On This Day, May 30: Donald Trump guilty of 34 felony counts in Stormy Daniels case
In 1431, Joan of Arc was burned at the stake in Rouen, France, at age 19. She had been convicted of wearing men's clothing.
In 1783, the Pennsylvania Evening Post became the first daily newspaper published in the United States.
In 1806, future U.S. President Andrew Jackson took part in a duel, killing Charles Dickinson, a Kentucky lawyer who had called Jackson's wife a bigamist.
In 1868, the first major Memorial Day observance was held to honor those killed during the Civil War. It was originally known to some as Decoration Day.
In 1911, Ray Harroun won the first Indianapolis 500 with an average speed of 74.6 mph.
In 1922, the Lincoln Memorial was dedicated in Washington.
In 1934, the House of Representatives voted to create the Everglades National Park to preserve lands in Florida. President Harry Truman officially dedicated the park in 1947.
In 1971, the unmanned U.S. space probe Mariner 9 was launched on a mission to gather scientific data on Mars. It was the first spacecraft to orbit a planet other than Earth.
In 1972, three Japanese terrorists used automatic weapons to kill 24 people at the airport in Tel Aviv, Israel.
In 2002, U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft announced the FBI would have expanded powers to monitor religious, political and other organizations as well as the Internet as a guard against terrorist attacks.
In 2012, former Liberian President Charles Taylor, convicted of aiding war crimes, was sentenced to 50 years in prison.
In 2021, Hélio Castroneves won the 105th Indy 500 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. It was his record-tying fourth win. Other four-time winners include A.J. Foyt, Al Unser and Rick Mears.
In 2024, former President Donald Trump was found guilty on all 34 felony counts against him in his New York hush-money trial involving actor Stormy Daniels. After winning the 2024 presidential election, Trump was sentenced in January 2025 to an unconditional discharge in the case.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Fox News
4 hours ago
- Fox News
'We are bullish about the future because America is back,' says Mike Johnson
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., touts the successes of the Trump administration so far this term on 'One Nation.'
Yahoo
5 hours ago
- Yahoo
DOJ shuts down dark web child abuse sites that had 120,000 members
When FBI agents arrived outside William Spearman's home in the quiet suburb of Madison, Alabama, in November 2022, they were prepared for danger. Their search warrant was so important to the bureau that it was approved by the FBI director himself. When the agents breached Spearman's door with tactical explosives, Spearman fought back, tussling with the agents as three of his handguns remained barely out of reach. The FBI managed to handcuff and arrest Spearman, a high-value arrest, in what a top Justice Department official called "one of the most successful" prosecutions of its kind. Spearman went by the nickname "Boss" and was labeled by the Justice Department as "one of the most significant" purveyors of child sex abuse material in the world. His arrest in 2022, his guilty plea a year later and his eventual life sentence were part of an unprecedented takedown of a prodigious child abuse network. Spearman is one of at least 18 people convicted so far of leading and utilizing the dark web to share hundreds of thousands of unlawful sexually exploitative images of children. The Justice Department calls the investigation and prosecutions Operation Grayskull; it helped secure those arrests and shutter four heavily trafficked dark web sites where violent and horrific images of child sexual abuse were traded and housed. The Operation Grayskull investigation launched in 2020, when law enforcement agents noticed a spike in traffic to a dark web site suspected of hosting child abuse material. The dark web child abuse sites eventually attracted more than 120,000 members, millions of files and at least 100,000 visits in a single day, according to an FBI official who spoke with CBS News. "Even for prosecutors, it is difficult to understand how pervasive this is," said Matthew Galeotti, head of the Justice Department Criminal Division. "Because it happens on the dark web, people aren't aware of it. It's extremely troubling," he told CBS News. Spearman's case has parallels to many of the others unearthed by Operation Grayskull. Spearman was accused of helping lead a dark web site with thousands of users and members. A sentencing memo submitted to the court said it was "no wonder" that he had tried to resist the FBI, rather than surrendering. "The devices at his desk contained massive quantities of evidence proving that he was the lead administrator of Website A," the memo said. "Unsurprisingly, the defendant's devices also contained an enormous collection of images and videos depicting the rape and abuse of children." Selwyn Rosenstein was sentenced to 28 years in prison in 2022, for operating a dark website for unlawful exploitative images. Prosecutors said the platform "was not simply a website; it was a large, active community of pedophiles and (abuse