Three Russian Navy ships and a nuclear-powered submarine will arrive at the Port of Havana for an official visit next week, the Cuban armed forces said in a statement Thursday, confirming the military exercises first disclosed by U.S. officials on Wednesday.

The Cuban Revolutionary Armed Forces said the Russian missile frigate Admiral Gorshkov, the nuclear sub Kazan, the oil tanker Pashin and the salvage tug Nikolai Chiker will arrive on June 12 and stay for a week.

The Cuban military said the visit by the Russian Navy ships is part of the “friendly” relations between the two countries, complies with international law and does not pose a security threat to the region because “none of the ships carry nuclear weapons.”

A U.S. official told McClatchy and the Miami Herald on Wednesday that the exercises are expected to include “heightened naval and air activity near the United States,” involving both Russian aircraft and combat naval vessels – the first coordinated air and sea exercise by Russia in the Western Hemisphere in five years.

“While we are disappointed that Cuba has likely agreed to host visiting Russian ships, we are not surprised,” the official said Thursday. While one of the ships is a nuclear-powered submarine, the official said that the U.S. intelligence community “assesses it is not carrying nuclear weapons, and poses no direct threat to the national security of the United States.”

Administration officials suspect that Cuba approved the Russian port call “at least in part” over an incident last year in which a U.S. nuclear submarine docked at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, angering the Cubans, the U.S. official said.

“We are not surprised by it given Russia’s long history of Cuban port calls,” the official said. “These are routine naval visits that are part of Russian military exercises, which have ratcheted up because of U.S. support to Ukraine and exercise activity in support of our NATO allies.”

The warships are part of the Russian Navy Northern fleet and departed on May 17 on “a long voyage… to demonstrate the Russian flag and ensure naval presence in important areas of the distant oceanic zone,” the Russian government news agency Tass reported Thursday.

According to the Tass report, the Admiral Gorshkov frigate held an artillery fire exercise at an air target in the Atlantic Ocean. The ship “fired AK-192M artillery complex and Palash antiaircraft missiles at an imitated air target,” the report says.

The warship joined the Navy in 2018 and was updated to carry hypersonic Zircon cruise missiles, a new complex and expensive missile recently developed by Russia.

The Kazan submarine also joined the fleet recently in 2021 and can carry long-range precision missiles capable of destroying land, sea and underwater targets, Tass reported in April.

The Cuban government did not mention military exercises in its statement but highlighted “cultural” activities.

“During their stay, the Russian sailors will carry out a program of activities that includes courtesy visits to the Chief of the Revolutionary War Navy and the Governor of Havana. They will also visit places of historical and cultural interest.”

According to the U.S. Navy Institute, Russian submarines have been visiting Cuban ports since 1969. Russian spy ships have been spotted unannounced at the port of Havana on several occasions, including ahead of Russia’s invasion of Crimea in 2014, days before U.S.-Cuba talks in Havana in 2015 and on March 2018. The Russian navy’s training class ship Perekop sailed into Havana in July last year.

President Biden was spotted awkwardly fumbling for his seat as other dignitaries remained standing during a poignant D-Day commemoration ceremony in France on Thursday.

The 81-year-old could be seen grasping for his chair in the middle of the stage in Normandy, France — despite his wife, First Lady Jill Biden, and French President Emmanuel Macron remaining upright beside him.

The first lady quickly covered her mouth at the exact moment Biden appeared to hover over his chair.

The commander in chief then froze awkwardly until the others took their seats, footage of the bizarre moment shows.

Social media erupted immediately after the fumble was caught on camera, with many wagering that the first lady had been discreetly ordering her husband not to take his seat just yet.

It wasn’t immediately clear, though, if Jill did utter anything to Biden in the moment.

Biden in France for D-Day, just tried to sit on an invisible chair. pic.twitter.com/HW3PrTk4sZ

— Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧 (@TRobinsonNewEra) June 6, 2024

The footage, which quickly went viral, led some to wildly speculate about the president’s behavior.

Elsewhere during the ceremony, the cameras captured Biden with his eyes closed, prompting some to claim he was dozing off.

Another clip circulating on social media later showed the 46th president appearing lost after shaking hands with Macron — before a handler ushered him away in the right direction.

The Bidens were among the world leaders and veterans to gather on the beaches of Normandy on Thursday to mark the 80th anniversary of the June 6, 1944, invasion that helped bring about the end of World War II.

Elsewhere during the ceremony, which took place at the Normandy American Cemetery, Biden had said it was the highest honor to salute the assembled US veterans, some huddled in warm blankets.

He turned to tell them: “God love ya.”

“The men who fought here became heroes,” Biden said. “They knew beyond any doubt there are things that are worth fighting and dying for.”

Hunter Biden ex-girlfriend Hallie Biden began testimony in the first son’s gun trial Thursday, describing how she discovered Hunter was using drugs and how she disposed of the weapon at the center of the case.

Hallie Biden, the widow of Hunter Biden’s brother, Beau, dated the younger Biden shortly after his older brother passed away in 2015 and during the key period in the case.

During the period Hunter Biden was allegedly using cocaine, Hallie Biden testified that she found a firearm in Hunter’s car, according to CNN.

“I panicked and wanted to get rid of them,” she said of the guns and bullets she found. “I didn’t want him to hurt himself,” she added. Hallie also said she found “remnants of crack cocaine.”

Hallie says she decided to get rid of the gun. “I took it to a grocery store up the road and I threw it away … into a trash can,” she testified.

“I was so flustered,” she said. “I realize it was a stupid idea now.” She later returned to the store to try and find the firearm because Hunter became angry with her.

However, under cross examination from Hunter Biden’s defense lawyers, Hallie admitted that she didn’t see Hunter using drugs during the October 2016 period when he was in Wilmington, Delaware and purchased the gun.

Hallie also said Hunter would often lie to her about his whereabouts or what he was doing under cross examination, according to NBC News. Hunter Biden defense attorney, Abbe Lowell, used this to suggest that the defendant’s texts to Hallie may not be reliable for determining his location or actions.

Hallie appeared to struggle to recall in detail the timeline of Oct. 23, the day she found Hunter’s gun. The prosecution protested that Lowell was using text message evidence to lead the witness which spurred the judge to direct the witness to answer only based on her own memories.

Earlier in the questioning, she told jurors that she first discovered Hunter Biden’s drug use in the 2015-2016 period, shortly after her husband passed away and she began a “gradual” romantic relationship with Hunter.

“I found it, and I googled it,” she testified about when she originally discovered the crack cocaine. She says she confronted him about it in 2017 saying “this can’t go on, we can’t do this,” according to CNN.

Later though, Hunter Biden would introduce her to the drug and she would go on to use it alongside her boyfriend. “It was a terrible experience that I went through. I’m embarrassed, and I’m ashamed and I regret that period of my life,” she testified.

The gun-purchase trial for presidential son Hunter Biden enters its fourth day Thursday after testimony the previous day from the defendant’s ex-wife, Kathleen Buhle; ex-girlfriend Zoe Kestan; and gun shop employee Gordon Cleveland.

