Good morning, and welcome to The Epoch Times News Brief for Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2024. I’m Bill Thomas, we have some very important stories to share with you right now, and here’s what’s going on.
Congress reaches an alarming conclusion regarding the first assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump, surprising numbers have just arrived regarding early voting in a crucial swing state, and the FBI says to be on the lookout for election interference.
Also, a city council candidate in California is facing prison time—we’ll tell you why—and federal authorities have closed a bank and told depositors their money is safe.
US House Task Force Finds First Trump Assassination Attempt Was ‘Preventable’
Yesterday, a special congressional task force released a comprehensive report, which concluded that there was a “lack of planning and coordination” between the U.S. Secret Service and its local law enforcement partners during the July 13 Trump rally, and that the incident was highly “preventable.”The document includes new testimony from local law enforcement personnel, and these officers provided detailed accounts of both communications and operational failures that took place during the rally.
A number of unnamed officials revealed specific information about how the gunman was first spotted by law enforcement, including first-person details from the officer who tried to climb onto the roof of the building where the suspect was located before the shooting took place.
These unnamed officials pointed out that the officers did not take any direct action until the gunman opened fire at the rally, injuring Trump, hurting two others as well, and killing one attendee.
One emergency services official told the panel that he sent a text message to his colleague regarding the shooter at 5:17 p.m., but the official said that his colleague did not even see that message until more than 20 minutes later.
The task force found that the Secret Service failed to give clear guidance to other relevant state and local agencies regarding the management of areas outside the secure event perimeter. Additionally, on the day of the rally, the groups responsible for securing the event did not hold a joint meeting either to discuss communications among themselves or to address the potential areas of concern.
Overall, both local and state law enforcement officials who spoke to the House panel were largely critical of the lack of a unified command and communications post to oversee security at the event.
You should know that this new House report echoes similar revelations that were recently made in reports from both the Senate Homeland Security panel and the Secret Service itself, and that a couple of months ago, the acting director of the Secret Service admitted that the agency had failed in its mission to protect Trump.
Striking Numbers From Nevada Early Voting
The Nevada secretary of state is reporting that so far, Republican voters are outnumbering Democrats by a significant margin, and the data shows that this pattern is consistent throughout the state.A few days ago, Nevada began in-person early voting at locations across the state, and right now, over 22,000 Republicans have voted, compared to just under 12,000 Democrats.
It’s worth mentioning that early voting wasn’t easy in some parts of sprawling Clark County, which is the state’s most populous jurisdiction. Even there, early Republican voters have already outnumbered Democrats by over 5,000 people.
By the way, the opening hours at voting sites across the state vary widely and are not consistent, making casting ballots early in some parts of the state very challenging. Additionally, long lines and significant waiting times have also been reported at some locations.
Now, this is really interesting: The Epoch Times spoke with a number of early voters throughout this battleground state. They all shared some very passionate views with us regarding their choices, and their most important issues included the economy, foreign relations, immigration, and democracy itself.
One state resident who voted for Vice President Kamala Harris said that he would cry no matter who wins the election. Another voter said that she cast her ballot in favor of former President Donald Trump in order to help out her grandchildren and the generations that follow.
Additionally, the state has already sent out nearly 2 million mail-in ballots, and they’re almost evenly split between Democrats, Republicans, and unaffiliated voters, who actually hold a sizable edge over the other two. So far, however, a plurality of these returned ballots have come from Republicans.
FBI, Cyber Agency Issue ‘Disinformation’ Warning 2 Weeks Before Election
The FBI, along with another federal agency called the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, recently said that foreign actors are trying to spread disinformation about the election, which is only two weeks away.The agencies say, at this time, they have no information that suggests that any of this alarming cyber activity has compromised voter registration, prevented any eligible voter from casting a ballot, or impacted the integrity of any ballots cast. They also say that the cyber activity has not disrupted the ability to count votes and transmit unofficial election results in a timely manner.
