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Good morning. Sexual assault allegations against a key Democratic
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Senate challenger raise big questions for the party.
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This is a must win seat for them if they want any realistic shot at capturing control of the Senate.
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Hearings for the suspect charged with killing Charlie Kirk begin. And the Manhattan high rise evacuated over fears of a partial collapse. It's Wednesday, July 8th. I'm Gideon Resnick in for Shamita Basu.
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This is Apple News.
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Today,
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An accusation of sexual assault against
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Graham Platner, the Democratic Senate nominee in Maine has imploded his campaign over the past 48 hours and with it, potentially the ability for Democrats to regain a majority in the Senate.
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Yesterday, Senator Bernie Sanders became the latest
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lawmaker to call on Platner to exit the race.
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For weeks now, Platner has been struggling
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to move on from accusations of inappropriate behavior towards previous partners, leaving some Democrats concerned that more could be out there.
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On Monday, a new allegation emerged from
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Jenny Racicot, who had been in a relationship with Platner years ago.
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She told a number of outlets that
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he forced himself on her in 2021.
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Platner denies the allegation, but has said
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that he is weighing his next steps.
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Big picture, this is nothing short of a political earthquake for the Democratic Party.
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Sahil Kapoor is a senior national politics
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reporter at NBC News who's been covering the race.
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Democrats need a net gain of four seats in order to win the Senate majority. And Maine is the only blue leaning state on the map that is held by Republicans that they can flip.
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Susan Collins, the state's Republican incumbent since
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1997, has proven resilient to frequent Democratic targeting over the years.
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And without clarity on what Platner plans to do and win, members of the
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party are already talking behind the scenes and about an urgent push to find a replacement, and fast.
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So the key deadline to circle on the calendar here is July 13th, which is this coming Monday. Maine state law says Platner has the option to drop out by then, in which case the state Democratic Party can select a replacement by the deadline of July 27.
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Kapoor said that the process by which
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that could happen is still a little unclear. There's some reporting about a potential convention that could help choose a candidate, but nothing in state law dictates a particular path.
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What we do know is that there's not going to be enough time to hold another primary. You can't put this before the voters. So it would have to be a situation where party elites effectively choose a candidate that they want, which is fraught with its own set of problems.
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Maine voters already had a choice between
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Platner and Janet Mills, the governor backed by establishment Democrats, and they overwhelmingly picked Platner in the primary. That was before this latest and most serious accusation was reported, but after a number of other controversies had emerged.
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Kapoor said the firestorm around his campaign is accelerating a debate that was already
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happening in the party.
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This is an instance where all cycle we've seen progressive lefty candidates, anti establishment candidates rising and tapping into this angst and anger within the Democratic base for something new and different. Well, Graham Platner is one of those candidates who is new and different. And now that same moderate establishment wing of the party is pointing fingers at the left, saying, this is what happens when you guys take the reins. You pick a candidate who is deeply flawed, who is not properly vetted in their view, who should never have been in this position in the first place.
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And the idea of a candidate that voters chose having to leave a race
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and be replaced calls to mind some bad memories for Democrats.
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This is certainly in the background of the minds of Democrats that it's quite an eerie parallel, isn't it? It's only two years removed from the 2024 election when Joe Biden, by all rights of law, won that nomination fair and square. This is the nightmare scenario for Democrats and for a whole host of reasons, one of which is that whoever Democrats end up choosing here will not have the legitimacy of having gone through the primary process and having been chosen by voters.
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Whatever happens, there are real concerns that
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Democrats could be left at a disadvantage against Collins in November.
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Now to one of the most closely watched court cases in the country this week. Prosecutors in Utah are arguing that Tyler
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Robinson, the man accused of assassinating conservative activist Charlie Kirk, should stand trial for murder.
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It's a preliminary hearing, which means the prosecution only needs to convince a judge
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their case is strong enough to reasonably justify a trial.
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Salt Lake Tribune reporter Jessica Schreifels has
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been in the courtroom this week.
