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As a father, Joe Biden has long defended son Hunter, despite controversy

June 20, 2023 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — It seems clear from his comments over the years that the fatherly relationship Joe Biden has with his son Hunter outweighs concerns about appearances and political implications.

Biden has long maintained he was confident Hunter, 53, one of his two surviving children, had done nothing nefarious amid a federal investigation into the younger Biden’s tax affairs and overseas business dealings.

“First of all, my son’s done nothing wrong,” Biden told MSNBC’s Stephanie Ruhle last month as prosecutors neared the end of their probe. “I trust him. I have faith in him. And it impacts my presidency by making me feel proud of him.”

On Tuesday, Hunter Biden agreed to plead guilty to a pair of tax-related misdemeanors, potentially bringing an end to the probe. The younger Biden will acknowledge failure to pay taxes on income he received in 2017 and 2018, and struck a deal with prosecutors regarding a felony charge related to illegal possession of a firearm.

The development comes just as President Biden has begun campaigning for a second term, and as congressional Republicans attempt at every turn to paint the first family as corrupt.

The charges are unlikely to satisfy those in the GOP who’ve been laser-focused on targeting what they call, without providing evidence, the “Biden crime family” and those lashing out at what they perceive to be a two-tiered system of justice in the wake of Donald Trump’s indictments.

The White House had largely avoided commenting on the investigation carried out by U.S. Attorney David Weiss, a Trump appointee, but maintained the president and his son never discussed the latter’s business dealings.

After news broke Tuesday of Hunter Biden’s plea agreement, White House spokesperson Ian Sams released a short statement.

“The President and First Lady love their son and support him as he continues to rebuild his life,” Sams said. “We will have no further comment.”

The administration had previously emphasized neither President Biden nor the White House had discussed the probe with the Justice Department, and Attorney General Merrick Garland said as recently as March prosecutors were operating free from any interference.

“That’s a matter that’s going to be decided by the Justice Department, by the legal process,” White House chief of staff Ron Klain said on ABC’s This Week in April 2022. “It’s something that no one at the White House has involvement in.”

The investigation began in 2018 and became public in December 2020, just after Biden became president-elect. At the time, Biden’s transition team released a statement saying Biden remained “deeply proud of his son, who has fought through difficult challenges, including the vicious personal attacks of recent months, only to emerge stronger.”

The president commented on the issue only a handful of times since then, each time coming to the younger Biden’s defense and occasionally bristling at questions and accusations about his son’s conduct.

“I’m confident that he is — what he says, and does, are consistent with what happens,” Biden told CNN’s Jake Tapper in October 2022. “And, for example, he wrote a book about his problems, and was straightforward about it. I’m proud of him.”

In his 2021 memoir Beautiful Things, Hunter Biden detailed his struggle with drug addiction (which he said entered a darker phase after the death of his brother Beau Biden from brain cancer in 2015) his relationships with his family and his attempt to build a successful business career while sharing a name with his influential father.

Hunter Biden described when his father came to check on him during one of his benders, writing: “”He looked aghast at what he saw. He asked if I was okay and I told him, sure, I was fine. ‘I know you’re not fine, Hunter,’ he said, studying me, scanning the apartment. ‘You need help.’ I looked into my dad’s eyes and saw an expression of despair, an expression of fear.”

Hunter Biden has been visible at recent White House events, appearing at his father’s side at a state dinner for French President Emmanuel Macron and at the Kennedy Center Honors in Washington. He also accompanied President Biden during his trip to Ireland.

When asked by CBS News’ 60 Minutes correspondent Scott Pelley last September if any of Hunter Biden’s troubles have caused “conflicts for you or for the United States,” Biden said no.

“I love my son, number one. He fought– an addiction problem,” Biden responded. “He overcame it. He wrote about it. And no, there’s not a single thing that I’ve observed at all from th– that would affect me or the United States relative to my son Hunter.

It remains to be seen how the charges against him will impact President Biden’s reelection bid.

House Republicans have used their majority to launch an investigation and hold various hearings into Hunter Biden’s private dealings. House Oversight Chair James Comer, R-Ky., vowed Tuesday to continue those efforts.

