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Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc (BRKa.N) operates geothermal power plants at the Salton Sea and has in the past studied ways to produce lithium there. The Salton area is estimated to contain more than 15 million tonnes of lithium, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
Salton Sea is key to CA's EV future, contains 1/3 of global lithium supply
https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=164105579
Lithium + renewable energy powerfully combined.
By combining direct lithium extraction with renewable geothermal power, Controlled Thermal Resources is setting new benchmarks to provide renewable energy to the western U.S. and to deliver the most sustainable, battery-grade lithium products in the world today.
https://www.cthermal.com/
GM shakes up lithium industry with California geothermal project
Ernest Scheyder
July 2, 2021 1:06 PM BST Last Updated an hour ago
Autos & Transportation
https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/gm-shakes-up-lithium-industry-with-california-geothermal-project-2021-07-02/
July 2 (Reuters) - General Motors Co (GM.N) is investing in a U.S. lithium project that could become the country's largest by 2024, making the automaker one of the first to develop its own source of a battery metal crucial for the electrification of cars and trucks.
The deal, announced on Friday, comes as automakers around the world scramble for access to lithium and other electric vehicle (EV) metals as internal combustion engines are phased out.
Detroit-based GM said it will make a "multimillion-dollar investment" in and help develop Controlled Thermal Resources (CTR) Ltd's Hell's Kitchen geothermal brine project near California's Salton Sea, roughly 160 miles (258 km) southeast of Los Angeles.
"This will supply a sizeable amount of our lithium needs," said Tim Grewe, GM's director of electrification strategy.
The company declined to be more specific on its investment amount, but said the project's lithium will be used to build EVs in the United States and that GM engineers and scientists will visit the site once pandemic-related travel restrictions end.
While other automakers, including China's Great Wall Motor Co (601633.SS) and BYD (002594.SZ), have invested in lithium producers before, none appear to have taken such an aggressive step to be part of the production process, as GM is taking with CTR.
The move could spark other automakers to follow suit with similar partnerships, especially as demand for the metal is expected to outstrip supply by 20% within four years, according to industry consultant Benchmark Mineral Intelligence.
The Hell's Kitchen project could be producing 60,000 tonnes of lithium - enough to make roughly 6 million EVs, depending on design - by mid-2024 if all goes as planned, said Rod Colwell, CTR's chief executive. The company expects to obtain federal environmental permits by the end of next year.
That output would make CTR's Hell's Kitchen the largest U.S. producer of the white metal, with production roughly twice as much planned by a rival Nevada project from Lithium Americas Corp (LAC.TO). read more
"There's a great window of opportunity here to develop more lithium in the United States," Colwell said.
The announcement comes two weeks after GM boosted its electric and autonomous vehicles budget by 75% to $35 billion. read more
The geothermal process involves extracting super-hot lithium-rich brine from reservoirs 8,000 feet (2.4 km) underground and using the heat to produce electricity, after which lithium is extracted from the brine.
The brine is then reinjected into the earth, making the process more sustainable than open-pit mines and brine evaporation ponds, the two most-common existing methods to produce the white metal.
Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc (BRKa.N) operates geothermal power plants at the Salton Sea and has in the past studied ways to produce lithium there. The Salton area is estimated to contain more than 15 million tonnes of lithium, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
CTR, which received California state funding last year, said its project will emit 15 times less carbon dioxide than lithium mines in Australia, the world's largest producer.
GM is also talking with other U.S. lithium companies for supply, including those who plan to produce the metal from clay, brine and other geological sources, Grewe said.
The announcement comes the day after U.S. President Joe Biden promoted a video on his Twitter feed featuring U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm and White House National Climate Advisor Gina McCarthy driving in a GM-produced electric Chevy Bolt.
GM said there was no connection between the tweet and Friday's announcement.
Reporting by Ernest Scheyder; Editing by Aurora Ellis
https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/gm-shakes-up-lithium-industry-with-california-geothermal-project-2021-07-02/
Aaron Rupar @atrupar Eric Trump's defense of his company is that $3.5 million is really nbd. Also, Hunter Biden.
VIDEO
Eric Trump's defense of his company is that $3.5 million is really nbd. Also, Hunter Biden. pic.twitter.com/YOXHkdin5N
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) July 2, 2021
Eric Trump's defense of his company is that $3.5 million is really nbd. Also, Hunter Biden. pic.twitter.com/YOXHkdin5N
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) July 2, 2021
Prosecutors drop Troubles murder cases against former soldiers
Cases against two ex-Northern Ireland veterans facing murder charges, including on Bloody Sunday in 1972, have now collapsed
By Dominic Nicholls,
DEFENCE AND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT
2 July 2021 • 12:38pm
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/07/02/prosecutors-drop-troubles-murder-cases-against-former-soldiers/
Two Army veterans facing historic murder charges from the Northern Ireland Troubles will not face trial.
The cases of individuals known as Soldier F and Soldier B date back to 1972.
It marks the end of potential prosecutions over Bloody Sunday.
Soldier F was to be prosecuted over the deaths of James Wray and William McKinney on Bloody Sunday in January 1972. He was also facing five counts of attempted murder.
Soldier B’s case relates to the death of 15-year-old Daniel Hegarty, who was shot twice in the head in Londonderry in July 1972, and the wounding of his cousin, Christopher.
The Northern Ireland Public Prosecution Service (PPS) informed the family of Daniel Hegarty it was discontinuing the prosecution at a meeting in a Londonderry hotel on Friday morning, according to the family’s solicitor Des Doherty.
Mr Doherty said: "This morning we met with the director (of the PPS) and his legal team. Under instruction from the family and under much protest - and we made that clear that it was under protest - we accepted letters from the PPS advising that they no longer would be proceeding with the prosecution of Soldier B, for murder."
The discontinuation of the prosecution of the soldiers comes after the PPS reviewed the cases in light of a recent court ruling that caused the collapse of another Troubles murder trial involving two military veterans.
A court in Belfast ruled in May that statements by Soldiers A and C, accused of murdering IRA man Joe McCann, were inadmissible. As such the case against them collapsed and the pair were acquitted.
Senior Public Prosecution Service lawyers met in Londonderry with the families of Liam Wray and William McKinney, two men killed in the 1972 Bloody Sunday shootings by soldiers, and with the family of 15-year-old Daniel Hegarty, who was shot dead in Derry six months later.