Biden faces federal charges for allegedly lying on a gun-purchase application in 2018 about his drug addiction at the time he bought the revolver.

Kestan told the court in Wilmington, Delaware, about the defendant’s need for crack cocaine every 20 minutes and how his worsening addiction ruined his first marriage, according to Fox News.

“He would want to smoke the second he woke up,” she testified.

She met Biden when working at gentleman’s club in New York City when she was 24 and he was 48.

The specific charges against Biden are: making a false statement in the purchase of a gun, making a false statement related to information required to be kept by a federally-licensed gun dealer and possession of a gun by a person who is an unlawful user of or addicted to a controlled substance. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges, after having failed to reach a plea agreement with federal prosecutors.

If found guilty on all charges, Biden would face as many as 25 years behind bars.

Buhle, Hunter Biden’s ex-wife of more than 20 years and with whom he shares three daughters, detailed her suspicions of her then-husband’s rampant drug use after he was discharged from the Navy Reserves for testing positive for cocaine, also according to Fox News.

I was definitely worried, scared,” she said.

Cleveland gave the court details about the gun purchase, saying Biden, the son of President Biden, entered the store with the intention of buying a gun and bought a Cobra Colt .38 along with ammunition and other related items.

Cleveland said he gave Biden a federal gun form to complete, explaining the instructed to him, told him to take his time and answer the form “truthfully.” He said he was just a couple of feet away as Biden filled out the form, including the question that asked whether the applicant was an unlawful user of or addicted to drugs.

Cleveland said Biden checked the box that said he was not addicted to drugs, Fox News also reports.

A political commentator was sacked from The Hill — days after rolling her eyes while interviewing the sister of an Israeli abducted on Oct. 7 victim.

“It finally happened. The Hill has fired me,” Briahna Joy Gray wrote on X Thursday. “There should be no doubt that @RisingTheHill has a clear pattern of suppressing speech — particularly when it’s critical of the state of Israel.”

An outlet spokesperson also confirmed to The Post she was no longer employed at The Hill.

In a follow-up tweet, Gray said her firing was “clearly part of a coordinated effort.”

Gray, Sen. Bernie Sanders’ former press secretary during the 2020 election, was slammed for her treatment of Yarden Gonen, the sister of Romi Gonen, who was kidnapped by Hamas on Oct. 7, during an interview on Tuesday.

When Yarden Gonen told Gray that she hopes she believes female victims who say they were sexually assaulted by Hamas terrorists, Gray rolled her eyes and abruptly ended the interview, video shows.

“I really hope that you, specifically, will believe women when they say that they got hurt,” Gonen said.

The vile demon Briahna Joy Gray has been fired from The Hill for rolling her eyes at the family member of a hostage asking for compassion for rape victims.

She deserves nothing but bankruptcy and misery as she tries to grift her way out of this.

pic.twitter.com/gqFMZi4iZX

— Nioh Berg ♛ ✡︎ אסתר (@NiohBerg) June 6, 2024

Gray lets out a sigh, appears to roll her eyes and says, “All right thanks for joining. Stick around,” as Gonen is still trying to get a word in.

Romi Gonen, 23, called her mother while she was in a car fleeing the Nova Music Festival on Oct. 7 and ambushed by Hamas militants.

Her best friend Gaya Halifa, 24, lay dying in front of her.

Yarden Gonen told The Hill that the last she’d heard about her sister was during the November cease-fire deal, when some released hostages recounted some “horrifying things” they experienced.

The released hostages told her they saw Romi on Oct. 7 being dragged by her hair with a wounded arm. At one point she was knocked unconscious after a militant hit her with his weapon.

“This is how you treat people? This is how you treat people?” Yarden asked on the program.

“And this is only the things that happened to my little sister on Oct. 7, and from then, we don’t know what else.”

Gonen said she didn’t want to talk politics when pressed about the situation in Israel by Gray, telling her that she was only there to tell her sister’s story.

When Gonen was asked if she felt that Netanyahu was prioritizing his political aspirations over the lives of hostages, she said it was not her “profession” to comment.

“I am here to talk about my sister; please, help me spread her story. Help me make people understand what she is going through as a woman in 2024,” she said,

Gray’s demeanor during the interview outraged viewers online as the clip circulated on social media.

Hen Mazzig, the founder of the Tel Aviv Insitute, wrote “The Hill’s @briebriejoy rolling her eyes and sighing after Yarden Gonen, sister of a hostage in Gaza, asking her to believe rape victims.

“No low this person won’t sink to, truly disgusting,” he added.

North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum appears to be quickly moving up the list of possible vice presidential picks for former President Trump.

Burgum is one of eight potential VP contenders Trump has requested financial and other documents from as he formalizes the vetting process, Axios’ Mike Allen reports.

The reported list is subject to change.

Burgum, 67, was among the entourage of loyalists who showed up at the Manhattan courthouse last month while Trump was on trial, in an apparent effort to prove allegiance and perhaps audition for the role of VP.

Burgum also spoke alongside Trump at a rally in New Jersey last month, praising the presumptive Republican presidential nominee and knocking President Biden.

Trump called him “incredible” and said: “He made his money in technology, but he probably knows more about energy than anybody I know,” per NBC News. He added: “So get ready for something. OK, just get ready.”

Burgum boasts that under his leadership, North Dakota ranks second in the nation in energy production per capita.

Earlier in his career, Burgum worked at Microsoft as a senior vice president, founded a real estate development firm and cofounded a venture capital firm that invests in software companies.

The North Dakota governor is currently in his second term in a deeply red state.

Burgum ran a long-shot presidential campaign on a platform of business acumen, energy, national security and fiscal responsibility. But he quickly endorsed Trump after dropping out last year before the primaries.

He’s a staunchly conservative businessman and is widely viewed as acceptable to establishment Republicans.

Trump’s team believes he would be a safe choice who could attract moderate voters, Axios’ Sophia Cai and Juliegrace Brufke report.

A plus-sized winner of a Miss Alabama beauty contest has hit back at trolls who called her an ‘unhealthy embarrassment’.

Sara Milliken, 23, was overjoyed when she scooped the top prize in the National American Miss pageant.

But her delight was short lived, as vile trolls quickly began taunting her about her appearance.

‘Even something that you type over a screen can have a lasting impression on people,’ she told WKRG.

‘Even though I’m not at that point, it can lead people to do some very dark things to themselves.’

Among the harsh comments was one from Blaine Tom Mieroughts, who wrote: ‘I thought it was a beauty pageant.’

Randy Hicks added: ‘Is that actually considered attractive in Alabama?’

John Mason said: ‘This should have been (M)iss Jack in the Box winner,’ a cruel reference to the fast food chain.

Others were kinder, with Tracie Stephens-Brooks saying: ‘To know is to love her. This young lady has a heart of gold and will give anyone in need a helping hand. A beautiful obese diva with style, sass and a lot of class.’

