DML News Morning Briefing, April 20th

Today is April 20. 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. Hunter Biden’s IRS whistleblower news draws intense Twitter backlash: ‘Coverup of Biden family corruption’
FoxNews–Twitter users and Republican figures had intense reactions to an alleged whistleblower claiming that the Biden administration is intentionally mishandling the Hunter Biden investigation.

Fox News confirmed that attorney Mark D. Lytle penned a letter calling for whistleblower privileges regarding his client, an IRS criminal supervisory agent. The letter read that the agent previously made legally protected disclosures at the IRS and stated that these disclosures “contradict sworn testimony to Congress by a senior political appointee.”

Ryan Lynch: The Biden family will continue to cover up their business dealings until we elect a conservative president and Congress. We all know the Bidens are guilty, but until the two-tier justice system is broken, we won’t see anything come to fruition.

DailyMail–A devastating ‘supercell’ tornado system has ripped through Kansas and Oklahoma, killing at least two people while levelling entire homes and leaving a trail of destruction across multiple counties.

The terrifying twisters tore through the Midwest Wednesday evening, while parts of Nebraska, Missouri, Texas and Iowa have also been placed under tornado and severe thunderstorm watches.

Tennis-ball sized hail and torrential winds cut across the region, leaving approximately 20,000 people in the dark after the storms downed powerlines.

Ryan Lynch: I pray for all the Americans who have been affected by this horrible tornado.

3. Gunman on loose after firing at family ‘until he was out of bullets’ when ball rolled into his yard
NYP–A North Carolina 6-year-old and her parents were shot Tuesday night by an angry neighbor who fired at them after a basketball rolled into his yard, a report said.

Kinsley White was wounded along with her mother Ashley Hilderbrand and father William White when a gunman opened fire at around 8 p.m. in Gaston County after he became enraged about the bouncing ball, according to WSOC-TV.

White was critically injured attempting to protect his daughter.

Neighbors told the station a group of kids was playing basketball when the ball bounced into the alleged gunman’s yard.

Ryan Lynch: Mental health is a raging problem in this country. Who in their right mind would start shooting at an innocent family. I hope the shooter is apprehended quickly and swiftly.

4. Elon Musk’s SpaceX set to launch first test flight of Starship rocket system
Reuters–BOCA CHICA, Texas, April 20 (Reuters) – Elon Musk’s SpaceX aimed on Thursday to launch the company’s next-generation Starship spacecraft atop its powerful Super Heavy rocket for the first time, on a highly anticipated but brief uncrewed test flight from the Gulf Coast of Texas.

Final preparations were under way at the company’s Starbase launch site east of Brownsville, Texas, for a liftoff three days after an earlier launch attempt was scrubbed near the end of the countdown due to a frozen pressurization valve.

Barring further show-stoppers on Thursday, the two-stage rocketship, standing taller than the Statue of Liberty at 394 feet (120 m) high, was due to blast off between 9:30 and 10:30 a.m. EDT (1330 to 1430 GMT) on a planned 90-minute debut flight into space, just shy of Earth orbit.

Ryan Lynch: It’s a proud day to be American, we are still innovating and creating magnificent feats of engineering. I hope today’s mission is a success.

5. White House: Clawing Back Unspent COVID Money Hurts Small Businesses, Veterans, Pensions
Breitbart–During an interview with CBS News on Wednesday, Office of Management and Budget Director Shalanda Young responded to a push by House Republicans to claw back unspent COVID money in exchange for raising the debt ceiling by stating that the unspent COVID money is funding for things like small businesses, veterans, and pensions, but “we’re happy to have that conversation when they take default off the table” and the debate over clawing back the unspent COVID funds isn’t tied to the debt ceiling.

While discussing House Speaker Rep. Kevin McCarthy’s (R-CA) plan to raise the debt ceiling, CBS News Chief Washington Correspondent Major Garrett asked about various provisions in McCarthy’s plan and whether clawing back unspent COVID money is a “nonstarter?”

Young answered, “I’ll just remind people, Major, what we’re talking about, because it matters what these details are. People in this town like to talk in macro. Unspent funds, what is that? We’re talking about small business funds, we’re talking about veterans’ funds, we are talking about pension funds for multi-employer pensions that help machinists and carpenters save their pensions in this country. So, that’s another one, we’re happy to have that conversation when they take default off the table.”

Ryan Lynch: What are your thoughts? Let us know in the comment section.