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It's a little bit like a trial where we see testimony and there's some evidence produced, but there's no jury. And the bar that the judge has to consider is much lower. It's probable cause where in a trial, it's proof beyond a reasonable doubt.
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Robinson faces seven criminal charges, including aggravated
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murder, which can carry the death penalty in Utah if the crime has aggravating circumstances.
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And that's exactly what prosecutors are seeking
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if this goes to trial.
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Since Kirk was killed at a speaking
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event on the campus of Utah Valley
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University attended by thousands of people, prosecutors
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will say the shooting endangered others as well, but Schreifles told us that the opening days haven't offered many hints as to the defense strategy.
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Tyler Robinson hasn't entered a plea to the charges yet, and we really don't know what his defense will be. A lot of what we've seen in the courtroom so far is the defense objecting to exhibits being shown, saying that this could perhaps, perhaps prejudice his right to a fair trial later, prejudice potential jurors.
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Prosecutors are not required to present all
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of their evidence in this hearing. They have called on several witnesses to testify, mainly investigators in the case, at a preliminary hearing.
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Some of the rules are different than at a trial, and so police officers can testify about what other people told them, which you can't do at a trial. So largely, the case is going to come through the officers that we're investigating.
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So far, there haven't been any major
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revelations, but it has been the most significant presentation of evidence to date.
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Prosecutors showed video they say depicts the
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suspect heading onto the roof to kill Kirk.
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And according to testimony, Robinson interacted with
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members of Turning Point usa, the group that Kirk founded on the university campus just hours before the shooting took place.
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Prosecutors also presented DNA evidence from an FBI report that they say ties Robinson
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to the suspected murder weapon. Robinson's lawyers challenged that report and called on a forensic analyst at the FBI who signed it, to testify.
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The prosecution is also planning to present
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autopsy findings and witness statements.
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We do anticipate that there will be a recorded statement from Lance Twiggs, who was Tyler Robinson's romantic partner and roommate at the time of the shooting. Prosecutors say that Tyler Robinson confessed to them.
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Robinson's attorneys tried and failed to block
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prosecutors from using Twiggs statement in the hearing.
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They wanted Twigs, who's been cooperating with
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police, to testify in person so they could potentially cross examine.
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But the judge ruled in favor of the prosecution here.
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And also by allowing cameras into the
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courtroom this week, Tyler Robinson's defense team had really tried to put a stop to that. They didn't want cameras in the courtroom at all. And that's what a lot of the fight up to this point was about, was who can be recording in the room, whether cameras can be in there. And so far, they've lost those fights.
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Robinson's attorneys argued that it could taint
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the potential jury pool.
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But several media organizations pushed for the
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trial to be publicized. So did Kirk's widow, Erica.
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She's been in the courtroom this week alongside Kirk's parents. Before the hearing started, the family released
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a statement that said every court proceeding serves As a painful reminder of Charlie's death.
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The spike in egg prices was one of the most talked about grocery stories
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of the past several years.
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It was driven primarily by an avian flu outbreak. But the Wall Street Journal has been
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looking into a major legal battle taking place behind the scenes that accuses some of the country's largest egg producers of conspiring to exploit the crisis and to drive prices artificially upwards.
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What they wanted to do was they all wanted to big very aggressively for eggs on this wholesale market to raise the pricing benchmark, which ultimately is kind of used in formulas by retailers and suppliers, that it trickles down to the price of egg for the consumers.
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That's Wall Street Journal reporter Patrick Thomas. This alleged scheme involved executives at Cal
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Maine Foods, Versova and the smaller brand Hickman's Egg Ranch.
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Versova and Cal Maine denied wrongdoing and
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the company that now owns Hickman said that the alleged conduct predated their acquisition.
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But they agreed last week to settle
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this complaint by paying around $3 million and donating more than 50 million eggs to food banks.
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According to the DOJ, the conspiracy centers
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on a little known marketplace called the Egg Clearinghouse.