However, the two agencies say that foreign adversaries still might promote “false or misleading narratives” in their attempt to sway the election or to undermine American confidence in its election systems and processes.
Additionally, the agencies warned of content produced by artificial intelligence (AI), which they say allows foreign actors to create more advanced schemes in their efforts to influence the election and undermine voter confidence.
The FBI and their partner specifically pointed to fake news organization websites and false social media profiles created by Russian-affiliated groups as being particularly significant in these latest attempts to sway American voters.
The agencies warn that it’s important for voters to critically evaluate where they get their information from as AI-generated content continues to evolve. Additionally, both agencies are urging the American public to rely on trusted information from state and local election officials and to verify any claims through multiple reliable sources before sharing them on social media.
Election Fraud Allegations Lead to Felony Charges Against California City Council Candidate
The Orange County District Attorney’s office has charged Scott Edward Markowitz, a candidate for the Fullerton City Council, with felony perjury after he allegedly falsified his nomination paperwork.The DA’s office says Markowitz signed a document claiming that he had personally gathered all of the required signatures needed in order to qualify him for the council election, which is being held in two weeks. However, Markowitz allegedly did not collect the needed 30 signatures for his nomination paperwork himself.
Last week, Orange County investigators arrested the candidate and booked him into the Santa Ana city jail, where he was charged with one felony count of perjury by declaration and one felony count of record of forged or false instrument. If he’s convicted on both counts, Markowitz faces a maximum of three years and eight months in state prison.
Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer said that he did not take the decision to file charges lightly. However, the DA said that American democracy relies on the absolute integrity of the electoral process, and voters must have total confidence that each election is being carried out in a fair and unbiased manner.
By the way, the ballots have already been printed with Markowitz as a candidate for the Fullerton City Council, and in the event Markowitz wins the election, the city would have to shoulder the cost of a special election to choose one of the other three candidates in the race for the seat.
Federal Agency Shuts Down Bank
The Oklahoma-based First National Bank has just been forced to cease operations after the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) found the bank to be in a perilous financial position.A few days ago, the OCC announced that the agency had discovered false and deceptive bank records, along with other information suggesting fraud, which revealed that the bank’s capital had been depleted. The OCC determined that the bank was in an unsound condition to transact business, and that the bank’s assets were less than its outstanding financial obligations.
You should know that the OCC is a bureau under the U.S. Treasury Department that is responsible for regulating and supervising all national banks to ensure that they operate securely.
Additionally, the agency appointed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) as the receiver for the bank. As a result, the bank’s depositors will be protected, and their money will automatically be put into the First Bank & Trust company.
The FDIC is telling customers with more than $250,000 in their accounts to contact the agency in order to discuss their deposits.
Other services including online banking, credit card transactions, direct deposits including Social Security and disability income, and safety deposit boxes will still be available to the bank’s customers.
According to the FDIC, First National Bank of Lindsay is the second bank to fail in the United States this year, following the Republic First Bank in Philadelphia, which was closed down in April. These two collapses have put at risk more than $6 billion in assets.
And now, it looks like our time is just about up for today, so we’re going to call it a wrap for the Tuesday edition of The Epoch Times News Brief.
Don’t forget the News Brief Motto: We’re portable, affordable, and always on-demand.
And finally, as we do each and every day on this program, we wrap everything up with a very notable quote, and this one comes to us from the great architect Frank Lloyd Wright, who said: “The longer I live, the more beautiful life becomes.”
For all of us here at The Epoch Times News Brief, I’m Bill Thomas.
The Epoch Times News Brief program was written today by David Ross.
Thank you for making us your one-stop source for a concise, accurate, and unbiased daily synopsis of many of the news stories you need to know about.
Enjoy the remainder of your Tuesday, and we’ll see you right back here tomorrow for another edition of The Epoch Times News Brief.
For now, let’s all continue to watch out for one another, and have an absolutely superb day today. Bye for now.
