I'm John Pobb and I'm Kate Trinco and this is the daily signal top news for Wednesday, August 16th.

Here are today's headlines.

Politicians and pundits are weighing in following the fourth indictment of former president Donald Trump on Monday by a Georgia grand jury.

Trump's rival Republican presidential candidates have mixed reactions.

Former vice president under Trump might pens said that no one's above the law but that Trump is entitled to the presumption of innocence.

Despite what the former president and his allies have said for now more than two and a half years and continue to insist to this very hour, the Georgia election was not stolen and I had no right to overturn the election on January 6th.

Pence said at an event on Wednesday, according to CNN, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said that the indictment represents a criminalization of politics.

He said they're now doing an inordinate amount of resources to try to shoehorn this contest over the 2020 election into a Rico statute, which was really designed to be able to go after organized crime, not necessarily to go after political activity.

Former New Jersey governor Chris Christie said he felt uncomfortable with the indictment.

I think that this conduct is essentially covered by the federal indictment, Christie said.

The Heritage Foundation's Hans von Spakowski characterized the indictment in an editorial for the daily signal as an assault on our Democratic Republic and the rule of law.

von Spakowski said that the district attorney heading the investigation Fannie Willis is trying to criminalize free speech and is aiming to create a chilling effect on anyone in the future who might dare to question the results of an election.

He said that she is opportunistically trying to further her own profile while undermining faith in our judicial system.

Unfortunately Willis is trying to boost her political career at the cost of justice, the first amendment and fundamental fairness in the election process for that she should be ashamed.

Bad news for Target following a decision to showcase LGBTQ pride month merchandise at its stores in June, the company sales have to climb significantly as has its stock price.

Tyler O'Neill wrote about this in a report for the daily signal today.

Target's April 29th to July 29th sales at stores open for at least one year dropped 5.4 percent, including a 10.5 percent decline online according to CNN Business, the company cut its annual sales forecast.

Target's stock dropped 27 percent over the past year, from 177 per share to 135 per share on market open.

In a call with shareholders target CEO Brian Cornell pin the losses on the American consumers increasing willingness to spend on travel and leisure rather than on home goods following the end of the COVID-19 pandemic.

He also mentioned the problem of increasing crime, which has plagued many Democrat run cities.

Safety incidents associated with theft are moving in the wrong direction, Cornell said.

During the first five months of this year, our stores saw 120 percent increase in theft incidents involving violence or threats of violence.

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