Schumer Facing Dem Revolt, Trump Pardons ＂Alternate Electors,＂ BBC Edit Fallout： AM Update 11⧸11
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Summary
In terms of standing up to Donald Trump, the shutdown actually gave him more power. Democrats are spiraling, after a small group of their colleagues decided to join Republicans and move to end the government shutdown. President Trump pardons cronies, pardons people who support him, and says nice things about him.
Transcript
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When I got a great deal on a great gift at Winners, I started wondering,
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could I get fabulous gifts for everyone on my list?
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Ooh, European chocolate for the crossing guard.
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Happy Veterans Day, and thank you to all who have served this country.
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It's Tuesday, November 11th, 2025, and this is your AM Update.
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In terms of standing up to Donald Trump, the shutdown actually gave him more power.
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Democrats spiraling after a small group of their colleagues decided to join Republicans
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He pardons people who support him, who say nice things about him, and he pardoned people
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President Trump issues pardons for the so-called alternate electors Team Trump named when challenging
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The BBC facing a possible $1 billion lawsuit from President Trump over its deceitful editing.
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And two-star MLB pitchers indicted in an alleged illegal gambling scheme.
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All that and more coming up in just a moment on your AM Update.
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When customers are walking through the aisles of their local Walmart, they're not just picking
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Democrats melting down after seven members of their party, plus independent Senator Angus King,
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who caucuses with the Democrats, sided with the GOP to advance a deal which will begin the
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process of reopening the government, without extending the Obamacare tax credits set to
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Democrats holding out since the government shutdown began on October 1st, demanding Republicans
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include the Obamacare tax credit extension if they want to reopen the government.
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Republicans standing firm in their refusal to relitigate Obamacare as a condition of extending
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Late Sunday, the eight defectors caved, agreeing to advance the House-passed continuing resolution,
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which keeps spending where it's been, as the first step to reopening the government.
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The GOP agreeing to hold a vote on the Obamacare subsidies next month.
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Late Monday evening, the Senate voting to pass a series of spending bills fully funding certain
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key departments through the end of the fiscal year, September 30th, and funding the rest of
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the government until January 30th, sending the legislation back to the House for approval,
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Senator King explaining his decision to vote with Republicans Monday on Morning Joe.
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Joe, you have to go back to what the strategy was at the beginning of the shutdown.
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The other was getting some resolution on the ACA premium tax credit issue.
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The problem was the shutdown wasn't accomplishing either goals, and there was practically, well,
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there was zero likelihood that it was going to.
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In terms of standing up to Donald Trump, the shutdown actually gave him more power,
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exhibit A being what he's done with SNAP and SNAP benefits across the country.
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Oh, by the way, Joe, you're going to love this.
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Not the park rangers or air traffic controllers, the ICE agents.
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U.S. Senator from New Hampshire, Gene Shaheen, a Democrat, another defector, saying, quote,
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keeping the government shutdown for another week or another month does not indicate that
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U.S. Senator from Vermont, Bernie Sanders, an independent caucusing with Democrats,
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raging against the deal Monday night in a social media video.
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Eight Democrats voted with the Republicans to allow them to go forward on this continuing
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And to my mind, this was a very, very bad vote.
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Just on Tuesday, we had an election all over this country.
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And what the election showed is that the American people want us to stand up to Trumpism, to his
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war against working class people, to his authoritarianism.
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So we've got to go forward, do the best that we can to try to protect working class people.
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Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, who was not one of the eight Dems to join Republicans,
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but is being blamed as a feckless leader, also facing significant backlash from Democrats and
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Senate candidate Graham Plattner of Maine posting to X, quote, Chuck Schumer should step down.
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Democrat Governor J.B. Pritzker of Illinois also slamming the deal.
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Gavin Newsom calling it pathetic, writing on X, quote, this isn't a deal.
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It's a surrender. This is the second time this year, Minority Leader Schumer has taken
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extraordinary flack from his own party in relation to government funding.
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The Minority Leader caving earlier this year to advance an earlier continuing resolution,
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which ultimately brought us to the current battle.
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This time, Senator Schumer, not one of the crossover votes, but not stopping the cave either.
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For months and months, Democrats have been fighting to get the Senate to address the
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health care crisis. This bill does nothing to ensure that that crisis is addressed.
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As mentioned, the House will ultimately have to approve any legislation passed by the Senate
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before it can be sent to the president's desk. Mr. Trump's signaling on Monday he stands ready
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to sign the deal. Many Democrat members of the House, none too pleased with the Senate plans.
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U.S. Congressman from California, Ro Khanna, slamming the deal, accusing Schumer of being
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ineffective and calling for his ouster as Senate leader Monday on the Takeout podcast.
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It's time for him to be replaced. He is not meeting the moment. He's out of touch with where
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the party's base is. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries asked about the discontent
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among House Dems. Some Democrats in your own caucus are suggesting Schumer is an effective
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Senate Democratic leader and should be replaced. You, of course, are the people of this deal.
