Photo: Science Photo Library RF
1 Canadian Wildfire Smoke Is Back, This Time In The Midwest
Smoke from Canadian wildfires is causing problems in the U.S. again, blanketing large parts of the Midwest and putting 92 million people under air quality alerts from the National Weather Service. The alerts covered Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, and Wisconsin, along with parts of Pennsylvania and New York. Chicago had the worst air quality in the world yesterday according to IQAir.com, with Detroit having the second worst on the planet. Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker said at a press conference that he’s hopeful the smoke will be a short problem for his state. The smoke will continue to cause problems today, with New York City Mayor Eric Adams announcing yesterday that poor air quality is expected in the city today because of “incoming winds.” In a tweet, he advised residents of NYC to avoid outdoor events or “bring a KN95 or N95 mask with you” today. Canada currently has around 29,000 square miles burning in the country, which is more than the area burned in 2016, 2019, 2020, and 2022 combined.
2 IRS Whistleblower Says he Was Blocked From Investigating Joe Biden
Gary Shapley, the IRS special agent who helped oversee the Hunter Biden investigation and has since come forward as a whistleblower, talked with CBS News’s Jim Axelrod yesterday about the probe. Shapley, a 14-year veteran of the IRS, said that he documented the investigation while it was being conducted and that recent claims by U.S. attorney David Weiss and Attorney General Merrick Garland don’t match his records of what happened. Shapley also claims that there was interference in the investigation, telling Axelrod, “If this was a small business owner or any other non-connected individual, they would have been charged with felony counts.” Hunter Biden reached a tentative plea deal last week that would see him serve no jail time on two misdemeanor tax charges and a felony gun charge. Shapley said yesterday that Hunter Biden wrote off things as business expenses like “prostitutes, sex club memberships, travel for the prostitutes, hotel rooms for purported drug dealers, no show employees.” Shapley also told CBS News that any money trails that could lead to President Joe Biden were blocked by a senior prosecutor. President Biden has denied any involvement in his son’s business affairs, and attorneys for Hunter Biden declined to comment on the claims.
3 Trump Says It Was "Bravado" In Bedminster Recording, Denies He Showed Classified Documents
Talking with ABC News’ Rachel Scott during a flight yesterday, former President Donald Trump insisted that there were no classified documents on his desk at his Bedminster Club when the audio recording mentioned in the federal indictment against him was made. In the recording, which has been released by multiple news outlets, Trump can be heard rustling some papers before saying, “This totally wins my case, you know. Except it is like, highly confidential. Secret. This is secret information,” then added “As president I could have declassified, but now I can’t.” He has previously said the documents were “newspaper articles, copies of magazines, copies of different plans, copies of stories.” When asked about the recording, which Trump says he hasn’t heard, and why he claimed he had classified documents, he responded by saying “If you want to know the truth, it was bravado. I was talking and just holding up papers and talking about, but I have no documents. I didn’t have any documents.” When asked if it was more likely now that he would consider a plea deal in the federal indictment, Trump maintained his innocence and said, “You know, I don’t even like that question. Because it’s so ridiculous.”