Samantha Thrash Duff added: ‘So proud of her! We watched her all weekend and prayed hard that she would come home with that title! She is an amazing, sweet young woman and is going to do great things!;

And David Junior said: ‘Great to finally not see some 100lb, blonde hair blue eyes who wants world peace win! Congrats to Alabama and this Queen!’

Now she is determined not to let the harsh criticism hold her back as she prepares for the national final which will be held in Florida over Thanksgiving.

‘I’ll be honest, it got to me for about five minutes,’ she added . ‘Their words can hurt, even if it is online.

‘I’ve always wanted to spread positivity, and this kind of put me in a position to do exactly that.’

Milliken’s victory was her third attempt at the contest, which says it hopes to foster ‘positive self-image by enhancing natural beauty within’.

She responded to an open call and competed over Memorial Day Weekend by taking part in a series of interviews, volunteer work and presentations.

Scoring in the pageant is based on ‘personality, confidence and communication’, according to organizers.

‘Braces, glasses, skin problems, varying heights, weights and appearances, are all a part of creating the special and unique individual that you are and that we want to celebrate,’ the website states.

Milliken admitted she was shocked by the response to her win, but has since received an influx of support from across the world gaining 2,500 followers across Instagram and Facebook in a single night.

‘No matter what your body looks like, no matter where you come from, you can do anything you set your mind to,’ Milliken said following her victory.

‘I met so many amazing and accomplished women. That was definitely the best part.’

Hundreds of her supporters have since flooded her inbox with offers of everything from dresses to thousands of dollars worth of beauty products to help her in the next round.

While she has been able to dust herself off, Milliken stressed it is not as easy for other victims of cyberbullying as she urged people to be kinder.

Covenant School killer Audrey Elizabeth Hale, a biological female who identified as a transgender male at the time of her March 27, 2023 attack, wrote a three-page journal entry titled “My Imaginary Penis” that was included in the writings recovered from her vehicle.

The Tennessee Star confirmed on Wednesday it obtained nearly four dozen pages of Hale’s writings from a source familiar with the Covenant investigation, including the March 11, 2023 entry discussing her desire to have a male anatomy.

Hale’s diary or journal entry begins with the title “My Imaginary Penis” and includes a crude drawing.

“My penis exists in my head. I swear to god I’m a male,” wrote Hale in the diary or journal recovered by police. She then wrote about her desire to have a penis for the purpose of heterosexual sex with a woman.

While the entry is sexually explicit in nature, Hale also wrote about her experience using the name Aiden, which she began using during her transition. Hale explained that using the name on a job application for a delivery position resulted in issues with the company’s background check.

She also described being raised a girl as “torture.” She claimed she feared “being called a dyke or a f*****” during high school before feeling liberated in college and eventually learning about transgenderism in her early 20s.

“I finally found the answer – that changing one’s gender is possible,” wrote Hale before claiming her mother opposed the idea.

Hale explained, “What she believes, how she grew up, conservatively, and that LGBTQ – especially transgender – was an enigma, nearly non-existent.”

About her parents, Hale added, “I hate parental views; how my mom sees me as a daughter – and she’d not bear to want to lose that daughter because a son would be the death of Audrey.”

On the second page of the entry, Hale continued to disparage her parents for their alleged refusal to support her transition but also wrote about the advent of puberty blockers in 2007.

“I’d kill to have those resources; 2007 was the birth of puberty blockers and a newfound discovery for treatment of non-conforming transgender children,” wrote Hale. She then acknowledged, “I was in the 6th grade, puberty already hit me.”

At the bottom of the second page, and into the third, Hale revealed that she fantasized about experiencing intercourse as a man by creating scenes with her stuffed animals.

“I can pretend to be them [and] do the things boys do [and] experience my boy self as Tony,” which Hale explained is her “stuffed boy doll” which she wrote “is like the boy I am in another form.”

In the entry, Hale proceeded to describe simulating intercourse between the “stuffed boy doll” and another stuffed animal over the course of hours.

According to Hale, she began taking photos of the fantasy enactment and became so enamored that she lost track of time and could not visit the gym.

“God, I am such a pervert.” Hale wrote, “I waste too much time in my fantasies.”

Hale wrote the entry just 16 days before committing her attack on the Covenant School, which claimed the lives of three 9-year-old students and three adults.

Cynthia Petion claimed the idea to start a crypto investing platform came to her while she was brushing her teeth one morning, like a “vision from God.”

So she formed NovaTechFX in 2019 and declared herself “Reverend CEO,” pitching her service to churchgoing members of America’s Haitian community, promising returns of up to 200% within a year.

Over the next three years, investigators say Petion and her husband, Eddy, brought in $1 billion worth of cryptocurrency investments. But it was all a scam — a smoothly-run Ponzi scheme that targeted tens of thousands of investors, mostly poor immigrants, said New York Attorney General Letitia James.

Then in 2022, as the scheme was about to collapse, the Petions quietly sold their Florida home and moved to Panama. Soon after, NovaTechFX collapsed, James said.

On Thursday, James filed a lawsuit against the Petions and NovaTech’s top executives, seeking to recover the money that was lost and to bar them from ever selling investments in New York state ever again.

“The defendants marketed to investors most in need of income and least able to afford a loss by advertising their schemes as a train to ‘financial freedom’ and ‘freedom from the plantation,’” the suit said. “Cynthia Petion knew that ‘it’s never the ones who grew up rich who invest in these programs.’”

It wasn’t immediately clear Petion and her husband had retained attorneys and a message sent to Cynthia Petion wasn’t immediately returned.

While Cynthia Petion presented herself as a God-fearing shepard of her investors’ money, proclaiming that “Jesus was the best affiliate marketer in the world,” behind the scenes, she callously dismissed those giving her money as mindless sheep, James said in the suit.

“People join and follow mindlessly… They don’t think. They just agree with everything you say,” the suit quoted Petion as telling a deputy, describing herself as a “zookeeper.”

When the deputy told Petion that “some people will never see the vision you see in NovaTech,” the suit quoted her as replying: “They see it when you drive by in that Bentley.”

James’ suit said the NovaTech scam was born out of the ashes of an earlier crypto fraud called AWS Mining that fell apart in 2019. In that scheme, James said Petion told investors that their money would be used to finance a crypto-mining operation in Paraguay that would generate returns of up to 200% in 15 months.

But that too was a Ponzi scheme, James said, with the money being used primarily to line the pockets of the top people running the scam and to pay out earlier investors. That scheme also targeted members of the Haitian community, James said.

As the scheme began to unravel, Petion and some of her top lieutenants began a ploy in which they would pretend to receive a phone call during an investor meeting claiming that the crypto-mining facility had caught fire and burned down, the suit said. The defendants used this ruse at multiple investor events, in some cases even showing video of the site purportedly on fire.

Tens of millions of dollars were lost as a result of the AWS scheme, the suit said.

Following the collapse of AWS, Petion began the new scam, the lawsuit said, this time with a religious theme and more firmly focused on religious Haitians. Taking out ads in Haitian Creole on social media and on Haitian media platforms, the NovaTech scheme offered high returns, claiming the money would be used to invest in cryptocurrencies and foreign exchange.