Daniel Hegarty was shot and killed by a member of an Army patrol on duty in the Creggan area of Londonderry on July 31 1972, during what was known as Operation Motorman.
Soldier B was also to be charged with wounding with intent after Daniel's cousin Christopher Hegarty, then aged 17, was also shot and injured in the incident.
Pre-trial proceedings against Soldier F had already commenced but the Soldier B case had not yet progressed to court.
Discontinuing the prosecutions will involve a court hearing which the PPS is asking to be scheduled in the coming days.
Northern Ireland's deputy First Minister Michelle O'Neill said it was a "bad day for justice".
"We will continue to stand by the Bloody Sunday and Hegarty families," she tweeted.
The Director of PPS Stephen Herron said he recognised the decisions "bring further pain to victims and bereaved families who have relentlessly sought justice for almost 50 years".
"The PPS has a duty to keep prosecution decisions under review and to take into account any change in circumstances as a case proceeds," he said.
"The impact of this court ruling on these two cases was considered extremely carefully by my office with the assistance of advice from Senior Counsel.
"That led to the conclusion that a reasonable prospect of conviction no longer existed in proceedings against both Soldier B and Soldier F. In these circumstances, the prosecutions cannot proceed."
He added: "Legacy cases come with many challenges, particularly when they involve events which happened almost five decades ago and were not properly investigated at the time."
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/07/02/prosecutors-drop-troubles-murder-cases-against-former-soldiers/
Extremist rhetoric from rightwing media and officials is ‘intensifying’, experts say
Comparisons of Democrats to Nazis and suggestions thousands should be executed spark fears of violence
Adam Gabbatt @adamgabbatt
Fri 2 Jul 2021 03.00 EDT
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jul/02/rightwing-media-fox-news-republicans
The extremist rhetoric from rightwing news networks and some elected Republicans is “intensifying”, experts have warned, after a Republican congressman compared Democrats to Nazis and a hard-right news host suggested tens of thousands of Americans should be executed.
Rightwing TV personalities, including Fox News’ Tucker Carlson, and Republican politicians have seized every opportunity to rail against Democrats and liberals in recent months, with race increasingly coming to the fore.
On his Fox News show on 24 June, Carlson, seated in front of a screen blaring the words “anti-white mania”, raged that the US could “become Rwanda”, apparently referencing the 1994 genocide in the country, when hundreds of thousands of Tutsi people were slaughtered.
The comments came a couple of months after the Anti-Defamation League called for Carlson to resign, following what it said was a “dangerous” and “impassioned defense of the white supremacist ‘great replacement theory’” by Carlson on his show.
“The rhetoric is both intensifying and it’s more widespread. It’s not like this is the first time rightwing media has had moments or flare ups of intense or inflammatory rhetoric. But typically it would have been limited to one show or personality,” said Angelo Carusone, the president of Media Matters, a progressive media watchdog.
“What happened, especially without [Donald] Trump having social platforms, is that it did create this pretty big vacuum,” Carusone said.
“What you’ve seen is jockeying to get as much of that audience share but also influence share – everyone is kind of scrambling right now to grab as much as they can. That’s why they hit as many themes as they possibly can; you’re not just going to get more racial inflammatory rhetoric – there’s more conspiratorial stuff.”
Away from Fox News, Pearson Sharp, a host on the hard-right One America News Network (OANN), has been attempting to carve out his own niche of extremism. In late June, Sharp raised the unhinged and untrue theory that “tens of thousands” of people meddled in the election to prevent Trump winning, and went even further than Carlson in his comments.
“In the past, America had a very good solution for dealing with such traitors: execution,” Sharp said.
Robert Herring, the CEO of OANN, said: “He was only telling what [sic] could happen if you try to over throw America ... He gave the laws that would apply.”
As rightwing television hosts find themselves in competition to meet their audiences’ demands for pro-Trump conspiracy theories – claims those same hosts have frequently helped elevate – Carusone said the “inevitable consequence” is “that there’s going to be more violence”.
Brian Stelter, CNN’s chief media correspondent, whose newly released book Hoax explores how Fox News covered Trump, told an interviewer in June that the US had entered an environment “where the Fox base” prefers “propagandistic opinion shows [rather] than any semblance of news”.
“People want to be lied to, and it’s above my head to know what to do about that,” Stelter told the Washington Post. “What do we do about that, when millions of people want to be lied to every day?”
The hysteria is not limited to television. Last week Vice leaked video of a speech by Scott Perry, a Republican congressman and devotee of the false stolen election theory, in which Perry told the conservative Pennsylvania Leadership Conference that they should “go fight them”, referring to Democrats.
Vice reported that Perry claimed many Democrats did not share the same American values as conservatives.
“We can acknowledge that maybe not every one of them is that way, but that doesn’t matter,” Perry said, before drawing a dark parallel.
“We’ve seen this throughout history, right? Not every not every citizen in Germany in the 1930s and 40s was in the Nazi party. They weren’t. But what happened across Germany? That’s what’s important. What were the policies? What was the leadership? That’s what we have to focus on.”
The comments by Perry, an influential member of the rightwing House Freedom Caucus, add further context to what experts fear is the current state of the American right – dangerous, intensifying, and with no end in sight.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jul/02/rightwing-media-fox-news-republicans
Trump exposed as prosecutors make first move in high-stakes chess game
The charges against Allen Weisselberg might seem small fry, but the threat to people higher up the food chain is mounting
Dominic Rushe in New York
@dominicru
Fri 2 Jul 2021 02.30 EDT
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jul/02/trump-organization-tax-charges-prosecutors-allen-weisselberg
Michael Cohen sounded giddy on the latest episode of his podcast, Mea Culpa. Allen Weisselberg, a key lieutenant to Donald Trump, Cohen’s former boss, was about to be charged alongside Trump’s company with tax fraud.
“This case is being prosecuted like a mob case. And that means they are starting at the bottom of the tree, and working their way up, by getting the smaller fish to flip with pressure on people like Weisselberg to rat on their former boss of bosses!” Cohen said, gleefully mixing his metaphors.