material) enthusiasts. And it existed in part because of the Defendant's criminal acts." Rosenstein possessed such a large quantity of abusive images, he needed to store some on a server he used to run his business, according to the Justice Department. Speaking from a second floor conference room at Justice Department headquarters in Washington last week, Galeotti told CBS News the members of these dark web child abuse sites often "earn" membership by paying a fee, "helping moderate the site" or contributing child abuse images or material. Galeotti said, "We luckily have very sophisticated prosecutors and agents who work specifically on this kind of thing. These are people who have a more of a technical understanding." "The defendants in this case, as sadistic as they may be, are somewhat sophisticated," and make use of encryption, he added. Operation Grayskull also secured the conviction of Matthew Garrell of Raleigh, North Carolina, who was sentenced to 20 years in prison for operating on a dark web site for abuse material. "Garrell engaged in an extremely complex and technologically sophisticated conspiracy that far exceeds the typical child-exploitation offenses," prosecutors said. They argued in a court filing that Garrell possessed a predator's "handbook," with "detailed instructions" for grooming children for future abuse. The takedown of dark web leaders and users also included the convictions of men from Virginia, Maryland, Indiana, Texas, Washington, Arkansas, Michigan and Oklahoma. "They were part of an online community of hundreds of thousands of people, with leadership roles rules and a common dedicated purpose" said Chris Delzotto, an acting FBI deputy assistant director. Delzotto told CBS News, "Few people would have envisioned how (child abuse materials) would permeate the internet, the way it has today." The federal investigation which uncovered and shuttered the first dark web site, also led to the closure of three others. Abbigail Beccaccio, an FBI unit chief, told CBS News. "The leadership team that operated one of the sites also operated several of the others." The Justice Department is touting the shutdown of those sites as a victory to help deter future abuse or production of unlawful images. "This is one of the most successful of all time," Galeotti said. "We dismantled four websites that have not regenerated." "The Wizard of Oz" as you've never seen it before Tadej Pogačar wins his fourth Tour de France Ichiro Suzuki, CC Sabathia and Billy Wagner inducted into Baseball Hall of Fame
Yahoo
6 hours ago
- Yahoo
Trump's approval tanks amid Epstein fallout - now less than 30% of independent's approve
President Donald Trump's approval rating has tanked, amid the Jeffrey Epstein files fallout, with less than 30 percent of independents approving of the way the president is handling his job. A new Gallup poll shows Trump's overall approval rating at 37 percent. When broken up across political affiliation, 89 percent of Republicans approve of the job the president is doing. For independents, 29 percent approve of the president's performance and only 2 percent of Democrats approve. The 37 percent approval rating is the lowest of Trump's second term and mere points away from his all-time worst rating of 34 percent at the end of his first term. When it comes to specific issues, just 38 percent of Americans approve of Trump's handling of immigration, and 37 percent approve of his handling of the economy, two major issues of the president's campaign. The poll was taken between July 7 and 21, after Trump signed his 'big, beautiful bill,' which extended his 2017 tax cuts and increased border security funding while cutting welfare programs such as Medicaid and SNAP. Trump's victory lap on the legislation came to a crashing halt after the Justice Department and FBI came out with a memo stating there was no client list from Epstein, the wealthy financier and convicted sex offender who died in jail in 2019. The White House has faced backlash, notably from its own base, after Trump had promised to release the files, and then the feds effectively said the matter was closed. Trump had asked Attorney General Pam Bondi to 'produce any and all pertinent' grand jury testimony from Epstein's case, 'subject to Court approval,' citing the 'ridiculous amount of publicity' over the case. But the court denied that request. The president's past relationship with Epstein has also been at the center of controversy. The Wall Street Journal reported Trump had been told in May by Attorney General Pam Bondi that his name appeared in the Epstein Files 'multiple times'. The president denied such claims to reporters earlier this month. Appearing in the files does not indicate an individual has committed any wrongdoing and Trump has not been accused of misconduct in connection with the Epstein case. While respondents in the Gallup poll were not asked about the Epstein drama, a poll conducted by The Economist and YouGov from July 11 to 14 found 67 percent of Americans believe the government is hiding evidence related to the sex offender. When asked if the government should release all documents relating to the feds' Epstein case, 79 percent of respondents said it should.
