and questions of how they are integrating free speech and campus safety.

The House investigation follows several recent high-profile hearings that precipitated the resignations of presidents at Harvard and the University of Pennsylvania. And House Republicans promised more scrutiny, saying they were calling on the administrators of Yale, UCLA and the University of Michigan to testify next month.

“We will not allow antisemitism to thrive on campus, and we will hold these universities accountable for their failure to protect Jewish students on campus,” said House Speaker Mike Johnson at a news conference.

Nationwide, campus protesters have called for their institutions to cut financial ties to Israel and decried how thousands of civilians in Gaza have been killed by Israel following the deadly attack by Hamas on Oct. 7.

Some organizers have called for Hamas to violently seize Israeli territory and derided Zionism. Jewish students, meanwhile, have reported being targeted and say campus administrators have not done enough to protect them.

After Johnson visited Columbia last week with several other top House Republicans, he said “the anti-Jewish hatred was appalling.”

Republicans are also turning to the issue at a time when election season is fully underway and leadership needs a cause that unites them and divides Democrats. The House GOP’s impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden has fallen flat and the Republican conference is smarting after a series of important bills left GOP lawmakers deeply divided. Democrats have feuded internally at times over the Israel-Hamas war and how campus administrators have handled the protests.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat, said in a floor speech Tuesday that it was “unacceptable when Jewish students are targeted for being Jewish, when protests exhibit verbal abuse, systemic intimidation, or glorification of the murderous and hateful Hamas or the violence of October 7th.”

Rep. Pete Aguilar, the No. 3 House Democrat, at a news conference Tuesday said that it was important for colleges “to ensure that everybody has an ability to protest and to make their voice heard but they have a responsibility to honor the safety of individuals.”

“For many of Jewish descent, they do not feel safe, and that is a real issue,” he said, but added that he wanted to allow university administrators to act before Congress stepped in.

But the Republican speaker promised to use “all the tools available” to push the universities. Johnson was joined by chairs for six committees with jurisdiction over a wide range of government programs, including National Science Foundation grants, health research grants, visas for international students and the tax code for nonprofit universities.

Without Democratic support in the divided Congress, it is not clear what legislative punishments House Republicans could actually implement. Any bills from the House would be unlikely to advance in the Democratic-controlled Senate.

But so far, the House hearings with university presidents have produced viral moments and given Republicans high-profile opportunities to denounce campuses as hotbeds of antisemitism. In December, the presidents of Ivy League universities struggled to answer pointed questions about whether “calling for the genocide of Jews” would violate each university’s code of conduct.

Rep. Elise Stefanik, the New York Republican who posed the question in the December hearing, said it became the highest-viewed congressional hearing in history. She also cast the campaign against antisemitism as part of a broader conservative push against what they say is overt liberal bias at elite American universities.

“Enough is enough,” she said. “It is time to restore law and order, academic integrity and moral decency to America’s higher education institutions.”

The House Committee on Education and the Workforce is also requesting that the administrators of Yale, UCLA and the University of Michigan appear at a hearing on May 23 that focuses on how they handled the recent protests.

“As Republican leaders, we have a clear message for mealy-mouthed, spineless leaders: Congress will not tolerate your dereliction of duty to your Jewish students,” said the committee chair, North Carolina Rep. Virginia Foxx.

At a hearing of the committee earlier this month, Columbia University’s president took a firm stance against antisemitism. But at the same time, a protest was underway on Columbia’s campus that would soon set off others like it nationwide. The university began suspending students this week in an attempt to clear the protest encampment on campus.

The university is also facing federal legal complaints. A class-action lawsuit on behalf of Jewish students alleges Columbia breached its contract by failing to maintain a safe learning environment.

Meanwhile, a legal group representing pro-Palestinian students is urging the U.S. Department of Education’s civil rights office to investigate whether Columbia’s treatment of the protesting students violated the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell called on university administrators to “take charge.”

“On campus, protect Jewish community members. Clear the encampments. Let students go to class and take their exams. And allow graduations to proceed,” he said.

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration will move to reclassify marijuana as a less dangerous drug, The Associated Press has learned, a historic shift to generations of American drug policy that could have wide ripple-effects across the country.

The DEA’s proposal, which still must be reviewed by the White House Office of Management and Budget, would recognize the medical uses of cannabis and acknowledge it has less potential for abuse than some of the nation’s most dangerous drugs. However, it would not legalize marijuana outright for recreational use.

The agency’s move, confirmed to the AP on Tuesday by five people familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive regulatory review, clears the last significant regulatory hurdle before the agency’s biggest policy change in over 50 years can take effect.

Once OMB signs off, the DEA will take public comment on the plan to move marijuana from its current classification as a Schedule I drug, alongside heroin and LSD. It moves pot to Schedule III, alongside ketamine and some anabolic steroids, following a recommendation from the federal Health and Human Services Department. After the public-comment period the agency would publish the final rule.

It comes after President Joe Biden called for a review of federal marijuana law in October 2022, and has moved to pardon thousands of Americans convicted federally of simple possession of the drug. He has also called on governors and local leaders to take similar steps to erase marijuana convictions.

“Criminal records for marijuana use and possession have imposed needless barriers to employment, housing, and educational opportunities,” Biden said in December. “Too many lives have been upended because of our failed approach to marijuana. It’s time that we right these wrongs.”

The election year announcement could help Biden, a Democrat, boost flagging support, particularly among younger voters.

Schedule III drugs are still controlled substances and subject to rules and regulations, and people who traffic in them without permission could still face federal criminal prosecution.

Some critics argue the DEA shouldn’t change course on marijuana, saying rescheduling isn’t necessary and could lead to harmful side effects.

On the other end of the spectrum, others argue say marijuana should be dropped from the controlled-substances list completely and instead regulated like alcohol.

Federal drug policy has lagged behind many states in recent years, with 38 having already legalized medical marijuana and 24 legalizing its recreational use.

That’s helped fuel fast growth in the marijuana industry, with an estimated worth of nearly $30 billion. Easing federal regulations could reduce the tax burden that can be 70% or more for businesses, according to industry groups. It could also make it easier to research marijuana, since it’s very difficult to conduct authorized clinical studies on Schedule I substances.

The immediate effect of rescheduling on the nation’s criminal justice system would likely be more muted, since federal prosecutions for simple possession have been fairly rare in recent years. Biden has already pardoned thousands of Americans convicted of possessing marijuana under federal law.

Fox News pulled down a mini-series on Hunter Biden after facing a lawsuit threat from the first son’s lawyers, the network confirmed on Tuesday.

The six-part program, “The Trial of Hunter Biden,” had been available on Fox Nation, the network’s digital streaming platform, but will stay down at least temporarily pending a review, per the network.

“This program was produced in and has been available since 2022. We are reviewing the concerns that have just been raised and — out of an abundance of caution in the interim — have taken it down,” a Fox News spokesperson told The Post.

A day prior, Hunter Biden’s lawyers penned a scathing letter to the cable news giant, accusing it of publishing “hacked” intimate images of the scandal-plagued 54-year-old.

They demanded Fox News issue a series of retractions and corrections for its reporting on Biden’s overseas business machinations.

