CHICAGO

Two women and a child were killed, and two other children were critically hurt after a mass shooting in the Greater Grand Crossing neighborhood Thursday morning, according to Chicago police.

Deputy Chief Don Jerome said around 6:15 a.m., officers responded to an alert of shots fired in the 7100 block of South Woodlawn Avenue, where they found five people shot.

Two cars pulled into the area. Several people got out and fired shots from a rifle and handgun at the home.

The shooters fled the scene in an unknown direction, and no one is in custody.

The victims were two women, identified by the family as Capri Edwards, 24, Nakeeshia Strong, 45, and an 8-year-old boy who died. Two other boys, age 5 and 8, were injured. They all had gunshot wounds and were given first aid by the officers.

Strong died at the scene. Edwards was taken to the University of Chicago Medical Center, where she died.

All three children were taken to Comer Children’s Hospital, initially reported in critical condition. Later on Thursday, Chicago police said one of the 8-year-old boys had died.

The Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office had not identified the 8-year-old boy who died as of Thursday night.

Police said they were investigating into the possibility that the shooting stemmed from a personal dispute.

PHILLY

At least one person was killed and eight others – including four children — were injured in a mass shooting in Southwest Philadelphia on the Fourth of July, according to police.

The shooting occurred on South 60^th Street and Kingsessing Avenue around 11:45 p.m. Thursday, police said.

Five adults and four children were injured in the shooting. One of the adults died from their injuries. Police have not yet revealed the conditions of the eight survivors, information on any suspects or what led to the shooting.

YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK

One person was killed and a park ranger was injured in a shooting Thursday morning in Yellowstone National Park in Canyon Village, Wyoming, park officials said.

The episode began overnight and ended Thursday morning, Yellowstone National Park said in a news release. Rangers responded to a report of a person with a firearm who was making threats at Canyon Village, which is south of Tower Falls in the central part of the park.

Rangers contacted the person and exchanged gunfire. The person died. No identity was released.

A Yellowstone law enforcement park ranger was injured. The ranger, whose name has not been released, was stable at a hospital.

The FBI is leading the investigation with help from National Park Service special agents. An area around the Canyon Lodge complex remained closed as part of the investigation.

Park officials said there are no active threats to the public, and no additional information was available.

President Biden made several odd gaffes and misstatements throughout the official White House Fourth of July celebration, appearing confused at times and puzzlingly greeting the crowd with a hearty “Ho ho ho! Happy Independence Day!”

The president, 81, and first lady Jill Biden were joined on stage by Vice President Kamala Harris and second gentleman Doug Emhoff. Harris introduced the “extraordinary” President Biden who then began a short statement of well-wishing for the holiday.

Biden looked more sprightly than during his much-maligned June 27 debate performance. But his statements weren’t much more coherent despite being louder in volume.

“We gotta do what our founders did: show the world we’re a nation of dignity, honor, and just devotion to one another,” he said before telling the audience to enjoy the fireworks.

As Bruce Springsteen’s “Born in the USA” blared, the group made their way off the stage.

Biden, bringing up the rear, suddenly paused his gait mid-step, seemingly unsure to whom he should hand the microphone.

He then took a few slow steps across the stage, now by himself, before handing off the mic to a stagehand.

He then slowly descended a short flight of stairs before mingling with the crowd.

Earlier in the day, Biden seemingly lost his train of thought as he stumbled through his very brief speech at a White House barbeque — bizarrely claiming that highway congestion no longer exists and nearly calling nemesis Donald Trump his “colleague.”

“I probably shouldn’t even say that … anyway,” the commander in chief said after the latter bumble to a crowd of military service members and their families.

Biden trailed off several times in his four-minute speech, which was peppered with slurring, despite having a teleprompter at his disposal.

The Democrat focused his remarks on his visit last month to Normandy, to commemorate the 80th anniversary of D-Day and the “heroes” who gave their life for democracy.

Biden compared World War I to the modern-day presidential race, questioning whether Americans would be willing to make the same sacrifice in his race against Trump — before starting — and abruptly stopping — a dig at the presumptive Republican nominee.

“By the way, I was in that World War I cemetery in France, and one that my colleagues, the former president, didn’t want to go and be up there,” Biden said before giving up and admitting he shouldn’t have made the comment.

He also strangely claimed he was “in and out of battle” on the trip, another statement he suddenly cut short before pivoting with his favorite segue: “Anyway.”

Biden then left the stage to a round of hefty applause but grabbed the microphone for another 30-second encore in which he said traffic is no longer an issue — something New Yorkers would beg to differ.

“One last thing, and I used to think when I was a senator, there were always congestion on the highways. There’s no congestion anymore. We go on the highway, there’s no congestion,” Biden said.

“And so what? The way they get me to stop talking, they’ll say, ‘We just shut down all the roads, Mr. President, you’re gonna lose all the votes if you don’t get in. But anyway, I’ll be back out,” he nonsensically added.

The White House did not respond to The Post’s request for comment regarding Biden’s odd remarks.

The all-over-the-place speech comes amid rumors from establishment Democrats that the party is considering replacing the bumbling and aging president.

Former Obama presidential adviser Van Jones said Thursday that the party is now in “full-scale panic” following Biden’s highly criticized debate performance against former President Donald Trump last week.

Biden had a series of gaffes throughout the 90-minute debate — including saying his son Beau “died in Iraq” and that he “beat Medicare” while also appearing to freeze at one point.

President Joe Biden is facing an uprising from some his own party’s wealthy donors, including an heiress to the Disney family fortune, who say they will no longer fund the Democratic Party until Biden drops out of the presidential race following his disastrous debate performance.

Abigail Disney, the granddaughter to Roy O. Disney, who cofounded The Walt Disney Company, told CNBC on Thursday that she plans to withhold donations to the party she has funded for years until Biden drops out. The president has said he has no plans to withdraw from the race, despite calls for him to do so.

“I intend to stop any contributions to the party unless and until they replace Biden at the top of the ticket. This is realism, not disrespect. Biden is a good man and has served his country admirably, but the stakes are far too high,” Abigail Disney said in a lengthy statement to CNBC. “If Biden does not step down the Democrats will lose. Of that I am absolutely certain. The consequences for the loss will be genuinely dire.”

The Democratic Party at large has been in a state of panic since Biden struggled to perform in the debate against former President Donald Trump last week. Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Texas, called on Biden to drop out of the race, suggesting the debate performance proved to voters that the president is incapable of taking on Trump and unable to overcome his distance in the polls.

