Monday, November 15 top stories
It is Monday, November 15. Here are today’s top stories.
Steve Bannon, who was an advisor for former president Donald Trump, turned himself in to the FBI this morning in Washington D.C. He was indicted by a grand jury on Friday on two counts of contempt of Congress for refusing to comply with a subpoena to give information on what he did and knows about the events surrounding the January 6 attack on the Capitol. Bannon’s lawyers said Trump’s lawyers told him to not provide anything to the House January 6 Select Committee. Bannon faces up to a year in jail if convicted. Bannon was released from custody pending his trial.
There is a separate but related legal fight on whether the National Archives can release White House records from Trump’s time in the Oval Office around January 6th.
There is also another person who may be charged with contempt for Congress – former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows. Just like Bannon, Meadows has refused to provide information to the committee. The committee has subpoenaed other Trump aides such as Kayleigh McEnany and Stephen Miller.
On Sunday in Liverpool, England, a taxi exploded just outside of a hospital and authorities in the U.K. said it was an act of terrorism. The taxi picked up a passenger about 10 minutes away who was carrying a homemade explosive device. The bomb went off at the hospital’s drop-off point. The taxi driver managed to get out of the vehicle and locked it as it burned up. The suspected bomber was killed. The driver is now hailed as a hero. Law enforcement have arrested four men who they believe were associates of the passenger. The terror threat in the U.K. has been raised to “severe,” the fourth-highest level out of five levels.
Japan’s former princess Mako, who recently forfeited her royal status to marry a “commoner” named Kei Komuro, was seen arriving in New York City to start her new life. The couple met in college, were engaged four years ago, and got married last month.
Mako is the niece of Japanese Emperor Naruhito. The couple is frequently compared with the U.K. 's Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in that both couples gave up their royal privileges and status and experienced harsh press coverage.
Mako plans to get a visa to work in the U.S.
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The 9-year-old boy who was in a coma after being injured at the Astroworld Festival in Houston on November 5 has passed away. His name was Ezra Blount. He went to the concert with his father to see Travis Scott but both of them were overcome by crowd surges. Ezra was sitting on his father’s shoulders when they fell. ABC 13 News said Ezra was trampled by concertgoers. He was on life support but passed away, and he is now the tenth person to die from the concert. The Blount family is now working with famed civil rights attorney Ben Crump to seek justice.
Here are two quick political news briefs. Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont) announced he would retire instead of running for re-election in 2022. He became a senator in 1975 and is the longest-serving sitting senator. We’ll see who wants to campaign for that vacant Senate seat.
The second news is Beto O’Rourke’s announcement that he wants to run for Texas governor. He will challenge current Republican governor Greg Abbott. O’Rourke used to be a U.S. Representative and in 2018, he narrowly lost a Senate campaign to Sen. Ted Cruz.
Today the prosecutor and defense team made their closing arguments in the Kyle Rittenhouse murder trial in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Rittenhouse is charged with first-degree reckless homicide and first-degree intentional homicide among other charges in connection to him shooting three men last year who confronted him in the middle of city-wide protests and riots over the police shooting of a Black man, Jacob Blake. Today the judge in the case dismissed a charge that accused Rittenhouse of possession of a dangerous weapon by a person under 18. He was 17 at the time last year. It was dismissed because the rifle was not short-barreled -- it has to do with specific Wisconsin laws. The closing arguments will continue into this afternoon -- they are still on it as I am signing -- and it seems like the jury will start deliberating tomorrow morning. A key question is whether Rittenhouse acted in self-defense and reasonably in shooting the men. There are about 500 National Guard troops on standby for possible civil unrest over the jury’s verdict.
That is all the top stories for today. See you tomorrow and stay with the light.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/steve-bannon-january-6-committee-contempt-charges-turns-self-in/
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-merseyside-59291095
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/15/world/europe/uk-taxi-explosion-liverpool.html
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-59280707
https://www.axios.com/beto-orourke-texas-governor-campaign-a116be60-543e-44be-aec5-7a565e5f77e9.html
https://www.foxnews.com/live-news/kyle-rittenhouse-jury-closing-arguments-live-updates
https://news.sky.com/story/kyle-rittenhouse-who-is-he-and-what-is-he-charged-with-12468573