Of the nearly $1 billion that came in, James said only about $26 million was ever actually invested. The rest was kept by the high-level operators of the group or to pay out earlier investors, the suit alleged.

In 2022, regulators in several states, including Washington and Wisconsin, began sending cease-and-desist orders to the Petions, claiming they weren’t licensed investment brokers and couldn’t legally solicit investments in those states.

The fund also drew the attention of officials in Russia, South Africa, Estonia, Nigeria, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, the British Virgin Islands and multiple provinces in Canada, which all moved to block NovaTechFX from operating in their countries.

In May 2023, the NovaTech scheme collapsed and investors were no longer able to redeem their money, the suit said.

In the suit, James detailed the situations of several New York investors, including a retired bus driver on disability, who she said lost $200,000 in the scam. In all, James said her office had identified 11,000 New York residents who were duped in the scheme.

Earlier this year, a number of investors filed a $2 billion civil suit against the Petions seeking to recoup their money.

At the time that suit was filled, Cynthia Petion published a post on Instagram stating that she was working to return all the money that was tied up.

“Every day we are working diligently to address this issue and ensure the continued trust and satisfaction of our customers. If your funds are still held within our platform, we encourage you to reach out to us directly so that we can process your payout manually,” the post read.

Dozens of replies to the post said that they had been messaging NovaTech for months about their money but had received no reply.

Donald Trump has narrowed his search for a vice presidential candidate to just seven contenders and has begun requesting information from each.

Among those in the running are North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, Florida’s Marco Rubio, Ohio Sen. JD Vance and South Carolina’s Tim Scott, according to campaign sources cited by Fox News.

Florida Rep. Byron Donalds, New York Rep. Elise Stefanik, and Trump’s 2016 rival-turned cabinet member Ben Carson were also said to be on the list – a set of seven who will vetted after they fill out the forms, two others said.

The paperwork sent to each reportedly varies, one of the sources said, as reps for each of the rumored candidates did not respond to requests for comment.

Aides, meanwhile, have cautioned that Trump’s list is not concrete and ever-evolving – and that, at the end of the day, the decision will ultimately be up to him.

‘Anyone claiming to know who or when President Trump will choose his VP is lying,’ Trump campaign spokesperson Brian Hughes said in a statement.

He quickly added: ‘[U]nless the person is named Donald J. Trump.’

The news – first reported by NBC – comes a week after Trump was found guilty by a jury in Manhattan of 34 counts of falsifying business records in a criminal hush money trial, for which he will be sentenced next month.

He has said he may wait until the upcoming Republican National Convention to unveil the right person, which would be in July – just a few days after he is set to be sentence in his criminal case.

In the interim, the other spot on the GOP ticket remains largely unknown – further fueling speculation.

In an appearance on Newsmax the day before, Trump listed Scott, Burgum, Rubio, Vance and Carson as among those in contention.

While NBC was the first to report the development, ABC was the one to initially report on the list, which bore additional names such as Stefanik and Burgum.

Stefanik, along with figures like Vance and Donalds, have been steadily rising though the ranks of the GOP for years, each aligning themselves with the potential two-time president at some point in the process.

Vance, for instance, a military vet who grew up in a dysfunctional family in the exurbs of Cincinnati, represents the Rust Belt that carried Trump to an upset victory in 2016.

He earned national recognition upon defeating a competitive field of Republicans and a formidable Democrat in a 2022 midterm, becoming the U.S. Senator for Ohio as a result.

Stefanik, meanwhile, is one of the 10 Republicans who serve New York, and has become a top Trump VP contender thanks to her status as chair of the Republican conference, and one of the most influential women in her party.

She’s also only 39, indicating a potential propensity toward a younger person filling the hole left behind by longtime conservative Pence.

Donalds, 45, also fits that profile, following an unsuccessful quest to become one of the youngest house speakers in history.

That bid fell flat last year, as did an attempt from Burgum, 67, to beat out Trump for the GOP nomination.

Carson and Rubio, aged 72 and 53, respectively, are also former Trump casualties, both bowing out against the then-political newcomer in 2016.

Both have seemed to have since made amends with the Republican, with Carson even serving on the then-president’s cabinet for his first term.

The former surgeon, however, has somewhat distanced himself from the currently shrouded VP field, absent from Trump’s campaign trail unlike some of the others.

Also absent has been fellow conservative Rubio, who Trump helped secure a third term as Florida’s governor back in 2022.

Rounding out Trump’s seven was Scott, after he too lost to Trump in a primary – late last year.

The native South Carolinian has since surfaced as one of Trump’s most vocal surrogates, repeatedly floating the idea of being his running mate.

Last month, he gave the strongest indication he would appear on Trump’s 2024 ticket yet, telling a Newsmax reporter ‘We’ll see’ when asked.

Donalds offered similar sentiments Wednesday in Philadelphia to Fox News, telling the station, ‘I’m not going to comment on that. I’m going to leave that one alone.’

Rubio, meanwhile, told ABC’s Rachel Scott on Wednesday, ‘I haven’t talked to [Trump’s team] about vice president.’

The Republican National Committee (RNC) is planning for the possibility of former President Trump, the GOP presumptive nominee, being jailed during the convention, the party’s chair said on Tuesday.

“Yeah, we’re working on that right now,” Michael Whatley, the RNC chair, said during his Tuesday appearance on Newsmax’s “Wake Up America.”

“I’m actually going up to Milwaukee this week, and we’re going to have a series of conversations,” he said.

Trump was found guilty Thursday last week on all 34 felony counts in his hush-money case. The New York jury found him guilty of falsifying business records to hide alleged extramarital affairs during his 2016 presidential run. Judge Juan Merchan said his sentencing hearing was set for July 11, just four days before the RNC convention kicks off.

Trump has vowed to appeal the verdict, and seems unlikely to face a jail term during such an appeal. GOP senators and other Republicans up in arms over the verdict have warned that Trump’s freedom of movement should not be compromised by a sentence.

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) has called for the Supreme Court to get involved.

Whatley stated that the RNC expects the former president to be officially nominated at the party’s mid-July convention in Milwaukee.

“We expect that Donald Trump is going to be in Milwaukee and he’s going to be able to accept that nomination and if not, we will make whatever contingency planning we need to make for it,” he said. “But the fact is, he’s going to be our nominee, and he’s going to be the 47th president of the United States.”

Whatley, who was elected as the chair of the committee in March, did not share more details about the plans, but added that “everything is being thought about” regarding Trump’s options to still communicate to the base, regardless if he is behind bars or not.

“We’ll cross that bridge but you sort of have to go into this stuff, as we certainly will be planning on it,” Whatley said on Tuesday. “We’ll be thinking about it, and we’re working on that right now. But what we want to do is we want to have a show that is going to roll out Donald Trump and his vision for America, which is going to set up this election cycle.”

The North Carolina Republican added that the former president “will communicate directly with the American voters the way that he always does.”

RNC’s co-chair Lara Trump similarly mentioned on Sunday that the RNC needs to be “ready for anything” in regards to Trump, but she stated the committee will have “several” plans in place to pivot to as the convention nears.