A New York Times/Sienna College poll taken after the debate showed Biden behind Trump by 6 percentage points among likely voters.

Abigail Disney has been a longtime supporter of Democrats. She gave $50,000 to the Jane Fonda Climate political action committee in April, according to a Federal Election Commission filing. The PAC has given $35,000 to Democrats running for congressional seats, according to data from OpenSecrets.

Disney gave $150,000 in 2014 to Planned Parenthood Votes, a PAC affiliated with the health care nonprofit, according to OpenSecrets. That PAC this election cycle has spent over $400,000 supporting Democrats, including $26,000 for Biden.

Disney pointed to Vice President Kamala Harris as a solid alternative to Biden, arguing she’d be able to defeat Trump.

“We have an excellent Vice President. If Democrats would tolerate any of her perceived shortcomings even one tenth as much as they have tolerated Biden’s (and let’s not kid ourselves about where race and gender figure in that inequity) and if Democrats can find a way to stop quibbling and rally around her, we can win this election by a lot,” Disney said.

And she’s not the only one pausing gifts until Biden steps down. Gideon Stein, the president of the Moriah Fund, said he’s decided to pause planned donations of $3.5 million, earmarked for nonprofits and political organizations aligned with the presidential race.

“Joe Biden has been a very effective president, but unless he steps aside my family and I are pausing on more than $3 million in planned donations to nonprofits and political organizations aligned with the presidential race, with the exception of some down ballot work,” Stein said. “Virtually every major donor I’ve talked to believes that we need a new candidate in order to defeat Donald Trump.”

Karla Jurvetson, a philanthropist and major Democratic donor, hinted as recently as Tuesday in a private donor call that she agrees with the sentiment on pausing donations until Biden steps down and could end up making such move, according to a person familiar with her remarks. The person was granted anonymity in order to speak freely about a private conversation.

A spokesman for Jurvetson did not return repeated requests for comment.

Jurvetson is among the top 50 donors this cycle across the country, donating over $5 million to Democrats, according to OpenSecrets. She’s given over $200,000 to the Biden Victory Fund this cycle, according to FEC records.

Jurvetson gave over $30 million to Democrats in 2020, according to the data.

A group of top Democratic donors and strategists is pooling resources into a new political action committee to help fund an alternative candidate to President Joe Biden should he withdraw from the presidential race, according to a report from the New York Times.

The fund, coined the Next Generation PAC, is aiming to raise as much as $100 million to help support a candidate who replaces Biden at the top of the ticket, according to the outlet. If Biden doesn’t drop out of the race, the money would then be used to fund down-ballot candidates.

The Next Generation PAC is being spearheaded by Mike Novogratz, a cryptocurrency investor who previously backed Rep. Dean Phillips (D-MN) in the Democratic primary, the outlet reported. The group has not yet filed federal paperwork, but PAC officials have reportedly told donors it hopes to raise between $50 million and $100 million.

People connected to the Biden campaign have heard of the possible stealth project and have attempted to convince those involved not to join, according to the outlet.

If the PAC manages to raise large sums, it could benefit Vice President Kamala Harris if she replaces Biden as the nominee, especially as some major donors have remained skeptical about her at the top of the ticket.

The Next Generation PAC comes as some donors begin to question Biden’s strength to campaign against former President Donald Trump let alone the ability to carry out another four years in office. Those concerns were exacerbated after last week’s debate, during which Biden had multiple verbal slip-ups and repeatedly lost his train of thought.

His performance has prompted some major donors to consider pouring their resources into down-ballot races rather than the White House, according to reports. Others have even gone so far as to threaten to withhold funds from the Democratic Party altogether unless Biden steps down.

Gideon Stein, a donor with deep connections to the Democratic Party, said his family would withhold roughly $3.5 million in planned donations to nonprofit and political organizations involved in the presidential race unless Biden withdrew, according to the New York Times. Abigail Disney, the heiress of the Disney family fortune, also said Biden’s campaign and committees supporting the president “will not receive another dime from me until they bite the bullet and replace Biden at the top of the ticket,” the outlet reported.

“Biden is a good man who has served his country well, but the stakes are far too high to allow timidity to determine our course of action,” she wrote in a statement.

However, Biden has insisted he will not be dropping out, arguing his worse-than-expected performance was due to his busy travel schedule and intense preparation for the debate. The White House has also denied reports that the president is having conversations about whether to withdraw from the race.

Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-TX) became the first sitting House Democrat to call on Biden to withdraw from the 2024 presidential race on Tuesday and was quickly followed by Reps. Raúl Grijalva (D-AZ) and Seth Moulton (D-MA). Former Rep. Tim Ryan also came out on Tuesday to call on Harris to step up as the party’s 2024 nominee, calling Biden’s debate performance “deeply troubling” and evidence that the party must move forward.

The White House has remained confident in Biden’s abilities to serve a second term, brushing off suggestions that the president should step down or withdraw from the race. In a campaign speech after the debate, Biden acknowledged that although he is no longer a “young man,” he can hold a second term.

Brazil’s Federal Police have indicted former President Jair Bolsonaro for money laundering and criminal association in connection with undeclared diamonds the right-wing leader received from Saudi Arabia during his time in office, according to a source with knowledge of the accusations.

A second source confirmed the indictment, although not for which specific crimes. Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to speak publicly.

Brazil’s Supreme Court has yet to receive the police report with the indictment. Once it does, the country’s prosecutor-general, Paulo Gonet, will analyze the document and decide whether to file charges and force Bolsonaro to stand trial.

This is Bolsonaro’s second indictment since leaving office, following another in May for allegedly falsifying his COVID-19 vaccination certificate.

Bolsonaro did not immediately comment, but he and his lawyers have previously denied any wrongdoing in both those cases, as well as other investigations into the former president. One is probing his possible involvement in inciting an uprising in capital Brasilia on Jan. 8, 2023 that sought to oust his successor from power.

Last year, Federal Police accused Bolsonaro of attempting to sneak in diamond jewelry reportedly worth $3 million and selling two luxury watches.

Police said in August that Bolsonaro received cash from the nearly $70,000 sale of two luxury watches he received as gifts from Saudi Arabia. Brazil requires its citizens arriving by plane from abroad to declare goods worth more than $1,000 and, for any amount above that exemption, pay a tax equal to 50% of their value.

