Tribune News Service

Trump blasts DeSantis for insurance company ‘bailout’ legislation

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Former President Donald Trump blasted Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for wanting to give insurance companies widespread protections from lawsuits, calling it “the worst Insurance Scam in the entire Country!”

Taking to Truth Social just after midnight Thursday, Trump said Floridians are getting “crushed” by their insurance companies.

“Ron DeSanctimonious is delivering the biggest insurance company BAILOUT to Globalist Insurance Companies, IN HISTORY,” Trump wrote. “He’s also crushed Florida homeowners whose houses were destroyed in the Hurricane — They’re getting pennies on the dollar.”

DeSantis has supported House Bill 837, one of the priorities of House Speaker Paul Renner, R-Palm Coast, and the companion Senate Bill 236. That legislation would make it harder for Floridians to sue their insurance companies. The bills are being fasttracked through the Legislature this year.

—Tampa Bay Times

Senate confirms former LA Mayor Eric Garcetti as ambassador to India

WASHINGTON — The Senate confirmed former Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti as U.S. ambassador to India on Wednesday, ending a nearly twoyear fight over his nomination.

Senators voted 52-42 to confirm Garcetti to the post. He lost the votes of three Democrats but convinced seven Republicans to cross the aisle, winning him the job.

The outcome was anything but guaranteed. Democratic defections had mounted Wednesday morning, with several senators citing lingering questions about whether Garcetti knew or should have known about a former top aide’s alleged sexual harassment of colleagues.

Six senators were absent from Capitol Hill on Wednesday, further complicating the vote counting.

But Garcetti’s nomination was rescued by the Republican senators who broke ranks to support him: Sens. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, Roger Marshall of Kansas, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Susan Collins of Maine, Steve Daines of Montana, Bill Hagerty of Tennessee and Todd Young of Indiana.

The White House and Garcetti had strongly pushed for a vote to be held, regardless of the outcome.

—Los Angeles Times

Exiled Chinese business tycoon arrested in NYC on fraud charges

NEW YORK — Manhattan federal prosecutors on Wednesday busted exiled Chinese tycoon Guo Wengui — whose yacht ex- White House adviser Steve Bannon was arrested aboard in 2020 — for a staggering billion-dollar fraud scheme.

In a curious plot twist, a fire broke in Guo’s $32.5 million apartment in the Sherry-Netherland hotel in Midtown around noon, fire officials said, hours after FBI agents arrested the businessman.

Sources at the scene told the Daily News that agents were in the apartment when the two-alarm electric fire broke out.

“An investigation is being conducted to determine the cause of today’s fire,” Manhattan U.S. Attorney spokesman Nick Biase said.

Guo — whose real name is Ho Wan Kwok and also goes by Miles Guo — is accused of carrying out a “sprawling” conspiracy that saw him solicit investments for bogus ventures from his online followers and spend the money on a $37 million yacht, 50,000 square foot mansion, a $3.5 million Ferrari for his kid, two mattresses costing $36,000 a piece, and other luxury purchases.

The indictment unsealed in Manhattan Federal Court charges his U.K.based financier Kin Ming Je, who goes by William Je, with being the scheme’s financial architect and chief money launderer.

—New York Daily News

Poland to send 4 fighter jets to Kyiv

Poland will send four Soviet-era fighter jets to Ukraine in the coming days as the nation moves ahead with deliveries to bolster Kyiv’s air power, President Andrzej Duda said.

“The decision has been made” and more MiG-29 models currently under maintenance are on the way, Duda told reporters in Warsaw Thursday. The Polish government said this week that several allies had also signaled readiness to send such aircraft, with Slovakia on Wednesday saying it was prepared to dispatch MiGs.

The deliveries would cross a threshold in sending firepower to Kyiv, as many Western allies have drawn the line at sending fighter jets, citing the risk of being drawn into a direct confrontation with Moscow.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his military leadership have persistently demanded warplanes since the first days of the war as essential to driving back the Russian invasion.

—Bloomberg News