Trump — who faces multiple legal troubles of his own, including federal charges for his alleged mishandling of classified documents — on Tuesday alleged Hunter Biden was slapped with “a mere ‘traffic ticket.”

“Our system is BROKEN!” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

President Biden’s last presidential campaign, too, faced swirling questions about his son and then Republicans were ultimately unsuccessful in their attempt to tie Biden to his son in the minds of voters.

In an effort to diffuse scandals burgeoning during the 2020 presidential campaign, the younger Biden gave some personal interviews discussing his addiction struggles and his past relationships, including one with his brother’s widow Hallie.

Hunter Biden, in a 2019 sit down with ABC News, defended the ethical implications of his private business dealings but conceded a misstep in failing to foresee the political implications on his father’s career.

“In retrospect, look, I think that it was poor judgment on my part. Is that I think that it was poor judgment because I don’t believe now, when I look back on it — I know that there was — did nothing wrong at all,” Hunter Biden said. “However, was it poor judgment to be in the middle of something that is…a swamp in many ways? Yeah.”

How one dad retired in his 30s and achieved financial freedom

June 20, 2023 by WDNY Radio

(SAN DIEGO) — Michael Quan was just 36 when he retired. Today, the father of two from San Diego is 46 and living a life of his choosing, having achieved his goal of financial independence.

“The goal wasn’t necessarily to retire super early. It was to really get to a place of financial independence or financial freedom where I didn’t have to work for money, where I could ultimately choose what I want to do with my time,” Quan told Good Morning America.

To achieve his goal, Quan started investing when he was 26, learning to make passive income from his uncles who had business and real estate investments.

“I was like, ‘You know what? That’s great. You get to focus on what really matters to you most and you get to be super intentional with your life,'” Quan said he remembered thinking at the time.

Quan adopted the F.I.R.E. method, short for “Financial Independence, Retire Early,” and began aggressively saving his salary. He started investing early, in his 20s, before he married and had children. He was also diligent and intentional from the get-go and was active and investing over time.

But instead of putting all his eggs in one basket, Quan invested his money into various stocks and index funds and his money grew over the years.

“I just started investing in the stock market and spending $5 a week, investing into stocks and so that really got me interested into building a portfolio at a young age, even before I started my company,” Quan said.

While working full time, Quan began to build an information technology consulting business that then led him to diversify his investments even more.

“Because I was building a business, I had the opportunity to cash out some of that equity and put that into real estate,” Quan said.

Quan worked on building his business for a decade until he received an unsolicited offer to buy out his company.

“I decided, I have a unique opportunity to be home and present with the kids. I have a lot of shots to build another business but only one shot at being a great dad,” Quan recalled thinking at the time.

Quan, who wrote a guide called The F.I.R.E. Planner, said one of the key tips he recommends to find success with the F.I.R.E. method is to embrace the right mindset.

“A lot of times, we are taught in school that you go out, you get a job, and then you work [a] traditional 9 to 5 job. And while that can work for some people, a lot of times, we feel trapped because we get into debt that society tells us is OK to finance your future. And if you remove that idea, you get back to a different belief that ‘Hey, I can actually build wealth over time slowly and it doesn’t have to be painful,'” Quan said. “It’s really the mindset that is the start. Once you have a belief and once you have the action, you’ll get the result.”

For example, if you think about building wealth over time slowly instead of trying to finance your future and set it up to be automatic, such as with automatic deposits into a 401(k) or an individual retirement account, you’re more likely to succeed at building a nest egg.

Another way Quan has achieved financial freedom without working is by relying on passive income, which offers a steady flow of cash with minimal upkeep. Popular passive income sources include investments, side hustles or high-yield savings accounts, where the majority of the work happens during the set-up process. Another way to generate passive income is to rent out high-value items you already have, such as your home, garage, power tools or even your pool for a day through services like Airbnb, VRBO or Peerspace.

Today, Quan said he uses the term “early retirement” in a loose way since he still works on different passion projects, such as financial coaching.