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Do you view him as effective and should he keep the job? Yes and yes.
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Early yesterday morning, U.S. pardon attorney Ed Martin posting on X a signed order from President
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Trump containing, quote, full, complete and unconditional pardons for 77 individuals tied
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to their roles in Mr. Trump's alternate slate of electors strategy in the 2020 election.
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After an election, every state appoints electors to cast its electoral college votes as determined
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by the state's election results. When Mr. Trump challenged his loss in 2020, his allies in the swing
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states created their own list of electors ready to cast their votes for him if his litigation
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challenges to the vote were successful. Names on the list including attorney Rudy Giuliani,
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attorney Sidney Powell, former Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows, DOJ attorney Kenneth Chesborough,
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and even attorney Jenna Ellis, who was criticized by Team Trump for flipping and ultimately aiding
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prosecutors in Arizona. The alternate electors, called fake electors or false electors by critics
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of President Trump's 2020 election challenges, working in several battleground states, submitting
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alternate election certificates claiming Mr. Trump had won those states, hoping their votes might be
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counted during the January 6th vote certification, depending on how his challenges played out.
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Team Trump describing these as contingent electors meant to preserve his legal rights amid ongoing
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legal challenges to the election results. Importantly, Sunday's pardons are largely symbolic,
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given the alternate electors did not face federal charges under special counsel Jack Smith's
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election interference investigation. President Trump only has the power to issue pardons for
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federal crimes. Some of the newly pardoned people still facing charges at the state level.
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CNN legal analyst Ellie Honig breaking down the state of those cases and what this pardon means
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going into the future. Several of these people are currently being prosecuted at the state level
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relating to the fake electors scheme in Wisconsin, Michigan, Nevada, Georgia, and Arizona. So the
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pardons have no impact on those state prosecutions. Now it's worth noting, those state prosecutions are
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largely in the process of collapsing or have collapsed in their own right, but the pardon has no impact.
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Also, pardon has no impact on any civil lawsuit. So for example, Rudy Giuliani has been found liable
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for millions of dollars in defamation for statements that he made against Georgia election workers.
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That verdict, that liability is completely unimpacted, no impact by this pardon. The only thing it could
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impact is federal criminal cases. None of these people have been charged federally with any crimes.
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It's, I think, very unlikely they would have been charged during the rest of Pam Bondi's term as attorney
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general. And even if they were to be charged by a hypothetical next DOJ, that would be in 2029,
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way beyond the statute of limitations. So in that respect, Sarah, I think they're largely symbolic.
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Critics slamming President Trump for the move, naturally. Here, a sampling from CNN, MS Now, and CBS.
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He pardons cronies. He pardons people who support him, who say nice things about him. And he pardoned
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people in this case and in the case of January 6th, people who are attempting to erode the foundations
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of our democracy. This is something that fits in with a long-held goal of the president and of Ed
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Martin, his pardon attorney, which is that they have essentially said, quote, no MAGA left behind.
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This statement of pardons comes as the president has resumed claiming the 2020 election was rigged.
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This type of move amplifies those baseless claims once again, nearly five years later.
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The pardon memo framing it quite differently, quote,
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This proclamation ends a grave national injustice perpetrated upon the American people following
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the 2020 presidential election and continues the process of national reconciliation.
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The president did not pardon himself, saving the constitutional debate over whether he has that power
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for another day. Coming up, President Trump threatening the BBC with a $1 billion defamation lawsuit over a
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documentary featuring a drastically edited version of his January 6th speech and two more professional
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athletes wrapped up in an alleged gambling scheme. A full report.
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As President Trump is settling into his new administration, one of the top Democrats in Congress
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aiming to undermine the Trump agenda is Democrat Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois. And according to our
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sponsor, the Electronic Payments Coalition, Senator Durbin has a new plan, a government takeover of your
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credit card. Today, Americans have thousands of choices in credit cards, but they say Senator Durbin's
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plan will result in less competition and less security, which means more risk for your credit and your
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identity. You can learn more for yourself at guardyourcard.com. And you could consider
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telling your senators to stop Dick Durbin's government takeover of your credit card before it's too late.
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President Trump taking on the British Broadcasting Corporation, or BBC, the latest in Mr. Trump's
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crusade against media bias. Mr. Trump on Monday demanding a full retraction apology and payment
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to compensate for harm caused by a BBC documentary in which the president's January 6th remarks were edited
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in a grossly misleading way, according to a letter obtained by the New York Times. The president setting
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a Friday deadline or threatening a $1 billion defamation lawsuit, which would be filed in Florida,
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according to the BBC. The firestorm kicking off last week when The Telegraph reported on an internal
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whistleblower memo from a former advisor to the BBC's Standards Committee, Michael Prescott,
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addressed to members of the BBC board. Prescott blasting the network over a range of issues,
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including its documentary titled Trump, A Second Chance, the doc originally airing the week before
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the 2024 election. Prescott writing, quote, I watched the program and found it to be neither balanced
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nor impartial. It seemed to be taking a distinctly anti-Trump stance. Chief among the complaints,
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a clip of the president's remarks at the Capitol on January 6th, 2021. The version aired by the BBC here.