“It’s ironic to me you had to rush this case through, and now we have to wait over a month, of course, for sentencing,” she said during her Sunday appearance on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “Everyone can read into the irony of that, of course.”

“But, yes, we have to make plans as they happen, and we’re going to have several contingency plans,” she added. “The truth is, it really doesn’t matter whether it’s from Trump Tower in Manhattan, whether it’s from Mar-a-Lago, whether it’s from our convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. We will nominate Donald Trump as our Republican nominee, and that’s what ultimately matters.”

President Joe Biden delivered remarks commemorating the 80th anniversary of D-Day in Normandy, France, on Thursday, vowing to continue standing alongside the people of Ukraine.

Biden’s remarks, honoring the veterans of World War II, cautioned against allowing “tyranny” and “dictators” to go unchecked across the free world and bore more than a passing resemblance to comments the president frequently makes on the 2024 campaign trail about his likely opponent, former President Donald Trump.

The president often criticizes Trump for his foreign policy, attacks his friendships with Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, and routinely claims that Trump would be a dictator “on Day One” if elected to a second term.

“Isolationism was not the answer 80 years ago, and it is not the answer today,” the president said Thursday.

“To surrender to bullies, to bow down to dictators, is simply unthinkable. Were we to do that, it means we would be forgetting what happened here on these hallowed beaches. Make no mistake: We will not bow down. We will not forget.”

Biden also frequently mentions an unverified claim that Trump referred to World War II veterans as “suckers” and “losers” while visiting Normandy as president, and he closed his Thursday speech by honoring the D-Day armed forces as “heroes.”

“We must remember that the fact that there were heroes here that day does not absolve us of what we have to do today. Democracy is never guaranteed. Every generation must preserve it, defend it, and fight for it. That’s the test of the ages,” the president declared.

“The memory of those who fought here, died here, literally saved the world here — let us be worthy of their sacrifice. Let us be the generation that, when history is written about our time in 10, 20, 30, 50, 80 years from now, it will be said that when the moment came, we met the moment. We stood strong. Our alliances were made stronger. We saved democracy in our time as well.”

You can watch Biden’s remarks in full below.

A 102-year-old American World War II veteran who witnessed the raising of the US flag at Iwo Jima tragically died while he was en route to France to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings.

Robert Persichitti, of Fairport, NY, suffered a medical emergency and died in a hospital in Germany last Friday, a veterans organization said.

The Navy vet, who had flown oversees with a group tied to the National World War II Museum, was on a ship sailing down the coast to Normandy ahead of Thursday’s D-Day events when he suddenly fell ill and had to be airlifted to the hospital.

He was among the dwindling number of surviving US veterans who were making the pilgrimage to the Normandy beaches this week to mark the anniversary of the June 6, 1944 invasion that helped bring about the end of World War II.

“I’m really excited to be going,” Persichitti, who had a history of heart problems, had told WROC-TV a day before setting off.

In his final moments, Persichitti had listened to his favorite singer, Frank Sinatra, his friend and travel companion, Al DeCarlo, told 13WHAM.

“The doctor was with him. He was not alone, he was at peace and he was comfortable,” DeCarlo said. “She put his favorite singer, Frank Sinatra, on her phone and he peacefully left us.”

Persichitti had served in Iwo Jima, Okinawa and Guam as a radioman second class on the command ship U.S.S. Eldorado during WWII.

He was among the US troops who witnessed the raising of the American flag atop Mount Suribachi on Iwo Jima on Feb. 19, 1945 — a moment that would go on to become one of the most famous photos captured during the war.

“I was on the deck,” Persichitti told Stars and Stripes in a 2019 interview when he returned to region. “When I got on the island today, I just broke down.”

In the interview, he recalled some of the horrors he witnessed from the Eldorado — including injured Marines being brought aboard the ship and countless burials at sea.

“When they made the landing, they started losing all these guys,” Persichitti said at the time. “It wasn’t a very good sight.”

Persichitti had previously revealed in interviews that he paid his respects to his fallen comrades every Friday — not just on commemorative days.

“I wear a red sleeveless t-shirt … Every Friday, I put that red on, to represent all the blood that was lost during World War II,” he said.

After the war, Persichitti became a public school teacher in Rochester. When he retired, he continued visiting school kids to speak with them about the war.

“It was a privilege to know him, and I will miss him. He had a real zest for living,” Pastor William Leone, who was friends with Persichitti for four decades, said.

“He would go visit children in the grammar schools in the area, talk with them about his experiences growing up, his experiences during the Second World War.”

Persichitti was named to the New York State Senate’s Veterans Hall of Fame back in 2020.

A federal judge ordered Steve Bannon, the one-time adviser to former President Trump, to begin his four-month prison sentence in July as he appeals his contempt of Congress conviction.

U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols agreed with prosecutors at a Wednesday hearing, ordering Bannon must self-surrender by July 1 since his bid to overturn his conviction was rejected by a three-judge appeals panel last month.

“The government’s motion is granted,” said Nichols, a Trump appointee. Bannon had opposed the move, insisting he will appeal all the way to the Supreme Court, if necessary, and arguing he should remain free in the meantime.

Bannon was found guilty in 2022 of failing to appear for a deposition ordered by the now-disbanded House Jan. 6 committee and refusing to turn over documents it subpoenaed.

After the District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals panel rejected Bannon’s appeal last month, the Justice Department moved to immediately incarcerate Bannon, saying there was no longer a “substantial question of law that is likely to result in a reversal or an order for a new trial.”

“We believe it is the exact opposite. It is unlikely,” said prosecutor John Crabb.

In court filings, Bannon’s lawyer contended there was “no basis” to send the podcast host and former Trump adviser to jail immediately, arguing that his appeal hasn’t yet reached a bench that has authority to overturn a key precedent used to uphold the conviction.

“Alan Dershowitz and everyone said this case is going to have to be decided by the Supreme Court,” David Schoen, Bannon’s attorney, said at Wednesday’s hearing, causing the judge to shake his head.

Schoen represented Bannon alongside Evan Corcoran, another member of the legal team who previously represented Trump in his classified documents criminal case.

Bannon turned his chair toward the judge during the hearing, talking with Corcoran before the proceedings kicked off but otherwise remaining silent and observing the arguments.

He was one of two people charged and convicted for failing to comply with orders from the Jan. 6 committee.

Former Trump adviser Peter Navarro is currently serving his four-month sentence on contempt charges. He had similarly mounted last-ditch efforts to avoid prison, including unsuccessfully seeking emergency relief from the Supreme Court.

Bannon could take a similar strategy and attempt to appeal the judge’s order on Wednesday requiring him to surrender by July 1.

“There is nothing that can shut me up and nothing that will shut me up,” he told reporters outside the courthouse.

“There’s not a prison built or a jail built that’ll ever shut me up.”

Former President Donald Trump is expected to lose his license to carry a gun due to his conviction last week of falsifying business records.

An official with the New York City Police Department told CNN that the department was preparing to revoke the Republican presidential candidate’s gun permit.

