US Stocks Drift Higher Friday          06/09 15:49

   Stocks inched higher Friday to close out a listless week for Wall Street, as 
investors wait for next week's slate of potentially market-moving updates.

   NEW YORK (AP) -- Stocks inched higher Friday to close out a listless week 
for Wall Street, as investors wait for next week's slate of potentially 
market-moving updates.

   The S&P 500 rose 4.93, or 0.1%, to 4,298.86 to cap its fourth straight 
winning week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 43.17, or 0.1%, to 
33,876.78, and the Nasdaq composite gained 20.62, or 0.2%, to 13,259.14.

   Tesla was at the front of the market, rallying 4.1% after announcing General 
Motors electric vehicles will be able to use much of its extensive charging 
network beginning early next year. GM rose 1.1%.

   Energy stocks fell along with the price of crude oil. Exxon Mobil slipped 
0.7% and was one of the heavier weights on the market. Ski resort operator Vail 
Resorts dropped 7.1% after reporting weaker results for the latest quarter than 
analysts expected.

   This week has been relatively quiet for markets, even with the benchmark S&P 
500 index gaining enough Thursday to close 20% above its October low, entering 
a new bull market. More fireworks could arrive next week when the U.S. 
government releases the latest monthly updates on inflation at the consumer and 
wholesale levels. The Federal Reserve will also announce its latest move on 
interest rates.

   So far, the economy has been able to avoid a recession even though the Fed 
has jacked rates up at a furious pace for more than a year in hopes of driving 
down inflation. The highest rates since 2007 have helped inflation come down 
some, but it's still above everyone's comfort level.

   That means the big question on Wall Street is whether inflation will come 
down quickly enough for the Fed to take it easier on interest rates before high 
rates force the economy into a recession. A stronger-than-expected report on 
hiring last week raised hopes that the economy can slide through its troubles 
without a recession, but many other areas have already begun to crack.

   Besides helping to cause three-high profile U.S. banking failures since 
March, high interest rates have also pushed the manufacturing industry to 
shrink for months. The banking industry's turmoil has also caused banks to make 
it tougher for customers to get loans, which adds more stress to the economy.

   "I can't tell you precisely when this recession will come to roost, but it 
feels likes it's coming," said Amanda Agati, chief investment officer of PNC 
Asset Management Group. "And the market is not priced for it. I don't want to 
be dramatic and say a day of reckoning is coming, but there will be a wakeup 
call."

   She's expecting only a modest recession, not a deeply painful one like the 
downturns following the 2007-08 financial crisis and the 2020 onset of the 
COVID pandemic. But she is concerned by how high the stock market has climbed, 
driven in particular by just a small handful of stocks.

   "This is the market thinking we're going to muddle along and then the Fed is 
going to get out of the driver's seat: The Fed is going to cut rates, and we're 
going to power into 2024," Agati said. "And I think that's awfully delusional."

   She says rates could climb higher than Wall Street expects and stay high for 
longer than investors are forecasting because inflation has remained too 
stubbornly high.

   The wide expectations among traders is that the Fed will hold interest rates 
steady at its meeting next week. If it does, that will be the first meeting 
where the Fed hasn't hiked rates in more than a year. After that, the 
widespread bet is that the Fed may hike one more time in July before going on 
hold or even cutting rates by the end of the year.

   Elsewhere on Wall Street, Adobe rose another 3.4% to add to its 5% leap from 
the day before following its announcement of a new artificial-intelligence 
offering for businesses. It joined a frenzy around AI that has sent a select 
group of stocks soaring, such as a 165% surge for chipmaker Nvidia so far this 
year.

   Proponents say AI will be the next revolution to remake the economy, while 
critics say it's inflating the next bubble.

   In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 3.74% from 
3.72% late Thursday. It helps set rates for mortgages and other important loans.

   The two-year yield, which moves more on expectations for the Fed, rose to 
4.62% from 4.52%.

