Trump's pardons of public officials and break-in at Beanie Babies mogul's house: Morning Rundown

NBC News

28-05-2025

A handful of Trump's recent pardons show a shift in Justice Department priorities. British authorities garner praise for swift reaction to incident involving a vehicle in Liverpool. And a woman is in a coma after a break-in at the home of Beanie Babies billionaire Ty Warner.
Here's what to know today.
Trump's pardons highlight Justice Department's pullback from public corruption cases
When President Donald Trump announced this week that he would pardon Scott Jenkins, the former sheriff of Culpeper County, Virginia, it furthered a shifting mission within the Justice Department: to de-emphasize public corruption cases.
Jenkins' name and his case are likely not widely recognized by the general public. In March, he was sentenced to 10 years in prison after a jury found him guilty of accepting over $75,000 in exchange for giving law enforcement authority to local businessmen, as well as two undercover FBI special agents. All of Jenkins' co-defendants pleaded guilty.
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Still, Trump sees him as a 'victim of an overzealous Biden Department of Justice' who 'doesn't deserve to spend a single day in jail.' It's part of a broader pattern, in which he has pardoned at least four supportive former public officials who were convicted of financial improprieties.
That includes: Rod Blagojevich, the Democratic former governor of Illinois, over corruption charges related to bribery; Republican former Tennessee state Sen. Brian Kelsey over a campaign finance-related fraud conviction; and Republican former Las Vegas City Council member Michele Fiore, who was convicted on conspiracy and wire fraud charges and had been set to be sentenced this month. Also notably, the Trump administration moved to drop the corruption case against New York Mayor Eric Adams earlier this year.
And yesterday, the president said he plans to pardon Todd and Julie Chrisley, the pair known for their roles on the reality TV show 'Chrisley Knows Best' who are serving time for bilking banks out of tens of millions of dollars.
Trump, who faced two separate federal criminal cases that were dropped after his re-election, has long argued that he was a victim of the weaponization of the DOJ and FBI, and he has been sympathetic to those who make similar claims. Since Trump took office, the Justice Department's Public Integrity Section has shrunk both in size and influence, while the FBI's Washington Field Office is shutting down a public corruption squad that was focused on federal corruption.
'It's clear that this administration doesn't believe that tamping down on public corruption is a priority,' said Stacey Young, a former Justice Department official.
The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court to make it easier for officials to deport convicted criminals to 'third countries' that are not their countries of origin.
The Trump administration has also stopped scheduling new interviews for international students seeking visas to study in the U.S. as the State Department prepares for expanded social media screenings.
ICE deported over 17,200 people in April, according to new data, a 29% increase compared to the same period last year and an almost 40% increase from the previous month.
Republican Sen. Tommy Tuberville announced he's running for governor of Alabama.
Britain's King Charles III said Canada is facing a 'critical moment' in a rare speech seen as a show of support for Canada in the face of Trump's annexation threats.
A rush to release details after the Liverpool parade incident
Authorities in England announced the arrest of a suspect on suspicion of attempted murder after a vehicle drove through a crowd of soccer fans in Liverpool's city center, leaving dozens injured. Eleven people remained hospitalized as of yesterday.
When the incident initially made national newscasts on Monday, it didn't take long for notorious right-wing voices on social media to label it a 'suspect terrorist attack' and for others to speculate that the driver had been motivated by Islamic extremism. But authorities shut down those rumors within a couple of hours. First, police described the suspect as a 53-year-old white British male from the Liverpool area. A few hours later, police said the incident was not being investigated as terrorism-related.
'I've never known a case like this before where they've given the ethnicity and the race of the individual who was involved in it,' Dal Babu, a former Metropolitan Police chief superintendent, told BBC Radio 5 Live. But the remarkably swift release of details in Monday's incident, which authorities and civilians praised, was a sign of lessons learned after a deadly stabbing attack last year sparked violent riots in the town of Southport. Read the full story here.
Violent break-in at Beanie Babies billionaire's mansion
A woman is in a coma and a suspect has been arrested after a break-in at the California home of Beanie Babies billionaire Ty Warner, the Santa Barbara County District Attorney's office said in a criminal complaint. The incident happened last week when the suspect, identified as 42-year-old Russell Maxwell Phay, allegedly broke into the home, 'violently' beat a woman and then barricaded himself in an upstairs bathroom, according to the Santa Barbara County's Sheriff's Office. Phay was apprehended after he 'attempted to flee by climbing out of' the bathroom window.
The victim was identified through public records and social media as Linda Malek-Aslanian, whose LinkedIn profile identifies her as a financial services professional from New York. Warner, who is known for being reclusive, was at home at the time of the attack but not harmed.
Phay is charged with attempted murder, burglary, kidnapping and assault in the incident. Previous local news reports and public records reveal his previous run-ins with law enforcement.
The CDC will no longer recommend routine Covid shots for healthy children and pregnant women, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said.
Thousands of hungry Palestinians stormed a new, controversial U.S.- and Israel-backed aid distribution center in Gaza and made off with boxes of food as Israeli soldiers fired live rounds in the air.
Eight of the 10 New Orleans jail escapees are now in custody after three arrests yesterday. Meanwhile, court documents have revealed where the inmates went after their escape and the names of those accused of assisting them.
As the use of dietary or herbal supplements grows, so have rates of toxic hepatitis.
Los Angeles Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani hasn't pitched in a game in more than 640 days, but that could soon change.
Staff Pick:
As the oldest, richest and most renowned university in the U.S., Harvard is a dream school not just for Americans but also for international students, who make up more than a quarter of its student body. Their future at the Ivy League school is uncertain, however, as the Trump administration tries to impose a ban on international students' enrollment. Such a ban would be a loss for Harvard both financially and in terms of academic talent — and a win for universities in Asia, Europe and elsewhere that are eager to snatch them up. — Jennifer Jett, Asia digital editor
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