The jewelry would have been exempt from tax had it been a gift from Saudi Arabia to Brazil, but not Bolsonaro’s to keep for himself. Rather, it would have been added to the presidential collection.

The investigation showed that Mauro Cid, Bolsonaro’s former aide-de-camp who allegedly falsified his COVID-19 records, in June 2022 sold a Rolex watch and a Patek Philippe watch to a store in the U.S for a total $68,000. They were gifted by Saudi Arabia’s government in 2019. Cid later signed a plea bargain with authorities and confirmed it all.

Flávio Bolsonaro, the former president’s eldest son and a sitting senator, said on X after Thursday’s indictment that persecution against his father was “blatant and shameless.”

In addition to Bolsonaro, police indicted 10 others, including Cid and two of his lawyers, Frederick Wassef and Fábio Wajngarten, according to one of the sources. Wassef said in a statement that he didn’t have access to the final report of the investigation, and decried selective leaks to the press of an investigation that is supposed to be proceeding under seal.

“I am going through all of this solely for practicing law in defense of Jair Bolsonaro,” he wrote.

On X, Wajngarten said police have found no evidence implicating him. “The Federal Police knows I did nothing related to what they are investigating, but they still want to punish me because I provide unwavering and permanent defense for former President Bolsonaro,” he said.

Bolsonaro retains staunch allegiance among his political base, as shown by an outpouring of support in February, when an estimated 185,000 people clogged Sao Paulo’s main boulevard to protest what the former president calls political persecution.

His critics, particularly members of his rival President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s political party, have cheered every advance of investigations and repeatedly called for his arrest.

Psychologist Deborah Santos watched news of Bolsonaro’s indictment in a bakery in Sao Paulo’s up-market Vila Madalena neighborhood.

“This is great, because it breaks a pattern. Bolsonaro supporters love to say how honest he is; everyone else is dishonest, but them,” said Santos, 52. “There you have it: the police think he steals diamonds. That should end any politician’s career.”

Last year, Brazil’s top electoral court ruled that Bolsonaro abused his presidential powers during his 2022 reelection bid, which rendered him ineligible for any elections until 2030. The case focused on a meeting during which Bolsonaro used government staffers, the state television channel and the presidential palace in Brasilia to tell foreign ambassadors that the country’s electronic voting system was rigged.

Bolsonaro is expected to meet Argentinian President Javier Milei this weekend at a conservative conference in Balneario Camboriu, in Brazil’s south.

At least three people were killed, and multiple others injured after a driver crashed into a Manhattan park Thursday night during a Fourth of July celebration, authorities said.

The incident happened just before 9 p.m. on the Lower East Side, according to the New York City Police Department.

NYPD Chief Jeffrey Maddrey said in a press conference on Thursday that the driver of a Ford F-150 pickup truck was traveling at a high rate of speed and ran through a stop sign at the intersection.

The suspect’s grey pickup truck then traveled onto the sidewalk where it struck people who were at a Fourth of July celebration, according to Maddrey.

First responders at the scene found the truck on top of four victims, police said.

Authorities said that nine people were struck, and at least three were killed.

Maddrey said they are still working to determine the ages of the victims, but they believe at least two children were taken to the hospital.

Police say that responding officers smelled alcohol at the scene, but tests are ongoing.

Police said that they do not believe this was a terrorism-related event.

In a post on X, the NYPD asked people to avoid the area of Water Street and Jackson Street so they could investigate the incident.

A braying mob of around 100 anti-Israel protesters spent Independence Day burning American flags and chanting “Burn it down!” in Washington Square Park, part of a coordinated “Flood Manhattan for July 4th” demonstration.

At least one person was arrested, cops said, but they did not disclose the charges the alleged perpetrator was facing.

Video shows a New Yorker in a Yankees hat trying to reason with the group, but he’s quickly shouted down by a man in glasses who gleefully cheers “F–k Israel! F–k America! Woohoo!” as his fellow pampered trust-fund radicals giggle in approval.

The camera then pans down to a tattered Old Glory, smoldering next to a poster depicting Trump and Biden wearing crowns beneath “DEATH TO ALL KINGS” in big block letters.

The poster was evidently a reference to the Supreme Court’s ruling earlier this week granting US presidents “absolute immunity” from prosecution from “official acts” during their time in office.

Keffiyeh-wearing photographers brought their lenses in close to capture the flag desecration as chants of “Free free free Palestine” and “Burn it down” echoed throughout the park.

The crowd appeared to burn several different flags throughout the protest.

BREAKING: Free Palestine protestors are burning the American flag in Washington Square Park on July 4th.
pic.twitter.com/TpieIZ4gJS

— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) July 4, 2024

A woman at one point callously walks across the stars and stripes with her camera lens fixed downward at her feet.

The footage seems to take pains to avoid showing anyone’s faces, but the crowd skewed young.

A shark bit three people off a southern Texas beach in what the city’s fire chief called an unprecedented incident on the Fourth of July, the same day another person was bitten by a shark in Florida, officials said.

In Texas, three people were bitten in the city of South Padre Island, on a barrier island near Brownsville, and the shark was later located and “pushed out to deeper water,” Fire Chief Jim Pigg said.

“It’s unprecedented here on South Padre Island,” he said. There were two shark bite incidents at different times and locations Thursday, he said.

Police responded to a 911 call that reported “a severe shark bite to the leg” at 11 a.m., city spokesperson Nikki Soto said, and the victim was taken to a local hospital.

Pigg said the first call involved one person with a bite injury and a second person with minor injuries who did not need further emergency care.

After a second 911 call about a shark attack, firefighters found two people who had been bitten by a shark, Pigg said. They were also taken to a hospital.

Kyle Jud, 46, said he saw a woman pulled from the water who appeared to have a bite to a leg.

“Beach patrol lifted her up — her calf was just gone, shredded. Horrific,” Jud said. He posted video of a shark in the water as a helicopter and a boat patrolled.

 

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A post shared by Kyle Jud (@kylejud)

One of the victims was flown out of a Brownsville hospital for further treatment, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department said.

“Shark encounters of this nature are not a common occurrence in Texas,” the department said. “When bites from sharks do occur, they are usually a case of mistaken identity by sharks looking for food.”

Pigg said that it has not been determined what type of shark was involved and that an investigation was underway.