“For the last five years, Fox News has relentlessly attacked Hunter Biden and made him a caricature in order to boost ratings and for its financial gain,” attorneys Mark Geragos, Bryan Freedman and Tina Glandian said, per the Washington Post.

They also specifically called on the network to remove “The Trial of Hunter Biden” mock trial series, which was released in 2022.

“The Trial of Hunter Biden” used a mix of actors and real material to depict what a trial of the first son would be like.

Hunter Biden’s legal team blasted the series as a distortion.

“While using certain true information, the series intentionally manipulates the facts, distorts the truth, narrates happenings out of context, and invents dialogue intended to entertain,” they wrote.

“Thus, the viewer of the series cannot decipher what is fact and what is fiction, which is highly damaging to Mr. Biden.”

Fox News had fired back at the demands for retractions and corrections.

“Hunter Biden’s lawyers have belatedly chosen to publicly attack Fox News’ constitutionally protected coverage regarding their client,” the network said.
“Mr. Biden is a public figure who has been the subject of investigations by both the Department of Justice and Congress, has been indicted by two different US Attorney’s Offices in California and Delaware, and has admitted to multiple incidents of wrongdoing.”

“Consistent with the First Amendment, Fox News has accurately covered these highly publicized events as well as the subsequent indictment of an FBI informant who was the source of certain claims made about Mr. Biden.”

Hunter Biden is facing two indictments out of California and Delaware for nine tax charges as well as three charges related to illegal possession of a firearm while addicted to illicit drugs.

He has pleaded not guilty to all charges thus far and is battling special counsel David Weiss over a collapsed plea deal.

Additionally, Republican investigators in Congress have probed the first son’s overseas business dealings and accused the first family of influence peddling.

Hunter Biden’s team has begun more forcefully pushing back publicly against criticisms against him and his father. He is a central figure in the House GOP impeachment inquiry of President Biden.

Fox News is a subsidiary of Fox Corporation. The executive chairman and CEO of Fox Corp., Lachlan Murdoch, is also the chair of News Corporation, the parent company of The Post.

AstraZeneca has admitted in court for the first time that its Covid jab can cause a deadly blood clotting side effect.

The exceedingly rare reaction is at the heart of a multi million-pound class action by dozens of families who allege they, or their loved ones, were maimed or killed by the pharmaceutical titan’s ‘defective’ vaccine.

Lawyers representing the claimants believe some of the cases could be worth up to £20m in compensation.

Cambridge-based AstraZeneca, which is contesting the claims, acknowledged in a legal document submitted to the High Court in February that its vaccine ‘can, in very rare cases, cause TTS’.

TTS is short for thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome – a medical condition where a person suffers blood clots along with a low platelet count. Platelets typically help the blood to clot.

The complication – listed as a potential side effect of the jab – has previously been called vaccine-induced immune thrombotic thrombocytopenia (VITT).

AstraZeneca’s admission could lead to pay-outs on a case-by-case basis.

Although accepted as a potential side effect for two years, it marks the first time the company has admitted in court that its jab can cause the condition, The Telegraph reports.

Taxpayers will foot the bill of any potential settlement because of an indemnity deal AstraZeneca struck with the Government in the darkest days of Covid to get the jabs produced as quickly as possible while the country was paralysed by lockdowns.

It comes just days after the firm reported a revenue exceeding £10billion in the first quarter of 2024, a rise of 19 per cent. Company officials stated it had enjoyed a ‘very strong start’ to the year.

One of those seeking compensation for injuries linked to AstraZeneca’s vaccine is father-of-two and IT engineer Jamie Scott.

He was left with a permanent brain injury following a blood clot and the bleed on the brain after getting the vaccine in April 2021. He has been unable to work since.

His is one of 51 cases currently lodged in the High Court seeking damages estimated to be worth about £100million in total.

On the revelation, Kate Scott, Mr Scott’s wife, said: ‘I hope their admission means we will be able to sort this out sooner rather than later.

‘We need an apology, fair compensation for our family and other families who have been affected. We have the truth on our side, and we are not going to give up.’

Sarah Moore, a partner at law firm Leigh Day, who is representing claimants against AstraZeneca (AZ), accused the company of using delaying tactics against victims.

She said: ‘Regrettably it seems that AZ, the Government and their lawyers are more keen to play strategic games and run up legal fees than to engage seriously with the devastating impact that their AZ vaccine has had upon our clients’ lives.’

AstraZeneca said in a statement: ‘Our sympathy goes out to anyone who has lost loved ones or reported health problems.

‘Patient safety is our highest priority, and regulatory authorities have clear and stringent standards to ensure the safe use of all medicines, including vaccines.

‘From the body of evidence in clinical trials and real-world data, the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine has continuously been shown to have an acceptable safety profile and regulators around the world consistently state that the benefits of vaccination outweigh the risks of extremely rare potential side effects.’

The new documents submitted to the court marks a change of language from the previous AstraZeneca submissions made last year, when it claimed that TSS couldn’t be caused by its jab ‘at a generic level’.

Its new submission also adds that the trigger that causes some people to suffer TSS from the AstraZeneca jab is unknown and can also occur in people independent of any vaccine.

It claims: ‘Causation in any individual case will be a matter for expert evidence.’

AstraZeneca denies its new submission represents a U-turn on acknowledging its jab can cause TTS in court documents.

Lawyers representing victims and families are suing AstraZeneca under the Consumer Protection Act 1987.

They argue the vaccine was ‘a defective product’ that was ‘not as safe as consumers generally were reasonably entitled to expect’. AstraZeneca has strongly denied these claims.

Health officials first identified cases of VITT linked to AstraZeneca’s jab in Europe as early as March 2021, just over two months after the vaccine was first deployed in the UK.

However, it wasn’t until April that year that evidence became clear enough that the jab started to be restricted.

Officials first restricted the jab to only people over 30. They then expanded this to only people over 40 in May 2021.

As the vaccine still worked against Covid, it was still deemed worth giving to older Brits who were at greater risk of death or injury from falling ill with the virus.

About 50million doses of the AstraZeneca jab were dished out in the UK in total.

Official data shows at least 81 Brits have died from blood clot complications apparently linked to the AstraZeneca jab, according to figures collected by the UK’s drug watchdog, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency.

A further unconfirmed number have been injured and/or disabled.

Further Covid vaccine rollouts have either minimised use of the AstraZeneca jab and/or phased it out entirely in favour of mRNA alternatives like those made by rival pharma giants Pfizer and Moderna.

With health officials not ordering any more doses, this effectively means the jab has all but been withdrawn in the UK.

The risk of TTS following AstraZeneca’s Covid vaccine is thought to be in the region of one in 50,000.

However, AstraZeneca’s jab is credited with saving some 6million lives globally during the Covid pandemic.

Victims and families seeking compensation that MailOnline has spoken to staunchly insist they believe in the merits of vaccination for public good and aren’t anti-vaxxers.

The reasons why people are taking legal action are complex.

Some who are severely disabled are facing huge ongoing medical costs as well as being out of work. In some cases, their family members are also having to quit employment to provide them round-the-clock care.