Johnson's Exit From Parliament Shocks  06/10 08:06

   Former U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson left chaos in his wake Saturday 
after quitting Parliament with a blast at fellow lawmakers he accused of 
ousting him in a "witch hunt."

   LONDON (AP) -- Former U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson left chaos in his 
wake Saturday after quitting Parliament with a blast at fellow lawmakers he 
accused of ousting him in a "witch hunt."

   As opponents jeered, the Conservative government absorbed the shock of yet 
another Johnson earthquake, while a band of loyal supporters insisted Britain's 
divisive ex-leader could still make a comeback.

   Less than a year after he was forced out as prime minister by his own 
Conservative Party, Johnson unexpectedly stepped down as a lawmaker late Friday 
-- "at least for now," he said in a self-justifying resignation statement.

   Johnson quit after being told he will be sanctioned for misleading 
Parliament over "partygate," a series of rule-breaking gatherings in the prime 
minister's office during the coronavirus pandemic. Johnson was among scores of 
people fined by police over late-night soirees, boozy parties and "wine time 
Fridays" that broke restrictions the government had imposed on the country.

   Johnson has acknowledged misleading Parliament when he assured lawmakers 
that no rules had been broken, but he said he didn't do so deliberately, 
genuinely believing the gatherings were legitimate work events.

   A standards committee investigating him appears to see things differently. 
Johnson quit after receiving the report of the Privileges Committee, which has 
not yet been made public. Johnson faced suspension from the House of Commons if 
the committee found he had lied deliberately.

   Johnson, 58, called the committee "a kangaroo court" that was determined to 
"drive me out of Parliament."

   "Their purpose from the beginning has been to find me guilty, regardless of 
the facts," Johnson said.

   The committee, which has a majority Conservative membership, said Johnson 
had "impugned the integrity" of the House of Commons with his attack. It said 
it would meet Monday "to conclude the inquiry and to publish its report 
promptly."

   Johnson is a charismatic and erratic figure whose career has seen a series 
of scandals and comebacks. The rumpled, Latin-spouting populist with a mop of 
blond hair has held major offices but also spent periods on the political 
sidelines before Britain's exit from the European Union propelled him to the 
top.

   A champion of Brexit, Johnson led the Conservatives to a landslide victory 
in 2019 and took Britain out of the EU the following year. But he became mired 
in scandals over his ethics and judgment, and was forced out as prime minister 
by his own party in mid-2022.

   By quitting Parliament, he avoids a suspension that could have seen him 
ousted from his Commons seat by his constituents, leaving him free to run for 
Parliament again in future. His resignation statement suggested he was mulling 
that option. It was highly critical of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who served 
as Treasury chief in Johnson's government before jumping ship with many other 
colleagues in July 2022 -- resignations that forced Johnson out as prime 
minister.

   Conservative poll ratings went into decline during the turbulent final 
months of Johnson's term and have not recovered. Opinion polls regularly put 
the opposition Labour Party 20 points or more ahead. A national election must 
be held by the end of 2024.

   "Just a few years after winning the biggest majority in almost half a 
century, that majority is now clearly at risk," Johnson said in a statement 
that sounded like a leadership pitch. "Our party needs urgently to recapture 
its sense of momentum and its belief in what this country can do."

   Johnson allies expressed hope that the former prime minister was not 
finished. Conservative lawmaker John Redwood said Johnson "has made it very 
clear that he doesn't regard this as the end of his involvement in British 
politics."

   But many others questioned whether a politician who has often seemed to defy 
political gravity could make yet another comeback.

   Will Walden, who worked for Johnson when he was mayor of London and U.K. 
foreign secretary, said the former prime minister quit because he had "seen the 
writing on the wall."

   "I think the most important thing that people need to understand this 
morning is there is only one thing driving Boris and that is that he likes to 
win, or at least not to lose," Walden told the BBC. "This report clearly 
threatened to change all that."

   Tim Bale, professor of politics at Queen Mary University of London, said 
Johnson often drew inspiration from his political hero, Winston Churchill, who 
led Britain to victory in World War II only to be ousted from power in 1945 -- 
and then to return to office several years later.

