Wednesday, August 17 top stories
It is Wednesday, August 17. Here are today’s top stories.
Liz Cheney loses Wyoming primary
Republican Congresswoman Liz Cheney lost her campaign to be re-elected to another term. Harriet Hageman, who was backed by Donald Trump, won with 66% of the vote.
For Trump supporters, it is a victory because Cheney has been considered a political enemy due to her criticism, votes of impeachment, and investigations of Trump.
News analysts pointed out that including Cheney, eight Republican members of Congress who voted to impeach Trump either lost their election or decided not to run again.
Hageman is an attorney and served on the Republican National Committee. She ran for Wyoming governor in 2018 and lost. Politico explained that Trump met with Hageman at Bedminster, New Jersey last August and told her a week later that he would be supporting her as the primary candidate to defeat Cheney.
Cheney said she is launching a new organization that’s primary aim is to keep Trump from getting back in the Oval Office again and will focus on that work after her term as a Congresswoman ends in January. Cheney said she is thinking of running for president in 2024.
Rudy Giuliani testifies before Georgia grand jury
This morning Rudy Giuliani arrived at a courthouse in Atlanta to testify before a special grand jury that is investigating potential criminal activity in trying to change the results of the 2020 presidential election in Georgia.
Giuliani is considered a target of the investigation. The Fulton County DA Fani Willis said he is a part of a multi-state, coordinated plan by the Trump Campaign to influence the results of the November 2020 election in Georgia and elsewhere and could face criminal charges.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) was ordered by a federal judge to testify before the same special grand jury on a future date. DA Willis said in the past that she is considering calling Donald Trump himself to testify.
Feds order reduction in water use along Colorado River
The federal government has ordered a reduction in water use along the Colorado River basin, which provides water to Arizona, California, Utah, Colorado, Nevada, and parts of Mexico.
The Department of the Interior said the Colorado River basin has been in a drought for 23 years and that this is the second year in a row that there are water shortages. Water levels at two of the area’s largest reservoirs, Lake Mead and Lake Powell, are at about 25% capacity.
Arizona was ordered to reduce its water usage by 21%, Nevada by 8%, and Mexico’s “annual appointment” was reduced by 7%.
CNBC said Arizona state representatives expressed frustration that they had to carry a bigger burden of reduced water usage.
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Second suspected Ukrainian attack on Russian military
CBS News said there was a second suspected Ukrainian attack against the Russian military in Crimea on Tuesday. A Russian ammunition depot was ablaze and there were several explosions. Over 3,000 people were forced to evacuate from the area around the village of Mayskoye.
The Russian government said there was an “act of sabotage” but did not name who they suspected did it.
The first attack in Crimea took place last week at an air base. Nine Russian planes were destroyed. Experts believe the Ukrainian military was behind this, but the Ukrainian military has not claimed responsibility.
CBS News said Russia responded by increasing shelling and missile attacks on towns and villages across southern Ukraine.
Mike Pence open to testifying before Jan 6. Committee
Former President Mike Pence said he would consider testifying before the Jan 6. House Committee if he was invited.
He also called for an end to attacks against the FBI and an end to people’s calls for it to be defunded.
Pence said he wants to see Attorney General Merrick Garland release more information on why he thought it was necessary to search Donald Trump’s Florida home.
Alligator kills 88-year-old woman in South Carolina
On Monday, police in Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, said they got a call that there was a large alligator guarding a human body in a pond in a gated community. When police got there, they found the body of an 88-year-old woman named Nancy A. Becker. Police believe that she was gardening near the pond and slipped into the water, where she was attacked by an alligator almost 10 feet long. That alligator was later captured and euthanized.
It is the fourth fatal alligator attack this year.
That is all the top stories for today. See you tomorrow and stay with the light.
https://www.axios.com/2022/08/17/liz-cheney-trump-wyoming-primary-hageman
https://www.politico.com/news/2022/08/16/trump-world-campaign-liz-cheney-wyoming-00052299
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/crimea-ukraine-russia-explosions/
https://www.axios.com/2022/08/17/mike-pence-fbi-investigation-jan-6-panel
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/15/us/alligator-attack-south-carolina.html