Trump launches impromptu tirade at judge in close of NY civil case – National & International News – THU 11Nov2023

Trump launches impromptu tirade at judge in close of NY civil case.

FAA at last investigates Boeing after plane door blowout.

Ukraine MPs reject bill to crack down on draft dodgers.

NATIONAL NEWS

Trump launches impromptu tirade at judge in close of NY civil case

During closing arguments in the NY civil fraud trial against him, former President Trump delivered his own remarks, accusing the judge of having an “agenda” and New York AG Letitia James of who brought the case of political interference. Judge Arthur Engoron asked Trump’s attorneys to regain control of their client. By this time, Trump apparently decided he’d had his say and stormed out of the courtroom. 

Trump is accused of lying on financial statements each year between 2011 and 2021. AG James says Trump hugely inflated the value of his properties in order to secure more favorable loan terms from banks. Simultaneously, Trump gave lower values for properties and inflated losses in order to cheat on his taxes. James initially sued Trump for $250 million, but in the course of testimony, the amount of fraudulent damages actually increased to $370 million.

Judge Engoron has already ruled that Trump lied on his financial disclosures. The purpose of the trial was to settle some other outstanding fraud allegations and decide on damages. Because one of Trump’s attorneys failed to correctly file the paperwork to seek the jury trial Trump wanted, Engoron will be deciding the amount of damages himself. A decision is expected by the end of the month.

Contentious back and forth between Engoron and Trump team

An e-mail exchange between Engoron and Trump’s attorneys showed that Trump’s team had requested that Engoron allow Trump to deliver his own closing argument. Engoron initially said he would allow it if Trump would confine his remarks to the facts of the case rather than launching personal attacks on the Judge, his staff, and AG James as Trump has done previously. Trump’s attorneys responded that these restrictions were “very unfair”.

“You are not allowing President Trump, who has been wrongfully demeaned and belittled by an out of control, politically motivated attorney general, to speak about the things that must be spoken about,” Trump attorney Christopher Kise wrote.

Engoron replied, “I won’t debate this yet again. Take it or leave it”. When Trump’s attorneys failed to respond, Engoron assumed that they were withdrawing their request.

FAA at last investigating after Boeing 737 Max 9 door plug blowout

Last week, passengers on an Alaska Airlines flight suffered a harrowing experience when part of the fuselage of their Boeing 737 Max 9 airplane blew out mid-flight. The cabin lost pressure and a howling wind blew through the fuselage, sucking out phones and even pulling the shirt off of a young boy seated in the exit row. The plane made an emergency landing and fortunately there were not injuries.

Alaska Airlines grounded its entire 737 Max 9 fleet to investigate what caused the failure. Other airlines soon followed suit. Inspections revealed that several planes had loose bolts around the door plug, which can be used as an emergency exit. These appear to be manufacturing errors rather than maintenance errors.

This is only the latest in a series of safety failures on 737 Max 9 planes. The Federal Aviation Administration has been slow to act, but finally announced today that it is launching an investigation of Boeing and the 737 Max 9.

Boeing’s CEO David Calhoun said that the company will cooperate with the investigation. Calhoun said in a company-wide safety meeting that the company had made mistakes, though he didn’t elaborate on what those mistakes were. 

Boeing has had a number of high-profile safety failures in recent years. In two separate incidents five years ago, two Boeing 737 Max planes were involved in deadly crashes in Ethiopia and Indonesia. Over 300 people were killed in the two crashes.

The military has also complained about trash being left in the bodies of airplanes purchased from Boeing, which can pose a safety risk by flying around the inside of the plane. In one instance, tiny tequila bottles were found.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

Ukraine MPs reject bill to crack down on draft dodgers

Ukraine continues to experience a manpower shortage in its ongoing fight against Russia. President Zelensky has recently pushed to recruit at least 500,000 new troops. This would be easier said than done as many military aged men have either fled Ukraine or found other means to escape the draft. Defense Minister Rustem Umerov has been proposing ways to pursue these draft dodgers, including demanding they be returned from the countries they’ve fled to. He recently proposed a bill to Ukraine’s parliament outlining some of these plans

Parliamentarians have rejected Umerov’s proposal, saying many of its enforcement and punishment mechanisms were unconstitutional. Punishment measures included limiting draft dodgers’ rights to own property to use their own money. Umerov has now withdrawn that bill but says he’s preparing others.

There have been growing protests among Ukraine’s people over long deployments at the front. Many of the tens of thousands of men who volunteered at the beginning of the war have been at the front for nearly two years.

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