   "I believe that he thinks that he can spend some time in ... the wilderness 
before the Conservative Party and the country calls upon him once again in its 
hour of need," Bale said.

   "Frankly, I think that is unlikely. I think partygate has ensured that he is 
toxic as far as many voters are concerned. And I think the way he has behaved 
over the last two or three days -- and some people will say over the last two 
or three years -- probably means that most of his colleagues would rather he 
disappeared in a puff of smoke."

IL Adopts New LGBTQ+ Protections       06/10 08:10

   

   CHICAGO (AP) -- Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Friday signed into law two 
measures aimed at safeguarding the rights of LGBTQ+ people as other states move 
to restrict the community, just days after the Human Rights Campaign declared a 
state of emergency for LGBTQ+ Americans.

   One of the new laws will update language in existing acts to be more gender 
inclusive in order to affirm LGBTQ+ youth in foster care, and the other will 
make it easier for LGBTQ+ couples to marry. The laws will be effective on Aug. 
8 and on Jan. 1, 2024, respectively.

   Illinois is one of several U.S. states with Democratic-majority legislatures 
that has worked to reinforce LGBTQ+ rights, as Republican-led legislatures in 
other states advance bills that target the community, including restrictions on 
gender-affirming care, bans on transgender youth participation in sports, and " 
bathroom bills." The two new pro-LGBTQ+ Illinois laws were signed about a week 
into Pride month, a season intended to celebrate the lives and experiences of 
LGBTQ+ communities, but which this year takes place in a contentious political 
climate.

   "Some of our surrounding states seem to be focused on taking away hard-won 
rights for the LGBTQ+ community, and we must remain vigilant and aggressive in 
ensuring that Illinois is not only a refuge state and a sanctuary state for 
LGBTQ communities, but that we call out the hatred, punitive legislation, and 
entirely unnecessary regression that we're seeing," said Sen. Mike Simmons, who 
sponsored both bills and is the only "out" member of the Illinois Senate.

   The Human Rights Campaign on Tuesday declared that LGBTQ+ people in the U.S. 
are " under attack."

   The nation's largest organization devoted to the rights of lesbian, gay, 
bisexual, transgender and queer Americans released a guidebook pointing to laws 
it deems discriminatory in each state, and counted more than 75 anti-LGBTQ+ 
bills that have been signed into law this year.

   The NAACP last month issued a travel advisory for Florida, a popular 
warm-weather destination in the U.S., warning Black and LGBTQ+ tourists of 
"openly hostile" recent laws and policies championed by Gov. Ron DeSantis and 
Florida lawmakers.

   The Illinois bills garnered nearly 2,000 opponents, including hundreds of 
individuals and the Illinois Family Institute, who registered their disapproval 
of the pro-LGBTQ+ legislation.

Intense Fighting Reported in Ukraine   06/10 08:11

   Ukraine's military reported intense fighting with Russian forces on 
Saturday, while the country's nuclear energy agency said it put the last 
operating reactor at Europe's largest nuclear power plant into a "cold 
shutdown" for safety as Russia's war on Ukraine drags on through its 16th month.

   KYIV, Ukraine (AP) -- Ukraine's military reported intense fighting with 
Russian forces on Saturday, while the country's nuclear energy agency said it 
put the last operating reactor at Europe's largest nuclear power plant into a 
"cold shutdown" for safety as Russia's war on Ukraine drags on through its 16th 
month.

   After Russian forces pummeled Ukraine with missiles and drones overnight 
resulting in deaths and damage to a military airfield, Canadian Prime Minister 
Justin Trudeau arrived in Kyiv Saturday for an previously unannounced visit, 
his second trip to Ukraine since Russia's invasion in February last year. He 
was accompanied by Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland.

