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Here are the headlines you Need2Know for Thursday, December 9, 2021:
TRIAL WATCH
HOLMES: Elizabeth Holmes’ defense has rested its case, following her seventh day on the witness stand. The defense relied almost entirely on Holmes’ own, often contradictory, testimony that she never took any steps to mislead Theranos investors about what was going on behind the scenes at her blood testing company. Closing arguments are scheduled for next week, and the jury could get the case as soon as next Friday. CNN
JUSSIE: The jury in the Jussie Smollett case will start its first full day of deliberations today. The prosecution told jurors in closing arguments that there was “overwhelming evidence” to show Smollett lied to Chicago police about being the victim of a hate crime, and that the actor lied to the jury about details that were easily disproved by surveillance video. AP
GHISLAINE: Prosecutors in the Ghislaine Maxwell trial say they could rest their case by tomorrow – weeks earlier than expected – amid a growing sense from journalists in the courtroom that the government is fumbling the sex-trafficking case against the former associate of Jeffrey Epstein. Several reporters have written that they’re surprised by how unprepared the prosecution seemed to be, with victims who seemed poorly prepped for cross-examination and a lack of testimony from Epstein’s innermost circle. VANITY FAIR
BOOSTERS VS. OMICRON
Pfizer says preliminary lab tests suggest that a booster of its vaccine provides significant protection against the Omicron variant, which appears to be able to evade some of the protection offered by two doses of the vaccine. New federal data shows that 200 million Americans have now been fully vaccinated, but only 50 million have been boosted. YAHOO NEWS
NIAGARA FALLS RESCUE ATTEMPT
A woman who was pulled from a submerged car at the brink of Niagara Falls has died, according to police. A Coast Guard crew flew in from Detroit for a harrowing rescue as witnesses watched a black sedan slowly float toward the brink of the American Falls. A diver was lowered by chopper to the car, braving strong winds and currents to pull the driver out just 50 yards from the precipice of the famous waterfall. The driver had apparently already died by the time of the rescue, and it’s unclear how or why she ended up in the water. BUFFALO NEWS
PARTYGATE IN BRITAIN
Fresh off a scandal about drug use in Parliament, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson is facing another, more politically consequential controversy surrounding his government’s actions during the Covid lockdowns last year. “Partygate,” as it’s known across the pond, broke when the Daily Mirror reported that Johnson allowed an office Christmas party to take place at 10 Downing Street last year, when Britain was in the grip of its second strict lockdown. ITV then published a leaked video showing Johnson’s staff joking about holding that party, leading to the resignation of his press secretary: WATCH
THE HISPANIC VOTE
There’s a red flashing warning sign for Democrats buried in a new Wall Street Journal national poll. According to the Journal survey released this week, Hispanic voters are now evenly split between the two parties. If the midterms were held today, 37% of Hispanic voters would support the Dem candidate and 37% would vote for the GOP candidate. In a hypothetical 2024 rematch between President Biden and Donald Trump, 44% would back Biden and 43% would support Trump. Biden won the Hispanic vote by 30 points last year. WSJ
CORPORATE LEADERSHIP
The mortgage lender Better.com is in the midst of a PR crisis of its own making, with several executives now resigning from the company after the CEO made headlines for unceremoniously laying off 900 employees over Zoom. Vishal Garg – who accused those terminated workers of “stealing” from the company by being unproductive – has apologized for the way he handled the mass firing, saying he “blundered the execution” and “embarrassed” his remaining employees. The Softbank-backed start-up has lost its top three comms execs in the aftermath, and its SPAC has been put on hold. TECHCRUNCH
OLYMPIC BOYCOTT SPREADS
The UK, Australia and Canada have joined President Biden’s diplomatic boycott of the Winter Olympics. Prime Ministers Johnson, Morrison and Trudeau each announced individually that they won’t send any official delegations to Beijing, but their countries’ athletes can still compete. When asked about the Australian boycott, China’s foreign ministry responded: “no one cares if they come or not.” GLOBAL TIMES
HAS ADELE PEAKED?
Adele’s 30 is the first album in more than a year to move a million copies in the U.S. The last artist to do that was Taylor Swift with Folklore (though it’s worth noting that the measure of traditional album sales doesn’t include streaming plays). And while 30 is no doubt a hit, it’s pretty clearly not the inescapable cultural phenomenon that some of Adele's past records were. The singer only has one single in the current Top 50 on Spotify, and she’s been replaced at No. 1 on iTunes by a 17-year-old unknown singer from Nashville named Gayle, with a song called abcdefu. BILLBOARD
SPOTTED...
…Tiger Woods, announcing that he’ll be playing in the PNC Championship next weekend with his son, Charlie. It will be Tiger’s first return to golf since he nearly lost his leg in a car crash: SEE TWEET
…Sarah Jessica Parker, Matthew Broderick, and their eldest son James, hitting the red carpet for the And Just Like That… premiere in NYC: SEE PICS
…Olivia Rodrigo, performing drivers license from inside the DMV in Glendale, Calif. for an NPR “Tiny Desk” concert: WATCH
LEFTOVERS: PARTYING PM
Finland’s 36-year-old prime minister has apologized for going clubbing after her foreign minister tested positive for Covid. Sanna Marin was out on the town in Helsinki until 4 a.m last weekend, without her work phone, and missed a text advising her to isolate after the exposure. Marin says she was told she didn’t have to quarantine since she was vaccinated, but apologized for not staying home as a precaution. Finland has a very high vax rate and has seen some of the lowest Covid numbers in Europe. BBC
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