September 24, 2024: More Details About Second Assassination Attempt Revealed, Congress Tries to Avoid Government Shutdown, US Proposes Ban on Smart Cars with Russian and Chinese Tech, and More.
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Call 1-800-GRANGER, click granger.com, or just stop by. Granger, for the ones who get it done. Welcome back to Unbiased, your favorite source of unbiased news and legal analysis.

Welcome back to Unbiased. Today is Tuesday, September 24th, and this is your bi-weekly news rundown. If you're watching on video, you'll notice things look slightly different. We have a different background, different setup. We're switching things up around here, but only temporarily. As a reminder, for the next few weeks, episodes will only be releasing Tuesdays and Thursdays, hence the bi-weekly news rundown introduction. But once we get into the latter half of October, we'll be back to four episodes per week.

Because the last time we spoke was almost a week ago, last Wednesday to be exact, I will be covering stories today that occurred between this past Thursday and today. So it's going to be a range of stories, but that's okay because we do have a lot to catch up on. This episode is releasing a bit earlier than usual, so just note that my news cycle did end around noon Eastern time today, but any noteworthy stories that broke after that time will certainly be covered on Thursday.

And finally, if there's anything that I don't cover in today's episode that happened in the last week or so that you were kind of hoping that I would cover, just send me an email. That's the easiest way to do it. If I get enough requests for that story, I'll add it into Thursday's episode. So with those notes out of the way and without further ado, let's get into today's stories.

In an update to the most recent assassination attempt investigation, we now know that the suspect, Ryan Ruth, had a detailed plan to assassinate Trump and was pretty determined to have someone else assassinate Trump if he was unsuccessful. We know this because of a factual proffer that was filed in Ruth's case. It was written by the government in support of keeping Ruth detained while he awaits trial, otherwise known as premeditation.

pretrial detention. Before we get into what the proffer says though, let's talk about what a proffer is just so we're all on the same page. In this context, a factual proffer is basically a show of proof. It's the government saying, hey, this is all the proof that we have that shows why Ruth should remain detained. And it's not necessarily all of the evidence law enforcement has, it's just the evidence relevant to the issue of pretrial detention. In fact, the proffer state's

Quote, because the facts are offered for the limited purpose of supporting the United States request for pretrial detention, the facts in this written proffer do not set forth all of the information and evidence known to the United States in this ongoing investigation. End quote. So again, it's just those facts that are relevant for convincing the judge to keep Ruth detained.

The proffer starts by detailing how the event unfolded. And if you want to know the surface level facts of how this incident went down, go ahead and listen to my episode from last Monday, the 16th. Today's episode will go over the more recent facts. So what we've learned since then.

So we now know that a Secret Service agent was conducting a security sweep of the golf course where Trump was golfing, specifically hole six, which was one hole ahead of the hole that Trump was on. While conducting this sweep, the agent saw, quote, the partially obscured face of a man in the brush along the fence line.

End quote. The agent then saw a, quote, long black object protruding through the fence and realized the object was a barrel of a rifle aimed directly at him. End quote. The proffer then explains that the agent jumped out of his golf cart, drew his weapon, and began backing away. When the agent saw the rifle barrel in the fence line move,

That's when the agent fired at Ruth, took cover behind a tree and reloaded his gun. When the agent looked up to see that Ruth was gone from his position, that is when he made the call over his radio that shots had been fired.

The proffer then explains that once law enforcement apprehended Ruth, they found two additional license plates in his car, multiple cell phones, one of which had a Google search of how to travel from Palm Beach County, Florida to Mexico, 12 pairs of gloves, a Hawaii driver's license in Ruth's name, a passport in Ruth's name, and many documents. These documents included a handwritten list of dates and

August, September, and October 2024, and venues where Trump had been or was expected to be. They also found a notebook with dozens of pages filled with names and phone numbers pertaining to Ukraine, discussions on how to join combat on behalf of Ukraine, and notes criticizing the governments of China and Russia. And if you listened to last Monday's episode, that little bit about Ukraine likely doesn't surprise you. We talked about his support of Ukraine in that episode.

The proffer also states that on multiple days and times between August 18th, 2024 and September 15th, 2024, one of Ruth's cell phones pinged off of cell towers near Trump International and Mar-a-Lago, which is where Trump lives. FBI agents also reviewed a book that was apparently unread.

authored by Ruth in February 2023, which states that Ruth, quote, "must take part of the blame for the person we elected for our next president that ended up being brainless," end quote. Ruth goes on to write, quote, "but I am man enough to say that I misjudged and made a terrible mistake. And Iran, I apologize. You are free to assassinate Trump as well as me for that error in judgment and the dismantling of the deal. No one here in the US seems to have the balls to put natural selection to work or even unnatural selection."

