President Joe Biden arrived in France to commemorate D-Day as his executive action on the southern border takes effect. And one major league player is banned for life after betting on baseball games. These stories and more highlight The Morning Rundown for Wednesday, June 5.
President Biden in France as U.S. border restrictions take effect
President Joe Biden arrived in France Wednesday, June 5, to join dozens of world leaders and World War II veterans to commemorate 80 years since D-Day. The president’s overseas trip comes as his executive order to address the growing crisis at the U.S.’ southern border went into effect at midnight.
The White House said Biden’s five-day trip in France will include speeches at Normandy that will see the president focus on the importance of America having European allies, as well as the need for countries to stand up to dictators.
While in France, Biden will also meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy concerning the ongoing war with Russia and speak with French President Emmanuel Macron about the U.S. and France’s continued support of Ukraine.
Biden’s executive action will temporarily shut off access to asylum for migrants who cross the U.S. southern border illegally.
The order allows the U.S. to move more quickly to reject migrants who cross illegally and remove from them the country if the daily average of encounters tops 2,500. The asylum restrictions will remain in place until the daily average falls below 1,500.
In a speech Tuesday, June 4, from the White House, the president said he made the move after a bipartisan measure failed in Congress earlier this year. This put the blame on Republicans and the presumptive GOP nominee for the November election, former President Donald Trump.
“Frankly, I would have preferred to address this issue through bipartisan legislation,” the president said. “Because that’s the only way to actually get the kind of system we have now — that’s broken — fixed: to hire more border patrol agents, more asylum officers, more judges. But Republicans have left me with no choice.”
Biden said the order will help the U.S. gain control of the border, but it is facing criticism. The American Civil Liberties Union called a ban on asylum illegal, and House Republicans say the move is “a desperate political stunt” in an election year.
Hunter Biden federal gun trial continues
Testimony continues Wednesday, June 5, for the first witness in Hunter Biden’s federal gun trial. On Tuesday, June 4, FBI Special Agent Erika Jensen testified about text messages, bank records and writings about Hunter Biden’s drug use.
The case centers around whether the president’s son bought a gun illegally while addicted to drugs.
Prosecutors played excerpts from Hunter Biden’s audiobook memoir — which he narrated himself — as he detailed his struggles with crack cocaine addiction in early 2018, just months before buying a gun. They say he purposely lied about his drug use on a federal form in order to buy that gun.
His defense did not argue Hunter Biden has struggled with addiction but said he did not lie on the form, rather, he misunderstood it. They say he was not actively on drugs when he bought the gun, which is why he filled out the form saying he was not a drug user.
The trial resumes Wednesday with the FBI agent returning to the stand as the defense finishes up its cross examination. Prosecutors are then expected to call Hunter Biden’s ex-wife Kathleen Buhle to testify.
New Jersey holds primary elections amid Menendez trial
New Jersey held its primary elections on Tuesday, June 4, amid the criminal trial of Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.Y. Andy Kim, a three-term Congressman, defeated his opponents to win his party’s nomination for the U.S. Senate seat held by Menendez.
Hotel operator Curtis Bashaw won the Republican primary.
Though Menendez is on trial facing corruption charges, he announced his intentions to run in November as an Independent after saying he would not seek reelection as a Democrat. Menendez has said he hopes to be cleared of the charges in the summer.
Also on Tuesday, the embattled senator’s son, U.S. Congressman Rob Menendez, won his race as he looks for a second term in office.
AT&T says service outage is resolved
AT&T says it has resolved a nationwide service outage that kept some of its customers from making calls to other wireless carriers on Tuesday, Jun 4. On Tuesday, AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile said they were all experiencing technical issues.
Customers in multiple states — mostly in the northeast — said they were unable to complete calls, prompting the Federal Communications Commission to investigate.
AT&T says it’s fixed what it called an “interoperability issue” and has credited customers a full day of service for the inconvenience.
This is the second time in just three months AT&T has experienced an outage. In late February, more than 70,000 AT&T customers across the country experienced a similar outage following a software update, according to the company.
Tucupita Marcano gets lifetime MLB ban for betting on baseball
In a move that hasn’t been seen in a century, Major League Baseball has banned San Diego Padres outfielder Tucupita Marcano for life for betting on the sport. MLB said he placed hundreds of bets on baseball, including wagers on games involving the Pittsburgh Pirates when he was with the team last season.
Marcano, who was sidelined this season with a knee injury, was found to have placed 387 bets totaling more than $150,000 on games — 231 of which were major league games.
MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred emphasized the importance of this enforcement to maintain the sport’s integrity. The league has also suspended four other players for one year due to their gambling activities.
The last Major League Baseball player to be banned for gambling was New York Giants Outfield Jimmy O’Connell in 1924.
Pregnant woman to be featured on cereal box for first time ever
For the first time ever, according to Kellogg’s, a pregnant woman will be featured on a cereal box. Cookbook author and chef Molly Baz will be on a special edition of the brand’s Special K cereal.
It’s part of Kellogg’s “special for a reason” campaign, which the company says features “inspiring individuals.”
Baz recently made headlines after a billboard of her promoting a breastfeeding supply company was reportedly pulled out of rotation in New York’s Times Square.
Kellogg’s said as part of its collaboration with Baz, the cereal giant will be donating $25,000 to the United Way’s Women United program, which works to build “powerful network of women who strengthen our community through an investment of talent, compassion and philanthropy.”