Others are, at least in part, pursuing the action as way of seeking justice for either those they have lost or lives that have been completely upturned by their injuries.

Part of the reason some are seeking action is due to what critics have labelled as the inadequate or arbitrary nature of the Government’s vaccine damage payment scheme.

This policy, which has been around since the 70s, offers people, or their families, a tax-free sum of £120,000, though restrictions apply.

It is only available to the family of those who died or those left ‘severely disabled’ — defined as being at least 60 per cent disabled, based on evidence from a doctor — because of a vaccine.

Established back in 1979, the scheme is meant to reassure people that, in the unlikely event something goes wrong, the state will provide support.

In theory, it is meant to combat vaccine hesitancy and encourage the public to get jabbed from various pathogens helping protect the nation from disease.

But critics have said the scheme is arduous, stingy in terms of total amount payout, and cruel in its 60 per cent disability threshold that leaves people less severely injured with nothing.

As it is not compensation, people who take the payment are still entitled to take legal action against a vaccine manufacturer if they choose, as some people affected by the AstraZeneca jab are.

Campaigners hope the attention brought by the AstraZeneca case will spark a much-needed rethink of how the nation’s vaccine injured and bereaved are supported.

If Brits are left destitute from vaccine-derived injuries, experts fear this will fuel vaccine hesitancy in the future, risking public health from a variety of preventable diseases.

It could also leave people vulnerable to a potential future pandemic from a novel virus if some refuse the jabs out of fear that they, or their families, could be left financially ruined if something goes wrong.

Mrs Scott is one of critics of the system, previously saying: ‘Even if we do get the £120,000 payment, it’s not enough to keep us going for ever. And it’s insulting, considering what Jamie has been through,’ she said.

Another of those pursuing action against AstraZeneca is Melle Stewart, an Australian actor who got the company’s Covid jab while living in the UK.

In February 2020, just weeks before Covid ripped across the globe, Melle Stewart was enjoying standing ovations in Belfast for her role in the musical ‘Kiss Me, Kate’.

But after suffering a devastating stroke the 42-year-old struggles to put a sentence together, speaking only slowly, and ‘grieving’ for the successful stage career she has lost.

Ms Stewart is taking AstraZeneca to court, with husband Ben Lewis saying they felt misled by the Government over the jab’s safety.

Though having suffered greatly, she was and continues to be a ‘staunch and proud’ advocate for vaccination, having gone on to receive other non-AstraZeneca Covid vaccines since her injury.

Elon Musk fired two Tesla senior executives and announced plans to go ‘absolutely hardcore’ with layoffs, frustrated by falling sales and the pace of job cuts so far, according to a new report.

The Tesla boss, who sat down with Chinese premier Li Qiang on Sunday promising an imminent roll-out of driverless cars in the country, sent a brutal email to senior managers Monday night, The Information reported.

Rebecca Tinucci, senior director of the electric vehicle maker charging infrastructure, and Daniel Ho, head of the new vehicles program, will leave on Tuesday morning, the report said.

Musk also plans to dismiss everyone working for Tinucci and Ho, including the roughly 500 employees who work in the Supercharger group.

‘Hopefully these actions are making it clear that we need to be absolutely hard core about headcount and cost reduction. While some on exec staff are taking this seriously, most are not yet doing so,’ Musk said.

Ho joined Tesla in 2013 and was a program manager in the development of the Model S, the 3, and the Y before being put in charge of all new vehicles.

Tinucci joined in 2018 as a senior product manager and has been in charge of the Supercharging and Destination Charging businesses since 2022.

Tesla’s public policy team, which was led by former executive Rohan Patel, will also be dissolved.

Patel and battery development chief Drew Baglino announced their departures earlier this month, when Tesla also ordered the layoffs of more than 10 percent of its workforce.

Tesla has already laid off at least 14,000 of its global workforce including from its Texas and Buffalo factories, under pressure from dropping sales and an intensifying price war among EV makers.

Musk’s visit to China came just a week after canceling a meeting with India’s PM Narendra Modi, citing ‘very heavy Tesla obligations’.

The company has lost nearly a third of its value since the start of the year with investors growing tired of repeated delays to its roll-out of cars with full self-driving software (FSD).

But Li praised Tesla as a successful example of US China economic cooperation as analysts hailed ‘a major moment for Tesla’.

‘While the long term valuation story at Tesla hinges on FSD and autonomous, a key missing piece in that puzzle is Tesla making FSD available in China which now appears on the doorstep,’ said equity firm Wedbush.

Musk opened his first Chinese gigafactory in Shanghai six years ago and it is now Tesla’s biggest in the world.

Earlier this month Musk tweeted that a Chinese roll-out of his FSD would happen ‘very soon’, with Li seemingly relaxed about using his country’s crowded streets as the testbed for the pioneering technology.

But Musk was also keen to win his permission to take home data collected in China to train algorithms for Tesla’s autonomous driving technologies in the US, sources told Reuters.

Tesla has since 2021 stored all data collected by its Chinese fleet in Shanghai as required by Chinese regulators and has not transferred any back to the United States.

‘Honored to meet with Premier Li Qiang. We have known each other now for many years, since early Shanghai days,’ Musk posted on his social media platform X, as he appeared in a picture with the premier.

Binance founder Changpeng Zhao was sentenced Tuesday to four months in prison for allowing rampant money laundering on the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange.

A judge credited Zhao for taking responsibility for his wrongdoing but said he was troubled by the now-former CEO’s decision to ignore U.S. banking requirements that would have slowed the company’s explosive growth. The sentence was far less than the three years prosecutors had sought, but defense attorneys had asked that Zhao spend no time in prison.

“Despite wealth, power or status, no person — regardless of wealth — is immune from prosecution or above the laws of the United States,” U.S. District Judge Richard A. Jones told Zhao.

Zhao pleaded guilty in November to one count of failing to maintain an anti-money-laundering program and stepped down as Binance agreed to pay $4.3 billion to settle related allegations. U.S. officials said Zhao deliberately looked the other way as people conducted transactions that supported child sex abuse, the illegal drug trade and terrorism.

“I failed here,” Zhao told the court Tuesday. “I deeply regret my failure, and I am sorry.”

No one has ever been sentenced to prison time for similar violations of the Bank Secrecy Act, defense attorneys Mark Bartlett and William Burck told the judge. But prosecutors argued that if Zhao did not receive time in custody for the offense, no one would, rendering the law toothless.

Binance allowed more than 1.5 million virtual currency trades, totaling nearly $900 million, that violated U.S. sanctions, including ones involving Hamas’ al-Qassam Brigades, al-Qaeda and Iran.

Bartlett and Burck said there was no evidence Zhao personally knew of any specific transaction that would have been barred by U.S. regulations or sanctions. Also, they argued, the number of suspicious transactions Binance handled was a miniscule proportion for a company whose total transactions were about $500 million a day. And they noted that Zhao began making changes to make Binance a model of compliance with banking transparency regulations before stepping down.

In a letter to the court, Zhao wrote that there was “no excuse for my failure to establish the necessary compliance controls at Binance.”

