Tuesday morning news: June 13, 2023

Trump » Police are fanning out around a Miami courtroom this morning where former President Trump will soon be arraigned on federal charges related to his handling of classified documents. The city is allowing protests outside the courthouse.

Miami Police Chief Manuel Morales:

MANUEL MORALES: Even though we’re preparing—we’re bringing enough resources anywhere from 5,000 to 50,000—we don’t expect any issues.

Trump faces 31 charges under the Espionage Act and six more for allegedly impeding an investigation.

Trump insists he has done nothing wrong. And most Republicans say the Justice Department has a different standard for Trump when it comes to prosecuting the mishandling of classified documents. Congresswoman Nicole Malliotakis:

NICOLE MALLIOTAKIS: If President Trump did something wrong, what about Hillary Clinton? What about Vice President Pence? What about President Biden?

Prosecutors allege that this case is different in that Trump knew certain documents in his possession were highly classified, and they say he attempted to thwart an investigation.

Biden bribery » Meantime, on Capitol Hill Monday, Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley on the Senate floor said there may be recorded audio evidence of a bribery scheme involving President Biden.

CHUCK GRASSLEY: The foreign national who allegedly bribed Joe and Hunter Biden allegedly has audio recordings of his conversation with them.

A foreign national is alleged to have paid $10 million dollars to the Biden family to help quash a corruption probe. And according to an FBI document, the foreign national posseses 15 audio recordings with Hunter Biden and 2 recordings with Joe Biden.

GRASSLEY: These recordings were allegedly kept as a sort of insurance policy for the foreign national in case that he got into a tight spot.

Republicans are demanding that the Justice Department release the unclassified FBI document describing the accusations.

China spying » Top US officials are breaking their silence on reports that China has operated a spy base in Cuba for several years.

Word of the spy base was leaked to the media last week. National Security Council spokesman John Kirby:

JOHN KIRBY: Clearly there is a source or sources out there that think it’s somehow beneficial to put this kind of information into the public stream. And it’s absolutely not.

Kirby says it’s part of a larger Chinese intelligence push.

Secretary of State Tony Blinken told reporters:

TONY BLINKEN: We have engaged governments that are considering hosting PRC bases at high levels. We’ve exchanged information with them. Our experts assess that our diplomatic efforts have slowed down this effort.

The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday that China and Cuba had reached an agreement in principle to build an electronic eavesdropping station on the island.

The White House called the report inaccurate.

Ukraine » Ukrainian officials say they’ve recaptured at least four villages in the southeastern part of the country.

AUDIO: [SOLDIER]

This Ukrainian soldier is saying here that Russian troops resisted at first but eventually gave up the fourth village “house by house.”

The Russian defense ministry claims its troops have largely held their ground.

Boycotts » Boycotts over corporate LGBT activism are still taking a toll on companies. WORLD’s Josh Schumacher has more.

JOSH SCHUMACHER: Bud Light is no longer America’s top-selling beer. After months of plummeting sales over its partnership with a transgender social media star. Modelo Especial is now Number One. Bud Light parent company Anheuser Busch InBev has now lost more than $27 billion dollars in market value.

And retail giant Target has lost $15 billion dollars in market value. Consumers pushed back when Target prominently displayed so-called PRIDE merchandise including LGBT children’s books and a swimsuit designed to disguise gender characteristics.

Some are also now calling for a boycott of Cracker Barrel after a Facebook post celebrating Pride Month.

And the maker of the blockbuster video game Call of Duty is facing boycott calls as well. Activision angered millions after it withdrew in–game items tied to a well-known player, because he voiced criticism of policies that push an LGBT agenda to schoolchildren.

For WORLD, I’m Josh Schumacher.

UNESCO » The U.S. is re-joining the United Nations cultural and scientific agency UNESCO this summer to counter Chinese influence in the U.N.

UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulaya:

AUDREY AZOULAY: The US will add not only their financial contribution, but also their expertise, their civil society, which has a lot to bring it to UNESCO.

The Obama administration stopped funding the agency in 2011 when it voted to include Palestine as a member, and former president Trump withdrew in 2018 citing an anti-Israel bias in the group.

Israel last year said it wouldn’t oppose a U.S. return to UNESCO, and Congress in December approved a bill to pay dues owed to the organization.

I’m Kent Covington.

Straight ahead: Bad air in the Big Apple. Plus, the abortion abolitionists.

This is The World and Everything in It.

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