Lifeguards were encouraging people in South Padre Island, a beach town of around 2,000 on the barrier island of the same name, to stay out of the water or at least to go no further than knee-deep, Pigg said.

After the shark was spotted and pushed out to deeper water, there had been no further sightings, but Pigg said officials would stay vigilant.

South Padre Island Mayor Patrick McNulty said, “Our hearts and prayers are with the injured and their families and we hope for a speedy recovery.”

In New Smyrna Beach, Florida, a 21-year-old man was bitten by a shark while he was playing football in knee-deep water around 4 p.m., said Tamra Malphurs, interim director of Volusia County Beach Safety.

The man, who was visiting the city on the Atlantic coast from Ohio, was taken to a hospital, and his injuries are not believed to be life-threatening, Malphurs said.

There were 36 unprovoked shark attacks against humans in the U.S. last year, and two of those people died, the Florida Museum of Natural History’s International Shark Attack File said in its most recent annual report.

The project, which documents shark attacks around the world, says that the risk of being attacked by a shark is relatively very small but that swimmers can minimize their risk even further by staying in groups and closer to shore.

The U.K.’s left Labour Party won a landslide victory in Thursday’s general election, delivering a huge blow to the ruling Conservative Party after 14 years in power, according to an official exit poll.

Incumbents are on a losing streak all over the world — particularly in Europe, where inflation has fueled voter discontent. In Britain, however, the Conservatives’ looming defeat is largely of their own making.

The British networks’ exit poll indicated Labour won 410 seats in Parliament, a majority of 170.

The Conservatives are on track for 131 seats, down a staggering 234 from Boris Johnson’s 2019 victory.

The centrist Liberal Democrats are set to win 61 seats, while Nigel Farage’s right-wing populist Reform Party were projected to win 13.

Labour Party leader Keir Starmer will become the country’s next prime minister.

The Consverative Party has shuffled through 5 prime ministers since the 2016 Brexit referendum, and three since 2022.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has spent the past 20 months trying to pick up the pieces after his short-lived predecessor Liz Truss panicked the markets with a tax-slashing budget, and her predecessor Boris Johnson was swept out by a slew of scandals.

Before that, it was David Cameron who gambled the country’s future by calling — and losing — the 2016 Brexit referendum, widely seen as a precursor to Donald Trump’s victory in the U.S.

Cameron’s successor, Theresa May, resigned in 2019 after Parliament repeatedly rejected her proposed divorce deal with the European Union.

The combined shocks of the pandemic and Brexit battered the economy and decimated public finances. Regardless of their platforms, neither party will have much cash to play with.

Sunak argued Labour would endanger an economic recovery that’s just starting to take hold.

Voters didn’t seem to buy it, in part because Labour is also campaigning on fiscal responsibility and moderation.

A former prosecutor and human rights lawyer, Starmer pulled the party back to the center ground after replacing left-winger Jeremy Corbyn as leader in 2020.

His critics say he lacks vision and charisma. His backers say his unruffled, pragmatic style is just what the country needs after a prolonged political circus under Johnson and his successors.

Starmer’s platform is short on eye-catching proposals. He says his priority is to build the foundations for long-term economic growth.

In a telling sign of his low expectations, Sunak tweeted two days before the election: “Stop the supermajority. Vote Conservative on 4th July.”

After that election five years ago, the Conservatives were flush with confidence and Labour was lost in the political wilderness. On July 4, the roles officially reversed.

Lebanon’s Hezbollah launched a big rocket and drone attack at Israel on Thursday and threatened to hit new targets in retaliation for the killing of a top commander, in the latest surge of violence in the steadily worsening conflict across the border.

Sparked by the Gaza war, the conflict between Iran-backed Hezbollah and Israel has been gradually intensifying for months, raising fears of a full-scale war, which both sides have indicated they want to avoid and diplomats are working to prevent.

As the latest violence played out in areas at or near the frontier – in keeping with the pattern of the last nine months – the sound of sonic booms rattled nerves for the second successive day in Beirut and other parts of Lebanon.

Israeli jets broke the sound barrier over several areas of the country, Lebanon’s National News Agency reported.

Hezbollah said it launched more than 200 rockets and a swarm of drones at 10 Israeli military sites in retaliation for Israel’s killing of Hezbollah commander Mohammed Nasser in the south on Wednesday. Nasser is one of the most senior Hezbollah commanders to be killed by Israel during the conflict.

The Israeli military said around “200 projectiles and over 20 suspicious aerial targets were identified crossing from Lebanon into Israeli territory”, a number of which were intercepted by Israeli air defences and fighter jets.

Israel’s ambulance service said no casualties were reported. The Israeli military said some of the drones and interceptor shrapnel set off fires.

The Israeli air force “struck Hezbollah military structures” in the areas of Ramyeh and Houla”, it said, referring to two villages in south Lebanon.

Senior Hezbollah official Hashem Safieddine, speaking at an event in Beirut commemorating Nasser, indicated his group would widen its targeting.

“The series of responses continues in succession, and this series will continue to target new sites that the enemy did not imagine would be hit,” Safieddine said.

Diplomatic Push

The United States has been leading diplomatic efforts to deescalate the fighting. Hezbollah has said it will not cease fire as long as Israel continues its offensive in the Gaza Strip.

The hostilities have inflicted a heavy toll on both sides of the frontier, forcing tens of thousands of people to flee their homes.

Amos Hochstein, a senior U.S. official at the heart of the diplomacy, discussed French and American efforts to restore calm in meetings with French officials on Wednesday, a White House official said.

“France and the United States share the goal of resolving the current conflict across the Blue Line by diplomatic means, allowing Israeli and Lebanese civilians to return home with long-term assurances of safety and security,” the official said, referring to the demarcation line between the two neighbours.

Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said on Wednesday Israeli forces were hitting Hezbollah “very hard every day” and will be ready to take any action necessary against the group, though the preference is to reach a negotiated arrangement.

Hezbollah also launched rockets at Israel on Wednesday in retaliation for Nasser’s killing.

Hezbollah began firing at Israeli targets along the border with Lebanon after its Palestinian ally Hams launched an attack on Israel on Oct. 7, declaring its support for the Palestinians.

Israeli attacks in Lebanon have killed more than 300 Hezbollah fighters and some 90 civilians, according to Reuters tallies. Israel says fire from Lebanon has killed 18 soldiers and 10 civilians.