After being indicted on criminal charges, Trump’s New York concealed carry license was suspended on April 1, 2023. Just a day before, two of the three pistols he was licensed to carry were turned over to the NYPD.

The third gun belonging to Trump “was lawfully moved to Florida,” the official said.

Possession of a gun by a convicted felon is a federal crime, and if Trump were not to hand over the gun, he could be sent to prison for several years.

The NYPD’s Legal Bureau is completing its investigation to determine whether or not to revoke Trump’s license and is likely to do so, according to multiple reports.

Trump would have the option to seek a hearing to challenge the revocation.

For over a decade, Trump has had a concealed carry license in the state of New York, but since Trump’s application came with a request to remain confidential, his records are exempted from being shared with the public.

When reached for comment, the Trump campaign did not address the license to carry or the NYPD but instead directed its anger at Biden, saying, “Biden’s cronies in the Democrat Party are panicked and have chosen to continue to abuse our once great justice system to pursue their No. 1 political opponent and interfere in the coming election.”

Tucker Carlson’s interview with El Salvador’s president Nayib Bukele revealed the nation’s obvious yet unlikely secret to success over the last several years: calling upon God’s wisdom to guide the country. While it seems a simple matter to prioritize faith in the divine Creator as a matter of policy, it also sounds shocking to viewers in the United States, where godless secularism has all but purged faith from the public square since the Obama administration.

El Salvador is an unabashedly Christian country, much like the United States used to be. There are many parallels, as the United States’ original colonies were founded on the freedom to worship the Creator in the way one chooses without fear of repercussions. El Salvador means “The Savior” in Spanish. However, it’s been easy to see the trajectory of the two nations going in opposite directions in recent years as the U.S. continues to decline in faith. Yet El Salvador has become more resolute.

Crime statistics tell a lot of the story, where El Salvador all but wiped out the violent gang problem that plagued its country and made it one of the most dangerous places in the world. When Carlson asked Bukele how he could save his country, Bukele stated he had a plan, but unofficially, he said, “It’s a miracle.”

Bukele went on to elaborate on the process of removing the gangs, stating that 70,000 gang members wouldn’t hesitate to kill anyone, from a woman on the streets to babies in Satanic rituals. What did he do to combat this in his operations?

“We are looking into an impossible mission here. So we pray,” Bukele said.

“You prayed in the meeting?” Carlson asked, sounding shocked that a world leader would give control to God in a situation like this.

Bukele said he had his entire cabinet pray for God’s wisdom and to minimize civilian casualties in their operation to clean up the streets. The result? Not one civilian was killed during their sweep to remove gangs from El Salvador’s streets.

“All my security cabinet are believers,” Bukele reiterated when asked about the prayer.

El Salvador is a nation built on faith. It wasn’t long ago, in the 1980s, when the country was in a state of perpetual civil war, and one of the most renowned historical figures in the country’s history is Saint Oscar Romero, a priest who focused on helping the poor and those ravaged by violence. He was killed by an assassin performing the Eucharist in the streets, and El Salvador honors the intense faith of its clergy by maintaining a mural of the saint at its airport.

“Our impressive victory was because we won the spiritual war,” Bukele said in conclusion to the segment on how El Salvador became the safest country in the Western Hemisphere.

President Nayib Bukele saved El Salvador. He may have the blueprint for saving the world. pic.twitter.com/92etFh7sSI

— Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) June 6, 2024

Bukele ensures that faith is central to everything he does in his leadership in El Salvador. He was recently inaugurated for an unprecedented second term, elected with nearly 85% of the vote. This term, with the violent past behind him and his country, he seeks to grow the economy to new heights. Even with matters of the economy, Bukele keeps God first in his vision.

“You said, ‘The first point of my plan is seek God’s wisdom,’” Tucker said.

“Yes,” Bukele agreed.

“Why would that be the first point of an economic plan?” Tucker asked.

Showing his stalwart faith again, Bukele replied, “Why wouldn’t it be?”

“Well, I think it should be,” Tucker agreed.

It’s refreshing to hear a world leader lead in matters of faith when there is so much pressure from the secular world to do otherwise. While El Salvador enters a new era of prosperity and safety with the grace of God leading its people through Nayib Bukele, one can’t help but look at the erosion of faith in the United States and how we’ve been seeing the result of a country focused on glorifying the sin of Pride with an entire month dedicated to it as crime sweeps through our streets. We seem to have lost everything that’s made this nation great.

Bukele has shown that it takes commitment to God and the Lord Jesus Christ to make El Salvador into a promised land, and it will take a similar revival in faith in the United States or anywhere in the Western world to shift our destructive course to one of victory.

Politicians in Germany have pleaded for calm on the campaign trail after a candidate for the Conservative Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party was stabbed in the south-west German city of Mannheim, less than a week after a police officer was killed in a knife attack in the city.

The attack, which took place on Tuesday evening but was confirmed by police on Wednesday, left the politician with non-life threatening injuries for which he is being treated in hospital.

While officials have not confirmed the victim’s identity, party members identified him as Heinrich Koch, the party’s local council candidate.

The stabbing reportedly occurred 5 miles (8km) from the market square where Friday’s attack took place, in the district of Rheinau.

According to witnesses who spoke to local media, Koch was attacked by three people after confronting a group who were tearing down party posters put up as part of local and European elections taking place on Sunday. Koch, who had been returning from a meeting of the AfD’s district association, was then reportedly attacked in the stomach and on the ear with a carpet knife.

Mannheim police confirmed on Wednesday that the suspect, a 25year-old man, had not resisted arrest when he was detained in a street close to where the attack took place. Two other suspects are believed to be on the run.

According to police, the suspect arrested was taken to a psychiatric clinic after “showing clear evidence of a psychological illness at the time of his arrest”.

There was no evidence to suggest that the suspect had known the identity of the politician when he attacked him.

According to Rüdiger Ernst, the local head of the party, Koch, a 62-year-old engineer, was expected to be discharged from hospital on Wednesday. He had received stitches to his head, and treatment for a cut to his stomach, Ernst said.

The regional chair of the AfD, Markus Frohnmaier, said that the party was “horrified and distressed” by the incident.

Fellow politicians condemned the attack, the latest in a string of incidents involving violence against German politicians before the European elections.

Mannheim’s lord mayor, Christian Specht of the conservative CDU, said in a statement: “This cowardly attack is hideous and cannot be justified in any way. Whoever attacks election contenders is questioning our free, equal, nationwide, direct and confidential voting system – and with that the basis of our democracy.”

Franziska Brantner, an MP for the Greens in nearby Heidelberg, said: “It’s with horror that I learnt about the brutal attack on an AfD council man in Mannheim. The escalation of violence against politicians of all parties, which we have observed in the past weeks, is in no way justifiable.”

In May the German interior minister, Nancy Faeser, vowed to fight a surge in violence against politicians after Matthias Ecke, a member of the European parliament, had to be taken to hospital after an attack while he was campaigning for re-election.