Cohen knows this score. Trump has been under investigation by New York’s top prosecutors for three years – in large part thanks to Cohen, once his trusted lawyer. Cohen – who once said he would “take a bullet” for Trump – turned on the former president as he was sentenced to 36 months in prison for crimes including facilitating illegal payments to silence two women who allegedly had sex with Trump.
On the surface, the Weisselberg charges did seem like “smaller fish”. In an interview with Politico, Trump’s lawyer Ronald Fischetti said: “It’s like the Shakespeare play Much Ado About Nothing. This is so small that I can’t believe I’m going to have to try a case like this.”
But surfaces can be deceptive.
After three years of subpoenas, supreme court hearings and existential legal rows about the legality of charging a president of the United States with wrongdoing, New York’s fearsome prosecutorial team have charged a little-known 73-year-old accountant with defrauding taxpayers of $1.7m over 15 years. That is big money for most people, but not an amount that would worry Trump, who Forbes calculates is worth $2.4bn.
Downplaying the significance of this week’s indictment would, however, be a mistake. Alongside Weisselberg, Manhattan district attorney Cyrus Vance, and the New York state attorney general Letitia James also charged the Trump Organization with tax fraud, the start of a process that could crack the secretive Trump empire wide open.
The salvo in the long-brewing legal battle will, at the very least, wrap up Trump for years in legal woes, and at worst could destroy his family business and put not just Weisselberg but the Trump family members who run his business and Trump himself in the dock.
The indictment would “raise the unprecedented prospect of a former president having to defend the company he founded and has run for decades against accusations of criminal behavior,” Cohen cooed.
No longer insulated by claims of presidential protections, Trump faces a flotilla of legal actions. Alongside the charges brought this week against Weisselberg and the Trump Organization, Vance and James are investigating questionable payments to former Trump sex partners and whether the value of real estate in his company’s portfolio was manipulated to defraud insurance companies and banks and to generate unlawful tax breaks.
In some ways, the charges against Weisselberg give us a glimpse of the bumpy road ahead for the former president.
“This has been framed as a ‘fringe benefits’ issue,’” said University of Chicago Law School professor Daniel Hemel, an expert on taxation and federal courts. “Another way of looking at it is that the Trump Organization was paying its CFO [chief financial officer] under the table.”
Such a move – if proven – would be an extraordinary thing for a company the size of Trump’s to have done, and will likely lay the groundwork for what’s ahead.
Ironically, one parallel case Hemel pointed to was the prosecution of Leona Helmsley, the late Manhattan hotel empress and long-time sparring partner of Donald Trump.
Helmsley v Trump was a Manhattan feud for the ages. Trump was an admirer of Harry Helmsley, the billionaire property tycoon who once owned the Empire State Building. Leona Helmsley not so much. He once called her a “disgrace to humanity”. Helmsley simply said: “I hate Donald Trump.”
Leona Helsmley, who was sentenced to four years in jail for tax evasion.
In 1988 the Helmsleys were charged with evading more than $4m in income taxes. In another historical twist, the charges were brought by Rudy Giuliani, then federal prosecutor and more recently one of Trump’s staunchest allies.
The following year, Helmsley – her husband was too sick to stand trial – was sentenced to four years in jail after being found guilty on 33 counts of tax evasion including fraudulently charging a $1m marble dance floor for their private mansion to their hotel and real-estate empire.
“These are things that are unequivocally not business expenses,” said Hemel. Even Trump agreed, saying shortly after Leona Helmsley’s death that it was “foolish” for her husband to have committed tax evasion “because he was such a rich man”.
Given that sentiment, why would the Trump Organization – allegedly – cook the books for such relatively small sums?
The coming cases may provide an answer. Both Weisselberg and the company deny any wrongdoing, and have said they will fight the case in court, but the cases will blow open Trump’s finances, something he has fought hard to prevent, even going as far as to go against recent presidential precedent and refusing to release his tax returns.
But while there are many similarities between the polarizing property plutocrats Trump and Helmsley, Trump’s case is in many ways unusual.
First, said Hemel, it’s highly unusual a business as large as Trump’s would engage in these kinds of alleged tax frauds. With its army of lawyers and accountants, it should have been easy enough for his advisers to find perfectly legal ways to avoid paying taxes – just as ProPublica’s revelations have shown his billionaire peers have done.
Second, when a tax-avoidance scheme is exposed as potentially open to prosecution, it is highly unusual for businesses to fight those charges. The normal course of action is to apologize and pay up.
Add on that in this case the man at the top is a former president of the United States and: “Everything about this case is unusual and everything about it is political,” said Hemel. “That doesn’t mean the district attorney is wrong to go after it.”
In the high-stakes chess game Vance and James are now playing against Trump, this is an opening move that immediately threatens one of their opponent’s key pieces.
Weisselberg has worked for the Trump family for close to 50 years. Outside the family, and arguably inside, no one knows how the Trump business really operates better than him. His two sons have worked with Trump. Jennifer Weisselberg, one of his son’s ex-wives, is a key witness for the prosecution and has handed over what her lawyer, Duncan Levin, describes as 10 banker’s boxes of evidence to the authorities.
The pressure is on for Weisselberg to flip but his indictment also puts pressure on Trump insiders lower down the tree.
Robert Mintz, a former federal organized crime prosecutor and now partner at law firm McCarter & English, said: “Complex white-collar fraud cases are very difficult to prove, and generally require more than financial records to demonstrate clear evidence of criminality. Prosecutors typically build these cases with the benefit of a cooperating witness who can walk them through the documents and add an insider’s perspective to the conspiracy.”
As Cohen pointed out this week Trump can no longer hold out the promise of a presidential pardon to his allies. Facing potential ruin and jail time, will Weisselberg stay true? And as the charges keep coming, where will others decide their loyalty lies?
“Loyalty is hard to maintain when it can put you in jail,” said Hemel.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jul/02/trump-organization-tax-charges-prosecutors-allen-weisselberg
Trump, fighting to toss out subpoena, offered to give House Democrats peek at financial statements
By Spencer S. Hsu
July 2, 2021 at 1:09 a.m. GMT+1
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/legal-issues/trump-taxes-financial-statements-hearing/2021/07/01/78166a2c-da9f-11eb-9bbb-37c30dcf9363_story.html
Former president Donald Trump has offered to give House Democrats a peek at financial statements related to his complex business empire from before his 2016 presidential bid and eight years of contracts with his accounting firm, but refused to divulge more sensitive source data or internal communications, his lawyers told a federal judge Thursday.
