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The Daily Briefing

YOUR MORNING NEWS ROUNDUP

Fri May 31 2024

Nicole Fallert | Newsletter Writer

@nicolefallert

Former President Donald Trump's 2024 White House campaign now enters unknown territory. A pier intended to expedite aid deliveries to Gaza is damaged and a USA TODAY investigation into the hunt for a cartel killer.

🙋🏼‍♀️ I'm Nicole Fallert, Daily Briefing author. Happy to live in The Age of the Rhinestone Cowgirl.

Donald Trump is guilty. Now what?

Former President Donald Trump, now a convicted felon, must now convince Americans he deserves a second term even after a New York jury found him guilty of all 34 felony counts tied to falsifying business records as part of a plan to influence the 2016 presidential election.

While the challenge is unprecedented, Trump's approach is very familiar: Attack the legal system.

•	"This was a rigged decision, right from day one," Trump told reporters at the courthouse on Thursday, less than an hour after being found guilty. Expect this kind of message from Trump to continue.
•	Sentencing will come on July 11, just four days before the start of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee where Trump is set to accept the GOP presidential nomination. Trump is the first former president convicted of a crime and now he could be the first one sent to jail or prison.
•	Don't expect that looming decision to stop Trump and his campaign from holding rallies and fundraisers, giving him more chances to argue that the judge and prosecutors played politics in pursuing the hush money case against him.

Sections of the floating pier in Gaza washed away

A U.S.-built floating humanitarian aid pier in northern Gaza estimated to cost $320 million was only in operation for two weeks before it was damaged Tuesday by a combination of high seas and a storm that moved in from north Africa. The pier, built by roughly 1,000 U.S. service members, was seen as a way to expedite the delivery of critical supplies — food and medicine, namely — to civilians in the throes of a humanitarian crisis brought about by the Israel-Hamas war. Will the Gaza pier be repaired?

More news to know now

•	Biden OK'ed Ukraine's use of U.S. weapons inside Russia.
•	Four years after George Floyd's death, has corporate America kept promises to Black America?
•	A third human case of bird flu was detected in a Michigan farmworker.
•	A Chicago watchdog sounded the alarm on police tactics during the Democratic convention.
•	On today's The Excerpt podcast, Boeing has submitted to the FAA to address quality-control issues. Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your smart speaker.

What's the weather today? Check your local forecast here.

Biden administration launches review of office overseeing FAFSA

The federal Education Department is launching a review of the office overseeing college financial aid and the country's nearly $2 trillion student loan portfolio. The move comes after a congressional mandate to simplify the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA, was beset by glitches and errors. The botched rollout tested colleges' relationships with the federal government while prompting Republican critics to attack Biden, all while students in need suffered from the confusion and chaos. Read more

In the hunt for a cartel killer, biggest obstacle is the border itself

Within just 48 hours of one of the most gruesome murders Zapata County had ever seen, Texas investigators had a handprint from the person who may have pulled the trigger. Yet at the same time, the case had veered into one of the most challenging scenarios that a law enforcement officer can face in the region. The crime had happened in the United States, but the criminals had vanished into Mexico. Keep reading

Keep scrolling

•	The Chiefs are headed to the White House on Friday.
•	The Mavericks crushed the Timberwolves to reach the NBA Finals.
•	A resurfaced leaked video is shaking up the pageantry world.
•	A flurry of rockets will launch from Florida's Space Coast this year. Here's how to watch Friday.
•	TikTokers are helping each other go viral to pay off their debts.

What's at stake for Simone Biles?

No American gymnast has won more all-around national championships than Simone Biles' eight. And this weekend, she hopes to make it nine. Biles, 27, will be the headliner at the U.S. gymnastics championships in Fort Worth, Texas — the last and most significant competition before the U.S. Olympic trials at the end of next month. The start of the Paris Olympics is now less than two months away. Read more

US gymnast Simone Biles competes in the balance beam event during the Core Hydration Classic at XL Center in Hartford, Connecticut, on May 18, 2024.

CHARLY TRIBALLEAU, AFP via Getty Images

Photo of the day: A thrilling start to the 2024 Women's College World Series

The UCLA Bruins battled it out against the Alabama Crimson Tide in the highly-anticipated Game 1 of the Women's College World Series and came out on top, 4-1, to move the Bruins to the winning side of the bracket.

UCLA players celebrate a home run in Game 1 of the Women's College World Series at Devon Park in Oklahoma City.

Sarah Phipps, USA TODAY Network

Nicole Fallert is a newsletter writer at USA TODAY, sign up for the email here. Want to send Nicole a note? Shoot her an email at NFallert@usatoday.com.