   Ukraine's General Staff said Saturday that "heavy battles" were ongoing, 
with 34 clashes over the previous day in the country's industrial east. It gave 
no details but said Russian forces were "defending themselves" and launching 
air and artillery strikes in Ukraine's southern Kherson and Zaporizhzhia 
regions.

   A day earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed his view that 
Ukrainian troops have started a long-expected counteroffensive and were 
suffering "significant" losses.

   At the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, Europe's largest, which is occupied 
by Russian forces, five out of six reactors were already in a state of cold 
shutdown, That's a process in which all control rods are inserted into the 
reactor core to stop the nuclear fission reaction and generation of heat and 
pressure.

   Energoatom, the Ukrainian nuclear agency, said in a statement late Friday 
that there was "no direct threat" to the Zaporizhzhia plant due to the breach 
of the Kakhovka dam further down the Dnieper River, which has forced thousands 
of people to flee flooding and also sharply reduced water levels in a reservoir 
used to help cool the facility.

   Energoatom said it shut down the final reactor due to that, and also because 
of shelling near the site that has damaged overhead lines connecting the plant 
to Ukraine's energy system.

   With all nuclear reactions stopped, temperatures and pressure inside 
reactors gradually decline, reducing the required intensity of water cooling of 
the radioactive fuel. This is a nuclear power plant's safest operating mode. 
Energoatom employees are still working at the power plant, although it remains 
controlled by the Russians.

   The site's power units have not been operating since September last year. 
The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency is due to visit Ukraine in 
the coming days.

   Also on Saturday morning, Ukrainian authorities reported that at least four 
civilians have died across the country as Russian forces launched Iranian-made 
Shahed drones, missiles, and artillery and mortar strikes.

   Ukraine's State Emergency Service reported that three people were killed and 
more than two dozen wounded overnight in an attack targeting the Black Sea port 
of Odesa. A spokesperson for Ukraine's southern operational command, Natalia 
Humeniuk, said two children and a pregnant woman were among those wounded.

   In Ukraine's northeast, a 29-year-old man was killed as more than 10 drones 
targeted the Kharkiv region, its governor, Oleh Syniehubov, reported Saturday. 
He added that at least three other civilians were wounded.

   In the Poltava region further west, there was damage to a military airfield 
struck overnight during a Russian drone and missile attack, local Gov. Dmytro 
Lunin reported. Lunin said no one was hurt. As of Saturday morning, there was 
no additional comment from the Ukrainian army or officials on the extent of the 
damage.

   The Ukrainian air force said that during the night, it had shot down 20 out 
of 35 Shahed drones and two out of eight missiles "of various types" launched 
by Russian forces.

   The fighting and civilian casualties took renewed attention as authorities 
in southern Ukraine said water levels have been declining in a vast area 
beneath the ruptured dam.

   Nearly one-third of protected natural areas in the Kherson region could be 
obliterated by flooding following the breach of the Kakhovka dam, the Ukrainian 
environment minister warned Saturday.

   In a Facebook post, Ruslan Strilets said that the dam's collapse left one 
national park completely submerged, drained rivers and lakes in other protected 
areas, and could lead to groundwater rising in parts of the Dnieper delta 
occupied by Moscow, creating the risk of further flooding.

   In the city of Kherson, whose outskirts were among the flood-hit areas, the 
average water level decreased by 31 centimeters (12 inches) during the night, 
but remained over 4.5 meters (15 feet) higher than usual, regional Gov. 
Oleksandr Prokudin reported Saturday.

   Prokudin warned that meteorologists predicted heavy rainfall in the area 
over the weekend, complicating rescue efforts.

   The U.N.'s humanitarian aid chief, Martin Griffiths, said in an Associated 
Press interview Friday that an "extraordinary" 700,000 people were in need of 
drinking water.

   In other developments:

   On Saturday, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz says he wants to continue 
speaking with Putin -- whose order for Russia's invasion of Ukraine has been 
criticized by many Western leaders -- and plans to do so again "soon." Scholz 
has spoken several times by phone with Putin since the invasion.

