Trump Looks to Lock In GOP Nomination by March 19, Haley Says Not So Fast
International law enforcement "hacked the hackers"; UK court considers Julian Assange extradition case
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Good morning,
A Washington D.C. man is suing the groups that run Powerball after his ticket matched the winning numbers on their website. However, the company said those digits were 'mistakenly posted' and he’s not a winner.
John Cheeks wants the $340 million grand prize in question, along with interest on the winnings and damages.
The drawing was Jan. 7, 2023. He bought the ticket on the 6th and says he looked on the site on Jan. 8.
Bad week at the office: The lotto groups say the numbers were accidentally posted to the live website by an employee running a test on Jan. 6—before the drawing—and were missing a red 'Powerball' number.
But the numbers stayed up on the site until Jan. 9 when someone realized the error.
Cheeks tried to claim the prize several times before he learned of the error.
The Powerball groups says a disclaimer on the website puts them in the clear.
We’ll see 😉
Mosheh, Jill, & Lauren
🗳 HALEY VOWS TO STAY IN RACE AFTER SOUTH CAROLINA THIS SATURDAY
Despite the fact that she is likely to lose her home state South Carolina primary this weekend, and she trails former President Trump in polls in more than a dozen upcoming contests, Nikki Haley says she’s not going anywhere.
NOT THROWING IN THE TOWEL… YET
On Tuesday, Haley said Trump is getting “meaner and more offensive… more unstable and unhinged… and so obsessed with his demons in the past that he can’t focus on the future Americans deserve.”
She called out members in her own party for being "too afraid to say it out loud,” and said that Trump’s criminal indictments make him a liability for Republicans.
She took aim at Biden too, pointing to polling that many Americans oppose Trump OR Biden being on the November ballot.
In the three state contests so far, Haley placed third in Iowa, second in New Hampshire, and didn’t bother to contest Trump in the Nevada caucus. In that state’s primary she lost to the “none of these candidates” option.
And looking ahead, it is not clear where she has a shot at beating him in any upcoming contest in the battle for delegates.
NUMBERS NOT ON HER SIDE
Poll numbers show she has an uphill battle to beat Trump for the nomination.
South Carolina votes Saturday and a new poll shows Haley trailing Trump 35% to 63%.
Super Tuesday on March 5, when about a third of delegates are awarded, shows similar Trump vs. Haley results.
Still raising $ though: Last month, she brought in $16.5 million, which included $11.7 million from grassroots supporters.
Trump allies are telling Haley to get out, and they are out with a campaign memo this week that there is a “a**kicking in the making in South Carolina,” and she has a “very serious math problem” in the state-by-state race for delegates. The Trump campaign expects the former president to clinch the RNC delegates needed to win the nomination (1,215 delegates) as early as March 12, and no later than March 19.
💻 RANSOMWARE GANG TAKEDOWN BY GLOBAL LAW ENFORCEMENT
Law enforcement agencies across the globe banded together to disrupt operations and brought arrests against one of the world’s most notorious cybercrime groups, Lockbit.
HACKED THE HACKERS
The Department of Justice says Lockbit held data for over 2,000 victims, and made $120 million in ransom payments. Ransomware attackers put malicious software into victims’ computer systems, including corporations, healthcare providers and schools, then hold the data and/or a fix until a payment is made. Don’t pay and the groups might dump or sell that data.
Lockbit sells digital extortion tools to cyber criminals, then gets a cut of their ransom profits.
In 2023, Lockbit was involved in 23% of the nearly 4,000 global ransomware attacks that posted victims’ data.
The group is run mostly by Russians and doesn’t attack in former Soviet nations.
The takedown, dubbed “Operation Cronos,” seized 34 of Lockbit's servers used to organize and transfer victim data; arrested two members of the gang; took over 200 cryptocurrency accounts; and accessed nearly 1,000 potential decryption tools.
Agencies say the information they gained will help victims decrypt their data.
“We have hacked the hackers… We have taken control of their infrastructure, seized their source code and obtained keys that will help victims decrypt their systems," said Graeme Biggar, the National Crime Agency’s director general.
Victims of the group include Boeing, the US arm of China's biggest bank, ICBC, and Britain’s Royal Mail.