“I wish I could change that part of Binance’s story. But under my direction, Binance has now implemented the most stringent anti-money laundering controls of any non-U.S. exchange, and those controls have been in place since 2022,” he added.

Prosecutors said no one had ever violated the Bank Secrecy Act to the extent Zhao did.

“He says in hindsight he should have done a better job,” Justice Department lawyer Kevin Mosley told Jones. “This wasn’t a mistake. When Mr. Zhao violated the BSA he was well aware of the requirements.”

Zhao knew that Binance was required to institute anti-money-laundering protocols, but instead directed the company to disguise customers’ locations in the U.S. in an effort to avoid complying with U.S. law, prosecutors said.

Zhao, his legal team and family members left after Tuesday’s hearing without speaking to reporters.

The cryptocurrency industry has been marred by scandals and market meltdowns. Most recently. Nigeria has sought to try Binance and two of its executives on money laundering and tax evasion charges.

Zhao was perhaps best known as the chief rival to Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of the FTX, which was the second-largest crypto exchange before it collapsed in 2022. Bankman-Fried was convicted last November of fraud for stealing at least $10 billion from customers and investors and sentenced to 25 years in prison.

Zhao and Bankman-Fried were originally friendly competitors in the industry, with Binance investing in FTX when Bankman-Fried launched the exchange in 2019. However, the relationship between the two deteriorated, culminating in Zhao announcing he was selling all of his cryptocurrency investments in FTX in early November 2022. FTX filed for bankruptcy a week later.

Zhao’s attorneys pointed to his willingness to come from the United Arab Emirates, where he and his family live, to the U.S. to plead guilty, despite the UAE’s lack of an extradition treaty with the U.S.

They also argued that he would not be safe in prison. Because he is not a U.S. citizen, he is ineligible for placement in a minimum security facility. Given his high-profile status and wealth, as well as Binance’s cooperation with U.S. law enforcement in certain investigations, he might be a target for violence in a medium security prison, they suggested.

The judge said he took that into account in sentencing Zhao to four months, instead of the five-month sentence recommended by U.S. Probation and Pretrial Services.

A huge mob of masked anti-Israel rioters violently broke into an academic building at Columbia University and seized it early Tuesday – rebranding the iconic hall named after founding father Alexander Hamilton and draping it with a Palestinian flag.

Dozens stormed into Hamilton Hall and sealed themselves in shortly before 1 a.m., with some using metal barricades, chairs and tables to block others from getting inside, footage posted on social media shows.

One shocking video captured a violent, hammer-wielding demonstrator smashing two glass windows of a door and placing what appeared to be a bike lock around the door’s handles. Others covered security cameras inside the building with tape and black trash bags, according to the student-led Columbia Daily Spectator.

As of 6:30 a.m., the rogue protesters were still occupying the South Lawn building, which has been the scene of the school’s anti-Israel encampment for over a week, the paper reported.

Meanwhile, hundreds more swarmed outside the campus building, with some linking arms to form a human chain blocking the entrance.

“Hey hey, ho ho, the occupation has got to go,” protesters outside the building could be heard chanting during the wild scenes, according to footage posted to X by an independent news blog.

Columbia protesters have completely crossed the line. They’re smashing into Hamilton Hall. pic.twitter.com/BtvVuDihfm

— Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) April 30, 2024

“We will not leave until Columbia meets every one of our demands,” others raged.

Students at Columbia University have occupied Hamilton hall. Today the university president explicitly said to students the school would not be divesting and threatened to suspend students protesting. The last time this building was taken over by student protesters was in 1968 pic.twitter.com/IhoWVYlocB

— Lama Al-Arian (@lalarian) April 30, 2024

The dramatic takeover of the building – which was also occupied during 1968 civil rights and anti-Vietnam War protests on the campus — came hours after Columbia finally began suspending students who refused to vacate the tent encampment that brought campus life to a halt.

When the group initially barged into the building in the early hours, several campus facilities workers were still inside. The protesters removed some of the barricades to let them out.

One of the workers yelled, “They held me hostage” as he left the building and smacked somebody’s camera, the student newspaper reported.

.@Columbia University — Organized rioters dressed in black bloc broke and entered into a campus building in Manhattan. Hamilton Hall had had been smashed up and occupied by masked far-left extremists saying they’re doing it for Palestine. pic.twitter.com/ffBXmPCKxa

— Andy Ngô 🏳️‍🌈 (@MrAndyNgo) April 30, 2024

Four protesters wearing masks over their heads then lowered a banner reading “Hind’s Hall” from a window overlooking the cheering crowd.

“An autonomous group reclaimed Hind’s Hall, previously known as ‘Hamilton Hall,’ in honor of Hind Rajab, a martyr murdered at the hands of the genocidal Israeli state at the age of six years old,” CU Apartheid Divest, a student-led anti-Israel group, posted on X.

Hind Rajab, a 6-year-old Palestinian girl, was killed in Gaza alongside the two paramedics from the Palestine Red Crescent Society who tried to rescue her in January when the car she was in was allegedly struck by Israeli gunfire.

The ambulance was bombed as it was “just meters” from reaching the vehicle, the Red Crescent said in a statement at the time. The little girl’s body was found 12 days later in the car riddled with bullet holes.

After the banner was unraveled, the group at Columbia broke out into chants of “Free Palestine,” “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” and “Columbia, you will see — Palestine is almost free.”

Columbia officials haven’t publicly addressed the latest wave of violence.

The wild escalation erupted nearly 12 hours after hundreds of Columbia students defied the Ivy League’s 2 p.m. ultimatum to vacate their sprawling tent encampment.

That followed the deadline repeatedly being pushed back at the school, which has already been forced to hold all classes virtually for the rest of the semester because of safety fears.

The school’s embattled president Minouche Shafik had warned students would be suspended if they didn’t clear out — but it still took several hours past deadline for the punishments to be doled out.

“We have begun suspending students as part of this next phase of our efforts to ensure safety on our campus,” school vice president of public affairs Ben Chang said at a 5.30 p.m. press conference.

Still, hordes of defiant and pampered protesters — including some who were munching protein bars and beating tambourines — dug their heels in and refused to vacate.

NYPD officers stationed nearby were not called in to clear them.

The dramatic escalation at Columbia’s campus comes as universities across the US are grappling with how to clear out similar encampments.

Unlike at Columbia, dozens of people were cuffed and hauled away by cops Monday during protests at universities in Texas, Utah and Virginia.

Four law enforcement officers were killed, and four other officers were wounded by a suspect opening fire in a warrant-related gunfight in Charlotte, North Carolina, on Monday afternoon.

The shooting began when a U.S. Marshals Task Force attempted to serve a warrant for firearm possession by a convicted felon. During a Monday evening press briefing, authorities said the recipient of the warrant was the one who initially opened fire. That suspect, who was later identified as 39-year-old Terry Clark Hughes, Jr., was killed in the shootout, police said.

Hughes was also wanted for two counts of felony flee to elude out of Lincoln County, North Carolina, according to Charlotte police.

Police believe two shooters may have been involved. They said two persons of interest, a 17-year-old and a woman, were taken to the police station for further investigation.

