Month: November 2023

On Thursday, health officials in Puerto Rico declared an influenza epidemic in the U.S. territory. Health officials said there were plenty of vaccines, tests and treatments available on the island; however, the island has struggled with a deteriorating health care system, which experts say was worsened by Hurricane Maria in 2017 and Hurricane Fiona last September.

Secretary of Health of Puerto Rico, Carlos Mellado López, said on social media:“Today we declared an influenza epidemic after registering a sustained increase in cases, hospitalizations and fatalities throughout the island of people infected with the virus. The call is to join the prevention measures to confront the spread of this virus.”

Mellado said that at least 25,900 cases have been reported since July, with 42 deaths and more than 900 hospitalizations on the island of 3.2 million people. Epidemiologist Melissa Marzán noted that officials have seen nearly six times more cases so far this year compared with the same period last year; Mellado said that those who are 0 to 19 years old have been most affected, with more than 13,600 cases reported in that population.

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Chairman James Comer of the House Oversight Committee announced that President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter Biden; his brother, James Biden; and Hunter Biden’s business associate Rob Walker were subpoenaed, demanding they appear for depositions. Other Biden family members were asked to sit for interviews Wednesday in the House Oversight Committee’s ongoing presidential impeachment inquiry.

The subpoenas are in relation to the panel’s ongoing impeachment inquiry into President Biden; the committee had previously subpoenaed banks for records belonging to Hunter and James Biden. Biden’s son, Hunter, was called to appear for a deposition on Dec. 13. Biden’s brother James and business associate Rob Walker are scheduled for Dec. 6 and Nov. 29, respectively.

In addition to the subpoenas, the committee is requesting transcribed interviews with other Biden family members and associates, including both Hunter Biden’s wife, Melissa Cohen, and the widow of Beau Biden, Hallie Biden. Also asked for transcribed interviews were James Biden’s wife, Sara; Elizabeth Secundy, the older sister of Hallie Biden; and Tony Bobulinski a former business associate of Hunter Biden.

Comer said: “The House Oversight Committee has followed the money and built a record of evidence revealing how Joe Biden knew, was involved, and benefited from his family’s influence peddling schemes. Now, the House Oversight Committee is going to bring in members of the Biden family and their associates to question them on this record of evidence.”  The committee said: “The Biden family, their business associates, and their companies received over $24 million from foreign nationals over the course of approximately five years — including millions of dollars from China, Russia, Ukraine, Romania, and Kazakhstan. The Bidens and their associates made complicated financial transactions to conceal the source and total amount of money they received from foreign nationals and companies.”

White House spokesman Ian Sams said the ongoing inquiry has “turned up no evidence to support their outlandish allegations of bribery and ‘high crimes and misdemeanors .. Instead of using the power of Congress to pursue a partisan political smear campaign against the president and his family, extreme House Republicans should do their jobs.”

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Former president Trump’s daughter, Ivanka Trump, testified Wednesday that she was not involved in fraudulent Trump Organization financial statements. Ivanka Trump’s testimony began Wednesday in the New York civil business fraud trial against her father, brothers and the Trump Organization, where she stated she had not worked for the business since 2017.

When Ivanka was asked about a financial statement that has been deemed fraudulent by Judge Arthur Engoron, she said she was not involved and doesn’t know what valuations it contained; however under questioning by the New York attorney general’s office lawyer Louis Solomon, Ivanka Trump admitted she was paid a profit from the Trump Organization 2022 sale of the Old Post Office Building in Washington. Ivanka Trump repeatedly replied “I don’t recall” while on the witness stand, when asked about documents as well as letters and emails she wrote presented to her by the attorney general’s lawyer questioning her. As Solomon continued his questioning about business transactions more than a decade old, Ivanka Trump told Solomon she had given him the same answers to these questions a year and a half ago.

Ivanka Trump was dropped as a defendant in the case when an appeals court ruled her work at the Trump Organization happened too long ago; however, New York Attorney General Letitia James told reporters Wednesday morning that Ivanka is “inextricably tied to the Trump Organization.” Ivanka Trump once served as the executive vice president of the Trump Organization before she became a senior White House adviser after Trump won the 2016 election, forcing her to step away from her role in the family business.

Ivanka is the last Trump to testify in the penalty phase of the $250 million civil fraud trial against her father Donald Trump after he was found liable for inflating the value of his real estate properties in New York. Since her father left office in 2021, Ivanka Trump has neither sought public office nor taken part in his 2024 campaign.

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