“I don’t think I’ll ever go back to work in a 9 to 5. What I will do though, is never stop working,” Quan said. “I get to work on incredible things. I love personal development and really helping other people. So I’ll definitely take on some coaching clients occasionally to help them in their journey. And then I’ve been doing some public speaking as well and going out and sharing with university kids or going to conferences and speaking.”

Homeland Security deputy secretary retiring

June 20, 2023 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security John Tien is retiring from the Department, he announced in an internal message to department staff on Tuesday.

Tien, an Army veteran who served three tours of duty, including in Operation Desert Storm, is leaving the Department on July 20, according to the message.

“After 26 years of combined federal service including three combat tours in Iraq and living apart from my family for the last two years, I have decided to return to Atlanta to re-join them there,” Tien said to the Department workforce in an email. “When I depart from DHS on July 20, 2023, I will most fondly remember what the Secretary and I tried to do for the workforce to vastly improve the lives of our fellow employees in terms of pay, training, facilities, and technology support, all essential to improving morale.”

The outgoing deputy secretary served in the military for 24 years after graduating from West Point with the school’s highest honor.

Tien is also one of the highest-ranking Asian Americans in the Biden administration. He spoke about it to ABC News last month.

“As a first-generation Asian American, I know that I’ve got a responsibility to be both seen and heard,” he explained in May.

In a message to the workforce obtained by ABC News, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas called Tien a “patriot.”

“On behalf of 260,000 of us throughout the Department of Homeland Security — across the country and around the world — I express our profound thanks to him for making our Department and all of us the beneficiaries of his dedication to country and qualities as a person for the past two years,” Mayorkas said.

Hunter Biden live updates: Plea deal struck on tax charges, potentially ending yearslong DOJ probe

June 20, 2023 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Hunter Biden, the president’s son, has agreed to plead guilty to a pair of tax-related misdemeanors and enter a deferred prosecution program for one felony gun possession charge, which would potentially end a yearslong probe, according to court documents filed Tuesday.

Biden will acknowledge his failure to pay taxes on income he received in 2017 and 2018, according to the agreement. In exchange, prosecutors will recommend probation, meaning he will likely avoid prison time. For the gun charge, he will agree to pretrial diversion, with the charge being dropped if he adheres to certain terms.

Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:

Jun 20, 10:45 AM EDT
AG Garland declines to comment, left decision on deal to Weiss

A spokesperson for Attorney General Merrick Garland declined to comment when asked about the plea deal reached with Hunter Biden.

Garland is currently overseas in Stockholm, Sweden for the EU/US Justice and Home Affairs Ministerial meeting.

The decision to enter this deal was entirely left to U.S. Attorney David Weiss’ discretion, according to a source familiar with the matter.

Garland has previously told Congress that Weiss had full authority to bring whatever charges he may deem proper in accordance with DOJ’s guidelines.

He has also testified repeatedly that Weiss’ investigation has remained free from any improper political interference, which he affirmed in a press conference last month when asked about allegations by a purported IRS whistleblower who has sought to alert congressional leaders about potential misconduct in DOJ’s handling of the probe.

-ABC News’ Alexander Mallin

Jun 20, 10:33 AM EDT
Republicans on Capitol Hill vow to continue investigation into Bidens

While the federal investigation is over, the investigations will continue on Capitol Hill. The investigative committees have indicated they intend to keep pursuing Hunter Biden’s business dealings in foreign countries and whether he was trading on his family name.

The chair of the House Oversight Committee, James Comer, R-Ky., issued a statement saying this reveals a “two-tiered system of Justice” and calls it just a “slap on the wrist.”

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., tweeted it was a “stunt” to make Hunter Biden “look like he is just cooperating with DOJ.”

-ABC News’ Katherine Faulders

Jun 20, 10:21 AM EDT
Trump calls plea agreement ‘a mere traffic ticket’

Former President Donald Trump, who was defeated by Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election and could face him again in 2024, has posted to his Truth Social, calling the plea agreement “a mere ‘traffic ticket'” and saying “Our system is broken.”

Karoline Leavitt, a spokeswoman for pro-Trump super PAC Make America Great Again Inc., called it a “sweetheart deal” and added, “The American people need President Trump back in office to appoint a truly independent special prosecutor that will finally bring justice.”

