Lawyer details Gaetz accusations as committee mulls report release

The heat gets turned up on Matt Gaetz, President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for attorney general, as the House Ethics Committee weighs whether to release its report. And New York City issues a historic drought warning. These stories and more highlight your Unbiased Updates for Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2024.

Lawyer details Gaetz accusations as committee mulls report release

President-elect Donald Trump continues to make cabinet appointments, despite some of his choices sparking controversy on both sides of the aisle.

On Monday, Nov. 18, Trump announced he selected former Wisconsin congressman and Fox Business host Sean Duffy as his secretary of the Department of Transportation. Fox Business confirmed Duffy’s last day as an employee was Monday. 

In a statement, Trump said Duffy will “prioritize excellence, competence, competitiveness and beauty when rebuilding America’s highways, tunnels, bridges and airports.” 

Meanwhile, one of Trump’s cabinet picks has become the topic of conversation and controversy among lawmakers in the House and Senate. 

Former Congressman Matt Gaetz, Trump’s choice for attorney general, has been under investigation by the bipartisan House Ethics Committee for allegations of sexual misconduct and illicit drug use. The committee is expected to hold a closed-door meeting Wednesday, Nov. 20, to discuss whether it will release a report of its findings. 

Since Gaetz resigned from Congress after Trump’s nomination, the committee’s investigation has ended but the future of the report is still in question. 

The Justice Department declined to charge Gaetz last year after its lengthy Investigation into the allegations. Gaetz has denied any wrongdoing. 

However, on Monday a lawyer for two women who claim Gaetz paid them for sex, said that one of his clients saw Gaetz having sex with a friend who was 17 at the time during a house party in Florida in 2017. Florida attorney Joel Leppard told multiple news outlets his client testified about what she saw to the Ethics committee. 

“She testified [that] in July of 2017, at this house party, she was walking out to the pool area, and she looked to her right, and she saw Representative Gaetz having sex with her friend, who was 17,” Leppard said. 

According to Leppard’s client, Gaetz stopped having a sexual relationship with the girl when he found out she was underage. 

Trump transition team spokesperson Alex Pfeiffer responded to the allegations saying, “Matt Gaetz will be the next attorney general. He’s the right man for the job and will end the weaponization of our justice system. These are baseless allegations intended to derail the second Trump administration. The Biden justice department investigated Gaetz for years and cleared him of wrongdoing.” 

While the lawyer for the two women making the accusations against Gaetz joins calls from both sides of the aisle to release the Ethic Committee’s report, House Speaker Mike Johnson said he would not recommend the committee do so. Johnson said since Gaetz left Congress, he does not think that would be appropriate.

Reports: Trump to join Musk for SpaceX launch in Texas

President-elect Trump is planning to attend SpaceX’s launch in Texas Tuesday, Nov. 19. 

According to reports, Trump will be there along with ally and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk to see the company’s sixth test of its Starship rocket. The launch is scheduled for 5 p.m. ET. 

Musk has been by Trump’s side in recent days, attending meetings last week at Mar-a-Lago and in Washington and joining the president-elect at the UFC event in Madison Square Garden over the weekend, where they received a thunderous welcome. 

Musk was recently named to lead Trump’s newly formed Department of Government Efficiency along with former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy.

Pennsylvania Supreme Court sides with Republicans on misdated ballots

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court sided with Republicans Monday, directing all the state’s county election officials not to count certain mail-in ballots. While the ballots arrived on time, they were in envelopes without the correct dates, handwritten by voters. 

The order was prompted by a request from the Republican National Committee and Pennsylvania’s Republican party. Philadelphia, Montgomery and Bucks County leaders voted to count hundreds of such ballots in recent days, even though the Supreme Court already said they could not be included in this election. 

This comes as the Pennsylvania Senate race is headed to an automatic recount. While the Associated Press has declared Republican candidate David McCormick the winner, saying he narrowly edged Democratic incumbent Bob Casey, McCormick’s unofficial margin of victory stands at roughly 26,000 votes. That leaves it within the 0.5% threshold required under Pennsylvania law to trigger an automatic recount.

45 pro-democracy activists sentenced to prison in Hong Kong

A court in Hong Kong sentenced dozens of pro-democracy activists to 4 to 10 years in prison Tuesday in the single largest trial under a national security law introduced in 2020. Critics say it has been used by Beijing to all but eliminate political dissent in the Chinese territory. 

The court convicted 45 of 47 defendants of conspiracy to commit subversion for organizing or participating in an unofficial primary election for the city legislature in 2020, despite government warnings not to. The other two defendants were acquitted earlier this year. 

Legal scholar Benny Tai, whom judges said was the mastermind behind the election, got the longest sentence of 10 years.

New York City under drought warning for first time in 22 years

For the first time in more than two decades, a drought warning is in effect for New York City. 

Dry conditions across the Northeast have prompted city and state officials to implement water-conservation protocols. On Monday, Mayor Eric Adams upgraded the drought warning and temporarily halted a $2 billion aqueduct repair project that had stopped drinking water from flowing from some reservoirs in the Catskill region. 

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul also issued a statewide drought watch Monday and elevated 15 counties to drought warning status, asking residents to conserve water whenever possible. 

Dozens of fires have broken out in the New York City area over the past few weeks, as well as across the state line in northern New Jersey, because things are so bone dry.

Jersey Mike’s Subs could soon be sold in $8 billion deal

Private equity firm Blackstone could soon own the popular sandwich chain Jersey Mike’s Subs. According to The Wall Street Journal, the deal would value Jersey Mike’s at $8 billion, including debt. 

Blackstone has a history of investing in franchise businesses. It just made a deal in April to buy Tropical Smoothie Cafe. 

Consulting company Technomic said Jersey Mike’s is the second largest sub-style sandwich company in the U.S. by sales after Subway.