GROWING THREAT
Ransomware is the costliest and most disruptive form of cybercrime. Last year, victims sent attackers over a billion dollars.
🇬🇧 UK COURT DECIDING WIKILEAKS’ JULIAN ASSANGE’S LAST-DITCH PUSH TO AVOID EXTRADITION
Julian Assange in a British police vehicle in 2019. Via: Washington Post
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is asking London’s High Court today to allow a new appeal hearing against the British government's 2022 decision allowing him to be extradited to the US.
It comes after years of legal challenges to stay abroad as American officials want to try him for 18 criminal charges that include espionage over his website’s publication of classified US documents in 2010. He faces up to 175 years in prison if convicted.
BACK STORY
The 52-year-old Australian journalist and activist has been in a high-security prison outside of London for the past five years, and before that spent seven years at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London in self-exile.
In 2010, with help from US Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning, Assange released classified US documents about American military wrongdoing in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Manning was arrested in 2010, convicted and sentenced to 35 years in prison in 2013.
Released documents showed a US military helicopter in 2007 shooting and killing two Reuters journalists and several Iraqi civilians.
The US said the documents put American lives at risk.
Then-President Barack Obama commuted Manning’s sentence in 2017.
Yesterday, Assange’s lawyers argued that he cannot be deported for a "political offense," he’s unwell, and that he acted with journalistic integrity. The US is expected to make arguments today.
WHAT’S NEXT?
If the court sides with the US, Assange will be extradited within days or weeks. His only remaining hope would be convincing the European Court of Human Rights to temporarily block his flight to the US with a so-called "Rule 39" order. However, “Rule 39” is typically only invoked if someone faces extradition to a country where they may be tortured or killed.
⏳ SPEED READ
🚨NATION
📌 N.Y. AG says she may seize Trump's assets if he can't pay $354M fine (AXIOS)
📌 Two adults arrested for shooting at the Kansas City Chiefs Super Bowl parade (ABC NEWS)
📌 US to impose 'major sanctions' on Russia over Navalny death (REUTERS)
📌 Supreme Court leaves sanctions in place against Sidney Powell and others over 2020 election suit in Michigan (CBS NEWS)
🌎 AROUND THE WORLD
📌 UN food agency pauses deliveries to the north of Gaza (REUTERS)
📌 US vetoes UN resolution calling for immediate ceasefire in Gaza after proposing a temporary halt in fighting (CNN)
📌 Spain police suspect bullet-riddled body may be Russian who defected with helicopter (ABC NEWS)
📌 Alexei Navalny’s mother demands Putin returns son's body (BBC)
📱BUSINESS, SCIENCE & TECH
📌 Did your iPhone get wet? Apple says don’t put it in rice (USA TODAY)
📌 Heads up: A dead satellite is falling back to Earth today (NPR)
📌 Walmart is buying TV maker Vizio for $2.3 billion to shore up its ad business (CNN)
📌 American Airlines raises bag fee by another $10 for luggage checked at the airport (NBC NEWS)
🎬 SPORTS & ENTERTAINMENT
📌 Four-part Beatles biopic on Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison and Ringo Starr announced (SALON)
📌 Former parenting Youtuber Ruby Franke and ex-business partner sentenced to prison for child abuse (PEOPLE)
📌 Hoda Kotb addresses Kelly Rowland’s ‘Today’ show walk-off, offers to ‘share’ dressing room (PAGE SIX)
📌 Three men go on trial in New York over Eagles’ Hotel California manuscript (GUARDIAN)
🗓 ON THIS DAY: FEBRUARY 21
1948: NASCAR was founded by a mechanic named William “Bill” France Sr, starting as a small business then growing to the multi-billion dollar industry it is today.
1965: Civil rights activist Malcolm X was assassinated in Manhattan during a speech. Two of the three men convicted of his killing were exonerated in 2021.
1970: The Jackson 5 made their first appearance on Dick Clark’s American Bandstand.
1972: President Richard Nixon visited the People's Republic of China, ending two decades of isolation between Washington and Beijing.
2003: ‘Old School,’ starring Will Ferrell, Luke Wilson and Vince Vaughn premieres in theaters.