-ABC News’ Soorin Kim

Jun 20, 10:16 AM EDT
President, first lady say they ‘love’ and ‘support’ son

President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden have released a statement through a spokesperson supporting their son.

“The President and First Lady love their son and support him as he continues to rebuild his life,” White House spokesperson Ian Sam said in a statement. “We will have no further comment.”

Jun 20, 10:08 AM EDT
Plea agreement could end yearslong probe

Federal authorities with the U.S. attorney’s office in Delaware, led by U.S. Attorney David Weiss, a Trump-era appointee, opened their investigation into Hunter Biden in 2018. The investigation spilled into public view in December of 2020, shortly after Joe Biden secured the presidency, when Hunter Biden confirmed the probe into his “tax affairs.”

Prosecutors have since examined a range of potential crimes as part of their investigation and brought several witnesses before a federal grand jury empaneled in Wilmington, Delaware.

The impetus for the probe and investigators’ primary focus was whether Hunter Biden paid adequate taxes on millions of dollars of his income. The younger Biden paid off at least one significant tax liability of nearly $2 million in 2021 with the help of a Los Angeles-based entertainment lawyer name Kevin Morris, ABC News has reported.

Beyond his taxes, investigators scrutinized a gun application form signed by Hunter Biden in 2018. On the form, he checked a box indicating he was not an “unlawful user” of drugs, despite later acknowledging that he was indeed addicted to crack cocaine around that time, ABC News has reported.

A Yale-trained lawyer, Hunter Biden repeatedly said he was cooperating with investigators and remained “100% certain” that he would be cleared of any wrongdoing. Joe Biden has said he’s never spoken to his son about his foreign business and recently said Hunter Biden “has done nothing wrong.” There are no indications that the federal investigation involved the president in any way.

The White House has repeatedly sought to distance the president from the probe, and Attorney General Merrick Garland assured Congress that there would not be “interference of any political or improper kind.”

Jun 20, 10:05 AM EDT
Hunter Biden to plead guilty to tax charges, enter pretrial program for gun charge

Hunter Biden, the son of President Joe Biden, has agreed to plead guilty to a pair of tax-related misdemeanors as part of a deal that would potentially end a politically fraught and yearslong probe into his personal and professional life, according to court documents filed Tuesday.

Under an agreement negotiated with the U.S. attorney’s office in Delaware, the younger Biden, 53, will acknowledge his failure to pay taxes on income he received in 2017 and 2018. In exchange, prosecutors will recommend probation, meaning he will likely avoid prison time.

The agreement also includes what is known as a pretrial diversion for one felony count related to illegal possession of a firearm, which would not require Hunter Biden to submit a plea on that charge and stipulates that prosecutors would agree to drop it if he adheres to certain terms over a specified period of time.

If a federal judge accepts the deal, Tuesday’s development would mark the conclusion of an investigation that has dogged not only Hunter Biden, but also his father, whose political foes have latched onto the younger Biden’s overseas business dealings to level allegations depicting the entire Biden family as corrupt.

What to know about the Hunter Biden investigations

June 20, 2023 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — News that President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, has agreed to a plea deal regarding a pair of tax-related misdemeanors follows a five-year Justice Department probe into the younger Biden’s finances and comes as a GOP-led congressional panel investigates what House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer says are the Biden family’s “shady business deals.”

After years of largely avoiding public confrontations about his business dealings, Hunter Biden earlier this year engaged a new legal team to undertake a more aggressive legal tack, making private citizen criminal referrals and sending cease-and-desist letters involving some of his most vocal critics.

Here’s a look at the various investigations into the president’s son:

Justice Department probe

Federal authorities with the U.S. attorney’s office in Delaware, led by U.S. Attorney David Weiss, a Trump-era appointee, had been investigating Hunter Biden since 2018, but the probe was temporarily paused for several months ahead of the 2020 presidential election.

The investigation spilled into public view in December of 2020, shortly after Joe Biden secured the presidency, when Hunter Biden confirmed the probe into his “tax affairs.” Prosecutors have examined whether he paid adequate taxes on millions of dollars of his income, including money he made from multiple overseas business ventures.