“We have two people of interest at the police station that are being questioned right now,” Police Chief Johnny Jennings said during the presser.

“And we have confirmed that the individual that was set up that we were serving the warrant on was the individual who fired the initial shots and was deceased in the front yard at the end of all of this.”

Three officers from the U.S. Marshals Task Force – one deputy and two task force officers – were killed in the shootout.

The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department (CMPD) confirmed to Fox News Digital that an officer from its department also died from his injuries later Monday evening.

A total of eight law enforcement officers were shot. Three CMPD officers and a U.S. Marshals Task Force officer were injured and are still recovering from their wounds.

At a press conference before the fourth death was announced, Jennings called the incident “the most tragic one that I’ve been involved in.”

Officer Joshua Eyer has passed away tonight from his injuries after being shot in the line of duty this afternoon while assisting other officers with the apprehension of a suspect. Officer Eyer faithfully served the CMPD’s North Tryon Division for six years and was a member of… pic.twitter.com/TwrINLkJUT

— CMPD News (@CMPD) April 30, 2024

“I’ve been with the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department for 32 years. I can’t remember an incident where three law enforcement officers were [injured] and also three that were killed in the same incident,” he said.

The CMPD initially reported that “numerous” officers were shot at the scene in the 5000 block of Galway Drive, which is in the Shannon Park neighborhood.

All officers who were injured were transported to hospitals. At 2:23 p.m., police confirmed that a SWAT team was on the scene and urged residents to stay inside their homes.

“Avoid the area,” the police department said. “Many roads are closed for faster ambulance transport. Please cooperate with authorities.”

On Monday afternoon, North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper confirmed that his office was aware of the shooting.

“I am in contact with law enforcement concerning the tragic shooting in the Charlotte area, and we have offered state resources to help,” Cooper wrote on X.

Former FBI special agent in charge and Fox News contributor Nicole Parker spoke to Fox News Digital about the situation.

“These officers on this U.S. Marshals Task Force are the best and the brightest and the bravest. Each day when you walk out the door for work, you understand you may never make it home,” she explained.

“I cannot say it enough – Americans need to back the blue… They aren’t making huge sums of money, but their sacrifices are infinite and priceless.”

Parker said violence against law enforcement officers must not be tolerated.

“We must restore full support, respect and honor to those who courageously wear the badge every day and fearlessly carry out their duties,” she said.

George Alan Kelly, the Arizona rancher charged with murder in the shooting of a Mexican national on his border property, will not be retried, prosecutors with the Santa Cruz County Attorney’s office said.

The state charged Kelly, 75, with second degree murder after he allegedly shot and killed a migrant, Gabriel Cuen-Buitimea, on his land in January 2023.

The decision not to retry Kelly comes a week after a mistrial was declared following a deadlocked jury.

Kelly’s defense confirmed to Fox News Digital that there was “one, lone holdout” juror who wanted to convict, while the remaining jurors sought an acquittal.

The case centered around the death of Cuen-Buitimea, who was found shot to death on Kelly’s 170-acre cattle ranch near Keno Springs outside Nogales, Arizona, on Jan. 30, 2023.

“Because of the unique circumstances and challenges surrounding this case, the Santa Cruz County Attorney’s Office has decided not to seek a retrial,” Deputy County Attorney Kimberly Hunley told Santa Cruz County Superior Court Judge Thomas Fink on Monday.

Cuen-Buitimea had illegally entered the country multiple times previously and had been deported as recently as 2016.

Kelly’s defense countered the prosecution’s argument that Cuen-Buitimea was an unarmed migrant and has suggested cartel influence tainted the death investigation.

During the trial, prosecutor Mike Jette said Kelly recklessly fired nine shots from an AK-47 rifle toward a group of men, including Cuen-Buitimea, about 100 yards away on his property. Kelly said he fired warning shots in the air, but claimed he did not shoot at anyone directly.

“He escalates the situation. His wife is fine,” Jette said Thursday. “You do not have the right to use deadly physical force to protect a person who didn’t need protecting. You don’t have the right to use deadly force when there is no threat to home or yard, and you don’t have the right to initiate, instigate or escalate with deadly force. No right whatsoever.”

The defense maintained Kelly only fired warning shots into the air from his patio earlier in the day, and his wife, Wanda Kelly, testified about dialing their Border Patrol ranch liaison upon spotting two armed men dressed in camouflage and carrying rifles and backpacks walking about 100 feet from their home.

The fatal bullet was never recovered from the scene.

“Long story short, this is simply not somebody who’s looking for the American dream. There’s no evidence that this person is here for those kinds of benign purposes,” Kelly’s defense attorney, Brenna Larkin, said during her closing argument on Thursday. “And we bring that up, not, you know, to be judgmental about Gabriel or to not have compassion for him. But when people are involved in a criminal lifestyle, it’s dangerous. It’s more inherently dangerous than simply being a migrant who’s coming here. So it’s relevant for that reason.”

Kelly also rejected a deal from prosecutors earlier this year that would have reduced the charge to one count of negligent homicide if he would agree to plead guilty.

White House communications staff has had to correct President Joe Biden’s public remarks at least 148 times since the beginning of 2024, a review of official White House transcripts shows.

The White House releases an official transcript anytime the president gives a speech or takes questions. Communications staff frequently correct, add to or alter Biden’s official remarks in order to either bring them into compliance with official White House policy or, in some cases, reality, a Daily Caller analysis showed. In several cases, official statements had to be changed to convey the exact opposite of what Biden actually said.

Through 118 statements, speeches and chats with reporters spanning from Jan. 1 to April 24, the White House has officially updated its transcript with corrections to what the president said out loud at least 148 times.

Some of the modifications include corrections to names, dates and titles of organizations. Others change verbs and modify the meaning of the president’s statement entirely. Words that the president didn’t say, but should’ve, according to the White House staff, have also been added to the transcripts.

“It was then, through no — through my American Rescue Plan — which every American [Republican] voted against, I might add — we made the largest investment in public safety ever,” the White House transcript of Biden’s March State of the Union address read.

“I’ve always believed we’ve [they’ve] got it all wrong. America is rising. And we have the best economy in the world, which we do,” the White House transcript of Biden’s April 17 remarks on his new initiatives to protect U.S. steel in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, read.

“We must be honest: The threat to democracy must be defended [defeated],” another State of the Union excerpt reads.

In at least one case, the White House put out a transcript that falsely portrayed what Biden said out loud.

At an event last week, Biden seemingly read the word “pause” off of his teleprompter, but the original White House transcript of the president’s remarks did not include the word “pause” — it said “(inaudible).” An updated version of the transcript now includes the president’s “pause” as well as the “(inaudible).”

“Folks, imagine what we could do next,” Biden said, touting his economic policies throughout his administration.

“Four more years … Pause,” he continued before the crowd began to take the cue and chant.

In other instances, Biden relayed false information or data which the White House transcript later corrected.

“We vaccinated the vast bulk of America. We got through that pandemic with less than 200 million — with less than 2 million people being vaccinated when I came to office. Today, 720 [270] million Americans have gotten COVID vaccine,” the White House transcript reads from a Jan. 30 campaign reception. (America’s total population is about 333 million, according to the United States Census Bureau.)

