The Daily Beast Podcast - Cheat Sheet Podcast from The Daily Beast

Episode Date: September 16, 2020

The juiciest stories in politics, pop culture and more -- fast. Get Subscribed today on your favorite podcast app: https://pods.link/j6cshnbpj3mm9 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You may be wondering what this new podcast is in your new abnormal feed. It's an episode of the Daily Beast Cheat Sheet Podcast, which keeps you up to date right out of the gate with quick summaries of the biggest stories dominating the day, all in a five-minute podcast. From the chaos unfolding in the White House to the latest Hollywood scandals, the Daily Beast can help you stay up to date with the latest stories. Every weekday, the cheat-sheet podcast runs down the top scoops and stories dominating the headlines. The twice-a-day updates are really key for beating Rick to the punch on hot takes. Look for the cheat sheet on your favorite podcast app and subscribe today. Good morning. This is Brooke Howard with The Daily Beast. It's Wednesday, September 16th, and these are the top six stories the cheat sheet team is watching right now.

A new study purporting to show that COVID-19 was manufactured in a Chinese lab was published by a pair of non-prudelytube. group's tied to Steve Bannon, the former top Trump strategist now facing felony fraud charges. The study, co-authored by a Chinese virologist who fled Hong Kong this year, claims that, quote, laboratory manipulation is part of the history of the virus. Its findings were quickly picked up by a handful of prominent news organizations, such as The New York Post, which hyped the wild allegations that run counter to virtually all existing science on the source of the virus. The study is the work of the Rule of Law Society and the Rule of Law Foundation, sister nonprofit organizations that Bannon was instrumental in creating.

According to documents posted on the Society's website last year, he served as that group's chair. A search of Google Scholar and the Rule of Law Society and Rule of Law Foundation websites indicates that the organizations have absolutely no history of publishing scientific or medical research. Earlier this year, a survivor of sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein filed a lawsuit claiming the financier and his alleged accomplice, Galay Maxwell, groomed her for sex in the 90s when she was just 14. The woman referred to as Jane Doe also claimed Epstein introduced her to Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago, where he allegedly asked the future president, quote,

this is a good one, right? But on Monday, a federal judge put Doe's lawsuit on hold pending the resolution of Maxwell's criminal trial scheduled for July 2021. Maxwell, who is a defendant in Doe's suit, is facing a slew of charges related to Epstein's underage sex ring. The U.S. district judge overseeing Doe's case ruled that Doe's litigation would result in, quote,

undue prejudice for the British socialized. Doe's lawsuit did not personally accuse Trump of any kind of misconduct. The winds of Hurricane Sally reached 100 miles per hour in the early hours of Wednesday morning as the slow-moving storm continued through the Gulf of Mexico towards Alabama and Florida. Meteorologists had downgraded Sally to a Category 1 hurricane Tuesday, but it regained strength and returned to Category 2 overnight. The storm which is moving towards land at just 2 miles per hour, is forecast to make landfall sometime on Wednesday.

Meteorologists at the National Hurricane Center have predicted a may dump more than two feet of rain on the coast and inflict a storm surge as tall as nine feet on the shores of Mississippi and Alabama. Help us all if we're supposed to share the mentality of the president. Speaking at a town hall event hosted by ABC News on Tuesday night, President Trump said he had no regrets about his handling of the coronavirus pandemic and doubled down on his claim that the virus will just, quote, go away. Even if it does not just disappear, he said, then what he mistakenly called, quote, herd mentality will take over and save us all from harm. He apparently confused his wording of, quote, herd mentality for the concept of herd immunity, which occurs when a large enough

proportion of the population has built up immunity to an infectious disease, often through vaccination. The president insisted the country will recover from the pandemic, even without a vaccine, repeating that it will just take time. LGBTIQ activist Sarah McBride won the Democratic nomination for seat and Delaware state Senate seat on Tuesday, bringing the 30-year-old one-step closer to becoming the highest-ranking transgender elected official in the country. She crushed her opponent Joseph McCoyle by a wide margin, winning 93% of the vote to his seven. Democrat Harris McDowell has held the first district's seat since 1976, but he decided not to run for re-election. McBride, currently a spokesperson for the human rights campaign, is a favor to win

the heavily Democratic district in November. This is when being an overachiever does not work in your favor. A Long Island teenager who decided to protest social distancing precautions by repeatedly showing up to school with the media right behind him on days when he was scheduled for remote learning has been suspended for a year. Maverick Stowe, who is 17, argues that students should attend in-person classes every day. He was initially suspended for five days and then had the conversect. cops called on him for what official said was a, quote, publicity stunt at William Floyd

High School and Mastic Beach. Now he's been barred from campus for the rest of his senior year and won't be allowed to attend prom or graduation. That's all for this morning. Check back every weekday morning and afternoon for more of the news you need to know. Find us wherever you listen to podcasts. Want more great listens? Check out our comedy podcast, The Last Laugh, and our star-studded The Daily Beast podcast at the Daily Beast.com slash podcasts. If you enjoyed this episode, consider becoming a Daily Beast subscriber. Subscribing is the best way to feed the beast and support all of your podcasts as we cover what might become the darkest timeline.

Head to the DailyBeast.com slash membership slash podcast and sign up today.