Prosecutors also explored allegations that Hunter Biden lied about his drug use on a gun application form in 2018, despite later acknowledging that he was addicted to drugs around that time.

ABC News has previously reported that the younger Biden borrowed $2 million from his lawyer and confidant Kevin Morris to pay the IRS for back taxes, penalties and liens that he owed.

A grand jury empaneled in Delaware reportedly heard testimony from multiple witnesses over the course of their probe, including some of Hunter Biden’s business partners and a woman who had a child by Hunter Biden out of wedlock.

The younger Biden, a Yale-trained lawyer, has said he is cooperating with investigators and remained “100% certain” that he would be cleared of any wrongdoing. President Biden has said he and his son never discussed his foreign business dealings and there are no indications that the federal investigation involves the president in any way.

The White House has repeatedly sought to distance the president from the probe.

Congressional oversight

Meanwhile, on Capitol Hill, House Republicans have been conducting a long-expected investigation into Hunter Biden and his father.

Last month the powerful House Oversight Committee issued a subpoena to the FBI demanding the bureau produce a record related to an “an alleged criminal scheme involving then-Vice President Biden and a foreign national relating to the exchange of money for policy decisions.”

The subpoena seeks an unclassified FD-1023 document, which is generally defined as a report from an informant. An FD-1023 form could be generated in a variety of situations involving someone presenting themselves as a “source” with claims of wrongdoing.

The White House denounced the accusation as “anonymous innuendo.”

In April, a supervisor at the IRS told lawmakers that he had information that suggested the Biden administration was possibly mishandling the investigation into Hunter Biden, sources familiar with the matter told ABC News.

In a letter to lawmakers obtained by ABC News, the lawyer for the IRS whistleblower said his client was an IRS criminal supervisory special agent “who has been overseeing the ongoing and sensitive investigation” and “would like to make protected whistleblower disclosures to Congress.”

The disclosures, the letter said, “(1) contradict sworn testimony to Congress by a senior political appointee, (2) involve failure to mitigate clear conflicts of interest in the ultimate disposition of the case, and (3) detail examples of preferential treatment and politics improperly infecting decisions and protocols that would normally be followed by career law enforcement professionals in similar circumstances if the subject were not politically connected.”

Attorney General Merrick Garland, who had testified on Capitol Hill that the Hunter Biden probe was free from any improper political interference, responded to the letter by saying he stood by that statement.

“I stand by my testimony, and I refer you to the U.S. attorney for the District of Delaware who is in charge of this case and capable of making any decisions that he feels are appropriate,” Garland said last month.

House Oversight Committee Chairman Comer and Rep. Jim Jordan, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, pledged after November’s election to “pursue all avenues” of wrongdoing and called investigations into the president’s family a “top priority.”

In February, former Twitter executives testified before the Oversight Committee that the social media company made a mistake in blocking users from sharing a controversial 2020 New York Post story about Hunter Biden’s laptop.

President Joe Biden subsequently dismissed the Oversight Committee’s probe in an interview with PBS NewsHour.

“[The] public’s not going to pay attention to that,” he said. “If the only thing they can do is make up things about my family, it’s not going to go very far.”

Hunter Biden live updates: Plea deal struck on tax charges, ending years-long DOJ probe

June 20, 2023 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Hunter Biden, the son of President Joe Biden, has agreed to plead guilty to a pair of tax-related misdemeanors as part of a deal that would end a politically fraught and years-long probe into his personal and professional life, according to court documents filed Tuesday.

Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:

Trump trial date tentatively set for August in classified documents case

June 20, 2023 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — District Judge Aileen Cannon has set a tentative date of Aug. 14 for the start of former President Donald Trump’s trial on charges of obstruction and mishandling classified documents, per a new scheduling order posted to her court docket Tuesday morning.

Story developing…

Andrew Tate charged with rape, human trafficking, Romanian officials say

June 20, 2023 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Andrew Tate, the influencer detained in December by Romanian officials, has been charged with rape, human trafficking and creating an organized crime group, local prosecutors said in a statement on Tuesday.