“I was at a town meeting in Northern Virginia, and a very — a very together lady stood up with her two daughters and said, “My daughters have stage 2 [Type 1] diabetes. They need insulin. And I — I have insurance, but I can’t afford what it’s costing me — $700 a month for two of them,” the White House transcript of Biden’s Feb. 7 campaign remarks says.

“Since I’ve been to office, we’ve created 14 million new jobs — 440 [thousand] new jobs in North Carolina alone, just since I came to office. (Applause.) And that’s because of this guy right here. Nearly 800,000 manufacturing jobs nationwide,” another transcript reads.

Biden also forgot words during some of his remarks, leading the White House to edit the transcript to make the president’s comments accurate.

“I kept my promise to appoint the first Black [woman] Supreme Court justice,” the White House transcript reads from a Feb. 22 campaign reception.

One White House transcript from Biden’s March 9 campaign event adds “historic” in front of a reference to Vice President Kamala Harris.

“Because unlike Donald Trump, I know who we are as Americans. (Applause.) It’s why I promised to have an administration that looks like America. (Applause.) The most diverse Cabinet and administration in American history led by a [historic] Vice President,” the transcript reads.

Another White House transcript from Jan. 5 modifies Biden’s omittance of the “T” from “LGBTQ.”

“And look at what these autocrats are doing to limit freedom in their countries. They’re limiting freedom of speech, freedom of press, freedom to assemble, women’s rights, LGB[T]Q rights, people are going to jail, so much more,” the transcript shows.

The Daily Caller compared the number of changes in Biden’s transcripts to a sampling of public remarks from former President Donald Trump.

The Biden White House corrected the president’s State of the Union transcript 13 times. The Trump White House didn’t modify the former president’s State of the Union address transcript at all.

For Biden’s remarks at the national prayer breakfast, the White House corrected the transcript eight times. The Trump White House adjusted the transcript once when the former president missed one word in a quote.

“On Easter Sunday, just days after he lost his church, Reverend Toussaint preached about what it all meant. What does it mean? ‘The Easter season,’ he said, ‘is a fitting metaphor for recent events. It was dark the day that Jesus was crucified. It was dark [at] night when they burned our church. What has happened since is like a resurrection.’ Old things are gone, but it’s going to be a brand-new start, and it’s going to be better than ever, Reverend. (Applause.) Better than ever. Fantastic,” the transcript reads.

Biden’s 2024 Earth Day remarks were modified eight times by the White House in their final transcript. Trump’s transcript was not corrected at all.

The Daily Caller also examined five speeches at random from the first few months of 2020. In those, Trump’s White House did not correct the transcripts with the same frequency or manner as Biden’s. The former president’s remarks did contain some corrections, primarily him mispronouncing or stumbling over words.

“Over the last three years, under my leadership, our economy is stronger than ever before and America has achieved energy independence. These historic accompliments [accomplishments] changed our strategic priorities,” the White House transcript on Trump’s 2020 remarks on Iran reads.

“For the time being, we will redirect global health and directly work with others. All of the aid that we send will be discussed at very, very powerful lettel [sic] — letters and with very powerful and influential groups and smart groups — medically, politically, and every other way,” another transcript read from a Trump April 2020 press briefing.

In total, Biden flubbed the names or titles of individuals, places and groups 20 times spanning from Jan. 1 to April 24, according to a Daily Caller analysis. The president misrepresented the numbers of his accomplishments and often confused the difference between thousands, millions, billions and trillions, 12 times.

When recounting stories, a Daily Caller analysis found that Biden often confused pronouns, for example, sometimes saying “we” instead of “he” when referencing former President Donald Trump. The White House transcripts corrects this 13 times.

The president has also had twenty mix-ups when referencing healthcare that the White House corrected. He confused seniors with disabilities as seniors with “diabetes” and called Roe v Wade “Roe v Ward.”

Biden refers to Laken Riley — a 22-year-old Georgia student murdered by an illegal alien his administration let in — as “Lincoln.” pic.twitter.com/oVokg8n2IX

— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) March 8, 2024

The Daily Caller’s analysis does not include times that the White House altered transcripts without indicating there was a change.

During Biden’s State of the Union address, the president attempted to say the name of 22-year-old Laken Riley, who was allegedly killed by an illegal immigrant in Georgia while on a run. Biden, however, called the slain 22-year-old “Lincoln.”

The White House transcript writes that Biden said “Lanken” and corrects it to “Laken.”

A man wielding a sword went on the attack in London early Tuesday, killing a 13-year-old boy and injuring at least four others, including two cops, after first driving a van into a house, according to authorities.

Shocking images show the unidentified suspect in a yellow hoodie holding the terrifying-looking weapon around 7 a.m. while walking through a street near Hainault Tube station in north-east London.

He was “running around with a samurai sword,” one witness told the Telegraph.

Another heard a woman’s terrifying scream and then “the words, ‘he’s got a massive knife,’ or ‘he’s got a massive sword.’”

The first people stabbed were at a house where the suspect crashed his van into, according to cops, who did not elaborate on whether the property or its occupants were deliberately targeted.

The suspect “went on to attack other members of the public and two police officers,” said a rep for the police force.

Stuart Bell, the chief superintendent of London’s Metropolitan Police, later announced “with great sadness” that a 13-year-old boy had died from his injuries.

“He was taken to hospital after being stabbed and sadly died a short while after,” he said, according to the Telegraph, sending thoughts to the boy’s family “at this unimaginably difficult time.”

A 36-year-old man was arrested at the scene, police said without identifying him.

“We are not looking for more suspects,’’ Deputy Assistant Commissioner Ade Adelekan said. ”This incident does not appear to be terror-related.”

The top cop acknowledged the shock and alarm” the attacks sparked, saying: “This must have been a terrifying incident for those concerned.”

London Mayor Sadiq Khan said he was “absolutely devastated” by the attack, while stating that additional cops will patrol the area.

“The police officers and emergency services showed the best of our city — running towards danger to protect others and I thank them from the bottom of my heart,” he said.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak called it a “shocking incident” and said that “such violence has no place on our streets.”

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) accused MSNBC’s Katy Tur of being an “apologist” for former President Trump on Monday.

During an appearance on the network, Pelosi touted President Biden’s record on the economy, saying, he “created 9 million jobs in his term in office. Donald Trump has the worst record of job loss of any president. So we just have to make sure people know.”

Tur briefly interjected, telling Pelosi “there was a global pandemic” during Trump’s presidency.

Pelosi paused, looking shocked, before shooting back at Tur that “he had the worst record of any president. We’ve had other concerns in our country.”

“If you want to be an apologist for Donald Trump, that may be your role, but it ain’t mine,” she added.

Tur pressed back, saying, “I don’t think anyone can accuse me of that.”

🚨If you only watch ONE video today, watch Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi stuffing Katy Tur into a locker for being “an apologist for Donald Trump” after Tur attempted to defend his abysmal job loss record.