   The chancellor said the basis for a "fair peace" between Russia and Ukraine 
is the withdrawal of Russian troops. "That's needs to be understood," he said.

Colombia Gov't, Rebels OK Cease-Fire   06/10 08:16

   

   HAVANA, Cuba (AP) -- Colombia's government and its largest remaining 
guerrilla group agreed Friday to a six-month cease-fire at talks in Cuba, in 
the latest attempt to resolve a conflict dating back to the 1960s.

   The government and the National Liberation Army, or ELN, announced the 
accord at a ceremony in Havana attended by Colombian President Gustavo Petro, 
top guerrilla commander Antonio Garca and Cuban officials. The cease-fire 
takes effect in phases, goes fully into effect in August and then lasts for six 
months.

   "This effort to look for peace is a beacon of hope that conflicts can be 
resolved politically and diplomatically," top rebel negotiator Pablo Beltrn 
said at the ceremony.

   The talks originally were scheduled to conclude with an official ceremony on 
Thursday, but were postponed as the parties asked for additional time to work 
on final details. Petro traveled to the island for the ceremony, saying it 
could herald an "era of peace" in Colombia.

   The accord reached Friday also calls for the formation of a broadly 
representative national committee by late July to discuss a lasting peace.

   "You have here proposed a bilateral agreement, and I agree with that, but 
Colombian society has to be able debate it, and to participate," Petro said 
during the ceremony.

   Garca, the rebel commander, said his group was "very confident" in the 
accord, though he characterized it as "procedural" and not yet the 
"substantial" kind needed "for Colombia to change."

   Negotiations between the sides had resumed in August, after being terminated 
in 2019 when the rebels set off a car bomb at a police academy in Bogota 
killing 21 people.

   Following that incident, the government of then-President Ivn Duque 
(2018-2022) issued arrest warrants for ELN leaders in Cuba for the peace 
negotiations. But Cuba refused to extradite them, arguing that doing so would 
compromise its status as a neutral nation in the conflict and break with 
diplomatic protocols.

   Talks relaunched in November shortly after Petro was elected as Colombia's 
first leftist president.

   Petro has pushed for what he calls a "total peace" that would demobilize all 
of the country's remaining rebel groups as well as its drug trafficking gangs. 
He has questioned whether senior ELN leaders have full control of a younger 
generation of commanders who he has suggested are focused more on the illegal 
drug trade than on political goals.

   The ELN was founded in the 1960s by union leaders, students and priests 
inspired by the Cuban revolution. It is Colombia's largest remaining rebel 
group and has been notoriously difficult for previous Colombian governments to 
negotiate with.

   In 2016, Colombia's government signed a peace dea l with the larger FARC 
group that ended five decades of conflict in which an estimated 260,000 people 
were killed.

   But violence has continued to affect rural pockets of the country where the 
ELN has been active, along with FARC holdout groups and drug trafficking gangs. 
Colombian authorities have accused the ELN of involvement in the drug 
trafficking, but the group's top leaders have denied that.

Taiwan Pres. Vows to Strengthen Defense06/10 08:17

   

   KAOHSIUNG, Taiwan (AP) -- Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen on Saturday said 
the self-ruled island would work to improve its rescue and defense capabilities 
with new technologies, adding that strengthening Taiwan is key to maintaining 
peace.

   Tsai also pledged that her government would promote policies to safeguard 
maritime and border security after inspecting an anti-terror drill in Kaohsiung 
city in southwestern Taiwan.

   "The safer Taiwan is, the safer the world is," she said.

   Tsai's remarks came as the democratic island faces increasing military 
threats from China, which sees Taiwan as a breakaway province to be retaken by 
force if necessary.

   During Saturday's drills, Taiwanese security officers demonstrated how they 
would defend against terrorist acts at sea. Some climbed from small boats onto 
a vessel controlled by "terrorists" and brought them under control. Others 
rappelled down from a flying helicopter. The simulation ended with a dramatic 
scene in which some officers hung in the air as they were sent back to the 
helicopter.

