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CNN Wins WHCA Award For ‘Excellent’ Coverage Of FBI Predawn Raid On Roger Stone’s Home

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The White House Correspondents Association announced Tuesday a list of 2020 journalism award winners, among them is CNN for the network’s coverage of the FBI raid on President Donald Trump’s Associate’s, Roger Stone, Florida home.

CNN was the only network on the scene of the pre-dawn raid that occurred shortly after Stone was indicted by a Grand Jury in Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s probe on charges of witness tampering, obstruction and false statements.

“CNN’s reporting on the Roger Stone arrest began a month earlier, with a clue about a court scheduling anomaly,” the WHCA wrote. “Then came unusual grand jury activity. Then an odd, packed suitcase wheeled by one of the prosecutors in special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of Stone. It culminated early in the morning of Jan. 25, 2019, when a CNN producer and a photojournalist, staked outside of Stone’s home in Ft. Lauderdale, captured the 5 a.m., no-knock raid by the FBI of the former confidant of President Donald Trump.”

They added, “CNN’s viewers saw the raid unfold in real-time, the product of a team or reporters, producers and photojournalists tracking the investigation over months, connecting the dots and scooping the rest of the press corps. They even scooped Stone’s own lawyers, who only found out when CNN called for a comment. In addition to the exclusive video, the team produced a compelling, supportive package that explained the charges against Stone. On deadline.”

CNN’s footage that day showed a half-dozen police vehicles, nearly a dozen officers and FBI agents with large weapons in tactical vests storming Stone’s home. Stone was seen answering the door in his pajamas and appeared to be taken by surprise.

“Thanks to CNN My face is instantly recognizable everywhere,” Stone told “The Sara Carter Show” in April. “So the idea that I would flee was absurd. I had been widely reported that I was under investigation. So their claim that I would destroy evidence if I knew they were coming was ridiculous. I destroyed nothing.”

Stone described to Carter the FBI raid, adding, “After being swept off to the FBI center for fingerprinting and mug shotting and then to the courthouse for arraignment for the next 13 hours, FBI agents went through every square inch of my home literally tore it to shreds.”

“My wife was ordered to sit in the corner where she could not touch her cell phone and you know what they found absolutely nothing. Nothing that was used in my trial. Now the most curious part about this, Sara, is thanks to my security camera footage which the FBI mistakenly I think forgot to take because you can actually see them putting tape over the camera lens,” Stone explained.

“We know that CNN actually showed up eleven minutes before the FBI arrived. CNN continues to insist that this is based on a hunch. That is ridiculous. And the FBI, under Christopher Wray, has refused to turn over to Judicial Watch the e-mail records between CNN and the FBI in the days before the raid.”

Stone was sentenced to over three years in prison in April and has had the charges since deferred. Now, Stone is appealing the Judge’s decision over alleged bias. The President has also signaled that he could be granting Stone an upcoming pardon.

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education

BREAKING: Disney drops suit challenging special district status in settlement with Florida, DeSantis

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A settlement was reached Wednesday in the two-year lawsuit over who controls the special governing district that encompasses the Walt Disney World Resort, which includes Disney dropping its lawsuitsagainst a newly created tourism board.

“We are glad that Disney has dropped its lawsuits against the new Central Florida Tourism Oversight District and conceded that their last-minute development agreements are null, void, and unenforceable,” Bryan Griffin, DeSantis’ communications director, said in a statement. “No corporation should be its own government. Moving forward, we stand ready to work with Disney and the District to help promote economic growth, family-friendly tourism, and accountable government in Central Florida.”

Fox News explains the dispute began “after Disney’s criticism of Florida’s Parental Rights in Education Act – derided by critics as the so-called “Don’t Say Gay” bill – prompted the DeSantis administration to revoke the special Disney-controlled tax district that gave the entertainment autonomy over its theme parks in the region.”

“No corporation should be its own government,” Bryan Griffin, a spokesman for the governor, said in an emailed statement. “Moving forward, we stand ready to work with Disney and the District to help promote economic growth, family-friendly tourism, and accountable government in Central Florida.”

Misleadingly deemed the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, prohibited the teaching of sexual orientation and gender identity to young students in the state. National Review reports:

After receiving pressure from employees, Disney’s then-CEO, Bob Chapek, said that the company’s leaders had been opposed to the bill “from the outset,” and Disney declared that the legislation “should never have passed and should never have been signed into law.”

In February 2023, DeSantis signed House Bill 9B, which established the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District to replace Disney’s Reedy Creek Improvement District. Reedy Creek was a 56-year-old special taxing district that allowed Disney control its own development, regulations, building codes, and other municipal services.

Lawmakers voted to give the governor the power to appoint the district’s board members.

However, before a DeSantis-appointed board took over last March, the Disney-controlled board handed control of the district’s development over to Disney…

As part of the settlement, Disney acknowledges that the development agreement approved by the outgoing Reedy Creek board has “no legal effect or enforceability.”

As for the media reports that DeSantis had been humiliated and out-maneuvered by Disney, Griffin said that “as usual, the media were wrong.”

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