The disclosure of the offer, made in late June in unsuccessful court-ordered mediation, came as Trump urged a federal judge in Washington to end a stalemate and toss out a 2019 House subpoena for eight years of his financial records, calling the congressional demand unconstitutional and unenforceable.
“The Committee on Oversight and Reform doesn’t need a decade’s worth of the former president’s sensitive financial information to legislate new financial regulations for all future presidents,” attorney Cameron T. Norris argued., saying lawmakers have plenty of power to gather data from other sources to overhaul disclosure rules.
Trump is no longer president, but the threat to the separation-of-powers if the court rules otherwise remains, Norris said.
Enforcing the subpoena could unconstitutionally weaken every future president in dealings with Congress, raising the prospect that once he or she leaves office, lawmakers could compel and post for the world to see their most sensitive data, Norris said.
The fight over the subpoena for Trump’s records from 2011 to 2018 from accounting firm Mazars USA reached the Supreme Court last year, which ruled that congressional subpoenas seeking a president’s information must be “no broader than reasonably necessary” and returned the question to lower courts to work out the standard.
The battle is just one front in clashes over Trump’s tax information. After a separate Supreme Court ruling in March, Mazars turned over related documents to Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr. (D), whose prosecutors on Thursday charged the Trump Organization with a 15-year “scheme to defraud” the government and its chief financial officer with grand larceny and tax fraud.
House Democrats say they also need the information to amend financial disclosure and conflict-of-interest laws, saying Trump’s presidency posed historic threats of corruption. They cited the complex structure of his business, his failure to remove himself from management, refusal to release tax returns unlike his predecessors, and allegations by investigators that he gave inaccurate tax and other financial information.
The House sought the records after former Trump attorney Michael Cohen testified to Congress that Trump inflated and deflated certain assets on financial statements between 2011 and 2013 in part to reduce his real estate taxes.
Douglas Letter, general counsel for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), said Trump lawyers’ in mediation “never offered to produce a single document.” Instead they proposed that a handful of committee aides and lawmakers view a small sample of records in private; take notes instead of copy or photograph them; and keep the information confidential to the committee, Letter said. He called the limitations on reviewing complex and voluminous financial data “ridiculous.”
Trump lawyers accused the House of rushing to declare an impasse and asking U.S. District Judge Amit P. Mehta to rule summarily in its favor. But Letter said that Trump had run out the clock on one, two-year term of Congress, and could do so again “if we keep having … talks that go absolutely nowhere.”
Letter urged Mehta to respect the legislative branch’s powers, not only the president’s, and enforce the subpoena without looking into whether it was using it as a political weapon under the guise of legislation.
Mehta did not appear convinced, warning Letter that the Supreme Court has ruled Congress may not use presidents as “a case study” for general legislation.
“It seems to me Congress can turn to experts or to other people who have engaged in financial fraud,” “Why couldn’t you learn what you feel you have to learn by using somebody else’s financial documents,” Mehta said.
Letter responded that Trump created a singular “ethical crisis” that tested constitutional limits, and no fewer than eight related bills are pending this Congress.
“We need to study that … We need to know exactly how far we should go or not go with respect to disclosure requirements,” Letter said. “And that depends on our ability to find out how does someone like former president Trump, was he hiding things? How did he go about it? What was the extent of it, and can we fix it?”
After Mehta noted the Supreme Court emphasized that the legislative and executive branches should resolve disputes through negotiation or “accommodations” rather than through the courts, Letter said former presidents have turned over financial information. Letter said Richard Nixon released tax records about his children, Jimmy Carter about his business and Bill Clinton legal billing records of his wife, Hillary.
Mehta still sounded skeptical.
“Nothing is going to stop a future Congress from saying a future president has done something unprecedented, and seek an exiting president’s personal documents,” said the judge.
Mehta asked if the House could narrow the subpoena — such as limiting it to records related to Trump’s ongoing voluntary lease with the federal government to operate his Trump International Hotel in Washington D.C., barring disclosure of compelled records, or requiring further mediation.
Regardless, he said “I am still not clear on what my authority is” if talks break down. “Is there anything I can do about that?” He added: ““I can’t cajole or jawbone” the sides.
Mehta promised to “work very hard to get everyone an expedited decision,” saying he knew any ruling would be appealed. “We know this is not the last stop. We’ll get it out in short order.”
By Spencer Hsu
Spencer S. Hsu is an investigative reporter, two-time Pulitzer finalist and national Emmy Award nominee. Hsu has covered homeland security, immigration, Virginia politics and Congress. Twitter
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/legal-issues/trump-taxes-financial-statements-hearing/2021/07/01/78166a2c-da9f-11eb-9bbb-37c30dcf9363_story.html
U.S. arrests more than a dozen in Capitol riot, among the most made public in a single day
By Spencer S. Hsu and Rachel Weiner
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/legal-issues/capitol-riot-arrests-among-largest/2021/06/30/451ab8a4-d9bd-11eb-9bbb-37c30dcf9363_story.html
July 1, 2021 at 12:57 a.m. GMT+1
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/legal-issues/capitol-riot-arrests-among-largest/2021/06/30/451ab8a4-d9bd-11eb-9bbb-37c30dcf9363_story.html
More than a dozen arrests in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot were announced or unsealed Wednesday, revealing charges against alleged supporters of extremist right-wing groups including the Oath Keepers, Proud Boys and “boogaloo boys” movement, and individuals accused of attacking the property of news media.
The arrests ranked among the most made public in a single day and came as an alleged Oath Keepers member reached an unexpected plea deal with prosecutors in the largest conspiracy case brought against those accused of obstructing Congress as it met to confirm the 2020 election results.
Mark Grods, 54, of Mobile, Ala., became the second from the anti-government group publicly to flip in the 16-defendant conspiracy case and cooperate with prosecutors in the latest sign of movement in the investigation.
In court Wednesday, he admitted to two federal counts of conspiracy and aiding and abetting the obstruction of an official proceeding.
The surge of at least 13 new or unsealed arrests came as the FBI and Justice Department highlighted developments in the criminal probe nearing six months after the event, and the House voted to create a select committee to investigate the Capitol breach.