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We're going to walk down to the Capitol and I'll be there with you. And we fight. We fight like hell.
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And if you don't fight like hell, you're not going to have a country anymore.
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And here is the original version of Mr. Trump's remarks that day.
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We're going to walk down to the Capitol and we're going to cheer on our brave senators and congressmen
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and women. And we're probably not going to be cheering so much for some of them because you'll
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never take back our country with weakness. You have to show strength and you have to be strong.
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We have come to demand that Congress do the right thing and only count the electors who have been
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lawfully slated, lawfully slated. I know that everyone here will soon be marching over to the
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Capitol building to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard.
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So they took, quote, we're going to walk down to the Capitol, quote, and I'll be there with you, quote,
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and butted it to words about, quote, fighting like hell or you won't have a country anymore.
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Words which actually came 54 minutes later in his speech. This is clearly unethical.
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They also omitted entirely Mr. Trump's words, urging people to march, quote, peacefully and
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patriotically to make your voices heard. Prescott writing, quote, this created the impression that
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Trump said something he did not and in doing so materially misled viewers. On Sunday, the head of
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the BBC, Tim Davey, and the head of news, Deborah Turness, resigning in the wake of the controversy.
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The BBC is publicly funded, holding a special status in the UK. The New York Times reporting,
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quote, it is funded primarily from an annual license fee paid by households that watch TV,
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supplemented by commercial revenue, and it has a mandate to, quote, act in the public interest,
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providing impartial, high quality content that informs, educates and entertains. BBC chair Samir
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Shaw, writing a letter Monday to the governing body overseeing the BBC, largely defending against
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the accusations of bias, but writing, quote, I want to make clear that we have taken Mr. Prescott's
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concerns seriously and considered the points he made carefully, going on to say, quote, we accept that
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the way the speech was edited did give the impression of a direct call for violent action. The BBC would
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like to apologize for that error of judgment. As far as a response to President Trump, the BBC is,
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quote, considering how to respond. Donald Trump Jr. posting to social media on the day the story
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originally broke, quote, the fake news reporters in the UK are just as dishonest and full of shit as
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the ones here in America. Well said. What is going on in the world of professional sports? Two Major League
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Baseball pitchers indicted by federal prosecutors out of the Eastern District of New York in Brooklyn,
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accused of rigging pitches in an illegal gambling scheme. 26-year-old Luis Ortiz and 27-year-old
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Emmanuel Classé, both members of the Cleveland Guardians hailing from the Dominican Republic,
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now facing charges including wire fraud conspiracy, honest services wire fraud conspiracy,
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meaning using wire communications to betray public trust in the faithful applications of one's duties,
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conspiracy to influence sporting contests by bribery, and money laundering conspiracy. Authorities
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arresting Ortiz Sunday in Boston. Ortiz making a court appearance yesterday, the judge setting his bond
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at $500,000. Ortiz will be arraigned at a later date, according to prosecutors. Class A is not yet in U.S.
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custody. According to the indictment, quote, the defendants conspired with bettors to rig pitches in
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professional baseball games so that the bettors would profit from illegal wagers made based on that
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inside information. Prosecutors say the men agreed in advance to throw specific types of pitches,
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for example, tossing a ball instead of a strike, in what are known as prop bets or specific bets placed
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on a player's performance. In return, the pitchers allegedly receiving kickback payments and bribes.
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The indictment alleging the unidentified bettors won at least $450,000 from betting platforms
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on more than 100 pitches thrown by Class A and Ortiz. NPR reporting, quote, Class A, the Guardian's
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former closer, and Ortiz, a starter, have been on non-disciplinary paid leave since July when
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MLB started investigating what it said was unusually high in-game betting activity when they pitched.
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Major League Baseball releasing a statement to ESPN, quote, MLB contacted federal law enforcement
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at the outset of its investigation and has fully cooperated through the process. We are aware of
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the indictment and today's arrest, and our investigation is ongoing. If convicted on all
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charges, each player facing a maximum of over 65 years in prison. Ortiz's lawyer releasing a statement
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asserting that his client is innocent and, quote, would never improperly influence a game. Class A's
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lawyer releasing a statement claiming, Emmanuel Class A has devoted his life to baseball and doing
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everything in his power to help his team win. Emmanuel is innocent of all charges and looks forward to
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clearing his name in court. Noticeably absent from the attorney's statement for Class A are the words,
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he did not throw pitches in exchange for kickbacks. And that'll do it for your AM update. I'm Megan
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Kelly. Join me back here for The Megan Kelly Show, live on SiriusXM's The Megan Kelly Channel,
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111 at noon east, on youtube.com slash megankelly, and on all podcast platforms.
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