   Taiwan and China split in 1949 following a civil war that ended with the 
ruling Communist Party in control of the mainland. The island has never been 
part of the People's Republic of China, but Beijing says it must unite with the 
mainland.

   Beijing also has intensified its battle to win away Taiwan's diplomatic 
allies since independence-leaning Tsai took office in 2016. In March, Honduras 
established formal relations with China, becoming the latest in a string of 
countries to break diplomatic ties with Taiwan.

   Honduran President Xiomara Castro arrived in Shanghai on Friday on her first 
visit since the establishment of ties. She said her country would strengthen 
cooperation with the financial hub and actively participate in the China 
International Import Expo to be held there in November, according to a report 
by state media Xinhua on Saturday.

Trump Set for Post-Indictment Events   06/10 08:22

   

   ATLANTA (AP) -- Former President Donald Trump will make his first public 
appearances since his federal indictment, speaking on Saturday to friendly 
Republican audiences in Georgia and North Carolina as he seeks to rally 
supporters to his defense.

   Trump, who remains the front-runner for the 2024 GOP nomination despite his 
mounting legal woes, is expected to use his scheduled speeches at state party 
conventions in the two states to deliver a full-throated rebuke of the charges 
and amplify his assertions that he is the victim of a politically motivated 
"witch hunt" by Democratic President Joe Biden's Justice Department.

   His appearances will come a day after the unsealing of an indictment 
charging him with 37 felony counts in connection with his hoarding of 
classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate. The indictment accuses the 
former president of willfully defying Justice Department demands to return 
classified documents, enlisting aides in his efforts to hide the records and 
even telling his lawyers that he wanted to defy a subpoena for the materials 
stored at his estate. The indictment includes allegations that he stored 
documents in a ballroom and bathroom at his resort, among other places.

   The most serious charges against him carry potential prison sentences of up 
to 20 years each, but first-time offenders rarely get anywhere near the maximum 
sentence and the decision would ultimately be up to the judge.

   For all that, Trump can expect a hero's welcome this weekend as he rallies 
his fiercest partisans and seeks to cement his status as Republicans' leading 
2024 presidential candidate.

   "Trump is a fighter, and the kinds of people that attend these conventions 
love a fighter," said Jack Kingston, a former Georgia congressman who supported 
Trump in 2016 and 2020.

   With former Vice President Mike Pence also slated to address North Carolina 
Republicans, Saturday will be the first time the former running mates have 
appeared at the same venue since Pence announced his campaign against his old 
boss.

   For his part, Trump has insisted he committed no wrongdoing, saying, "There 
was no crime, except for what the DOJ and FBI have been doing against me for 
years."

   The indictment arrives at a time when Trump is continuing to dominate the 
Republican presidential primary. Other GOP candidates have largely attacked the 
Justice Department -- rather than Trump -- for the investigation, although the 
indictment's breadth of allegations and scope could make it harder for 
Republicans to rail against than an earlier New York criminal case that many 
legal analysts had derided as weak.

   A Trump campaign official described the former president's mood as "defiant" 
Friday ahead of his trip. But aides were notably more reserved after the 
indictment's unsealing as they reckoned with the gravity of the legal charges 
and the threat they pose to Trump beyond the potential short-term political 
gain.

   The federal charging document alleges that Trump not only intentionally 
possessed classified documents but also boastfully showed them off to visitors 
and aides. The indictment is built on Trump's own words and actions as 
recounted to prosecutors by lawyers, close aides and other witnesses, including 
his professing to respect and know procedures related to the handling of 
classified information.

   The indictment includes 37 counts -- 31 of which pertain to the willful 
retention of national defense information, with the balance relating to alleged 
conspiracy, obstruction and false statements -- that, taken together, could 
result in a yearslong prison sentence.

   Trump is due to make his first federal court appearance Tuesday in Miami. He 
was charged alongside Walt Nauta, a personal aide whom prosecutors say moved 
boxes from a storage room to Trump's residence for him to review and later lied 
to investigators about the movement. A photograph included in the indictment 
shows several dozen file boxes stacked in a storage area.