Those swept up in recent days reflected a cross-section of defendants whose motives allegedly varied, although several allegedly sought out affiliations with extremist groups anticipating violence, the government said. Newly unsealed charges included trespassing and violent police assaults, and the defendants included George Tenney III, of Anderson, S.C., accused of being the first to open the east Capitol Rotunda doors from the inside, allowing the mob to enter.
“You’re not gonna stop us,” Tenney told an employee of the House sergeant-at-arms who struggled to pull the door closed, the FBI alleged.
Tenney, administrator of a Facebook page called PowerHouse Patriot, talked as early as Dec. 12 of joining “patriot revolution groups” or militias, before posting on in late December, “I heard over 500k armed militia patriots will be in DC by the (Jan.) 4th,” according to charging papers.
“It’s starting to look like we may siege the capital building and Congress if the electoral votes don’t go right. … We are forming plans for every scenario,” charging papers also alleged Tenney posted.
Separately charged were Gabriel Brown and Zvonimir Jurlina, both of Long Island, accused of destroying media equipment, and Steven Thurlow, an Army veteran from suburban Detroit, who allegedly posted images of himself in the Capitol and wearing a “Boogaloo” patch on social media.
“Ahh nothing like a new pair of 511’s and a fresh set of level IV SAPI’s in the plate carrier to go ‘peacefully protest’ with,” Thurlow allegedly posted on Facebook next to a photo of himself wearing body armor, camouflage and a gas mask with a knife and AR-15 rifle next to a Christmas tree, prosecutors said. Patches that Thurlow wore related to the 101st Airborne Division, in which he served from 1988 to 1991, and “Boogaloo,” a term taken up by fringe groups referring to a racially or ethnically motivated civil war, prosecutors said.
Attorney General Merrick Garland announced last week that the total number of arrests had reached 500, including 100 people who have been charged with assaulting police and the first defendant charged with assaulting a member of the news media.
Second alleged Oath Keepers member pleads guilty in Jan. 6 Capitol riot, will cooperate as prosecutors seek momentum
Information about attorneys for nearly all the newly arrested defendants was not immediately available.
Christopher DeLaughter, a defense lawyer for Michael Perkins, 37, of greater Tampa, accused of beating a police officer with a flagpole, said in an email after Perkins appeared in court Wednesday that his client should not remain jailed pending trial, saying he was not such a risk of flight or threat to the public that he could not be conditionally released.
Also in court Wednesday, prosecutors asked to jail a previously charged defendant, now-fired Rocky Mount, Va., police officer Thomas Robertson, saying that since being charged with a co-worker for trespassing at the Capitol, he has acquired 34 guns he stored at a local gun dealership despite a court order that he should not possess firearms while on pretrial release, and that he was found with a partially assembled pipe bomb in a box labeled “Booby Trap.”
“The picture of Senators cowering on the floor with genuine fear on their faces is the most American thing I have seen in my life,” prosecutors said Robertson wrote on Facebook days after the riot, adding, “.?.?. The only voice these people will now listen to is VIOLENCE.”
Robertson’s attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Federal investigators have brought multiple conspiracy cases against defendants tied to Proud Boys, Oath Keepers and Three Percenters. In charging papers against Thurlow, an FBI agent attested that several boogaloo members also were present in the riot.
The Proud Boys — designated by Canada as a terrorist organization — have rallied behind Trump since forming in 2016 and establishing a history of violence with far-left groups in street demonstrations. The Oath Keepers and Three Percenters are a loose coalition of groups that recruit police and law enforcement members to oppose what some see as a tyrannical federal government, gaining notoriety as self-declared providers of security at conservative events.
In charging papers filed Monday and unsealed Wednesday, prosecutors said Grods’s plea was related to an ongoing grand jury probe into 16 alleged Oath Keepers leaders, members and affiliates in Ohio, Virginia, North Carolina, Florida and other states who are charged with planning as early as Nov. 3, Election Day, to interfere with the certification of the presidential election.
Grods admitted that he was part of an invitation-only encrypted Signal chat called “DC OP: Jan 6 21” used by Oath Keepers regional leaders and members, prosecutors said, including Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes — usually identified as “Person One” in court papers but whom prosecutors initially named — who has not been charged.
Other participants included charged co-defendants Jessica Watkins, 38, an Ohio militia leader, and Kelly Meggs, 52, of Florida, who the government says marched in helmets and tactical gear up the east steps of the Capitol before forcing entry about 2:40 p.m.
Grods was charged separately, but prosecutors requested that his case be sealed initially to ensure his “safety while cooperating and testifying before the grand jury” in the larger case.
Prosecutors in a plea deal agreed to request lowering Grods estimated 51- to 63-month recommended prison sentencing range in exchange for his substantial cooperation. He admitted to several allegations prosecutors have made against the wider group, including taking firearms to Washington, providing them “to another individual to store in a Virginia hotel,” and racing to the Capitol in two golf carts, according to plea papers.
Grods stayed with others at the Mayflower Hotel in downtown Washington, paying for a room reserved in another person’s name, the government said. He entered the Capitol building minutes after others in his group assaulted police in the Rotunda, the government said he admitted, before joining up with an Oath Keepers group outside about 4 p.m.
The plea came one week after one of the 16 co-defendants, Graydon Young, 55, of Englewood, Fla., also pleaded guilty to similar charges in a cooperation deal.
Both Young and Grods said co-conspirators believed they were obstructing Congress’s election certification through the intimidation and coercion of government personnel.
At least 20 alleged Oath Keepers or associates have been charged, including the first to plead guilty, Jon Ryan Schaffer, an Indiana rock musician.
The others have pleaded not guilty.
Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes was in direct contact with rioters before and during Capitol breach, U.S. alleges
Also arrested were self-described Proud Boys members Ricky Willden, 39, of Oakhurst, Calif., and Timothy O’Malley, of Fort Walton Beach, Fla. Willden was charged in an eight-count indictment with assaulting police and with other acts of violence, including spraying officers guarding an east door of the Capitol with an unknown substance minutes before the door was breached. O’Malley was charged with misdemeanor trespassing and disorderly conduct after recording himself in the Capitol wearing a red batting helmet with a “Trump is my president” sticker and saying, in sum, “We took the Capitol. We’re moving on to other floors now. Whoo. Our house,” prosecutors said.