Extremely satisfying!🔥🔥pic.twitter.com/hPkVtfKr1o

— Really American 🇺🇸 (@ReallyAmerican1) April 29, 2024

MSNBC frequently draws the ire of Trump and his allies, featuring leading progressive hosts who regularly criticize the former president and his policies.

El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele shocked his entire cabinet by summoning them to announce they’re under investigation for corruption.

President Bukele posted a video to X, revealing him requesting the Attorney General, the only one present not on his government’s executive branch, to investigate all of them for bribery.

The officials’ stunned reactions were evident as they gathered for the announcement.

The video has since gone viral online and earnt the praise of right-wing commentators and activists.

“This is how you lead. Whether it is well executed or not, we shall see. But this is how you lead,” Former CIA Ops Officer Bryan Dean Wright wrote on X.

Watch:

No es el primero, y tampoco será el último.

Sí Dios lo permite, nuestra guerra contra la corrupción será tan exitosa como nuestra guerra contra las pandillas. https://t.co/gNIHTZZ3O4 pic.twitter.com/nNPVSVW58J

— Nayib Bukele (@nayibbukele) April 26, 2024

TurningPointUSA Founder and CEO Charlie Kirk praised the move as a “master class for all the world to see on how to be a transformative, once in a generation leader”.

Five West Virginia middle school students who protested a trans athlete’s participation in a shot put competition have been banned from future competitions.

Becky Pepper-Jackson, 13, competed in the Harris County Middle School Track and Field Championship on April 18, two days after a federal appeals court ruled West Virginia’s transgender sports ban violates the teen’s right under Title IX.

Five girls from Lincoln Middle School stepped up to the circle for their turn, then refused to throw the ball.

West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey has filed a lawsuit against the Harrison County Board of Education on the student’s behalf after they were banned from future events.

‘I will do everything in my power to defend these brave young girls. This is just wrong. We must stand for what’s right and oppose these radical trans policies,’ Morrisey said on Monday.

The Attorney General posted his tweet in response to Women’s rights activist and former college swimmer Riley Gaines, who has stood by female athletes who have refused to compete against transgender athletes.

‘These girls stood up for what they believed and their coach barred them from competing. Insane,’ Gaines said.

‘It’s dangerous to teach young girls to ignore the threats their eyes and ears are warning them of. How do some call this “progress”?’

It’s unclear why the school or district banned the girls from future events for their recent protest that saw them walk up to the box to throw the shot put before leaving without a toss.

On Wednesday, Gaines posted a video of one of the five athletes that was involved in the protest speaking at a press conference about the incident.

The teen said: ‘Luckily, I found four lovely young girls willing to take a stand with me.’

‘We hope that it opens eyes to many more to see that this is not right and the situation is eventually going to kill women’s sports forever,’ she added.

After the competition, Pepper-Jackson took home first place in the shot put competition with her 32-foot effort, three feet further than second place, and she placed second in discus.

Despite being legally allowed to compete, the five athletes protested Pepper-Jackson’s participation by refusing to play against her.

Gaines previously tweeted a video of the protest and said ‘It’s a sad day when 13-14 year old girls have to be the adults in the room, but I couldn’t be more inspired by and proud of these girls.’

🚨🚨FIVE middle school female athletes in West Virginia refuse to throw shot put against male, Becky Pepper-Jackson.

This comes just 2 days after the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals blocked the WV law that says you must compete in the category that matches your sex.

It’s a… pic.twitter.com/RzMgh4jVRU

— Riley Gaines (@Riley_Gaines_) April 19, 2024

Pepper-Jackson won her years-long struggle to compete in sports after West Virginia Governor Jim Justice banned transgender athletes from competing in middle school, high school and college in May 2021.

On April 16, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled the ban cannot be applied to the 13-year-old.

The court previously blocked the state’s attempt to kick the teen from her middle school cross-country and track and field teams in February 2023.

The decision does not overturn the ban as it applies only to Pepper-Jackson’s case – but the law could be in limbo if other transgender student athletes choose to challenge it.

The court noted that Pepper-Jackson has lived as a girl for more than five years. She began identifying as female in the third grade and has participated strictly on girls’ sports teams.

In addition to taking puberty blockers and estrogen hormone therapy, Pepper-Jackson has legally changed her name, and the state of West Virginia has issued her a birth certificate listing her as female.

Offering the teen a ‘choice’ between not participating in sports and participating only on boys’ teams ‘is no real choice at all,’ Judge Toby Heytens wrote in the ruling.

‘The defendants cannot expect that B.P.J. will countermand her social transition, her medical treatment, and all the work she has done with her schools, teachers, and coaches for nearly half her life by introducing herself to teammates, coaches, and even opponents as a boy,’ Heytens wrote.

In a statement, ACLU West Virginia attorney Josh Block deemed the ruling a ‘tremendous victory.’

Morrisey thought otherwise and said that he was ‘deeply disappointed’ and vowed to continue fighting to safeguard Title IX.

‘The law was passed more than five decades ago and was meant to address sex discrimination in education by ensuring that women had equal opportunities to participate in federally-funded programs.’

‘We must keep working to protect women’s sports so that women’s safety is secured and girls have a truly fair playing field,’ Morrisey said on Tuesday. ‘We know the law is correct and will use every available tool to defend it.’

In the ruling, the appeals court reaffirmed that government officials had the authority to establish separate sports teams for boys and girls and can enforce the line between them.

‘We also do not hold that Title IX requires schools to allow every transgender girl to play on girls teams, regardless of whether they have gone through puberty and experienced elevated levels of circulating testosterone,’ the court proclaimed.

‘We hold only that the district court erred in granting these defendants’ motions for summary judgment in this particular case and in failing to grant summary judgment to B.P.J. on her specific Title IX claim.’

In a dissenting opinion, Judge G. Steven Agee wrote that the state can separate teams by gender assigned at birth ‘without running afoul of either the Equal Protection Clause or Title IX.’

West Virginia is among the 24 states barring transgender women and girls from competing in sports consistent with their gender identity.

Pepper-Jackson told NBC News in October that she would not give up on her fight to compete in girl’s sports.

‘I want to keep going because this is something I love to do, and I’m not just going to give it up,’ she said. ‘This is something I truly love, and I’m not going to give up for anything.’

Her mother, Heather Pepper-Jackson, said, ‘She likes to do the best in everything, be it algebra or running or shot put or discus.’

‘She tries to excel in everything that she does, just like any other kid… if she didn’t start the fight, who’s going to?’

Hunter Biden’s legal team reportedly sent a letter threatening to sue Fox News “imminently” over the alleged “unlicensed commercial exploitation” of the president’s son.

Mark Geragos, an attorney for the younger Biden, warned Fox Corporation and Fox News Digital of their preparation to seek damages over the network’s alleged “conspiracy and subsequent actions to defame [Hunter] Biden and paint him in a false light, the unlicensed commercial exploitation of his image, name, and likeness, and the unlawful publication of hacked intimate images of him,” according to NBC News. No lawsuit has currently been filed.

The April 23 letter is signed by Tina Glandian, a partner at the Geragos and Geragos law firm working on the case, according to NBC News. The firm gave Fox News until April 26 to respond, though the network has reportedly not responded.

