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Today’s high tales

Former President Donald Trump made a uncommon look yesterday earlier than three U.S. Court of Appeals judges in Washington to make the case that he’s immune from federal prosecution on expenses associated to the Jan. 6 rebel. Trump’s attorneys argued his official acts as a president should not be prosecuted except he’s impeached and convicted first.

Former President Donald Trump reacts to supporters throughout a decide to caucus rally, Tuesday, Dec. 19, 2023, in Waterloo, Iowa.

Charlie Neibergall/AP

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Charlie Neibergall/AP

Former President Donald Trump reacts to supporters throughout a decide to caucus rally, Tuesday, Dec. 19, 2023, in Waterloo, Iowa.

Charlie Neibergall/AP

• All three judges appeared doubtful about siding with Trump, NPR’s Carrie Johnson tells Up First. One requested Trump’s lawyer, Dean John Sauer, if he believed a president might be charged with a crime for promoting pardons and army secrets and techniques or ordering the assassination of a political rival. Johnson provides the courtroom did not give a timetable for after they would make their choice. Trump has extra courtroom appearances arising. Closing arguments for the New York civil fraud trial in opposition to him and his firm start tomorrow.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin spent the final week on the hospital. Until yesterday, nobody knew why. Walter Reed National Military Medical Center says Austin was diagnosed with early-stage prostate cancer final month. He was hospitalized on Jan. 1 attributable to issues from a process to take away his prostate gland.

• NPR’s Greg Myre says it is “really not clear” why the White House and different nationwide safety leaders had been not made aware of Austin’s situation till now. The White House says he’ll keep in his place. White House chief of workers Jeff Zients mentioned yesterday Cabinet secretaries should now submit in writing their protocols for delegating authority.
• Medical ethicist Keisha Ray speaks with Morning Edition to debate the privateness rights of public officers and whether the public has a right to know why Austin was hospitalized. 

As a possible authorities shutdown looms 9 days away, House Republicans are targeted on two different points: impeaching Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayoraks and holding President Biden’s son Hunter in contempt of Congress.

• GOP representatives have singled out Mayorkas, arguing he is failed to address the crisis on the U.S.-Mexico border and is not implementing present immigration legal guidelines, NPR’s Deirdre Walsh says. The transfer to carry Hunter Biden in contempt is said to the impeachment inquiry into President Biden. They say Hunter Biden has defied requests to testify in a closed-door testimony. Hunter Biden says he’ll solely testify in public. 

Today’s hear

Millions of monarch butterflies migrate down the east coast of the U.S. annually to spend the winter in Mexico. But Sofi Gratas, a journalist and longtime volunteer at Monarchs Across Georgia, says their patterns are altering, with many staying within the U.S. relatively than migrating. Scientists are counting on residents to assist decide what this implies for the butterflies’ future.

Listen to Gratas inform All Things Considered how one can report monarch sightings and what to look out for.

Life Kit resolutions planner

Exercise

Shannon Wright for NPR

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Shannon Wright for NPR

Exercise

Shannon Wright for NPR

This month, we’re highlighting a number of the hottest New Year’s resolutions. Find a decision and persist with it for your entire yr with Life Kit’s planner.

• Getting in form is a typical aim for the brand new yr. Life Kit’s greatest well being recommendation will make it easier to find a routine you like and stick to it, whether or not you’re keen on cardio, desire weights or do not know the place to start out:
• Exercise does not must be all or nothing. Any movement is better than none.
• If you are new to weightlifting, begin with newbie coaching plans specializing in compound movements that use a number of units of muscle tissues collectively.
• Running can appear scary. Learn discover the fitting sneakers, breathe deliberately and find the pace that works for you.
• Looking for one thing much less intense? These four simple exercises will assist ease the ache from slouching all day.

Set your self up for achievement together with your exercise with Life Kit’s ideas for getting enough sleep, staying hydrated, eating mindfully and more.

3 issues to know earlier than you go

Tiger Woods celebrates on the 18th inexperienced after profitable the Masters at Augusta National Golf Club on April 14, 2019 in Augusta, Georgia.

Andrew Redington/Getty Images

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Andrew Redington/Getty Images

Tiger Woods celebrates on the 18th inexperienced after profitable the Masters at Augusta National Golf Club on April 14, 2019 in Augusta, Georgia.

Andrew Redington/Getty Images

1. Tiger Woods and Nike Golf introduced Monday that their partnership was ending. Take a take a look at five of the most iconic ads from the three-decade-long model partnership. 
2. Many Mohawk individuals are raving about Kahhori, a new Indigenous superhero launched within the animated sequence What If… that reimagines what it might have been like if Mohawks rejected their Spanish colonizers. (through NCPR)
3. Researchers at Columbia and Rutgers University have discovered roughly 240,000 detectable plastic fragments in a typical liter of bottled water — an quantity in concentrations 10 to 100 times more than beforehand estimated. 

This e-newsletter was edited by Majd Al-Waheidi.