Prosecutors have also been targeting those who allegedly attacked members of the media or damaged their equipment. Brown and Jurlina, two live-streamers, were arrested and separately accused of joining others in destroying tens of thousands of dollars worth of media equipment during the riot.
News organizations were forced to abandon staging areas outside the building because of attacks by rioters, prosecutors said, leading to the vandalism. Separately in recent days, a man from Illinois was charged with assaulting a cameraman, and a Pennsylvania woman was accused of encouraging and broadcasting an attack on a photographer working for the New York Times.
By Spencer Hsu
Spencer S. Hsu is an investigative reporter, two-time Pulitzer finalist and national Emmy Award nominee. Hsu has covered homeland security, immigration, Virginia politics and Congress. Twitter
By Rachel Weiner
Rachel Weiner tries to cover Alexandria's federal court from a small windowless room with no cellphone access. She sometimes ventures outside to write about crime in Alexandria and Arlington. Twitter
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/legal-issues/capitol-riot-arrests-among-largest/2021/06/30/451ab8a4-d9bd-11eb-9bbb-37c30dcf9363_story.html
Inside Broke Roger Stone’s Very ‘Shady’ Condo Purchase
Usatodaynews July 2, 20210
http://usa-today-news.com/2021/07/02/inside-broke-roger-stones-very-shady-condo-purchase/
The federal government says longtime Donald Trump confidant Roger Stone owes $2 million in unpaid taxes. And while the Department of Justice is taking Stone to court in a civil suit with no criminal charges, at the center of its case is a curious transaction: a $400,000 mortgage loan for a condo.
The government’s complaint lays out a complicated scheme. It describes the condo purchase as an overt act of fraud, and claims a right to seize the property. Essentially, prosecutors say, Stone and his wife Nydia used $140,000 from a private company they already held (Drake Ventures) for a down payment on a condo. Picking up the rest of the tab—almost exactly $400,000—was a mortgage lender.
That lender, a private individual who would only talk to The Daily Beast on the condition that we not print his name, said he had been misled and likely wouldn’t have granted the loan if he had known the full picture.
at The Daily Beast.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/inside-broke-roger-stones-very-shady-condo-purchase?source=articles&via=rss
http://usa-today-news.com/2021/07/02/inside-broke-roger-stones-very-shady-condo-purchase/
A look at 8 lawmakers appointed to probe Jan. 6 attack
By KEVIN FREKING
35 minutes ago
https://apnews.com/article/capitol-siege-government-and-politics-268a3d4fed79bec580beed75b7925e6e
WASHINGTON (AP) — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is acting swiftly to launch a new investigation of the violent Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, choosing a diverse slate of eight lawmakers — one from the opposing party — to serve on a select committee with subpoena power.
Republicans have the chance to recommend five additional members, but it’s unclear whether they will do so. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, who could be called to testify about a conversation with former President Donald Trump as the attack unfolded, has not committed to any appointments.
All but two Republicans voted against creating the committee in a vote Wednesday. Pelosi made one of the two Republicans — Liz Cheney of Wyoming, an unsparing critic of Trump — one of her appointments to the panel.
A look at eight lawmakers who have been appointed to the committee so far:
REP. BENNIE THOMPSON, D-MISS.
Thompson is chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee and will be leading the Jan. 6 select committee. Serving his 14th full term in office, he is the only Democratic member of Mississippi’s congressional delegation. He was a teacher before entering local politics, serving as a mayor and country supervisor, which served as a springboard to the House. He says the committee will focus on delivering a “definitive accounting of the attack — an undertaking so vital to guarding against future attacks.”
REP. ZOE LOFGREN, D-CALIF.
Lofgren is chairwoman of the Committee on House Administration, which has oversight of the U.S. Capitol Police. She has been a member of the House since 1995 and is an immigration attorney and immigration law professor who participated in the impeachment process for three presidents — Trump, Bill Clinton and Richard Nixon, the latter as a congressional staffer. She said making the Capitol safer is not a substitute for what happened on Jan. 6th: She said: “Who paid for it? How was it organized? We need to find that out to keep the country safe.”
REP. ADAM SCHIFF, D-CALIF.
Schiff is chairman of the House Intelligence committee and best known as the leader and public face of Trump’s first impeachment for his actions involving Ukraine. He has served in the House for two decades and prior to entering Congress served as an assistant U.S. attorney in Los Angeles and as a state senator. He expressed dismay on Twitter that only two House Republicans voted for the select committee: “An attack on the Capitol. The Article I branch of our government. Our temple of democracy. If Republicans won’t support that, what will they support? Only what Trump wants.”
REP. LIZ CHENEY, R-WYO.
The daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney is so far the lone Republican on the new committee. She is one of 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump over the insurrection at the Capitol, saying he “lit the flame” that ignited the attack. She has only amplified her criticism of Trump since then, angering colleagues who voted to remove her from a leadership position. She took time to visit law enforcement officers and families on Wednesday in the House galleries while lawmakers debated whether to form the committee. She says what happened on Jan. 6. can never be allowed to happen again. “Those who are responsible for the attack need to be held accountable and this select committee will fulfill that responsibility in a professional, expeditious, and non-partisan manner.”
REP. JAMIE RASKIN, D-MD.
Raskin is serving his third term representing a district adjacent to Washington. He served as a professor of constitutional law at American University’s Washington College of Law for more than 25 years and was the lead prosecution lawyer in Trump’s second impeachment trial. In a memorable presentation, he recalled for senators how he was at the Capitol on Jan. 6 with his daughter and son-in-law when Trump supporters broke into the building. He fought back tears as he told senators how he had promised his daughter her next trip would be better and she replied: “Dad, I don’t want to come back to the Capitol.” The siege of the Capitol came just days after Raskin’s 25-year-old son, Tommy, took his own life.
REP. ELAINE LURIA, D-VA.
Luria has only been in Congress since 2019, but held many weighty responsibilities before then, serving two decades in the Navy and retiring at the rank of commander. She served at sea on six ships, deployed to the Middle East and culminated her career by commanding a combat-ready unit of 400 sailors. She represents a swing district with a large military and veterans population along the Virginia coast.
REP. PETE AGUILAR, D-CALIF.
