Thursday morning news: July 27, 2023

Hunter Biden » Hunter Biden’s plea deal crumbled on Wednesday after a federal judge raised concerns about the terms of the agreement. The plan would have allowed the president’s son to avoid prosecution on a felony charge by pleading guilty to misdemeanor tax offenses.

District Judge Maryellen Noreika questioned the scale of the immunity that prosecutors were offering Hunter Biden.

Republicans say the judge made the right call.

SMITH: Justice is being served.

Missouri Congressman Jason Smith pointed to recent testimony from two whistleblowers from the IRS criminal investigations unit.

SMITH: They provided such a great amount of information and a lot of concern - where they highlighted where they had been investigating. They had been the lead investigators in this case for the last five years.

The IRS agents felt the Justice Department was protecting Hunter Biden.

He was charged last month with two misdemeanor crimes of failure to pay taxes on more than $1.5 million in income. The plea deal likely would have allowed him to avoid jail time.

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre again assured the public Wednesday that President Biden in no way has his thumb on the scales of justice.

PIERRE: This was an independent investigation that was overseen by the Department of Justice. As we have been very clear, they are independent. We give them the space to do their work.

The Department of Justice also revealed Wednesday that Hunter Biden is under investigation for potentially illegally acting as a foreign agent.

Mayorkas hearing » Meantime, on Capitol Hill House Republicans grilled Homeland Security Sec. Alejandro Mayorkas over what they called the Biden administration’s “disastrous” border policies.

Congressman Jim Jordan:

JORDAN: Instead of building off the previous administration’s success, this administration has abandoned any semblance of border security and immigration enforcement. And Americans are paying the price and they demand accountability.

But Mayorkas cited a recent decrease in illegal border crossings.

MAYORKAS: Our approach to managing the border securely and humanely, even within our fundamentally broken immigration system, is working.

Even with migrant encounters down officially from previous months, the Border Patrol still reported roughly 100,000 encounters.

Federal Reserve » Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell announced another slight interest rate hike on Wednesday. The central bank is bumping up its key rates by another quarter of a percentage point.

But, Powell floated the idea of cutting rates at some point next year.

POWELL: That's just going to be a judgment that we have to make then, a full year from now, and it'll be about how confident we are that inflation is in fact coming down to our 2% goal.

The surge in consumer prices does appear to be slowing down with an annualized inflation rate of 3 percent in June.

Israeli Supreme Court » The Israeli Supreme Court says it will hear arguments in the fall over a new law that aims to curb its power over executive decisions.

Parliament on Monday passed legislation that limits the high court’s ability to review government actions. The measure is part of a larger effort to overhaul the nation’s court system.

Simcha Rotman leads a judicial committee in parliament.

ROTMAN: The court’s judges were enforcing their own political views on the public in Israel, on the minister.

But thousands of protesters have taken to the streets in recent weeks calling the proposal a power grab by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his allies.

Trump in Louisiana, DeSantis in Orlando » Former President Trump traveled to Louisiana this week for a fundraiser amid the looming threat of another criminal indictment. Trump has said he expects to be indicted over alleged interference in the 2020 election, but he told reporters in New Orleans, he’s not concerned.

TRUMP: We have a — we’re legit. We have very corrupt people running our country.

He’ll campaign in Iowa tomorrow.

Meantime, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis spoke at an event in Orlando on Wednesday, touting his credentials on economic policy. He said of his home state:

DESANTIS: Our economy is now ranked number one in the nation by U.S. News and World Report overall. We have a large budget surplus, a triple-a credit rating.

DeSantis heard there at a meeting of the American Legislative Exchange Council.

DeSantis is one of seven GOP candidates right now who have qualified to take the stage at the first presidential debate next month.

The others are former Ambassador Nikki Haley, businessman Vivek Ramaswamy, former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, Sen. Tim Scott, and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum.

Donald Trump has suggested he may skip the first debate.

Sinead O’Connor obit » Irish singer-songwriter Sinead O’Connor has died.

SOUND: [Nothing Compares]

O’Connor rose to stardom during the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, but was known as much for her personal struggles and public controversies as for her music.

In 1992, she infamously ripped up a picture of Pope John Paul II during a performance on Saturday Night Live. She said it was in protest against sexual abuse in the Catholic Church.

The singer publicly discussed her struggles with mental illness suicide attempts over the years. Sinead O’Connor was 56.

I'm Kent Covington.

Straight ahead: Hot weather and climate change. Plus, a military funeral at Arlington National Cemetery.

This is The World and Everything in It.

WORLD Radio transcripts are created on a rush deadline. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of WORLD Radio programming is the audio record.