President Joe Biden told Democratic governors during a meeting at the White House on Wednesday that part of his plan going forward is to stop scheduling events after 8 p.m. so that he can get more sleep, according to three sources briefed on his comments.

The remarks, first reported by The New York Times, came as the 81-year-old Biden sought to reassure a group of more than 20 state leaders about his ability to defeat former President Donald Trump in November and govern effectively for another four years.

Biden’s comment left several of the governors in the room frustrated, sources told CNN, and is one of the reasons that some of the participants have been rankled by the statement of loyalty and enthusiasm from them distributed by the Biden campaign on Thursday.

The White House did not immediately comment about what the president said. A Biden campaign aide argued that, as well as doing debate prep in the week after his two trips to Europe, Biden was engaged in hours of official work in addition to the hours of campaign work.

“President (George W.) Bush went to bed at 9, and President (Barack) Obama made dinner at 6:30,” said Biden campaign spokesperson Kevin Munoz. “Normal presidents strike a balance, and so does Joe Biden. Hardly the same rigor as Donald Trump, who spends half of his day ranting on Truth Social about plans that would cause a recession and the other half golfing.”

Biden also made a joke to the governors that didn’t go over well: “I’m fine — I don’t know about my brain, though.” Jen O’Malley Dillon, Biden’s campaign chairwoman, said the president was “clearly making a joke and then said, ‘All kidding aside.’”

In the wake of Biden’s poor performance during CNN’s presidential debate last week, some Democrats have begun to call for the president to drop out of the race, leaving the White House scrambling to convince skeptics within the party and voters. In the days after, administration officials have provided confusing and conflicting explanations as they attempted to spin a performance that exacerbated voters’ concerns about Biden’s age.

Following the meeting, Govs. Wes Moore of Maryland, Kathy Hochul of New York and Tim Walz of Minnesota painted a positive picture of the meeting during a news conference, adding that Biden is “all in” and “in it to win it.”

In response to a reporter’s question, Walz dismissed any concerns about Biden’s age and health, saying the president is “fit for office.”

Biden, the oldest president in US history, has faced questions around his age and health for years. They came to a head during the debate, when he was hoarse and at times unintelligible, leaving Trump — who is only three years younger than Biden — to appear more fit. The majority of debate watchers deemed the former president as the winner of the stand-off, according to a CNN poll.

And Biden’s debate performance opened the floodgates for more scrutiny and reporting on the president’s health, with sources describing a decline in his mental fitness.

The New York Times reported earlier this week that the president’s “lapses” have increased and grown more worrisome, with a source telling the Times that Biden’s six-day debate preparations at Camp David didn’t start before 11 a.m. and that the president was given time to nap each day.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre sidestepped a question during Wednesday’s briefing about whether the president takes daily afternoon naps following the Times’ reporting. But she offered jet lag and travel fatigue as an explanation for Biden’s poor debate performance after previously chalking it up to a cold.

Amid increasing pressure to consider dropping out of the race and growing concern whether he can serve another term, CNN has previously reported that Biden has privately expressed that the next stretch of days will be critical for whether he can save his reelection bid.

President Joe Biden reportedly told a group of Democratic governors on Wednesday that he saw a medical doctor after last week’s debate against former President Donald Trump, contradicting a statement made by White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on the same day.

Three people with knowledge of Biden’s private meeting with more than 20 Democratic governors said Biden informed them that he was examined by a doctor after the debate, adding that the doctor gave him the all-clear, POLITICO reported. The president’s meeting with the governors took place as some Democrats and political commentators expressed concern about the president’s fitness and ability to continue his re-election campaign following his detrimental debate performance.

During a White House press briefing on Wednesday, Jean-Pierre told CNN Senior White House Correspondent MJ Lee that Biden has not undergone “any kind of medical exam” since his annual physical in February.

“We were able to talk to his doctor about that, and that is a no,” the press secretary said.

“He hasn’t had any kind of medical exam?” Lee asked again.

Jean-Pierre simply replied, “No.”

Lee wrote on X Thursday morning that another White House spokesman, Andrew Bates, confirmed that “Biden was examined by his doctor in the days following last week’s debate ‘to check on his cold and was recovering well.”

White House spox Andrew Bates confirms Biden was examined by his doctor in the days following last week’s debate “to check on his cold and was recovering well.”

I asked WH press secretary yesterday if Biden had gotten any medical exam after his February physical and she said no: https://t.co/qhNHlElUTf pic.twitter.com/GOUUiXhIoR

— MJ Lee (@mj_lee) July 4, 2024

“A White House official adds when Biden was seen by his doctor after the debate, it was a ‘brief check,’ not a physical. My question yesterday was not whether he had gotten another physical,” Lee added.

In an interview that aired Wednesday on a Wisconsin radio station, the president acknowledged that he “screwed up” his debate performance, but urged voters to focus on what he has done during his time in the White House.

“I had a bad night, I had a bad night. And the fact of the matter is … I screwed up, I made a mistake,” Biden said, according to NBC News.

“I didn’t have a good debate. That’s 90 minutes on stage. Look at what I’ve done in 3.5 years. I led the economy back from the brink of collapse,” Biden continued.

Trump took some shots at Biden following the debate, saying, “[T]here is a BIG GAP for Crooked Joe to make up, and with his mind and memory completely shot, and marbles in his mouth, it’s not going to happen!”

In a leaked video that went viral on Wednesday night, Trump called Biden a “broken down pile of crap,” adding that he thinks Biden is “quitting the race.”

Former President Donald Trump released a 4th of July message on Thursday, dropping the hammer on President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, and special prosecutor Jack Smith.

Trump, who was widely viewed as the winner of the first presidential debate last week, has remained relatively quiet while Biden attempts to assure allies and voters that he has the mental and physical stamina to continue his re-election campaign. Trump released his 4th of July statement hours after a leaked video of the former president calling Biden an “old, broken down pile of crap” went viral on social media.