   The case adds to deepening legal jeopardy for Trump, who has already been 
indicted in New York in a hush money scheme and faces additional investigations 
in Washington and Atlanta that also could lead to criminal charges. But among 
the various investigations he has faced, the Mar-a-Lago probe has long been 
considered the most perilous threat and the one most ripe for prosecution. 
Campaign aides had been bracing for the fallout since Trump's attorneys were 
notified that he was the target of the investigation, assuming it was not a 
matter of if charges would be brought, but when.

   Trump's continued popularity among Republican voters is evident in how 
gingerly his primary rivals have treated the federal indictment, which comes 
less than three months after he was charged in New York in a hush-money scheme 
stemming from payouts made to a porn actor during his 2016 campaign.

   Pence, campaigning in New Hampshire on Friday, said he was "deeply troubled" 
that Trump had been federally indicted because he believes it will further 
divide the nation.

   Pence urged his audience to pray for Trump, his family and all Americans, 
and promised to uphold the rule of law and "clean house at the highest level" 
of the Department of Justice, if elected.

   Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Trump's leading GOP rival, unabashedly echoed the 
former president, decrying the "weaponization of federal law enforcement" and 
"an uneven application of the law." Without offering any specific allegation, 
DeSantis took aim at two favorite Republican targets -- Hillary Clinton and 
Biden's son, Hunter -- and suggested they have escaped federal accountability 
because of such "political bias."

   During his own remarks at the North Carolina GOP convention on Friday night, 
DeSantis didn't mention Trump by name but again made the comparison to Clinton.

   "Is there a different standard for a Democratic secretary of state versus a 
former Republican president?" DeSantis asked. "I think there needs to be one 
standard of justice in this country. ... At the end of the day, we will once 
and for all end the weaponization of government under my administration."

   Among the declared Republican contenders, only Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson 
had explicitly called for Trump to end his comeback bid.

Indictment: Trump Kept, Shared Papers  06/10 08:23

   The federal indictment against Donald Trump accuses the former president of 
illegally hoarding classified documents at his Florida estate after leaving the 
White House in 2021, and then scheming and lying to thwart government efforts 
to recover them.

   MIAMI (AP) -- The federal indictment against Donald Trump accuses the former 
president of illegally hoarding classified documents at his Florida estate 
after leaving the White House in 2021, and then scheming and lying to thwart 
government efforts to recover them.

   Justice Department prosecutors brought 37 felony counts against Trump in the 
indictment, relying upon photographs from Mar-a-Lago, surveillance video, text 
messages between staffers, Trump's own words, those of his lawyers, and other 
evidence.

   "It comes across as obviously a very strong case, if it can be proven," said 
Mark Zaid, a Washington, D.C.-based lawyer who works on national security 
issues. "I'm surprised as to how personally involved it alleges Trump was with 
respect to the documents," he added.

   An aide to Trump, Walt Nauta, was charged as a co-conspirator with six 
felony counts.

   Trump says he is innocent and has decried the criminal case -- the second 
indictment against him in a matter of months -- as an attempt by his political 
opponents to hinder his 2024 campaign. He is expected to make his first court 
appearance on Tuesday in Miami.

   Here are key takeaways from the indictment unsealed Friday:

   WHAT ARE THE CHARGES?

   Trump faces 31 counts of willful retention of national defense information 
under the Espionage Act. Other charges include: conspiracy to obstruct justice; 
corruptly concealing a document or record; concealing a document in a federal 
investigation; and making false statements.

   Each of the willful retention counts pertains to a specific classified 
document found at Mar-A-Lago marked "SECRET" or "TOP SECRET." Topics addressed 
in the documents include details about U.S. nuclear weapons, the nuclear 
capabilities of a foreign country and the military activities or capabilities 
of other countries.

