10 things you need to know today: September 1, 2023

Trump has pleaded not guilty in Georgia, waiving his right to arraignment

(Image credit: Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

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1. Trump pleads not guilty in Georgia election interference case
2. 2 ex-Proud Boys leaders sentenced for Jan. 6 seditious conspiracy
3. Thomas, Alito respond to criticism over trips with GOP billionaires
4. Prigozhin addressed security threats in video recorded days before plane crash
5. Idalia moves offshore after final swipe at Carolinas
6. White House calls for short-term spending deal to avert shutdown
7. U.S. deports dozens to Haiti a day after urging U.S. citizens to leave
8. Illegal border crossings by families surge to record high
9. McConnell cleared to work after freezing for 2nd time
10. Disney channels go dark on Charter Spectrum in fee dispute

By Harold Maass, The Week US

published 1 September 2023

1. Trump pleads not guilty in Georgia election interference case

Former President Donald Trump pleaded not guilty Thursday to 13 criminal charges relating to an alleged conspiracy to overturn his narrow 2020 election loss in Georgia. Trump's lawyers also asked the court to delay his trial until after Oct. 23, the start date for one of his co-defendants, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported. That co-defendant, lawyer Kenneth Chesebro, requested a speedy trial, but Trump's new lead attorney in the case, Steve Sadow, wrote in a court document that moving that quickly would violate Trump's "constitutional rights to a fair trial and due process of law" because the defense needed more time to prepare. Trump waived his right to an arraignment that had been set for next week.

U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly on Thursday sentenced former Proud Boys leader Joe Biggs to 17 years in prison for seditious conspiracy and leading other members of the far-right group during the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol by a mob of former President Donald Trump's supporters. Co-defendant Zachary Rehl got 15 years. Biggs' sentence was of the second longest so far for anyone convicted for participating in the storming of the Capitol. Prosecutors had requested a 33-year sentence. Kelly ruled that Biggs, an Army veteran who suffered a head injury in Iraq, should face a terrorism enhancement for tearing down of a barrier that separated police and rioters.

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Conservative Supreme Court justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito defended themselves Thursday against criticism over their financial dealings. In his annual financial disclosure, Thomas reported three 2022 flights on Texas billionaire Harlan Crow's private jet, and provided details about Crow's purchase of three properties from the Thomas family years ago. Thomas said he took the flights on Crow's jet after being advised to avoid commercial travel due to security concerns after the leak of a draft opinion overturning Roe v. Wade. Thomas' attorney circulated an unusual statement criticizing "left wing" groups he said had "weaponized" judicial ethics to attack Thomas. Alito told The Wall Street Journal that scrutiny over his failure to report travel with another GOP billionaire was "nonsense."

A newly released video shows Wagner mercenary group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin addressing speculation about his threats on his life, apparently just days before he was killed in a plane crash. Prigozhin said in the brief clip posted on a Wagner-linked Telegram channel that he was safe and in Africa on a weekend in the second half of August. "So for people who like to discuss wiping me out, or my private life, how much I earn or whatever else — everything's OK," Prigozhin said. His reference to the timing suggested the video was made on Aug. 19 or 20, a few days before he and nine others were killed in a crash north of Moscow two months after he led a brief mutiny against Russia's military leadership.

Tropical Storm Idalia knocked out power to some North Carolina residents before heading into the Atlantic Ocean on Thursday. The storm cause flooding in South Carolina and hammered Georgia with heavy rains and destructive winds. A man died after being hit by a falling tree in Georgia. Idalia made landfall as a dangerous Category 3 hurricane Wednesday in Florida's Big Bend area on the Gulf Coast as a major Category 3 hurricane with top sustained winds of 125 miles per hour. The storm surge, boosted by a supermoon king tide, caused Charleston's fifth-highest tide on record, sending water over a historic downtown sea wall. Charleston officials warned that in 25 years every full moon will bring the same level of flooding due to sea-level rise.

The White House on Thursday called for Congress to pass short-term funding to prevent a government shutdown on Sept. 30. The Office of Management and Budget also pushed for additional money for programs that have run short of cash. One of the Biden administration's requests was for $1.4 billion to avoid the possible interruption of nutritional aid to low-income families, The Washington Post reported. Democrats and Republicans have been trying to negotiate appropriations bills for the 2024 fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1, but Republicans want deep spending cuts Democrats won't consider.

The Biden administration on Thursday deported about 60 Haitians a day after the State Department urged all U.S. citizens to leave Haiti as soon as possible as ongoing gang violence worsens the Caribbean nation's security crisis. Activists said it was cruel for Immigration and Customs Enforcement to conduct the deportation flight — the second to Haiti this month — because the deported people could easily become victims of violence. "Those two cannot happen at the same time. You cannot be evacuating people and deporting people at the same time, said Guerline Jozef, executive director of the Haitian Bridge Alliance. "That is beyond inhumane." ICE this summer stepped up high-visibility efforts to repatriate foreign nationals not authorized to remain in the United States.

The number of migrant families illegally crossing the U.S.-Mexico border reached a record in August, The Washington Post reported Thursday, citing preliminary data for the month. U.S. Border Patrol arrested at least 91,000 people trying to get into the United States as part of a family group during the month, surpassing the previous single-month high of 84,486 set in May 2019. The increase marked a setback for the Biden administration's push to discourage parents from trying to get into the country illegally with their children. Since May, the U.S. has repatriated more than 17,000 parents and children who crossed the border in family groups.

Congress' attending physician said Thursday that Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) was medically clear to continue with his duties after McConnell, the longest serving party leader in Senate history, froze during a public event for the second time in a little over a month. McConnell paused for 30 seconds while responding to a question during a press conference in his home state of Kentucky. McConnell, 81, returned to Congress in April after being hospitalized in March for a concussion and rib fracture in a fall. A few Republican lawmakers said McConnell should be more open about his health problems. "If he wants to stay as leader, he needs to be transparent and open about his current condition," a House Republican, who requested anonymity, told NBC News.

Disney pulled its channels, including ESPN and ABC local stations, from Charter Communications' Spectrum service on Thursday after the companies failed to resolve a dispute over distribution fees. The blackout came as ESPN's networks were broadcasting the U.S. Open tennis tournament and a college football game between Utah and the University of Florida. Disney said it had reached "successful deals" with other pay TV providers, and it urged Charter to "work with us to minimize the disruption to their customers." Charter, which has 14.7 million subscribers, said Disney is "trying to force our customers to pay for their very expensive programming, even those customers who don't want it or worse, can't afford it."

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Harold Maass is a contributing editor at The Week. He has been writing for The Week since the 2001 debut of the U.S. print edition and served as editor of TheWeek.com when it launched in 2008. Harold started his career as a newspaper reporter in South Florida and Haiti. He has previously worked for a variety of news outlets, including The Miami Herald, ABC News and Fox News, and for several years wrote a daily roundup of financial news for The Week and Yahoo Finance.