Shortly before, a 28-year-old campaigner for the Greens, who was putting up posters, was also attacked, police said. Franziska Giffey, a former Berlin mayor, was attacked last month at an event at a Berlin library by a man who approached her from behind and hit her with a bag containing an unidentified hard object.

The previous attack in Mannheim, carried out last Friday, was allegedly committed by a 25-year-old Afghan man.

A 29-year-old policeman who intervened was stabbed and fatally wounded.

Among the five people wounded was Michael Stürzenberger, the leader of the group Pax Europa, who is still reportedly being treated in hospital. The attacker is also still in hospital.

A Georgia appeals court has halted the election case against Donald Trump and several of his co-defendants – a massive victory for the former president seeking to push further legal issues until 2025.

The new order filed on Wednesday from the Georgia Court of Appeals is the latest indication that a trial in the state-level Georgia election case will not occur before the 2024 presidential election. The court said the case will be on hold until a panel of judges rules on whether Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis should be disqualified.

The appeals court is expected to rule on the disqualification issue by March 2025, though it could issue a ruling sooner. Several sources close to the case have told CNN that the timeline remains very uncertain.

Fulton County Superior Judge Scott McAfee had initially allowed proceedings in his courtroom to continue as the appeals court weighed an appeal of his decision to allow Willis to remain on the case.

A spokesperson for Willis’ office said they can’t comment on the appeals court’s order at this point. The DA can ask the appeals court to fast track a decision in this matter if it chooses.

Trump and some of his co-defendants in the sprawling racketeering case have been trying to get Willis disqualified from the case because of a romantic relationship she had with Nathan Wade, the special prosecutor she hired to help handle the case. The defendants argued that Willis financially benefited from the relationship with Wade, who defense attorneys say covered several vacations for the pair.

In March, after what amounted to a mini-trial where attorneys for Trump and his co-defendants sought to prove their case against Willis and Wade, McAfee found there was not enough evidence to firmly prove Willis financially benefited from the relationship.

Willis’ testimony in televised proceedings put her personal life in the spotlight, turning discussion away from the charges Trump and others face in Georgia.

The judge ultimately decided Willis would be allowed to continue to helm the case if Wade stepped down, which he later did.

Steve Sadow, Trump’s lead defense counsel in Georgia, said the ruling was proper.

“The Georgia Court of Appeals has properly stayed all proceedings against President Trump in the trial court pending its decision on our interlocutory appeal which argues the case should be dismissed and Fulton County DA Willis should be disqualified for her misconduct,” Sadow said in a statement.

Florida delays help Trump as well

Meanwhile, in Trump’s classified documents case in Florida, the federal judge overseeing those proceedings has shown propensity to devote large amounts of in-court time to Trump’s requests to question investigators and his prosecutors’ authority.

That judge, Aileen Cannon, indicated on Wednesday she still appears to be willing to hold a hearing where Trump could attempt to put federal investigators under oath so his attorneys could question them, and said she’ll dedicate a day and a half this month to hearing arguments about the legality of his prosecutor.

Like the Georgia case, the Florida documents case has no set trial date.

President Biden forgot key facts about the economy, foreign policy and his time in public office during a sit-down interview with Time magazine last month — even mixing up Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Biden, 81, repeated a false claim that wage increases have outpaced inflation during his presidency, lowballed the amount of US foreign aid to Ukraine since Russia’s invasion in February 2022 and overestimated both Japan’s defense spending and the population of Africa, according to a post-interview fact check by Time.

“Wage increases have exceeded what the cost of inflation, which you’re talking about as the prices that were pre-COVID prices,” Biden told the magazine’s staff writers in the May 28 interview.

Real average hourly earnings, seasonally adjusted, have increased 0.5% from April 2023 to April 2024, according to the latest US Bureau of Labor Statistics report, but median weekly wages have not kept up with inflation since Biden took office in January 2021.

Inflation peaked at 9.1% in June 2022 — a surge Biden has attempted to blame on his predecessor — the highest increase seen since the early 1980s.

Asked immediately after whether his newly announced tariffs on Chinese goods would hike consumer prices, Biden confused the names of the leaders of America’s two great foreign adversaries.

“No, because here’s the deal. There’s a difference. I made it clear to Putin from the very beginning that — I’m not, we’re not engaging in,” Biden answered before trailing off briefly.

“For example, Trump wants a 10% tariff on everything. That will raise the price of everything in America,” he said.

An editor’s note from Time reads: “Biden appeared to mean Xi here, not Putin.”

Turning to the war in Ukraine, Biden said at another point, “We spent a lot of money in Ukraine, but Europe has spent more money than the United States has, collectively,” adding moments later that he “spent a month in Ukraine when I was a senator and vice president.”

The US has provided more money — about $68 billion more — than the European Union since Putin’s Feb. 24, 2022, invasion of Ukraine.

The EU’s total spending for Kyiv’s defense and humanitarian assistance is roughly $107 billion, the same as the amount of US aid for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s government.

The Post was also unable to find contemporaneous reports that Biden visited Ukraine when serving as a US senator from Delaware between 1973 and 2009, during which he chaired the powerful Foreign Relations Committee for 12 years.

“Did you ever think if I told you that Japan would be devoting 3% of its GDP to defense and make a rapprochement at Camp David with South Korea as an overwhelming threat that exists to North Korea as well as to Europe?” the president asked his interviewers rhetorically during another question on US Indo-Pacific strategy.

According to World Bank data, Japan has spent around 1% of its GDP on defense since 1960.

After being quizzed about voters’ concerns over him being the oldest-ever president, Biden pointed to the trillions of dollars in federal spending he signed into law, which former officials from the Obama White House have said contributed to skyrocketing inflation along with his unprecedented student loan cancellations.

“I can do it better than anybody you know,” he answered when asked whether he was ready to serve a second term that will conclude when he turns 86 years old. “Watch me. Look, name me a president that’s gotten as much done as I’ve gotten done in my first three and a half years.”

“You’re looking at me, I can take you too,” he also told one of the Time journalists, seemingly joking about getting into a brawl.

“I remember when I was heading to Taiwan, excuse me, to South Korea, to reclaim the chips industry that we had gotten $865 billion in private-sector investment, private-sector investments since I’ve been in. Name me a president who’s done that,” Biden went on, inaccurately conflating his trip to the Asian nation in 2022 with the investment announcement last month.

At yet another point, he suggested the population in Africa would grow to “a billion people” in the coming years, though it currently sits at around 1.4 billion.

Biden at other moments was unable to recall when he had last spoken to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the Daily Caller first reported, or know the whereabouts of one of his administration’s chief negotiators to bring back American hostages from Gaza, CIA Director William Burns.

Just 77 hostages are still being held by Hamas, the Israeli government announced Tuesday, including five US citizens.

“We believe there are those that are still alive. I met with all the families. But we don’t have final proof on exactly who’s alive and who’s not alive,” Biden said.

“And by the way, I’ve been calling for — we should have a cease-fire, period. And to get those hostages,” he added, before asking for Burns’ whereabouts.