End quote. Then, following the assassination attempt, law enforcement was contacted by a witness that said Ruth had dropped off a box at his residence several months prior. The witness apparently didn't open the box until after the September 15th incident at the golf course. And when he did open the box, the witness allegedly found ammunition, a metal pipe, building materials, tools, flashlights,

phones, and various letters. One of the letters was addressed to the world and stated, among other things, quote, this was an assassination attempt on Donald Trump, but I failed you. I tried my best and gave it all the gumption I could muster. It is up to you now to finish the job, and I will offer $150,000 to whomever can complete the job, end quote. The letter goes on to say, quote, he ended relations with Iran like a child, and now the Middle East has unraveled.

End quote. Now, at Ruth's detention hearing, the defense, meaning the public defender that has been assigned to represent Ruth, argued that other pages of Ruth's letter had not been submitted by prosecutors and that the full document actually showed that Ruth said multiple times he intended to fail in his assassination attempt. So Ruth's attorney argued that Ruth was just possibly attempting to gain publicity rather than actually cause harm. The defense also

also entered into evidence an article from 1991, which was published in a Greensboro, North Carolina newspaper, which detailed Ruth receiving a super citizen award for helping police chase down a suspected rapist. So all of these arguments were intended to convince the judge to release Ruth on $250,000 bail into the care of his sister. But ultimately, at the end of the hearing, the judge sided with the prosecutors and

and ruled that Ruth must be kept in detention and denied bail. Now, I do, of course, have that proffer linked for you in the sources section of this episode if you're interested in reading it, but that is what we've learned at this point. Again, that's not all of the evidence that law enforcement has, but it is the evidence relevant to their request for pretrial detention.

which is granted. Also, in Monday's episode, I mentioned Ruth is currently facing two charges, possession of a firearm as a convicted felon and possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number. But I also said more charges may be coming later.

As of yesterday, the assistant U.S. attorney who filed this proffer said that the DOJ does have probable cause to charge Ruth under a federal statute that makes it a crime to attempt to kill a major party presidential candidate. That federal statute is Title 18, Chapter 18, Section 351 of the U.S. Code, which reads in part, quote, whoever kills an individual who is a major presidential or vice presidential candidate.

candidate shall be punished as provided by sections 1111 and 1112 of this title. And those sections call for a maximum punishment of life in prison without the possibility of parole. So from here, Ruth will attend his arraignment, which is currently scheduled for September 30th.

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Moving on, on Sunday, House leaders unveiled new legislation in an attempt to avert a government shutdown at the end of this month. And sometime this week, the House will vote on it. Now, at this very moment when I'm recording, the House has not yet voted, but it's very possible by the time you listen to this episode or by the time my next episode is released on Thursday, the House has voted. So let's talk about what's going on. That way, you know, you know what's next regardless of what happens.

For starters, Congress is currently racing against a September 30th deadline, at which point government funding expires. Those of you who have been with me for over a year, you're likely pretty familiar with this whole government shutdown situation because we covered it extensively last year. But those of you that aren't,

Basically, each fiscal year, Congress has to appropriate funds to different departments of the federal government. Federal agencies cannot spend or obligate money without appropriation or approval from Congress. So it's up to Congress to reach a deal on the annual bill for all 12 appropriations before September 30th. And these are the departments like the Department of Agriculture, Department of Transportation, Department of Defense, etc.,

If Congress cannot pass these 12 appropriations bills, federal agencies have no choice but to stop functioning until Congress does so. This is what we call a government shutdown. Sometimes it might be a partial government shutdown. Other times it might be a full shutdown. It really just depends.

The other option as September 30th approaches, but let's say, you know, appropriations bills are nowhere near passing, is a continuing resolution. That is basically a temporary fix. It essentially sustains the government's funding at the current levels while Congress tries to sort out the appropriations.

But oftentimes these continuing resolutions will come with attachments. So as an example, just last week, there was a continuing resolution on the floor that would have extended funding for six months, but also required proof of citizenship to register to vote. That didn't pass. 14 Republicans and almost all Democrats voted against it. So the newest continuing resolution was introduced by Speaker Johnson on Sunday.

