Month: October 2023

President Joe Biden announced the U.S. has brokered an agreement during his one-day visit to Israel to send aid to Gaza, though agencies warned that the help could potentially come too late for the ravaged territory. Preparation was underway for an initial convoy of 20 trucks carrying humanitarian aid to pass through the Rafah crossing from Egypt to Gaza on Friday under a deal between the US, Israel and Egypt. Under conditions demanded by the Israelis, further consignments of relief supplies would be dependent on whether the first delivery was distributed without Hamas involvement.

Biden said he had also spoken to the Egyptian president, Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, who had agreed to reopen the Rafah. Biden said roads near the border would need repairs after they were damaged in Israeli strikes, but that aid could begin reaching the territory by Friday: “This has been a very blunt negotiation I’ve had. We want to get as many of the trucks out as possible. There’s, I guess, 150 or something there. Not all of them will go the first tranche. If there’s a second tranche – see how it goes.” He said Sisi had “agreed that what he would do is open the gate … to let up to 20 trucks through to begin with. They’re going to patch the road. They have to fill in potholes to get these trucks through. And that’s going to occur; they expect it’ll take about eight hours [on Thursday]. So, there may be nothing rolling through … probably until Friday. For this purpose. Not to allow a lot of people out, but to open it up for this purpose.” Biden added:“If Hamas diverts or steals the assistance, they will have demonstrated once again that they have no concern for the welfare of the Palestinian people, and as a practical matter it will stop the international community from being able to provide this aid.”

Humanitarian organisations have stockpiled life-saving supplies on the Egyptian side of the border, waiting for the crossing to open. UN aid chief Martin Griffiths, told the UN security council on Wednesday that the organization sought to bring aid deliveries to Gaza back to 100 trucks a day: “There is simply nowhere to go for civilians to escape the destruction and privation, both of which grow by the hour as missiles continue to fly and essential supplies, including fuel, food, medical items, water run low. Due to the scarcity of water, UNRWA [the UN relief agency] in some locations … is being forced to ration down to providing one litre of water per person per day. Bear in mind that the minimum by international standards should be 15 litres, and they’re getting one – and they’re the lucky ones.”

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Former Donald Trump attorney Sidney Powell pleaded guilty on Thursday to six misdemeanor counts in the Georgia election interference case. The 68-year-old Powell appeared in the Superior Court of Fulton County in Atlanta, where prosecutors laid out the terms of the plea deal — in exchange for her pleading guilty, Powell was sentenced to six years on probation and must pay a $6,000 fine and $2,700 in restitution to the state of Georgia. The judge overseeing the case signed off on the agreement at the hearing.

Powell was charged with violating the Georgia RICO Act, two counts of conspiracy to commit election fraud, conspiracy to commit computer theft, conspiracy to commit computer trespass, conspiracy to commit computer invasion of privacy, and conspiracy to defraud the state. She ultimately pleaded guilty to six misdemeanor charges.

Per ABC News, Judge Scott McAfee said Powell must “testify truthfully about any co-defendants” involved in the case moving forward. As a condition of her guilty plea, Powell will pay a fine and be required to testify at future trials as well as write an apology letter to the citizens of Georgia. Seated beside her attorney Thursday, Powell said she understood the terms of the plea agreement and admitted to the facts laid out by the prosecutor.

Powell, a vocal Trump ally, was among the conservative lawyers who pushed baseless claims of widespread fraud after the 2020 election, endorsing outlandish theories of foreign interference and ballot manipulation to try to reverse the results. She often appeared alongside Rudy Giuliani regarding those conspiracy theories, including that voting systems in the U.S. actually had ties to the late Venezuelan autocrat Hugo Chavez and were in fact secretly capable of switching, creating and destroying massive amounts of votes. She participated in a contentious meeting at the White House in December 2020, during which White House lawyers confronted her and lawyer Rudy Giuliani about their election claims.

Powell and 18 others, including Trump, were charged by a grand jury in Fulton County in August. Others include his former White House chief of staff, Mark Meadows; attorneys Rudy Giuliani, John Eastman, Jenna Ellis, Bob Cheeley, Ray Smith III and Kenneth Chesebro; former assistant U.S. attorney general Jeffrey Clark; former Georgia Republican Party Chairman David Shafer; and current Georgia state Sen. Shawn Still.

Powell is the second defendant to plead guilty in the sprawling case. Scott Hall, a bail bondsman, became the first when he changed pleaded guilty to five misdemeanor counts at the end of September. He was sentenced to five years probation, a $5,000 fine and 200 hours of community service.  Trump and the rest of the co-defendants have pleaded not guilty and denied all wrongdoing.  Powell’s guilty plea comes shortly before Powell and Kenneth Chesebro, another co-defendant, were set to go on trial. Chesebro has pleaded not guilty, and jury selection for his trial will begin as scheduled on Friday.

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