Was this leak supposed to hurt him, because it definitely humanized him
pic.twitter.com/AuPpQ5I3CF

— The Redheaded libertarian (@TRHLofficial) July 4, 2024

“Happy Fourth of July to all, including to our highly incapable ‘President,’ who uses Prosecutors to go after his Political Opponent, who choked like a dog during the Debate but tried to pretend it was ‘International Travel’ (only 12 days rest!) and, when that gig was up, he blamed it on a ‘cold.’ Therefore, why would anyone say he’s cognitively challenged?” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

“Also, respects to our potentially new Democrat Challenger, Laffin’ Kamala Harris,” Trump added. “She did poorly in the Democrat Nominating process, starting out at Number Two, and ending up defeated and dropping out, even before getting to Iowa, but that doesn’t mean she’s not a ‘highly talented’ politician! Just ask her Mentor, the Great Willie Brown of San Francisco. Someone else that I have to compliment is a Deranged Biden Prosecutor named Jack Smith, who has become a Legend in his own mind for all of those cases he has lost. The Corrupt Prosecutors are working hard for Crooked Joe, but it will never be enough — MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”

Trump is celebrating a string of recent victories, including last week’s debate and the Supreme Court’s ruling that gave him immunity from prosecution for official acts as president, a decision that will likely delay his Washington, D.C., trial past the election.

Following Biden’s poor debate performance, Trump has also seen a boost in the polls. The latest polls from New York Times/Siena and The Wall Street Journal give him a six-point lead over Biden nationally.

The next few days could be vital for Biden’s re-election campaign as he seeks to recover from what he acknowledged was a poor debate performance.

Biden is set to deliver remarks at the White House to a group of veterans and their families on Independence Day, and ABC News will release a pre-taped interview between anchor George Stephanopoulos and the president Friday evening, which is Biden’s first interview since the debate.

The Economist added the U.S. presidential seal to a walker mobility aid to make a blistering point about President Joe Biden on its new cover.

“No Way To Run A Country,” read the headline of the magazine’s front page for its upcoming July 6 edition.

The cover story — titled “Why Biden Must Withdraw” — described Biden’s first presidential debate performance as “awful” and “agony to watch.”

But the “cover-up has been worse,” it continued, slamming the Biden campaign’s contempt-provoking bid to “deny what tens of millions of Americans saw with their own eyes.”

It’s right that Democrats “have begun to call openly for him to step aside,” the essay said. Biden and presumptive GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump “offer a choice between the incapable and the unspeakable. Americans deserve better,” it added.

Update:

“Mr. Tucker Carlson should check his FSB sources more carefully,” presidential spokesperson Sergii Nykyforov said in a statement, per Newsweek, referring to Russia’s Federal Security Service. “The president of Ukraine has a completely different schedule, and Tucker Carlson is not on it.”

Zelensky has not been a fan of Carlson, saying following his interview with Putin, “I don’t have time to hear more than two hours of bullsh*t about us, about the world, about the United States, about our relations and this interview with a killer.”

Original:

Top-rated conservative journalist Tucker Carlson announced Wednesday that he has booked a long-awaited interview with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

“Looks like we’ve got the Zelenskyy interview. We’ve been trying for two years, and with particular intensity after interviewing Putin in February,” Carlson announced in an X post.

“The point is to bring Americans much-needed information about the conflict that’s completely reshaping their country’s position in the world. Coming soon we hope.”

Looks like we’ve got the Zelenskyy interview. We’ve been trying for two years, and with particular intensity after interviewing Putin in February. The point is to bring Americans much-needed information about the conflict that’s completely reshaping their country’s position in…

— Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) July 3, 2024

Earlier this year, Carlson conducted what was perhaps the most high-profile interview of his career when he sat down with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow.

The two discussed a number of topics, including U.S.-Russia relations and the War in Ukraine, while Putin delivered a nearly hour-long overview of the history of Russia.

“Two years into a war that’s reshaping the entire world, most Americans are not informed… But they should know,” Carlson said when announcing the interview.

“They are fawning pep sessions specifically designed to amplify Zelensky’s demand that the U.S. enter more deeply into a war in Eastern Europe and pay for it. That is not journalism. It is government propaganda. Propaganda of the ugliest kind, the kind that kills people.”

Carlson has long stated that he wants to interview Zelensky and get his take on the conflict.

“I heard some messages in media, and, also, my guys who are advisers, they said. So I don’t have to do — I don’t have time to hear more than two hours of bull**it about us, about the world, about the United States, about our relations, and this interview with a killer. So I have got some briefly what were there,” Zelensky said shortly after Carlson conducted his interview with Putin.

Despite the Ukrainian state’s often hostile stance towards Carlson and Americans who question their nation’s multi-billion dollar commitment to Ukraine, Zelensky appears set to give the long-awaited interview.

The political giving of the Duong family has become the subject of increasing scrutiny following the FBI raids of David Duong and his son Andy Duong’s homes two weeks ago. Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao’s home was also raided by federal officers on the same day.

The Duongs, owners of Oakland’s curbside recycling contractor California Waste Solutions, have donated millions of dollars to candidates for federal, state, and local office over the past several decades.

They’ve also been under investigation by the state Fair Political Practices Commission and Oakland Public Ethics Commission for allegedly funneling money through “straw donors” to the committees of local politicians, including members of the Oakland City Council, who’ve been in a position to vote favorably on contracts and other business the Doungs are seeking.

Now, some politicians who’ve taken money from the family are pledging to give it over to charities.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta received $155,100 from the Duongs and their associates for his campaigns but his team said they’re giving it all to charities “out of an abundance of caution,” according to ABC7. State Assemblymember Mia Bonta, who is married to Rob Bonta, has also taken money from the Duong family; her campaign plans to turn it over to nonprofit groups.

The Oaklandside closely reviewed campaign finance records going back to 2013. We learned that the Bontas have also received money from some of the suspected straw donors allegedly used by the Duongs to illegally give campaign contributions to Oakland politicians.

“Straw donors” are often friends, relatives, employees, or other associates of someone who wants to contribute a larger amount of money to a candidate or campaign than they are legally allowed to do so under campaign finance laws. That person will get people in their network to contribute smaller amounts of money out of their own pockets and later reimburse them.

The Duongs’ alleged straw donors include several men linked to the Music Cafe, a Chinatown karaoke bar that was busted in 2018 for selling cocaine and ketamine and human trafficking.

State campaign finance reports show that Rob Bonta has taken a combined $35,800 from Mon Kil Quan, the owner of the company that ran Music Cafe and held its liquor license, and Charlie Ngo, a manager at the karaoke bar who was arrested during the 2018 raid. ARDA LLC, a company owned by Quan that ran the Music Cafe, also gave Bonta’s campaign $1,500 in 2017. There is no indication that these donations were so-called straw donations.