Tate faces the charges along with his brother, Tristan, another internet personality, and two other women, both Romanian nationals, prosecutors said.

The Tate brothers will “embrace the opportunity it presents to demonstrate their innocence and vindicate their reputation,” a spokesperson said.

“Tate’s legal team are prepared to cooperate fully with the appropriate authorities, presenting all necessary evidence to exonerate the brothers and expose any misinterpretations or false accusations,” the spokesperson told ABC News in a statement.

They have all been in police custody — first in jail, then under house arrest — for about six months as they awaited the full charges.

Missing Titanic tourist submersible live updates: Likely deeper than NATO rescue capability

June 20, 2023 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — A submersible carrying five people has gone missing while on a tour of the underwater wreckage of the Titanic off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada.

The deep-sea vessel, operated by OceanGate Expeditions, lost contact about an hour and 45 minutes after submerging on Sunday morning with a 96-hour oxygen supply. The United States Coast Guard immediately launched a search and rescue operation for the 21-foot craft, named Titan, in coordination with the Canadian Coast Guard and the Canadian Armed Forces.

Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:

Jun 20, 8:19 AM EDT
What to know about the 5 people aboard the missing sub

Renowned explorers and a father-son duo were among the five people aboard a submersible that disappeared in the Atlantic Ocean on Sunday while touring the Titanic wreckage, ABC News has learned.

ABC News has confirmed and identified four of those on aboard as Hamish Harding, a British businessman, pilot and space tourist; Paul-Henri Nargeolet, a French diver and Titanic expert; Shahzada Dawood, a Pakistani businessman, and his son Suleman Dawood.

Jun 20, 7:48 AM EDT
US Coast Guard commander talks search for missing sub

The United States Coast Guard commander leading the search for a missing submersible off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada, said Tuesday morning that crews in multiple aircraft have flown over an area of the Atlantic Ocean “roughly about the size of Connecticut” while “looking for any signs of surfacing.”

“As we continue on with the search, we’re expanding our capabilities to be able to search under the water as well,” Rear Adm. John Mauger, commander of the First Coast Guard District, told ABC News’ Robin Roberts during an interview on Good Morning America.

A commercial vessel with remotely operated vehicles is now on scene that will allow rescuers to search underwater, according to Mauger.

“This is a complex case,” he added. “The Coast Guard doesn’t have all the resources to be able to affect this kind of rescue, although this is an area that’s within our search zone.”

In many cases, Mauger said, the Coast Guard’s role is to coordinate all of the assets and technical expertise that can be used in a search, in addition to operating aircraft or ships when necessary.

“In this particular case, we’ve established a unified command with the United States Navy, with the Canadian Armed Forces, with the Canadian Coast Guard and with the private operator OceanGate Expeditions to make sure that we understand what’s needed and deploy all available equipment to the scene that could be used to locate this submersible, whether it’s on the surface or down beneath the surface,” he said.

Crews have been working “around the clock” to locate the deep-sea vessel since it lost contact with its operator on Sunday morning, according to Mauger.

In the last 24 hours, a Canadian aircraft has been dropping sonar buoys into the water that can pick up sound the submersible may be emitting. Vessels that have the capability to listen with their own sonar equipment are also on scene, according to Mauger.

“If they are making sound, that’s certainly one of the ways that we’re going to use to locate them,” he said.

Jun 20, 6:18 AM EDT
Missing sub is believed to be deeper than NATO rescue capability

A tourist submersible that disappeared in the Atlantic Ocean on Sunday is believed to be at depths that greatly exceed the capabilities of the NATO Submarine Rescue System (NSRS), according to a spokesperson for the United Kingdom’s Ministry of Defense.

“As the host nation for NATO’s multinational submarine rescue capability, we continue to monitor the incident in the North Atlantic and will guide and assist in any response activity as appropriate,” the spokesperson told ABC News in a statement on Tuesday.

The U.K. has not been approached to offer assistance in the ongoing search for the deep-sea vessel off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada, according to the spokesperson.