   The conspiracy charges deal with Trump's alleged attempts to hide documents 
from his lawyer or federal investigators. The false statement charges stem from 
Trump causing his lawyer to tell the FBI that no more classified documents were 
at Mar-a-Lago -- but then the FBI later found more than 100 documents during an 
August 2022 search.

   The most serious charges carry potential prison sentences of up to 20 years 
each. But judges have discretion and, if convicted, first-time offenders rarely 
get anywhere near the maximum sentence. Being a former president would also 
likely be a major consideration in any sentencing.

   WHAT IS THE ALLEGED CONSPIRACY TO OBSTRUCT JUSTICE?

   The indictment accuses Trump and Nauta of conspiring to hide the secret 
documents from the grand jury, which in May 2022 issued a subpoena for him to 
turn them over.

   The conspiracy allegation included a suggestion from Trump that his lawyer 
falsely tell investigators that the former president didn't have any more 
classified documents at Mar-a-Lago. It also involved moving boxes to hide the 
secret documents from Trump's lawyer, and suggesting that Trump's lawyer hide 
or destroy documents that investigators were seeking.

   The indictment says that, at Trump's direction, Nauta moved about 64 boxes 
of documents from a Mar-a-Lago storage room to the former president's residence 
in May 2022. He then returned "approximately 30 boxes" to the storage room on 
June 2 -- the same day Trump's legal team came to examine the boxes and search 
for classified documents to return to the government, the indictment says.

   Nauta had a brief phone call with Trump before returning those boxes, the 
indictment says. Neither Trump nor Nauta told the former president's lawyers 
that Nauta had moved any of the storage room contents, the indictment says.

   IS TRUMP ACCUSED OF SHARING CLASSIFIED INFORMATION?

   The indictment alleges Trump showed classified documents to people who 
didn't have security clearances on two occasions.

   The court papers detail a meeting Trump had in July 2021 with a writer and 
publisher about an upcoming book. Trump told the pair "look what I found" and 
showed them what he described as a senior military official's "plan of attack," 
according to an audio recording of that conversation obtained by investigators.

   Trump acknowledged during that meeting that the document was "highly 
confidential" and "secret information," the indictment says. He also says that 
he could have declassified the document if he was still president.

   "Now I can't, you know, but this is still a secret," he said, according to 
the indictment.

   A few months later, Trump showed a representative of his political action 
committee a classified map of a foreign country while discussing a military 
operation in the country that was not going well, the indictment says. Trump 
acknowledged that he shouldn't be showing the map to the person and told him 
not to get too close, prosecutors allege.

   WHAT EVIDENCE DO PROSECTORS HAVE?

   In addition to the audio recording, prosecutors also relied upon text 
messages between Trump employees, photos of boxes of documents stored in 
various rooms throughout Mar-a-Lago and details about conversations between 
Trump and his lawyers that were memorialized by one of them.

   In one conversation with his lawyers, Trump said: "I don't want anybody 
looking through my boxes." Trump also asked one of his lawyers if it would be 
better "if we just told them we don't have anything here," the indictment says.

   Photographs in the indictment show boxes stacked on a stage in a ballroom as 
well as in a bathroom. Another shows boxes that spilled over in a storage room, 
including a document marked "SECRET/REL TO USA, FVEY," which means information 
releasable only to members of the "Five Eyes" intelligence alliance of 
Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States.

   WHERE WILL THE CASE BE HEARD?

   While Trump's first court appearance on Tuesday is expected to be in front 
of a magistrate judge in Miami, the case was filed in West Palm Beach -- about 
70 miles to the north. The case was assigned to Judge Aileen Cannon, a Trump 
appointee, who issued rulings favorable to him last year and expressed repeated 
skepticism of Justice Department positions.

   Cannon was broadly criticized last year for granting the Trump legal team's 
request for a special master to conduct an independent review of the hundreds 
of classified documents seized from his Florida property last year. The move, 
which temporarily halted core aspects of the Justice Department's investigative 
work, was overturned months later by a three-judge panel of a federal appeals 
court.