State Alcohol Beverage Control agents were tipped off in 2018 about allegations of drug sales and prostitution at the Music Cafe, which was located on 9th Street in downtown Oakland. After infiltrating the bar pretending to be customers, agents were able to purchase ketamine and cocaine, and they set up a deal with one of the bar’s managers to take a young woman to the downtown Marriott Hotel for sex.

When they raided the bar in October 2018, the ABC agents recovered thousands in cash, drugs, and other evidence. Ngo was charged with possession of ketamine and selling ketamine.

Andy Duong was not named in the ABC report written after the raid, and he was never accused of any wrongdoing.

However, investigators with the state Fair Political Practices Commission wrote in a report from 2021 that Duong talked about being the owner of Sancha Bar, the tea shop and bakery that shared space in the same building as Music Cafe and that he also held himself out to people as an owner of the Music Cafe karaoke bar.

Ngo’s first contribution to Bonta was for his 2022 reelection campaign—he donated $500. Campaign records show the money arrived on Oct. 19, the same day that Ngo gave Terry Wiley’s campaign for Alameda County District Attorney $500.

That was also the day that Alameda County District Attorney Nancy O’Malley’s office—where Wiley served as Assistant DA—decided to dismiss the case against Ngo “in the interest of justice.”

Quan gave $16,200 to Bonta’s 2022 reelection campaign and $18,200 last year to Bonta’s 2026 reelection committee, according to state records.

When Mia Bonta was running for state Assembly in 2021, Quan contributed $9,800, according to state records.

Nathan Click, a spokesperson for Rob Bonta’s campaign, said that the $155,100 flagged in recent media reports as money recieved from the Duongs includes money from “any of their business entities or associates mentioned in the recent coverage or the FPPC report,” and that all of this is being donated to charities. “The checks to the charities were disbursed Sunday June 30. They will show up on our July 31 report,” he said.

Click also told Politico today that David Duong and Andy Duong weren’t particularly close to the Bontas. In response to a characterization that Andy Duong made in a letter to his father about Rob Bonta, calling him the Duong’s “best ally to ever,” Click said, “That has never been true.”

The Bontas supported Sheng Thao early on in the Oakland mayor’s race, appearing at her Nov. 10, 2021, campaign launch event. Thao is one of several Oakland councilmembers whose election campaigns have received thousands of dollars in suspected straw donor contributions traced by investigators back to the Duongs.

Quan gave Thao’s officeholder committee $800 in 2019 and provided her with another $800 through a company he owned, Teamac Imports.

The Oaklandside was unable to contact Quan and Ngo for this story.

The leader of right-wing think tank The Heritage Foundation says the Supreme Court presidential immunity ruling could bolster a second American revolution, as defined by his group’s Project 2025 plan.

Appearing on Steve Bannon’s War Room podcast, foundation president Kevin Roberts outlined how the ruling might help transform the federal government with conservative policy proposals, should Donald Trump win the White House in November and adopt Project 2025.

He said the Supreme Court’s judgment on Monday, that presidents are immune from prosecution for “official acts, will free them up to introduce policy without having to “triple guess, every decision they’re making in their official capacity.”

“In spite of all this nonsense from the left, we are going to win. We’re in the process of taking this country back,” Roberts said. “We are in the process of the second American Revolution, which will remain bloodless, if the left allows it to be.”

Roberts’ Project 2025 vision of a bloodless revolution includes an action plan to dismantle what he has described as “the deep state,” by removing civil service employment protections for all federal employees with “policy-determining, policymaking, or policy-advocating” in their job titles.

Removing the employment protections, which have been in place for 135 years, would make the civil servants at all levels of the federal government easier to fire and replace with Republican loyalists.

After replacing the civil service, the Project then proposes the implementation of several more right-wing policies.

These include eliminating the Department of Education, reducing the scope of Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security, rolling back renewable-energy programs to create a regulatory environment that favors the fossil fuel industry, limiting mail-order abortion pills, and removing diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) hiring policies from federal programs.

Most importantly, in relation to the Supreme Court ruling, Project 2025 wants to consolidate executive power by reducing the independence of federal agencies and increasing presidential control over policy implementation.

Roberts appeared on the War Room podcast on Tuesday, during its first broadcast without host Steve Bannon, who on Monday reported to federal prison in Connecticut to serve a four-month sentence for defying a congressional subpoena.

Bannon is a staunch advocate for Project 2025, having previously said that he envisions the Make America Great Again movement “will govern the United States for 50 years.”

In the episode, hosted by former congressman Chris Brat, Roberts said listeners ought to be encouraged by Monday’s Supreme Court ruling.

“We’re in the process of taking this country back,” he said. “No one in the audience should be despairing.”

Roberts referred listeners to Alexander Hamilton’s 1788 essay Federalist No. 70, which speaks of the need for a “vigorous executive.”

“Put politics off to the side, any president having to second guess, triple guess, every decision they’re making in their official capacity—you couldn’t have the republic that you just described,” he said.

The War Room podcast broadcasts four hours per day, five days per week, on conservative cable channel Real America’s voice.

Former President Trump is leading President Biden 49% to 43% among likely voters in the latest New York Times/Siena College poll — a three-point swing for Trump since the debate, and his largest lead in the survey since 2015.

Perhaps no single poll carries more weight among Democratic elites, who have spent the last week panicking over whether Biden should withdraw from the race after his disastrous debate performance.

The highly anticipated, post-debate poll detonated in the same hour that Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris dialed into a campaign call to try to reassure staffers about the state of Biden’s candidacy.

“I am running. I am the leader of the Democratic Party. No one is pushing me out. I’ve been knocked down before and counted out my whole life. When you get knocked down you get back up,” a defiant Biden said on the call.

The poll, conducted by telephone from June 28 to July 2, found Trump’s lead is even bigger — 49% to 41% — among registered voters.

74% of voters overall believe Biden is too old to be an effective president, up five points since before the debate.

That includes 79% of independent voters, 59% of Democrats, and a majority of every demographic, geographic and ideological group surveyed.

More voters overall believe Biden should remain the nominee — but that’s driven in part by Republicans, who likely see Biden as a wounded opponent.

Biden’s campaign sent a memo to House Democrats Wednesday morning — before the results were released — suggesting that the Times/Siena poll would be an “outlier,” according to Politico.

A CNN poll conducted by SSRS from June 28-30 found Trump leading Biden 49% to 43% — another grim result for the president, but unchanged from April.

