DML News Morning Briefing, April 18th

Today is April 18. Below are some of the stories grabbing headlines this morning. I hope you share this briefing as doing so will make you the smartest person in the room.

1. DeSantis says Anheuser-Busch is too woke, has lost him as a customer: ‘Why would you want to drink Bud Light?’
FoxNews–Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis encouraged people to continue boycotting Bud Light amid their promotion of transgender personality Dylan Mulvaney, as he said conservative consumers hold “power” to keep the company accountable. He also revealed his preferred alternative beer.

During an interview Monday evening with political commentator Benny Johnson, DeSantis said he would not be drinking Bud Light anymore as he did not wish to help enable “woke companies” and their goals of “trying to change our country, trying to change policy, [and] trying to change [the] culture.”

Ryan Lynch: Gov. DeSantis is 100% right. Bud Light is one of the few companies where a boycott can do serious damage and get our message across about what we don’t accept as a consumer.

2. ANOTHER Congressional report says COVID leaked from a lab: Biden administration facing more pressure to release all the intelligence virus origins after independent Republican probe found litany of safety issues at Wuhan Institute
DailyMail–The COVID pandemic was likely caused by a ‘lab leak’ from a Chinese institution, another Congressional report has concluded.

‘The preponderance of information affirms the plausibility of a research-related incident that was likely unintentional resulting from failures of biosafety containment during vaccine-related research,’ the report states.

The authors said that the evidence is ‘circumstantial’, and they have been hampered by lack of cooperation from China. Yet they remain confident that the virus escaped from the Wuhan lab.

Ryan Lynch: Everyone reading this brief knows the China virus came from a lab. But how many more reports need to be released until it’d be fact and not a conspiracy that the Virus did not come from a natural occurrence?

3. Dominion’s defamation case against Fox poised for trial after delay
Reuters–WILMINGTON, Delaware, April 18 (Reuters) – The courtroom showdown in the $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit by Dominion Voting Systems against Fox Corp (FOXA.O) and Fox News is set to get underway on Tuesday, with jury selection due to be completed and opening statements delivered in a trial putting one of the world’s leading media properties in the crosshairs.

Anticipation has been building for this day since Denver-based Dominion sued in 2021 over Fox’s airing of false claims that the Denver-based company’s ballot-counting machines were used to rig the 2020 U.S. presidential election in favor of Democrat Joe Biden over Republican then-President Donald Trump.

The judge did not disclose the reason for the 24-hour delay, but two sources told Reuters that Fox and Dominion had been holding last-minute settlement talks. Fox and Dominion could still settle the case. Fox faces a potentially enormous judgment because Dominion is also asking for punitive damages in any amount jurors deem appropriate.

Ryan Lynch: I would like to see this case go to court. Maybe Fox can prove how Dominion did rig the 2020 election.

4. Putin visits Russian troops in occupied Ukraine
NYP–-Russian President Vladimir Putin visited the headquarters of Russian troops fighting in Ukraine early Tuesday, his second trip to the Russian-held territories there since March.

The Russian leader then moved by helicopter to the headquarters of the Russian National Guard of the eastern Luhansk region to hear a report from commanders.

In both locations, Putin congratulated the military on Orthodox Easter, which was celebrated Sunday and presented them with icons.

Russia annexed the Kherson and Luhansk regions along with the Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia regions in September in a move that was rejected by much of the world as illegal.

Ryan Lynch: I wonder if the classified information from the leaked documents had anything to do with the visit.

5. Pentagon Doesn’t Know How Many More Leaked Documents Are out There
Breitbart–The Pentagon is not sure how many more leaked documents exist on the internet, its deputy press secretary revealed Monday.

According to Deputy Press Secretary Sabrina Singh, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and senior Pentagon officials have convened daily meetings to “examine the scope and scale” of the disclosure, as well as to try to prevent future leaks.

Asked by reporters whether the DOD knows at this point how many documents were leaked, Singh said, “This is an ongoing investigation being led by the Department of Justice. So we are working, consulting with them on an ongoing basis but that investigation will reveal more documents that have been, you know, previously posted.”

Ryan Lynch: Do you think there are more documents floating around out there?