The Daily Moth 10-15-19
Police officer who shot and killed Atatiana Jefferson charged with murder; Updates on war in northern Syria; Impeachment inquiry updates: John Bolton and Hunter Biden; LeBron James’s China-Hong Kong controversy
[Transcript] Hello, welcome to The Daily Moth! I’m back on the show, but now in a new studio setup at DPAN in the Detroit area! It is Tuesday, October 15. Ready for news?
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Police officer who shot and killed Atatiana Jefferson charged with murder
The Fort Worth Police officer who shot and killed Atatiana Jefferson has been identified as Aaron Dean. He was charged with murder. He resigned from his job before he was fired yesterday.
His bond was set at $200,000 and he bonded out at 9 pm last night.
The interim police chief Ed Kraus said it was obvious from the police body camera video that the officer acted inappropriately when he shot at Atatiana once through a window. He also said it was inappropriate for the police department to release images of a gun that was found inside of the home. He said still doesn’t know if Atatiana was holding the gun or not, but that he understands that homeowners in Texas, if they had a firearm, would normally hold a gun if there was someone suspicious outside of their window. He said it was normal behavior.
Atatiana’s family has hired Lee Merritt to be their attorney. He has called on the police department to hand over the shooting investigation to an impartial third-party.
The former officer Dean has hired an attorney that was paid for by Texas’ largest police union.
The second police officer who was with Dean at the scene of the shooting is considered a witness at this time.
https://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local/Fort-Worth-Officer-Resigns-After-Fatal-Shooting-That-Killed-Atatiana-Jefferson-563075211.html
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Updates on war in northern Syria
BBC News reported that Russia’s military is now involved in the war in northern Syria.
A Russian official said they would not allow clashes between Turkish and Syrian forces. Russia has been a supporter of Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad for the past several years. Russian troops are now patrolling the “line of contact” between Syrian and Turkish forces.
A Kurdish military group, the SDF, said they have a deal with the Syrian government to get military support to defend themselves against Turkey.
The political and military situation in the region has changed rapidly after President Trump ordered U.S. troops to pull out. The U.S. used to be allies with Kurdish groups to fight against ISIS, but now they are on their own.
President Trump and U.S. officials have announced several economic sanctions against Turkey for the military offensive, but House Speaker Pelosi said they won’t help the humanitarian disaster that Trump caused.
Vice-President Mike Pence said Trump has phoned Turkey's President Erdogan to demand an immediate truce. Pence also said he will travel to the region soon.
The UN Human Rights office said Turkey needs to investigate suspected war crimes conducted by pro-Turkish forces. There are reports of dozens of civilians killed with 160,000 people fleeing the area.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-50058859
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Impeachment inquiry updates: John Bolton and Hunter Biden
Here are two updates related to the House impeachment inquiry.
The first — a staffer who worked under the former national security adviser John Bolton said in a Congressional testimony that Bolton became angry when he found out Trump was using his personal attorney Rudy Giuliani, the White House acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, and the U.S. ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland to pressure Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden.
Bolton called Giuliani a “hand grenade” and said what Mulvaney and Sondland did was a “drug deal.” The staffer, Fiona Hill, said Bolton wanted to make it clear that he was not involved.
Hill resigned from the National Security Council at the same week that Trump ordered Mulvaney to hold back almost $400 million in military aid for Ukraine. Trump’s call to the Ukrainian president Zelensky happened a week after.
So, we see that Bolton will have a significant role to play in this impeachment inquiry.
The second update — Joe Biden’s son, Hunter, did an interview with ABC News to talk about his work with Ukrainian natural gas company Burisma. He said he was qualified to be on its board based on his experience working on the board of Amtrak and the UN World Food Program, as well as his experience working as a lawyer.
He did admit that it would be “impossible” for him to be on any of the boards if he was not the son of the vice president of the United States. He said he thinks he had poor judgment to be on the board, but said that he did not do anything unethical.
He promised to not serve on boards or work for any foreign organizations if his father, Joe, becomes president. He recently announced he would step down from the board of a Chinese-backed company.
President Trump continued his attacks on both the inquiry and Hunter on Twitter. He said the inquiry was a witch hunt and that Hunter did a bad job on the interview.
Giuliani said he won’t comply with a House subpoena for documents in the inquiry.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2019/10/15/john-bolton-decried-ukraine-drug-deal/3983310002/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/attention-turns-to-bolton-after-former-aide-told-impeachment-probe-he-fought-giulianis-shadow-operation-in-ukraine/2019/10/15/0fde31a4-ef52-11e9-89eb-ec56cd414732_story.html
https://www.axios.com/hunter-biden-ukraine-interview-trump-8ae67d6d-7200-4746-a2a5-2f34dee730c9.html
https://www.goodmorningamerica.com/news/story/exclusive-hiding-plain-sight-hunter-biden-defends-foreign-66275416
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LeBron James’s China-Hong Kong controversy
NBA star LeBron James is in controversy because he said the Houston Rockets’ general manager Daryl Morey was “misinformed” for tweeting that he supported the Hong Kong protesters. LeBron just got back from China on an annual NBA tour.
The tweet by Morey, which was an image of a logo with the words, “Fight for Freedom. Stand With Hong Kong” on it, put an enormous strain on the NBA’s relationship with the Chinese market.
LeBron said Morey was not educated and should have kept his mouth shut because so many people could have been harmed financially, physically, emotionally, and spiritually.
AFP reported that many in China praised LeBron, but that many Americans criticized him for siding with China and suggested it was because of LeBron’s business deals with companies that have interests in China -- that it was about money.
There are images of Hong Kong protesters burning LeBron jerseys.
LeBron later tweeted that his team, the Los Angeles Lakers, and the NBA just went through a difficult week (with the China trip) and that Morey could have waited a week before sending out his tweet.
Many people responded by pointing out that Hong Kong protesters or Muslim Uighurs, who are believed to be abused by Chinese officials in detention camps, are also having a difficult week.
The Lakers’ first regular season NBA game will be on Tuesday, October 22.
https://sports.yahoo.com/lebron-under-fire-blaming-china-row-misinformed-rockets-083902730--nba.html
https://twitter.com/KingJames/status/1183934569411530752
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That is all for today. See you tomorrow and stay with the light!
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