DOJ Charges Castro, House Hearing Targets SPLC, Bezos Slams Mamdani & Praises Trump: AM Update 5/21

The U.S. Department of Justice has indicted 94-year-old former Cuban leader Raul Castro on charges including conspiracy to kill U.S. nationals, murder, and aircraft destruction—nearly 30 years after Cuban forces shot down two civilian planes operated by the humanitarian group Brothers to the Rescue. The indictment, announced on Cuban Independence Day, coincides with a broader U.S. strategy under the Trump administration to escalate pressure on Havana, including cutting off oil shipments from Venezuela and alleging Cuba has acquired over 300 military drones from U.S. adversaries. Critics warn this approach risks worsening humanitarian conditions and could backfire by rallying Cuban public support around the regime. Meanwhile, the House Judiciary Committee held a hearing on the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), which faces 11 criminal charges for allegedly using $3 million in donor funds to pay informants within white supremacist groups—including one linked to the 2017 Charlottesville rally—while falsely portraying conservative groups as extremists. Republicans argue the SPLC profited from manufacturing fear, while Democrats defend the informant program as lawful and essential. In a separate segment, billionaire Jeff Bezos made headlines by calling for the bottom half of American earners to stop paying federal taxes, arguing the real problem is government overspending, not underfunding.