This resolution would fund the government until December 20th, so just under three months, and include $231 million for Secret Service funding on the condition that Secret Service hands over its report on its investigations into the July 13th assassination attempt. The bill would also set a timeline for the Department of Homeland Security to respond to two letters sent by a House executive

task force last month regarding the July 13th assassination attempt. So that's the continuing resolution that the House will soon vote on. If it passes, it'll move on to the Senate. It has to pass the Senate for it to reach the president's desk and actually take effect. If it doesn't pass the House, the House and or Senate will have to go back to the drawing board and try to come up with another continuing resolution that can pass both chambers before the 30th.

Now, you may remember last year when Speaker McCarthy was ousted and Speaker Johnson became his replacement. The reason McCarthy was ultimately ousted, or at least the reason that the motion to oust him was brought, was because McCarthy had worked with Democrats to help pass a continuing resolution to avoid a partial government shutdown. And Representative Matt Gaetz didn't like this. He's the one who brought that motion to oust.

Government shutdowns are a pretty contentious matter, but especially last year and this year. McCarthy being ousted was a pretty historic move. So now Johnson really has a spotlight on him when it comes to navigating this year's deadline because he's ultimately going to have to rely on some Democratic votes as well to get a continuing resolution passed.

Republicans have been split as to whether to allow a shutdown to happen, whether to pass a continuing resolution. Some Republicans don't want a continuing resolution without certain policies being enacted along with that resolution. Instead, they'd rather the government just shut down. But other Republicans feel that if the government were to shut down, it would be disastrous, you know, in an election year. Speaker Johnson actually said Sunday, quote,

As history has taught and current polling affirms, shutting the government down less than 40 days from a fateful election would be political malpractice. End quote. Democrats, on the other hand, they don't mind a continuing resolution. They just don't want a continuing resolution to come with Republican policies attached to it. So we'll see what happens in the House. And if this most recent continuing resolution makes its way to the Senate, I will keep you updated there.

Moving on to quick hitters. The United States Commerce Department proposed a ban on Monday on the import of smart cars that use specific Chinese or Russian technology because of national security concerns. A U.S. investigation found a range of national security risks from embedded software and hardware from China and Russia and U.S. vehicles, including the possibility of remote sabotage by hacking and the collection of personal data on drivers.

The ban, if finalized, would not apply to cars that are already on the road. Instead, the software ban would take effect for cars for model year 2027 and the hardware ban for model year 2030.

In other news, a Colorado jury convicted a 25-year-old man of 10 counts of first-degree murder in a 2021 shooting at a grocery store in Boulder that killed 10, including a police officer. The defendant had tried to offer an insanity defense after being diagnosed with schizophrenia, but the jury instead found him guilty on all counts. His mandatory sentence is life in prison without the possibility of parole.

On Friday, South Carolina executed its first death row inmate in 13 years. Freddie Owens, who was found guilty of killing a shop worker during an armed robbery in 1997, was killed via the lethal injection. A week before his execution, his co-defendant actually signed a sworn statement claiming Owens was not in fact present at the time of the robbery and the killing, but the South Carolina Supreme Court refused to

Owens' execution, saying his co-defendants' claims were inconsistent with his prior testimony at Owens' trial.

And finally, Microsoft has partnered up with Constellation Energy in a 20-year agreement to reopen Three Mile Island to power Microsoft's data centers, though this time the plant will have a different name, Crane Clean Energy. The partial nuclear reactor meltdown that happened at Three Mile Island happened in 1979, and it became the worst commercial nuclear accident in U.S. history.

So it's worth noting that the reactor that will be reopened to power Microsoft's data centers was not the reactor involved in the 1979 accident. And now for a little critical thinking, for those that may be new here, I like to close out these episodes with a little critical thinking exercise because it's something we could all do a little more of these days. So for today, let's go back to that government funding dilemma, specifically

the hypothetical situation where the government does shut down because either an agreement can't be reached on the appropriations bills or House Republicans can't successfully get their policies attached to a continuing resolution. Speaker Johnson called a potential government shutdown, quote, political malpractice, end quote. So the question I have for you is, why could this be seen by some as

political malpractice. What exactly would be considered malpractice? And to get you thinking even more than that, think about some of the pros and cons of a government shutdown. Are there any pros? One obvious con is that federal employees can't get paid if the government shuts down and these departments don't have funding. But what are some other cons? And you can think about the pros and cons as they exist specifically in an election year. You can think about the

pros and cons in a more general sense, but either way, give it some thought. That is what I have for you today. Thank you so much for being here as always, and I will talk to you on Thursday.