Matt Young

Andrew Harnik/Getty ImagesDonald Trump played the victim on the eve of his New York City hush-money trial, echoing comments over the weekend in which he portrayed himself as a martyr to supporters.Trump on Sunday ramped up his attacks against the “totally conflicted Judge” handling his case, and the so-called “Corrupt Prosecutor” who created “a Legal System in CHAOS.” The trial, which is set to begin jury selection Monday, is set to be the first criminal proceeding against a former U.S. president.The comments aren’t exactly a change of pace for the quadruple indicted ex-commander-in-chief—at a rally in in Schnecksville, Pennsylvania, on Saturday, Trump labeled the case a “communist show trial” amid roaring chants from the crowd of “we love Trump.”Read more at The Daily Beast.

Curtis Means/ReutersDonald Trump took to Truth Social Sunday night promising to deliver his policy on abortion and abortion rights come Monday morning.Trump has taken on the issue in recent months but has played it relatively coy. Last October, the former president refused to confirm whether or not he supports a federal abortion ban while criticizing Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on the state’s six-week ban. At the time, Trump claimed his response to ending America’s abortion conundrum since the fall of Roe v. Wade would be to “sit down with both sides” and “negotiate something.” He did not specify a timeline, but said DeSantis’ six-week ban was “a terrible thing and a terrible mistake.”Last month, Trump said he would support an abortion ban around the 15-week mark, his first definitive comments on the issue.Read more at The Daily Beast.

Chris Elise/Icon Sportswire via Getty ImagesYellowstone actor Forrie J. Smith said in an Instagram post over the weekend that he had been booted from a flight after refusing to sit next to another passenger who happened to be wearing a mask—saying he “didn’t feel comfortable” with the seating arrangement. Smith, who has been vocal in his stance against vaccines and masking, made the allegations in a post on Saturday, claiming that he was stranded in Houston following the conflict. He did not name the flight or airline, but said the airline justified its decision by claiming that he was “drunk”—a fact he seemingly contested.Read more at The Daily Beast.

Seth Herald/ReutersDonald Trump on Sunday criticized Fox News for its coverage of his New York bank fraud case involving Attorney General Letitia James, slamming the conservative network despite the fact his son Eric had appeared on the channel just hours earlier.The former president is rapidly approaching an important Monday deadline for him to secure a $454 million bond in the case—or face asset forfeiture. Trump took his grievances with the right-wing network to Truth Social on Sunday, claiming, “Don’t Like the way FoxNews is reporting the Letitia James Election Interference Scam. They don’t want to discuss how ridiculous the Corrupt Judge’s fine of 450 Million Dollars is. It should be $ZERO.Read more at The Daily Beast.

Phil McCarten/ReutersM. Emmet Walsh, who appeared in more than 1oo films in his decades-long career, which spanned genres and saw him star alongside Harrison Ford in Blade Runner and Dustin Hoffman in Little Big Man, died in Vermont at the age of 88, his manager confirmed.Speaking to the Associated Press, Sandy Joseph confirmed the news of the actor's death from cardiac arrest on Tuesday at a hospital in St. Albans in Vermont, but did not provide further details.“Walsh’s tremendous body of work includes 119 feature films and more than 250 television productions,” a statement to the New York Post added.Read more at The Daily Beast.

Douglas SachaAt least three people were killed in Indiana after severe weather swept through the area, including a tornado that touched down at a trailer park, police confirmed to Fox and NBC News.The deaths in in the mobile home park in Winchester, Indiana occurred after a storm blew through Randolph County, police told WRTV—but it remains unclear whether the deaths were caused by the tornado, which swept through after 8 p.m. local time. Two tornadoes had earlier touched down outside Madison, Indiana, around 2:30 p.m.; one in Hanover and a second in neighboring Switzerland County, according to The Columbus Dispatch.The Daily Beast has contacted the Indiana State Police for confirmation.Read more at The Daily Beast.

Evelyn Hockstein/ReutersTikTok CEO Shou Chew warned U.S. users Wednesday that politicians seeking to ban the social media platform will effectively hand all the power to other social media companies and take “billions of dollars out of the pockets of creators” in a response just hours after the U.S. House passed a bill that would effectively ban TikTok in the country.The bill, named the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, still needs to pass the Senate and gain a signature by Joe Biden, though the president has already indicated he will sign the legislation into law if it reaches his desk. The House passed the bill 352-65, with both Republicans and Democrats voting for it.Chew pleaded with users to “protect your constitutional rights” while adding that at least 300,000 American jobs were at risk. He claimed the company will “continue to do all we can including exercising our legal rights” if the bill does in fact become law.Read more at The Daily Beast.

Anna Moneymaker/Getty ImagesThe parents of slain UGA jogger Laken Riley have declined an invitation to the State of the Union address Thursday in order to grieve their daughter, according to far-right Congressman Rep. Mike Collins (R-GA).Collins, who represents Georgia’s 10th Congressional District of Athens, where the 22-year-old nursing student is alleged to have been murdered, said in an announcement to X on Wednesday that his office had sent an invite, “but understandably, they have chosen to stay home as they grieve the loss of their daughter.”It is unclear whether Collins’ reputation for the wilder of side of politics was also at play in the decision to turn down the invite—he is currently facing criticism for his response to an antisemitic post on X that called a Washington Post reporter out for being Jewish. Read more at The Daily Beast.

Dado Ruvic/ReutersElon Musk scored a big legal victory Tuesday when a U.S. district court judge threw out most of a lawsuit filed against his social media platform, X, by 17 music publishers.But the ruling also comes with a catch–with some of the lawsuit’s core allegations able to move ahead.The music publishers, including Sony and Universal Music, accused X of ignoring copyrights on 1700 songs by allowing people to post clips from artists including Taylor Swift on its platform without permission. The companies noted in their June, 2023 filing: “Twitter’s incentive not to act expeditiously is clear. Twitter wants to maximize the benefit it receives from the infringing content on its platform before the tweet is deleted. As a general proposition, the value to Twitter of a tweet decreases over time.”Read more at The Daily Beast.

Jim Vondruska/Getty ImagesEvangelical leader Bob Vander Plaats was given the floor during an interview with The Blaze’s Steve Deace, launching into former President Donald Trump after a week which saw the pair’s ongoing feud reach epic new proportions.President and CEO of The Family Leader, a Christian conservative group based in Iowa, Vander Plaats has become increasingly vocal about his dislike of the Donald. In May, he told NewsNation that he was done for good with the former president, and that voters were “exhausted and tired” and it was time to “turn the page.”Last week, the influential leader announced his endorsement of Ron DeSantis—much-needed fuel for the Florida governor’s flailing campaign.Read more at The Daily Beast.