Friday morning news: June 9, 2023

TRUMP: Very sadly, we’re a nation in decline, and yet they go after a popular president, a president that got more votes than any sitting president in the history of our country, by far.

ANNA JOHANSEN BROWN, NEWS ANCHOR: Trump indictment » Former President Donald Trump announcing he will face a second historic indictment, this time related to how he handled classified documents on leaving the White House.

The Justice Department has not disclosed the exact charges against Trump.

They stem from a special counsel investigation into whether the former president broke the law by taking hundreds of classified documents to his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida. The FBI raided the property in August.

TRUMP: I’m an innocent man. We will prove that again. Seven years of proving it and here we go again. Very unfair, but that’s the way it is.

In April, prosecutors in Manhattan charged Trump with 34 counts of falsifying business records in a case over hush money payments made to former mistresses. He also denies any wrongdoing in that case.

SMITH: It’s hard to like cough and breathe sometimes, so, yeah, I have never seen that before, I gotta keep a mask on. It’s bad, I ain’t gonna lie. It need to clear up.

Wildfire smoke » In New York City, the air looks better today, but it still has dangerous levels of pollutants from Canadian wildfires.

Smoke from fires in the eastern region of Quebec continues to blanket the northeastern U.S.

Officials in some states have urged residents to avoid going outside if possible.

Philadelphia Health Commissioner Dr. Cheryl Bettigole:

BETTIGOLE: Fine particles can penetrate deeply into fragile lung tissue, causing symptoms including cough, shortness of breath, and wheezing.

The smoke forced airports to delay at least 600 flights on Thursday.

Meteorologists forecast rain and storms this weekend which could dissipate the smoke.

Meanwhile, hundreds of American firefighters are on their way to Canada to help battle the raging wildfires across the country.

Ukraine script » President Biden and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak met in Washington, D.C. on Thursday.

Biden: Our unwavering support for the people of Ukraine, who are defending themselves against the most brutal aggression we've seen in a long time at the hands of Russia and Putin.

The meeting comes as NATO looks for its next leader. Analysts have said the next secretary general could be a leader of one of the group’s member states, maybe U.K. Defense Minister Ben Wallace.

Biden: We're going to have to get a consensus within NATO to see that happen. They have a candidate who's a very qualified individual.

Ukraine wants to become a member of the military alliance. Current Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has said all member countries have agreed Ukraine may join after its war with Russia ends.

SCOTUS Alabama voting » Alabama will have to redraw its congressional map by order of the U.S. Supreme Court.

The court on Thursday overturned the state’s district boundaries, saying they discriminated against black voters.

Congressman Hakeem Jeffries:

HAKEEM JEFFRIES: The Voting Rights Act is the law of the land and it is illegal to engage in race-based gerrymandering.

More than a quarter of the people in the state are black … but only one of the state’s seven districts leaned Democratic after the new lines were drawn … and it contained the majority of the state’s African American voters.

The court said the map should include two majority-black districts.

The justices affirmed a lower court ruling that said the original map was likely in violation of the Voting Rights Act.

JEFFRIES: We can at least draw some comfort from the fact that the 1965 Voting Rights Act remains alive.

Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Brett Kavanaugh joined the court’s liberal justices in the majority opinion.

Justice Clarence Thomas dissented saying the Voting Rights Act does not require lawmakers to redraw Congressional Districts to make them proportional based on race, and if it did, the Constitution would not allow it.

Holloway case » The prime suspect in the unsolved disappearance of an American high school student in U.S. custody. WORLD’s Paul Butler has more.

PAUL BUTLER: Joran van der Sloot was extradited from Peru yesterday. He is the main suspect in the 2005 disappearance of U.S. student Natalee Holloway.

Holloway went missing on a senior trip to Aruba. She was last seen with van der Sloot.

Prosecutors say he later tried to sell false information about the location of Holloway’s body. He was in prison in Peru for the murder of a local woman.

For WORLD, I’m Paul Butler.

Pat Robertson obit » Broadcaster and evangelist Pat Robertson died Thursday at the age of 93.

Robertson brought Christian teaching and commentary into homes around the world for decades … as founder of the Christian Broadcasting Network and host of The 700 Club.

He built CBN from a bankrupt TV station and turned it into a multi-million dollar enterprise.

ROBERTSON: I didn’t have the money the day we were supposed to go on the air. And I opened the Bible and my eyes fell on the Psalm that said, “The salvation of the Lord is at hand,” and I thought, it’s coming.

Robertson later founded Regent University, as well as the political group Christian Coalition and the legal organization American Center for Law and Justice.

In 1988, he sought the Republican nomination for president—but lost out to former President George HW Bush.

I'm Anna Johansen Brown. Straight ahead: Culture Friday with John Stonestreet. Plus, soundtracks for your next family road trip.

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