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It is affectionately nicknamed in the egg industry the Wall street of eggs. It serves a very important purpose in the marketplace of eggs and how consumers eventually get it. But it's something really know exists.
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Egg companies don't produce every single egg they sell.
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Instead, they turn to the so called Wall street of eggs to buy from other producers.
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The prices are monitored and used for
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a benchmark in what grocery stores pay, which then trickles down to the consumer.
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And the DOJ says these companies essentially
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spoof that marketplace by placing phony bids and orders that were canceled before they were filled with the goal of raising the benchmark price.
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One unnamed co conspirator talked about bidding
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like they vote in Chicago early and often. An old joke about political corruption.
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Another former Cal Maine executive said let it rip when they needed to place bids aggressively, stuff along those lines. So they used casual language and probably, as the DOJ would say, should not have been talking to each other quite in this manner, especially amongst rival business executives.
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Representatives from the Egg Clearinghouse did not
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respond to the Wall Street Journal's request for comments. And a court still needs to approve the settlement between the egg companies and the doj.
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But Thomas says this episode illustrates just
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how fragile the American food system can be.
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At its core, it is meant to give us cheap, affordable food. It doesn't always do that. And you have situations like this where you can just see the fragility in the supply chain or how easily it can be taken advantage of and some of the cracks. So at the end of the day you're dealing with live animals, disease and people who are behind these trades and that's where you can see the flaws.
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Here are a few other stories we're following today. U.S. central Command says it carried out strikes against Iran in response to attacks by the Islamic Republic on commercial ships
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crossing the Strait of Hormuz.
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It's the first time that American forces
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launched projectiles at Iran since last month.
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The US Also reimposed sanctions on Iranian
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oil over its actions in the strait, which sent oil prices up by 5%.
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Tuesday's events put more pressure on ongoing
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negotiations between the U.S. and Iran over a longer term peace agreement, a U.S.
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official told Reuters Talks were ongoing in
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good faith despite the renewed tensions.
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A Manhattan building was unstable and at risk of collapse yesterday, causing evacuations and
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what's called a frozen zone surrounding the area, blocking out non emergency personnel.
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The building is a high profile luxury
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residential project still under construction near Grand Central Terminal.
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A safety manager reported a compromised beam
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on the 21st floor, while the fire department said that two support columns inside the building were buckling and that several upper floors were sagging. New York City Mayor Zoran Mamdani gave an update yesterday.
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What they have found thus far is that there are structural issues with the building. I would say that beyond that, just for those in the immediate area to follow the instructions of those on the ground. We have seen evacuations not only of the building but of surrounding buildings as well as a nearby school and I believe that those actions are appropriate at this time.
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The building is the former headquarters of
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Pfizer and was being converted into a residential complex of more than 1,600 apartments. It was scheduled to be completed next year.
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And finally, the World cup pulled off yet another stunning result with Argentina delivering more last minute drama, sending it over Enzo Fernandes.
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Can you believe this?
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That's the moment Enzo Fernandez buried a
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header to put the defending champs up three two in the 93rd minute against Egypt.
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Argentina was down two nil with less
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than 15 minutes to play and looked all but certain to lose.
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Goals from Messi and Christian Romero stunned
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the crowd and Fernandez sealed Egypt's fate just before the final whistle. There was controversy too.
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Egypt had a goal ruled out over a foul.
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Their head coach later speculated whether they wanted to keep the world champions in the competition.
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It's the second game that Argentina's chances
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were hanging by a thread after their scrappy win against Cape Verde. They play Switzerland this weekend.
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Who who might want to think about
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keeping an extra defender ready for those final 10 minutes?
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You can find all these stories and more in the Apple News app. If you're already listening to the news app right now, we've got a narrated
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article coming up next, Men's Health reports on a growing campaign against wearing sunscreen
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and why, despite being one of the
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only proven ways to reduce the risk of skin cancer, sunblock is in the midst of a PR nightmare.
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If you're listening to the podcast app, you can follow Apple News plus Narrated to find that story.
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And I'll be back with the news tomorrow.