CNN obtains tape of Trump’s conversation about classified docs

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Tuesday 06.27.23

Consider this a wake-up call: Earth's axis is shifting and we only have ourselves to blame, according to a new study. Here's what else you need to know to Get Up to Speed and On With Your Day.

By Harmeet Kaur

Trump

CNN has obtained an audio recording of a 2021 meeting in which former President Donald Trump discusses holding secret documents that he did not declassify. In the recording, Trump appears to be showing several people in the room a classified Pentagon document with plans to attack Iran — which would contradict his recent claims that he didn't have any sensitive papers with him at the time. The recording is expected to be a central piece of the federal government's case against the former president. Earlier this month, Trump pleaded not guilty to 37 counts related to the alleged mishandling of classified documents. The next hearing in the case is set for July 14.

Russia

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin have both broken their silence after the paramilitary group's insurrection over the weekend. In a nationwide address on Monday, Putin said the mercenary fighters made the "right decision" by halting their advance, adding that the revolt "would have been suppressed anyway." Meanwhile, Prigozhin said that he called off the uprising to prevent Russian bloodshed and that it was a protest — not an attempt to topple the government. And in a related development, Russia's Federal Security Service said today it will drop the case against Wagner. Separately, sources told CNN that the US had advance warning of Prigozhin's plans. It's yet another sign that "the US is getting high-grade, accurate intelligence from inside Russia," writes CNN's Stephen Collinson.

Extreme weather

Nearly 45 million people across the US are in the midst of a heat wave that's expected to worsen in the coming days. A heat dome in the South is creating dangerous conditions, with Arizona, New Mexico and Texas seeing temperatures in the 100s today. Meteorologists say the heat wave could continue through early next week, while large parts of the country are at risk of hotter-than-average temperatures over the next three months. Besides being wildly uncomfortable, extreme heat has other implications. Power grid officials recently warned that two-thirds of North America could face blackouts this summer. Just in case, here are a few tips to keep cool without AC.

January 6

Senate Democrats have released a new report on the January 6 attack on the US Capitol, and it is damning. In their assessment, lawmakers on the Senate Homeland Security Committee concluded that the attack was "essentially planned in plain sight on social media" and accused the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security of dropping the ball. The report includes new details about how top intelligence officials either ignored or dismissed clear signs of potential violence by pro-Trump actors, which left law enforcement unprepared for the events of that day. Still, the report pointed to Trump as "the primary cause of the insurrection." A special counsel is currently overseeing a criminal investigation into January 6 and efforts to overturn the 2020 election.

Voting rights

The Supreme Court is allowing a Louisiana congressional map to be redrawn to add another majority-Black district, lifting a hold on a lower court ruling. Republican lawmakers in Louisiana adopted a congressional map last year that made only one of its six districts majority Black, even though a third of the state's population is Black. A lower court judge found that the map likely violated the Voting Rights Act and blocked it, but the Supreme Court froze the ruling while it decided a similar case in Alabama earlier this month, in which the court unexpectedly sided with Black voters in the state. The rulings in Louisiana and Alabama could improve Democrats' odds of controlling the House in the next election. The justices are also expected to decide on cases around affirmative action, LGBTQ rights and other issues this week.

Trump aide Walt Nauta to be arraigned in classified documents case
Walt Nauta, an aide charged alongside former President Donald Trump for the alleged mishandling of classified documents from the White House, is expected to plead not guilty to several charges in a Miami federal court later this morning. Nauta faces six counts, including several obstruction and concealment-related charges stemming from the alleged conduct.

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John Goodenough, the Nobel Prize-winning engineer whose discoveries led to the development of lithium-ion batteries, has died at 100

If you're reading this on a portable device, you have him to thank.

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$42.5 billion

That's how much federal funding will be distributed across US states and territories for high-speed internet access, the White House said Monday. It's part of a push to close the country's digital divide.

We hope he never has another day of peace.

— The family of Derrick Rump, who was among those killed in the Club Q massacre in Colorado Springs, in an audio recording played at the sentencing of the 23-year-old mass shooter. Anderson Lee Aldrich was sentenced Monday to five consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole for the 2022 attack on the LGBTQ nightclub.

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