A USA Today/Suffolk University poll taken June 28-30 has Trump with a 41% to 38% lead over Biden — a shift from a May survey that found the two tied at 37%.

A Reuters/Ipsos online poll taken July 1-2 shows Trump and Biden tied at 40% in a head-to-head contest.

“Both internal and outside polling confirm that the race remains incredibly tight and I agree with the Times that today’s polling doesn’t fundamentally change the course of the race,” Biden campaign pollster Molly Murphy said in a statement.

“President Biden continues to narrow Trump’s support among independents, and we have work to do to bring home our coalition — all the while Trump appears unable to expand his coalition.”

Below the toplines, post-debate polls have been littered with red flags about Biden’s age and mental competence.

A CBS News/YouGov poll conducted June 28-29 found that an astonishing 72% of voters do not believe Biden has the mental and cognitive health to be president — similar results to the Times/Siena poll.

The USA Today poll found that 41% of Democrats want Biden replaced as nominee, while 32% said the same in the Reuters poll.

A Wall Street Journal poll, also released Wednesday, found that Trump leads Biden 48% to 42% among voters nationally — and that a staggering 80% of voters believe Biden is too old to run for a second term.

A sustained polling decline could open the floodgates for more Democrats to call for Biden to step aside, especially if the surveys suggest that Harris would perform against Trump.

Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-Texas) on Tuesday became the first Democrat in Congress to call for Biden to withdraw.

Two vulnerable House Democrats — Reps. Jared Golden (D-Maine) and Marie Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (D-Wash.) — said Tuesday they expect Trump to defeat Biden.

The Washington Post is reporting that Special Counsel Jack Smith may try to convict former president Donald Trump all the way through the election and up to 11:59 am on January 20th. After the oath, the Justice Department has long maintained that it will not prosecute a sitting president.

There is also a long-standing policy of the Justice Department to abstain from criminal proceedings before an election to avoid the appearance of trying to influence the outcome.

Smith has signaled that he will discard that policy and that he is prepared to try Trump not only up to the election but through the election.

He is now reportedly willing to try Trump up to January 20th.

Smith has made trying Trump before the election the overriding priority in his two cases against the former president. He failed repeatedly to force a shorter schedule on appeal before the Supreme Court. His arguments were revealing. He suggested that the public should have a possible conviction before they cast their votes. It flipped the DOJ policy on its head in openly seeking to influence the election.

The Supreme Court was not persuaded, though Smith did succeed in effectively cutting the appellate process a bit shorter. He then lost in spectacular fashion before the Court on presidential immunity.

According to the Post, he is not giving up the ghost and is now committed to a trial running up to Inauguration Day: “Current officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity, expressed … that if Trump wins the election, the clock on the two federal cases against him would keep ticking until Jan. 20, when he would be sworn in as the 47th president.”

Even with Smith’s continued push to try Trump at all costs before the Inauguration, it could be a challenge. There is a 30-day period before the Supreme Court case is effectively returned to district court.

Judge Tanya Chutkan has been highly favorable for Smith and highly motivated in seeking a trial before the election. That led to problems highlighted in the recent opinion. Chutkan was so motivated that she failed to create an adequate record on these issues. That record will now have to be established.

If Chutkan rules as she did earlier, she is expected to be hostile to Trump’s claims on his conduct falling within official functions. However, she will need to make the record and her decision could again be appealed. The Court left clear guidelines that will make it difficult for Chutkan to, again, dismiss such claims.

Moreover, the pre-trial motions were stopped with the latest appeal. They must now be addressed.

Finally, she pledged to give the Trump team over 80 days for preparation after the appeal, which will be added to the 30 days, the period for the remand record, and the pre-trial motions.

There is also the need for the court and Smith to deal with the Fischer decision limiting the use of the obstruction charges — impacting two of the four counts against Trump. As I have previously written, Smith has various options but could trigger a new reversal on appeal if he follows his signature inclination to resist legal limits.

In other words, Smith’s appetite for a trial before the Inauguration may exceed his ability to force that expedited schedule.

Sean “Diddy” Combs’ legal team was notified last week by federal authorities in the Southern District of New York that he is a subject of an ongoing criminal investigation, according to two sources familiar with Combs’ ongoing legal troubles.

The same sources confirmed that a federal grand jury is hearing evidence as part of the investigation but there is no indication that charges are imminent.

A subject of an investigation is someone who is within the scope of a criminal investigation, according to legal experts. An individual is designated a target when prosecutors likely intend to seek an indictment from the grand jury against the person.

A person’s status can be upgraded or downgraded during an investigation. Combs has not received a target letter, the sources said, and the Southern District of New York is not required to send one.

This news comes three months after Combs’ houses were raided in both Los Angeles and Miami by law enforcement officials.

In May, Combs apologized after a video, obtained by CNN, showed him beating his then-girlfriend Casandra “Cassie” Ventura at a Los Angeles hotel in 2016.

In a video apology posted to his Instagram, Combs admitted to the incident and said he took “full responsibility.”

“It’s so difficult to reflect on the darkest times in your life, but sometimes you got to do that,” Combs said. “I was f—ed up — I mean, I hit rock bottom — but I make no excuses.”

Combs initially denied Ventura’s allegations of assault and sex trafficking, which she described in a federal lawsuit filed in November. The two settled for an undisclosed amount the following day.

At the time of Combs’ admission of the assault, an attorney for Ventura, Meredith Firetog, said, “When Cassie and multiple other women came forward, he denied everything and suggested that his victims were looking for a payday.”

Firetog added, “He was only compelled to ‘apologize’ once his repeated denials were proven false shows his pathetic desperation.”

Ventura’s attorneys did not respond to a question about whether she has been called to take part in any grand jury proceedings.

Meanwhile, Combs has been accused of a wide range of allegations in multiple civil lawsuits. The latest lawsuit was filed on Wednesday, accusing Combs of sex trafficking by a former adult film star.

The former music executive has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing and has not been charged with a crime. Jonathan Davis, attorney for Sean Diddy Combs, dismissed the latest lawsuit.

“No matter how many lawsuits are filed, it won’t change the fact that Mr. Combs has never sexually assaulted or sex trafficked anyone,” Davis said. “We live in a world where anyone can file a lawsuit for any reason and without any proof. Fortunately, a fair and impartial judicial process exists to find the truth and Mr. Combs is confident he will prevail against these and other baseless claims in court.”