Initial reports indicate that the depths of water involved greatly exceed that which the NSRS team can safely operate — 610 meters for the NSRS submersible and 1,000 meters for the NSRS remotely operated vehicle, according to the spokesperson.

The NSRS is based at the home of the U.K. Royal Navy Submarine Service in HM Naval Base Clyde, the U.K. Royal Navy’s headquarters in Scotland. Introduced in 2006, the tri-national capability team can respond to a stricken submarine in rescuable water which is capable of mating with the NSRS submarine rescue vehicle, according to the spokesperson.

Jun 20, 5:03 AM EDT
Former Navy sub captain on rescue options

Rescuers racing against the clock to save the five people trapped in a tourist submersible nearly two miles deep in the Atlantic Ocean are facing major obstacles that could make saving the people onboard extremely difficult, according to a former U.S. Navy submarine commander.

Retired Capt. David Marquet told ABC News on Monday that this type of rescue operation is complicated because there aren’t nearby U.S. or Canadian underwater vessels that can go as deep as the Titanic wreckage, which sits 13,400 feet below the ocean’s surface. Also, the ocean is pitch black at that depth.

“The odds are against them,” Marquet said. “There’s a ship in Boston that has this ability to either lower cable and connect to it or have a claw. It’s still a thousand miles away.”

Even if a vessel was able to locate the submersible and lower a cable, it’s extremely difficult to safely navigate the waters and attach it, according to Marquet.

“You’ve got to get it exactly right,” he told ABC News. “It’s sort of like … getting one of those toys out of those arcade machines. In general, you miss.”

Rescuers do have one advantage, Marquet said, as weather conditions off the coast of Newfoundland are not rough and will not disturb any boat or vessel there.

Marquet added that if the five people aboard are still alive, they would be asked to sleep to conserve their oxygen.

“We would put the vast majority of the crew to sleep because that’s when you’re using the least amount of oxygen and you’re expelling the least amount of carbon dioxide,” he said.

Jun 20, 4:27 AM EDT
What to know about the missing sub

A submersible on a tour of the Titanic wreckage was reported overdue by its operator OceanGate Expeditions on Sunday, prompting the United States Coast Guard to launch a search and rescue effort for the 22-foot, 23,000-pound vessel.

Designed with life support to sustain five crew members for 96 hours, the submersible would need to be rescued in three days to save its five passengers, according to the Coast Guard.

Stockton Rush founded Washington-based OceanGate in 2009 to make deep-sea exploration more accessible to scientists and tourists. Fourteen years, more than 200 dives and three submersible designs later, the company now finds itself in a desperate search to recover the submersible carrying five people aboard that’s gone missing off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada.

OceanGate confirmed Monday it had lost contact with a submersible, saying in a statement: “We are exploring and mobilizing all options to bring the crew back safely. Our entire focus is on the crewmembers in the submersible and their families. We are working toward the safe return of the crewmembers.”

Paris Olympics offices searched by police amid financial probe, French officials say

June 20, 2023 by WDNY Radio

(PARIS) — Police were searching offices associated with organizers of the Paris 2024 Olympics on Tuesday as part of two financial investigations, French officials said.

“A police search is currently underway at the headquarters of the Organising Committee,” the Paris 2024 committee, COJOP, said in a statement. “Paris 2024 is cooperating fully with the investigators to facilitate their investigations.”

A search was also underway Tuesday at the offices the Société de Livraison des Ouvrages Olympiques, also known a SOLIDEO, a spokesperson for France’s National Financial Prosecutor’s Office told ABC News.

The searches were part of two open investigations, the spokesperson said.

The first investigation, opened in 2017, was into possible “counts of illegal taking of interests, embezzlement of public funds, favoritism and concealment of favoritism targeting several contracts awarded in particular by” the organizing committee, the spokesperson said.

The second investigation, opened in 2022, was into possible “illegal taking of interests, favoritism and concealment of favoritism relating to several contracts awarded by the COJOP and SOLIDEO, following an inspection by the French Anti-Corruption Agency,” the spokesperson said.

The first investigation was being pursued by France’s Central Office for the Fight against Corruption and Financial and Tax Offenses. The second was under the Brigade for the repression of economic crime, the official said.

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