Democrats are ramping up efforts to impeach President Trump for pressing the president of Ukraine to investigate Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden and his son Hunter. Nearly 90% of House Democrats now support impeachment. On Thursday, a declassified version of a complaint by an anonymous whistleblower was released, detailing his concerns about Trump’s July phone call with Volodymyr Zelensky. In the complaint, the unnamed whistleblower — who has been identified as a CIA official — accused the president of “using the power of his office to solicit interference from a foreign country in the 2020 U.S. election.” The complaint also revealed details about how the White House attempted to “lock down” all records of Trump’s phone conversation with Zelensky by moving a transcript of the call to a standalone computer system reserved for codeword-level intelligence information. The whistleblower wrote in his complaint, “According to White House officials I spoke with, this was 'not the first time' under this Administration that a Presidential transcript was placed into this codeword-level system solely for the purpose of protecting politically sensitive — rather than national security sensitive — information.” For more on the unfolding scandal, we speak with James Risen, senior national security correspondent for The Intercept.
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Elvis Presley's granddaughter, Riley Keough, said Friday it was "very intense" watching the new biopic about the rock'n'roll legend, which premieres at the Cannes Film Festival next week.
Keough, known for films like "Logan Lucky" and "American Honey", happened to be at Cannes for her directorial debut "War Pony" just days before the world premiere of "Elvis" by flamboyant Australian director Baz Luhrmann.
She told an audience at the French Riviera festival she saw the film recently with her mother, Lisa Marie Presley, and grandmother, Priscilla Presley.
"It was a very emotional experience," she said.
"There's a lot of family trauma and generational trauma that started around there. It was a very intense experience."
"Elvis", which premieres on Wednesday, stars newcomer Austin Butler in the lead role and Tom Hanks as his infamous manager, Colonel Tom Parker.
Despite the discomfort of seeing her family on screen, Keough said she was "honored" that it was handled by Luhrmann.
"The first movie I ever watched in a theatre where I knew I wanted to make movies was 'Moulin Rouge!' when I was 12," said Keough.
She said it was immediately evident how much effort Luhrmann and Butler had put into capturing the essence of The King.
"That made me emotional and I started crying five minutes in, and didn't stop, so I need to watch it again," said Keough.
The family was involved in helping Luhrmann get access to the Presley home, Graceland, and other people from Elvis's life.
"But at the end of the day, we're not going to tell Baz Luhrmann how to make a film," Keough said.
© 2022 AFP
According to reports from both Politico and CNN, former President Donald Trump is unhappy that a substantial number of candidates he has endorsed have faltered at the polls and he will be more circumspect going forward over fears that he will be seen as weak when it comes to dictating the future of the Republican Party.
As Politico Playbook notes, Trump has not been as successful at picking winners as his supporters would like people to believe, and his success rate has been inflated by endorsing candidates facing little or no competition.
Adding to his current woes and damage to his reputation is the floundering campaign of Dr. Mehmet Oz for the GOP nomination for an open U.S. Senate seat that could be headed to a recount.
As Politico's Ryan Lizza wrote, "Trump’s endorsement losses are starting to pile up," adding, "Most of his endorsements have been in races where his anointed candidate faced little or no competition. Nobody would be impressed by a handicapper who won placing bets at a track featuring races with only one horse."
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Writing Trump’s record in competitive races now stands at "seven wins and four losses — a 64% winning percentage" Lizza suggested, "That’s not bad, but it’s not nearly as good as the padded win-loss record Trump world promotes."
That, in turn, led to CNN's Gabby Orr reporting that aspiring candidates seeking the former president's endorsement may not get their phone calls returned.
As Orr reported, Trump is "'agitated' by the uncertain outcome in the Keystone State primary, where his endorsement of celebrity doctor Mehmet Oz failed to translate into a decisive win against former hedge fund manager David McCormick. As of Thursday morning, the race remains tight and appears likely to head to an automatic recount as required by Pennsylvania law when the vote margin falls below 0.5%."
As one of his advisers put it: "This is not how he expected this to go. If Oz loses, it puts him in an awkward spot because he absolutely trashed David McCormick at his rally and pissed off quite a few allies who never thought he should have endorsed Oz."
According to the report, things are about to get worse for Trump with Georgia's primary on Tuesday, with Orr reporting, "...while Tuesday's primaries in Pennsylvania and North Carolina may have delivered mixed results for the former President, next week's much-anticipated gubernatorial primary in Georgia is looking increasingly likely to hand Trump a major setback. With a flood of support from big-name Republicans such as former Vice President Mike Pence and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, incumbent Gov. Brian Kemp is widely favored to fend off a GOP primary challenge from former Sen. David Perdue, who was hand-picked and recruited by Trump last year amid the former President's frustration with Kemp's refusal to contest the 2020 election results in Georgia."
As one Trump aide lamented, "Georgia will be an absolute bloodbath. My guess is that will have the biggest effect on the endorsement process."
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro is set to meet with billionaire Elon Musk on Friday, according to a government source.
The meeting will be held in Sao Paulo, a source with the Brazilian president's office told AFP, without giving any details on what will be on the agenda.
Earlier, Bolsonaro said that he had planned a private meeting in Sao Paulo "with a very important person who is recognized throughout the world."
"He is coming to offer his help for our Amazon," the president said in his weekly social media broadcast, without naming Musk.
Currently the CEO of both SpaceX and Tesla, Musk is the richest person in the world, with a fortune estimated at $220 billion, according to Forbes magazine.
The entrepreneur attracted worldwide attention when he announced last month that he planned to buy Twitter in a deal worth $44 billion dollars.
The Brazilian government said in November that they were negotiating with SpaceX to secure satellite internet in the Amazon rainforest and to get help in detecting illegal deforestation.
In a bid to provide high-speed internet around the world, especially to underserved areas, SpaceX has launched thousands of its own Starlink satellites orbit, with many more launches already planned.
© 2022 AFP
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