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Governors at odds with Pentagon plan to move National Guard units to Space Force
By
Mike Brest
May 2, 2024 5:33 pm
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Nearly every governor opposes a Pentagon plan to unilaterally shift space-focused Air National Guard units from their purview to the U.S. Space Force.

The governors of 48 states and five territories signed on to a letter earlier this week to Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin expressing their opposition to a proposal sent to Congress in March that would allow for the Air National Guard space operations to be incorporated into Space Force. It would effectively remove the governors’ authority over those units.

“The proposal to move National Guard units to the space force without consultation or approval from governors is totally unacceptable,” Gov. Spencer Cox (R-UT), chairman of the National Governors Association, said in a statement.

The governors of American Samoa, Puerto Rico, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the Virgin Islands also signed on to the letter.

“National Guard assets are critical components of states’ and territories’ responses to crises. Governors must maintain full authority as Commanders in Chief of these assets to effectively protect operational readiness and America’s communities,” the governors said. “Legislation that sidesteps, eliminates or otherwise reduces Governors’ authority within their states and territories undermines longstanding partnerships, precedence, military readiness and operational efficacy.”

Specifically, the proposal seeks to waive Section 104 of Title 32 and Section 18238 of Title 10 of the U.S. Code, which states that “no change in the branch, organization or allotment of a unit located entirely within a state may be made without the approval of its governor” and that National Guard units cannot “be relocated or withdrawn under this chapter without the consent of the governor of the state.”

Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall told a Senate panel in late March that this is “a unique situation,” and he confirmed, “There’s absolutely no intention to make any other changes, moving things out of the guard.”

He also said that roughly 700 guard members will eventually settle into roles in the Space Force in this plan.

more
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/defense/2988710/governors-odds-pentagon-plan-move-national-guard-units-space-force/

2 hours ago
Trump says he will not debate RFK Jr. as he leaves court: 'He's not a serious candidate'
By Post Staff Report

Donald Trump said he would not debate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., citing his low polling numbers in comments made after he left court Thursday.

"I don't know anything about him," Trump said. "RFK is polling very low. He's not a serious candidate. They say he hurts [Joe] Biden, I don't know who he hurts. He won't hurt me."

"He's got to get his numbers up a lot higher before he's credible. The numbers that he's taken away they say will be against Biden but I don't know, I'm not so sure – it could be a little bit against me. I don't see him as a factor."

Just a few weeks earlier, Trump urged liberals to vote for RFK Jr. in the election, claiming that he is a "better man than Joe Biden."

“RFK Jr. is, as you know, the most radical left candidate in the race. He’s more so than the Green Party. He’s more so than even crooked Joe Biden. But he’s got some nice things about him. I happen to like him,” Trump, 77, said in a video posted on Truth Social.

RFK Jr., an independent candidate, has long been viewed as a possible spoiler candidate who could steal votes from Biden.

The 70-year-old even offered the sitting president a "no spoiler" challenge to determine who has the best chance of defeating Trump in the 2024 election.

Also in his post-trial remarks, Trump claimed that he is "not allowed" to testify in the "hush money" trial because he is under an "unconstitutional" gag order.

The former president had said last week he would testify during this trial and the gag order would not prevent his ability to do so.

https://nypost.com/2024/05/02/us-news/trumps-hush-money-nyc-trial-live-updates-photos-testimony-more/

3 hours ago
Michael Cohen secretly recorded telling Trump about company he wanted to open for 'info regarding our friend David'
By Ben Kochman

Jurors just heard Donald Trump's voice on a conversation secretly recorded by Michael Cohen in which Cohen tells Trump, "I need to open up a company for a transfer of all that info regarding our friend 'David.'"

“I’ve spoken to Allen Weisselberg about how to set the whole thing up,” Cohen adds to Trump on the recording, referring to the long-time chief financial officer of the Trump Organization.

“Let me know what’s happening, OK?” Trump can be heard saying.

Prosecutors did not immediately explain the relevance of the recording, or who "David" refers to.

But the publisher of the National Enquirer, which orchestrated a separate payoff to Trump's other alleged lover Karen McDougal, is David Pecker.

an hour ago
Here's what happened on Day 10 of Trump's 'hush money' criminal trial

Day 10 of Trump's "hush money" criminal trial is in the books. Here's what happened.

— Stormy Daniels' lawyer Keith Davidson testified that Michael Cohen whined in a post 2016 election phone call that Donald Trump still owed him a $130,000 reimbursement for paying the porn star Daniels to keep quiet about a sexual encounter, and griped that he was stiffed on a spot in Trump’s White House.

— Trump's lawyers unearthed Davidson’s unsavory past dealings during a tense cross-examination, pointing out that he represented clients who were paid hush money by actor Charlie Sheen, and asking him whether he got another client paid for leaking Lindsay Lohan’s medical files to TMZ.

— Davidson cheekily testified that the $130,000 that Daniels received from Cohen to buy her silence about the alleged one-night stand “wasn’t a payoff, and it wasn’t hush money.” The lawyer cheekily testified that he prefers to describe the arrangement as a “consideration in a civil settlement.”

— Trump was warned about speaking about jurors at the trial in a morning hearing on whether he had violated the court's limited "gag order" that's meant to stop him from bashing jurors and witnesses. Prosecutors asked to fine him $4,000 on top of $9,000 he's already been fined.

— Jurors heard a potentially damning piece of evidence right at the buzzer Thursday afternoon: Cohen telling Trump on a recording “I need to open up a company” regarding a “transfer” involving “our friend David." Prosecutors did not explain the recording, but it could be a reference to David Pecker, the publisher of the National Enquirer, which arranged a $150,000 payoff that silenced another of Trump's alleged lovers, the Playboy Playmate Karen McDougal.

The trial will start up again Friday morning with Douglas Daus, a forensic analyst at the Manhattan DA’s office, still on the stand.