The younger Biden’s legal team has reportedly been planning to sue Fox for over a year, according to NBC News. Geragos said the network “relentlessly attacked” his client for good ratings and “financial gain.”

“For the last five years, Fox News has relentlessly attacked Hunter Biden and made him a caricature in order to boost ratings and for its financial gain,” Geragos said in a statement. “The recent indictment of FBI informant Smirnov has exposed the conspiracy of disinformation that has been fueled by Fox, enabled by their paid agents and monetized by the Fox enterprise. We plan on holding them accountable.”

The letter mentions Fox News’ coverage of the Biden bribery allegations raised by Alexander Smirnov, who told the FBI that executives at Burisma—a Ukrainian energy company—discussed paying millions of dollars to Hunter and his father in order for the elder Biden to use his political clout to protect the company, NBC reported. The FBI charged Smirnov for allegedly fabricating the story about then-Vice President Joe Biden and Burisma, where Hunter served on the Board of Directors from 2014 to 2019.

The letter accused Fox News of intentionally labeling the allegations as “highly credible” despite the information being unverified, the outlet reported.

The letter demanded retractions and corrections from several anchors, including Sean Hannity, Maria Bartiromo and Jesse Watters, who the legal team said participated in this practice while covering the Smirnov allegations, according to the outlet.

The network is also accused of airing “intimate images” that were “hacked, stolen, and/or manipulated,” according to NBC News. The letter said many of these images were published during the six-part “mock trial” titled “The Trial of Hunter Biden” that aired in October 2021. Hunter’s legal team is demanding the “mock trial” series be removed from all streaming services.

“While using certain true information, the series intentionally manipulates the facts, distorts the truth, narrates happenings out of context, and invents dialogue intended to entertain. Thus, the viewer of the series cannot decipher what is fact and what is fiction,” the letter reportedly reads.

The letter is reportedly the second form of communication by Hunter’s legal team to Fox News this month, as they allegedly hand-delivered a previous letter to the network weeks ago, according to NBC News. Fox’s legal counsel reportedly asked for more time to give a response.

Hunter is charged with three counts of illegally purchasing a Colt Cobra revolver in October 2018 while under the influence of drugs. He is charged in a separate indictment with nine counts related to his failure to pay over $1 million in taxes over a four-year period.

Three US Marshals were killed Monday and five other officers wounded when they were met with a hail of bullets while trying to serve a warrant in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department Chief Johnny Jennings said Tuesday called it the bloodiest day for law enforcement he’s seen in his 32 years on the job.

“Today we lost some heroes that were out there simply trying to keep our communities safe,” Jennings said at a press conference shortly after the situation settled.

“To me it’s the most tragic [day] that I’ve been involved in,” he added.

Gunfire broke out around 1:30 p.m. in a tree-lined residential street about 20 minutes west of downtown Charlotte as officers attempted to serve a warrant for a convicted felon in possession of a firearm.

Upon arriving at a home on Galway Drive, bullets started flying from within the house prompting the US Marshals to return fire.

When the gun smoke cleared, the suspect — the subject of the warrant — was dead on the front lawn, cops said. When officers approached the home again, more fire erupted from within, they said.

SWAT teams and patrol units from CMPD arrived to assist and were eventually able to clear the home, securing two other suspects in the process. There was at least one juvenile in the home, CMPD said.

It is unclear at what point during the violent exchange the officers were killed.

In addition to the fatalities, one US Marshal was wounded, as were four CMPD officers. One of the city police officers remains in critical condition. Their injuries vary from serious gunshots to graze wounds.

Exactly how many guns or what kind were involved remained unclear, but Jennings said one of the shooters opened fire with a “high-powered rifle.”

“They lost their lives after they gave us the opportunity to be in safe place,” said Charlotte Mayor Vi Lyles, fighting back tears.

“The most I can ask of our community is that we honor and respect them for all the work that they’ve done, for all the work that we’ll do, to make it possible for our city to be safer.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asked President Biden Sunday to help prevent the International Criminal Court from issuing arrest warrants for senior Israeli officials in connection with the war in Gaza, two Israeli officials told Axios.

Israeli officials have grown increasingly concerned over the last two weeks that the ICC is preparing to issue arrest warrants for Netanyahu, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and Israel Defense Forces chief of staff Herzi Halevi.

The officials said Netanyahu expressed his concern to Biden in a phone call on Sunday, where the two leaders also discussed hostage negotiations, Israel’s defense against Iran’s missile attack, and the need to increase humanitarian aid to Gaza, according to a White House readout.

The ICC, which is based in The Hague, Netherlands, has been investigating possible war crimes by both Israeli forces and Palestinian militants dating back to the 2014 Israel-Hamas war.

U.S. officials said they do not have a clear indication whether the ICC is going to issue arrest warrants, but said the prosecutor’s office is under pressure from NGOs and several ICC member states to do so.

“Under my leadership, Israel will never accept any attempt by the ICC to undermine its inherent right of self-defense,” Netanyahu said in a statement on X Friday.

“While the ICC will not affect Israel’s actions, it would set a dangerous precedent that threatens the soldiers and officials of all democracies fighting savage terrorism and wanton aggression,” he added.

A spokesperson for the White House National Security Council declined to comment on the contents of Netanyahu’s call with Biden, but told Axios: “As we have publicly said many times, the ICC has no jurisdiction in this situation and we do not support its investigation.”

In March 2023, the ICC issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin over his alleged involvement in the abduction of Ukrainian children and teenagers.

The International Court of Justice, a separate body also located in The Hague, is hearing a case brought by South Africa that alleges Israel is committing genocide with its military campaign in Gaza.

Israel has denounced the case as “baseless,” and U.S. officials have defended Israel in proceedings at the ICJ.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky revealed that the United States and Ukrainian governments are “working on a bilateral security agreement” that would result in sending additional monetary aid to Ukraine over the next ten years.

In a statement issued on Sunday, Zelensky noted he had spoken to House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) thanking “him and all the congressmen for their support” of Ukraine and for voting to send a $61 billion aid package out of a $95 billion foreign aid package.

Zelensky added that during his conversation with Jeffries, he had “emphasized the need for Patriot systems.”

This is not the first time Zelensky has begged for more American-made Patriot missile systems to be sent to Ukraine.

Currently, Ukraine has three Patriot systems, one from the U.S. and two reportedly from Germany, according to the Washington Post.

On Friday, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin revealed that the U.S. would be sending Ukraine more Patriot systems as part of an additional $6 billion foreign aid package.

“Also, our teams, Ukraine and the United States, are currently working on a bilateral security agreement, and we are already working on a specific text. Our goal is to make this agreement the strongest of all. We are discussing the specific foundations of our security and cooperation,” Zelensky said.

“We are also working on fixing specific levels of support for this year and for the next ten years, including armed support, financial, political, and joint arms production.”

“The agreement should be truly exemplary and reflect the strength of American leadership. I am grateful to both our team and the team of the American side for the progress in drafting the agreement.”

On top of the $61 billion in foreign aid recently approved by the United States, United Kingdom Prime Minister Rishi Sunak vowed to send an additional £500 million in foreign aid to Ukraine.