Monday morning news: November 21, 2022

For WORLD Radio, I'm Kent Covington. 

Trump special counsel react » Democrats on Capitol Hill say Attorney General Merrick Garland made the right move by assigning a special counsel on Friday to investigate former President Trump.

California Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren told CBS …

LOBGREN: Well, I think from what the attorney general said, he sought to depoliticize this investigation. Obviously, career professionals are doing it.

But Republicans say whether the investigation is in fact depoliticized will depend on the people carrying on the probe.

The former president said over the weekend that he was surprised by Garland’s special counsel announcement.

TRUMP: I thought the investigation with the document hoax was dying or dead or over - and the investigation into Jan. 6 and my very peaceful and patriotic speech was dead.

Trump Twitter » Trump also reacted Sunday to news that Twitter’s new owner, Elon Musk, has reinstated the former president’s account. Twitter announced last year that it was permanently banning Trump after the Capitol riot.

TRUMP: Truth Social has been very, very powerful, very, very strong. And I’ll be staying there. But I hear we’re getting a big vote to also go back on Twitter. And I don’t see it because I don’t see any reason for it.

Trump launched the Truth Social platform after Twitter banned him.

Elon Musk announced the move to reinstate Trump after polling Twitter users to ask if he should do so. The vote was close, but 51% said yes.

Biden turns 80 » President Biden turned 80 years old on Sunday.

The oldest president in U.S. history hit his milestone birthday at a personal crossroads. He and his family will have to decide in the months ahead whether he will seek reelection. He’d be 86 at the end of a potential second term.

His team has begun quiet preparations for a campaign. Biden said at a recent news conference—his words—“My intention is that I run again,” but he added: “We're going to have discussions about it.”

Ukraine » Russia continues to bomb and shell Ukraine’s energy grid.

U.S. Secretary of State Lloyd Austin:

AUSTIN: Russia isn’t just waging a war of aggression. It’s also deliberately attacking civilian targets and civilian infrastructure with no military purpose whatsoever.

The United Nations’ nuclear watchdog said Sunday powerful explosions shook the ground in Zaporizhzhia, the site of Europe’s largest nuclear power plant.global UN officials are calling for “urgent measures to help prevent a nuclear accident” in the Russian-occupied facility.

A heavy barrage of Russian military strikes—almost 400 on Sunday alone—also hit Ukraine’s eastern regions.

U.S. bombers NOKO » U.S. Air Force B-1B bombers flew over the Korean Peninsula in separate joint exercises over the weekend with South Korean and Japanese warplanes. That was in response to North Korea’s test launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile.

Vice President Kamala Harris told reporters:

HARRIS: This conduct by North Korea most recently is a brazen violation of multiple UN security resolutions.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un boasted that a recently tested ICBM is another “reliable and maximum-capacity” weapon to contain U.S. military threats.

The United States responded to the North’s weapons launch by flying supersonic bombers in a show of force.

Pyongyang’s ICMB launch was part of the North’s ongoing barrage of recent missile tests.

Snowstorm » AUDIO: [Snow shovel]

New Yorkers may recognize that as the sound of a shovel scooping snow from a driveway. There is plenty of that going on in the northeast today.

Parts of New York finally caught a break Sunday after a massive storm dumped potentially record-setting amount of snow in areas east of Lake Erie and Lake Ontario.

New York Governor, Kathy Hochul:

HOCHUL: As someone who is from Buffalo and has lived in Upstate my entire life, we’ve seen a lot of snow, but when you hit 80 to 85 inches, that is one to tell your grandkids about.

Many businesses in the hardest-hit areas remained closed, but highways reopened and authorities lifted travel bans in many areas.

But bands of lake-effect snow were expected to bring up to 2 feet by this morning in some parts of the state that were largely spared in earlier rounds.

CO shooting » Five people are dead after a gunman opened fire inside a gay night club in Colorado Springs over the weekend.

Police Chief Adrian Vasquez told reporters …

VASQUEZ: The suspect entered Club-Q and immediately began shooting at people inside. At least two heroic people confronted and fought with the suspect and were able to stop the suspect from continuing to kill.

The 22-year-old suspect also shot and wounded 18 others. Police arrested him at the scene.

He was reportedly armed with two guns, including a “long rifle.”

Investigators were still determining a motive, and the attack was being investigated to see if it should be prosecuted as a hate crime.

I’m Kent Covington. For more news, features, and analysis, visit us at wng.org.

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