Aguilar is serving his fourth term in the House and now holds the No. 6 position in House Democratic leadership. He is a former mayor who now serves on the House Administration and Appropriations committees. “Everyone touched by Jan. 6 deserves to find the truth of what transpired, what led up to it, and how we can protect our democracy moving forward,” Aguilar said Thursday.
REP. STEPHANIE MURPHY, D-FLA.
Murphy is a former national security specialist at the Defense Department now serving her third term in Congress. She worked on a wide range of security issues: counterterrorism, foreign military relations, strategic planning for the department and more. She is the first Vietnamese-American woman elected to Congress. After her appointment to the select committee, she recalled that her family fled Vietnam when she was a baby. “We were rescued by the U.S. Navy and given refuge in America,” she said. “I love this country beyond words.” She added: “To see the citadel of American democracy assaulted is a reminder that our democracy is not self-sustaining. It needs to be preserved and protected by American patriots of every political stripe.”
https://apnews.com/article/capitol-siege-government-and-politics-268a3d4fed79bec580beed75b7925e6e
As US companies scramble to hire, workers enjoy upper hand
By CHRISTOPHER RUGABER
today
https://apnews.com/article/ap-top-news-economy-health-coronavirus-pandemic-business-19c34ac90dbfa0f45bc9dac2a086cbfc
WASHINGTON (AP) — With the economy growing rapidly as it reopens from the pandemic, many employers are increasingly desperate to hire. Yet evidence suggests that as a group, the unemployed aren’t feeling the same urgency to take jobs.
Many people who are out of work are either seeking higher pay than they had before or are still reluctant to take jobs in public-facing service companies for fear of contracting COVID-19. How those two trends balance themselves out will likely set the pace for how many open positions employers can fill in the coming months.
On Friday, analysts expect the government to report that the economy added 675,000 jobs in June. That would be a substantial gain but nowhere near the gains that could be expected given the record-high number of job openings.
In fact, some economists have estimated that monthly job growth would be at least twice what the three-month average gain was for March, April and May — 540,000 — if there were no constraints on the number of workers available to fill jobs.
For June, the unemployment rate is projected to have dipped from 5.8% in May to a still-elevated 5.7%.
Total available jobs reached 9.3 million in April, the highest in 20 years of data, according to the Labor Department. The employment website Indeed has said that job postings have increased still further since then.
As the competition to keep and attract workers intensifies, especially at restaurants and tourist and entertainment venues, employers are offering higher pay, along with signing and retention bonuses and more flexible working hours. The proportion of job advertisements that promise a bonus has more than doubled in the past year, Indeed found.
The supply of potential hires is being held back by a variety of factors. Many Americans still have health concerns about working around large numbers of people. About 1.5 million people, mostly women, are no longer working or looking for work because they had to care for children when schools and day care centers shut down. And roughly 2.6 million older workers took advantage of enlarged stock portfolios and home values to retire early.
A temporary $300-a-?week federal unemployment benefit, on top of regular state jobless aid, may be enabling some people to be more selective in looking for and taking jobs. Roughly half the states plan to stop paying the supplement by the end of July in what proponents say is an effort to nudge more of the unemployed to seek jobs.
Economists at Goldman Sachs have calculated that in states that are cutting off the federal jobless payment early, the number of people who are receiving state jobless aid is declining faster than in states that plan to pay the $300-a-week benefit until it officially ends Sept. 6. That trend, which suggests could help boost hiring in June and in the subsequent months.
On Thursday, the government reported that the number of people who applied for jobless aid last week fell to 364,000, the lowest level since the pandemic began.
There are also signs that people are re-evaluating their work and personal lives and aren’t necessarily interested in returning to their old jobs, particularly those that offer modest wages. The proportion of Americans who quit their jobs in April reached its highest level in more than 20 years.
Nearly 6% of workers who are in an industry category that includes restaurants, hotels, casinos, and amusement parks quit their jobs in April — twice the proportion of workers in all sectors who did so.
Rising numbers of people quitting jobs, often for higher-paying positions, mean that even employers that have been hiring may be struggling to maintain sufficient staffing levels.
A survey of manufacturers in June found widespread complaints among factory executives about labor shortages. Many said they were experiencing heavy turnover because of what they called “wage dynamics”: Other companies are luring their workers away with higher pay.
Karen Fichuk, chief executive of Randstad North America, a recruiting and staffing firm, said that the Monster job board, which Randstad owns, found that job postings jumped 40% from May to June. Job searches, by contrast, rose just 4%.
“There is a significant gap between supply and demand,” Fichuk said.
The struggle to fill jobs coincides with a swiftly growing economy. In the first three months of the year, the government estimated that the economy expanded at a strong 6.4% annual rate. In the just-ended April-June quarter, the annual rate is thought to have reached a sizzling 10%.
And for all of 2021, the Congressional Budget Office estimated Thursday that growth will amount to 6.7%. That would be the fastest calendar-year expansion since 1984.
In the meantime, consumer confidence rose in June, according to the Conference Board, and is nearly back to its pre-pandemic level. Americans also seem undeterred by recent price increases, with the percentage of consumers who plan to buy a home, car or major appliance all rising. Home prices shot up in April by the most in 15 years.
Factory output is also expanding at a healthy pace, in part because companies are investing more in industrial machinery, aircraft and technology. Those investments could make workers more efficient in the coming years and boost longer-term growth.
https://apnews.com/article/ap-top-news-economy-health-coronavirus-pandemic-business-19c34ac90dbfa0f45bc9dac2a086cbfc
TAKEAWAYS: Trump’s safe for now, but company’s in hot water
By The Associated Press
today
https://apnews.com/article/trump-organization-indictment-takeaways-32b94ba79d846aa8d5c8bf34667ea649
NEW YORK (AP) — With Thursday’s arraignment of Donald Trump’s company and his longtime finance chief on tax fraud charges, New York authorities notched their first indictment in a two-year ongoing investigation of the former president.
Trump and his lawyers say the Democrats who brought the case against the Trump Organization and CFO Allen Weisselberg are making a criminal case out of what should be minor disputes usually settled in civil court. Both the Trump Organization and Weisselberg have pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Prosecutors say this is serious. Weisselberg alone, they say, cheated the federal government, state and city out of more than $900,000 in unpaid taxes.