“And so that’s why we’re pushing hard for the — and we’re — Is our intelligence chief in? Where is he now?”

Prosecutors in Hunter Biden’s federal gun case summoned two of his exes to the stand on Tuesday in an effort to chip away at the defense’s argument that the president’s son wasn’t addicted to drugs when he filled out a form to purchase a firearm in 2018.

President Joe Biden’s son faces three counts of lying on a federal form about his drug use to procure the firearm in October of 2018. He has denied wrongdoing.

Ex-girlfriend Zoe Kestan said she observed him smoking crack cocaine in late September of that year, just weeks before he walked into a Delaware gun shop and purchased a Colt Cobra from Gordon Cleveland, another witness who testified on Wednesday.

Kathleen Buhle, the ex-wife of Hunter Biden, said Hunter Biden was “angry” and “short-tempered” when he was on crack, but nonetheless managed to “function” normally as an addict — possibly undermining the defense’s claim that “there is no such thing as a high-functioning crack addict.”

Before court concluded, prosecutors suggested they could rest their case as soon as Thursday afternoon after hearing testimony from six additional witnesses.

Here are four big takeaways from Day 3 of the trial.

Ex-girlfriend testifies about Hunter Biden’s drug use

Zoe Kestan, who met Hunter Biden as a strip dancer at a New York gentlemen’s club, said she saw Biden smoke crack the night they met in December 2017 and consistently throughout their yearlong romantic relationship.

In the first week of their relationship, Kestan, who was 24 years old at the time, said she “felt a connection” with the 48-year-old Biden — despite his use of crack “every 20 minutes or so.”

Twice during her testimony Kestan said she did not notice changes in his behavior while he was on drugs, casting doubt on defense attorney Abbe Lowell’s claim that those close to him would have known whether or not he was abusing drugs at the time of his gun purchase.

“I remember thinking to myself that I didn’t notice a change in his behavior,” Kestan said.

“The first ten minutes he was incredibly charming and charismatic and friendly,” she said. “After he had smoked, he was the same charming person.”

Kestan also testified that she saw him smoking crack in Malibu as late as Sept. 20, 2018 — a timeline that could undercut the defense’s argument that he was abusing alcohol and not drugs when he purchased the gun on Oct. 12.

But Kestan also conceded on cross-examination that she had “no idea” what Hunter Biden was up to from Sept. 23, when he left California, until November, when the two reconnected.

“So you don’t have any idea of what he was doing from the moment he left California to the moment you saw him again in November?” Lowell asked.

“No idea,” Kestan said.

Clerk says he watched Hunter Biden fill out form

Gordon Cleveland, the gun store employee who sold Hunter Biden the gun in question, testified that he watched from “about two feet” away as Hunter Biden filled out the form that asked applicants whether they were active drug users.

After Biden selected the Colt Cobra for purchase, Cleveland said he asked him to fill out the form required for “every gun purchase” — Form 4473. Cleveland said he instructed Biden to write in his personal information and answer the questions below, “and to take your time answering them,” he testified.

Cleveland testified that he watched as Hunter Biden answered several questions before he approached the drug-related question then marked the box with an “X.”

Cleveland said Hunter Biden did not express any confusion regarding the question.

Ex-wife testifies she saw drug remnants

Hunter Biden’s ex-wife Kathleen Buhle testified about Hunter Biden’s alcohol and drug abuse during their 25-year marriage, describing how their relationship deteriorated as her husband’s drug abuse increased.

When Hunter Biden was on crack, Buhle testified, “He was not himself.”

“He was angry, short-tempered, acting in ways he wouldn’t when he was sober,” she said.

Buhle said she would find drug “remnants in little bags” and drug paraphernalia like “a broken crack pipe” — often enough that she would search his car before allowing her daughters to use it.

Buhle admitted during cross-examination that she never personally saw Hunter Biden use drugs.

Government could rest as soon as Thursday

Prosecutor Derek Hines said before court concluded for the day that he anticipated resting his case as soon as the end of the day Thursday.

He said the government has six brief witnesses remaining — including several law enforcement officials and Hallie Biden, the widow of Beau Biden.

Lowell said he would be prepared to call his first witness on Friday morning if the government rests its case Thursday.

Gordon Cleveland is scheduled to return to the stand on Thursday morning when testimony resumes.

House committees issued criminal referrals to the Justice Department concerning Hunter Biden’s and James Biden’s alleged “false statements to Congress” about key aspects of the impeachment inquiry of President Joe Biden, Breitbart News learned Wednesday.

The alleged false statements have to do with Joe Biden’s knowledge of and role in his family’s influence peddling schemes and appear to be a calculated effort to shield the president from the impeachment inquiry, Oversight Chair James Comer (R-KY), Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan (R-OH), and Ways and Means Chair Jason Smith (R-MO) told Breitbart News.

Hunter allegedly falsely suggested he was not the corporate secretary for Rosemont Seneca Bohai (RSB). Documents released by the Ways and Means Committee reveal a corporate resolution signed by Hunter as the “acting Secretary” of Rosemont Seneca Bohai, LLC.

“Furthermore, the Committee asked Hunter about foreign payments into the RSB account,” the Oversight Committee said in May. “According to evidence provided by an IRS whistleblower, Hunter Biden was the beneficial owner of the entity’s associated bank account.”

Hunter also allegedly lied about who he spoke with about leveraging his father’s influence to rake in money from CEFC China Energy Co.

The Oversight Committee explained in May:

Hunter also claimed that the Zhao he was messaging on WhatsApp is not the same Zhao connected to CEFC. (These were the messages where Hunter stated Joe Biden was sitting next to him) According to phone records released today, Hunter only communicated with one “Zhao” – Raymond Zhao – in the exchange we asked about. Not only did the same Zhao respond, but his message thread indicates he knew exactly what Hunter Biden was talking about. Hunter went on to message the “Zhao” phone number for months regarding matters related to CEFC.

James Biden, the president’s younger brother, alleged that Joe Biden “never had any involvement or any direct or indirect financial interest” in the family business.

Joe Biden did have involvement, Tony Bobulinski, a former Biden associate and whistleblower, told Congress. “Hunter Biden, in his own transcribed interview, confirmed that that meeting took place,” he said. “Hunter confirmed his uncle perjured himself in front of this committee.”

“The committee was so shocked by his perjury that they asked him the same question multiple times,” Bobulinski said. “Each time he denied meeting with me and Joe Biden, after the committee showed him text messages confirming that.”

In May Chairman Smith slammed the Bidens for their statements: “Lying during sworn testimony is a felony offense that the Department of Justice has prosecuted numerous individuals for in recent years, and the American people expect the same accountability for the son of the President of the United States.”

Since opening the probe, House investigators have revealed Joe Biden received money from James and Hunter Biden. They also showed that nine additional Biden family members received payments from the family’s foreign business ventures, including two of Joe Biden’s grandchildren.

Since opening the probe, House investigators have revealed Joe Biden received money from James and Hunter Biden. They also showed that nine additional Biden family members received payments from the family’s foreign business ventures, including two of Joe Biden’s grandchildren.