1 Iran Conflict: France Moves Aircraft Carrier Group Toward Strait Of Hormuz
France is moving its nuclear-powered aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle and its escort group through the Suez Canal and into the Red Sea as part of preparations for a potential multinational mission to restore shipping in the Strait of Hormuz. French President Emmanuel Macron announced the repositioning yesterday, saying the move is intended to reduce the time needed to deploy the mission once conditions allow. The carrier group, which includes about 20 Rafale fighter jets, two escort frigates, and Italian and Dutch warships, had been deployed in the eastern Mediterranean since early March. France and Britain have been leading a coalition of more than 40 nations in planning what they describe as a strictly defensive mission that would only deploy after the conflict winds down. Paris is suggesting that Iran be permitted to transit the strait freely in exchange for committing to nuclear and ballistic missile talks with the U.S., while the U.S. in turn lifts its blockade of Iranian ports.
2 Judge Denies Request From Fulton County For FBI To Return Seized 2020 Ballots
A federal judge in Georgia denied Fulton County's request to have the 2020 election ballots and materials seized by the FBI earlier this year returned to county officials yesterday. U.S. District Judge Jean-Paul Boulee ruled that while the FBI's affidavit justifying the January search was "defective in some respects," including misleading statements about the final ballot count and "troubling" omissions about ballot mechanisms, those flaws did not rise to the high legal threshold of "callous disregard" for the county's rights. The FBI search in January removed more than 630 boxes of election material from a Fulton County elections office, seeking all physical ballots from 2020, vote-tabulating machine tapes, ballot images, and voter rolls. Boulee rejected the county's claim that the seizure violated state sovereignty under the 10th Amendment and also rejected an argument that the warrant was obtained in bad faith.
3 Judge Releases Possible Suicide Note From Jeffrey Epstein
A purported suicide note from Jeffrey Epstein was unsealed yesterday by a federal judge in New York after being locked in a courthouse vault for nearly five years. The handwritten, unsigned, and undated note was presented to the court by Epstein's former cellmate Nicholas Tartaglione, a convicted murderer who claimed he found it tucked in one of his books after Epstein's first suspected suicide attempt in July 2019, about two weeks before Epstein's death. The note reads in part: "They investigated me for months, found NOTHING. It is a treat to be able to choose one's time to say goodbye." The document has not been authenticated, and "CBS News" noted it has not independently verified the note.