Takeaways from Thursday’s arraignment in New York:
TRUMP WASN’T CHARGED. IS HE OUT OF THE HOT SEAT?
Hard to say. The Manhattan district attorney and New York attorney general say they are still investigating. State Attorney General Letitia James called the indictment an “important marker in the ongoing criminal investigation.”
VIDEO
WHAT ARE THE TRUMP ORGANIZATION AND ALLEN WEISSELBERG CHARGED WITH?
Multiple counts, including scheme to defraud in the first degree, conspiracy in the fourth degree, criminal tax fraud in the third degree, criminal tax fraud in the fourth degree and falsifying records in the first degree. Weisselberg is also charged with offering a false instrument for filing in the first degree and grand larceny in the second degree.
WHAT DOES THAT MEAN, PRACTICALLY?
The indictment says Weisselberg failed to pay taxes on more than $1.7 million worth of off-the-books perks.
WHAT DID WEISSELBERG GET FROM THE COMPANY?
The Trump Organization paid the rent on his Manhattan apartment, covered private school tuition for his grandchildren, leased him and his wife Mercedes-Benz automobiles, gave him cash to hand out as holiday tips and paid for flat-screen TVs, carpeting, and furniture for his winter home in Florida. Weisselberg’s son also didn’t have to pay rent, or paid a below-market rent, while living in Trump-owned apartments.
ANYTHING ELSE?
Prosecutors say Weisselberg claimed a house on Long Island as his official residence, rather than the Manhattan apartment where he spent a majority of his time. That enabled him to avoid paying the city’s income tax.
WHAT DO LAWYERS FOR THE TRUMP ORGANIZATION AND WEISSELBERG SAY?
Weisselberg’s attorneys have taken a low-key approach, saying only that he’ll fight the charges. The Trump Organization’s lawyers say it is an outrage, and that companies do things like this all the time and aren’t prosecuted or even punished. Trump, a Republican, excoriated the case as a “political Witch Hunt by the Radical Left Democrats.”
WAIT — JUST WHAT DOES THE TRUMP ORGANIZATION ACTUALLY DO?
It’s a business entity through which Trump manages his many entrepreneurial affairs, including his investments in office towers, hotels and golf courses, his many marketing deals and his television pursuits. It’s sprawling, but its operations are simple and behind the scenes: It runs golf clubs and hotels, collects checks from companies occupying offices it owns, and charges licensing fees to buildings and others using its name.
COMPANIES DO OFFER TOP EXECUTIVES FANCY PERKS. WHY IS THE TRUMP ORGANIZATION BEING TARGETED?
Perks that aren’t legitimate business expenses have to be reported as taxable income. You can’t help employees avoid income tax by paying them in lots of free stuff.
PROSECUTORS ASSERTED THE ‘MOST SENIOR EXECUTIVES’ WERE BEHIND THE ALLEGED SCHEME. THEN WHY WAS WEISSELBERG THE ONLY INDIVIDUAL CHARGED?
Prosecutors haven’t explained.
DOES RUDY GIULIANI HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH THIS?
No. There is an ongoing investigation by federal prosecutors in New York into Giuliani’s work for Trump in Ukraine, but it is not related to this inquiry by state prosecutors.
HOW DID THIS ALL GET STARTED?
After Trump’s former personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, got indicted for tax evasion and other offenses, he publicly claimed that the Trump Organization frequently found ways to dodge taxes. That got prosecutors extra interested. Prosecutors also got help from Jen Weisselberg, who had a bitter divorce from Weisselberg’s son.
SO IS ALLEN WEISSELBERG BEHIND BARS NOW?
No. He is free pending trial, though he had to turn over his passport so he can’t leave the country.
WILL WEISSELBERG TURN ON TRUMP?
The charges could enable prosecutors to pressure Weisselberg to cooperate with the investigation and tell them what he knows. He might cooperate to try to avoid a tough prison sentence. But prosecutors haven’t actually accused Trump himself of breaking any laws. Although Trump’s signature was on some checks at the center of the case, nothing in the indictment addressed whether he was personally aware of how the company treated Weisselberg’s compensation for tax purposes. And Weisselberg’s been a loyal lieutenant to the Trump family for decades.
SO WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?
Everybody has to come back to court in late September to begin the process of getting ready for a trial. New York City’s judicial system is seriously backlogged because of the coronavirus pandemic so this could take awhile.
MORE ON TRUMP LEGAL TROUBLES
– Trump Organization, CFO indicted on tax fraud charges
– EXPLAINER: How could the indictment hurt Trump's company?
https://apnews.com/article/trump-organization-indictment-takeaways-32b94ba79d846aa8d5c8bf34667ea649
How Britain’s private schools lost their grip on Oxbridge
As state-school admissions rise at elite universities, some parents who shelled out for private education regret it
Brooke Masters 6 HOURS AGO
https://www.ft.com/content/bbb7fe58-0908-4f8e-bb1a-081a42a045b7
“Five years ago, my son would have got a place at Oxford. But now the bar has shifted and he didn’t,” says my friend, a City of London executive who has put several children through elite private schools in Britain. “I think he got short-changed.”
I’ve been hearing this more and more from fellow parents with kids at top day and boarding schools in recent years. Some of it sounds like whining: most of us like to think the best of our progeny. But my friend has a point. After years of hand-wringing about unequal access to elite higher education, admissions standards are finally shifting.
A decade ago, parents who handed over tens of thousands of pounds a year for the likes of Eton College, St Paul’s School or King’s College School in Wimbledon could comfortably assume their kids had a very good chance of attending Oxford or Cambridge, two of the best universities in the world. A 2018 Sutton Trust study showed that just eight institutions, six of them private, accounted for more Oxbridge places than 2,900 other UK secondary schools combined. When the headmaster of Westminster School boasted at an open evening that half the sixth form went on to Oxbridge, approving murmurs filled the wood-panelled hall. (I was there.)
But growing anger about inequality, rising applications from an improved state sector and a flood of international students have prompted Oxford and Cambridge to rethink. They give more credit to students who have overcome barriers on their way to top grades. This means that fewer middling private school students who have been groomed to excel at interviews are getting in.
“We want to select the academically most able — the really strong candidates versus those that are average but have been well-prepared,” says Samina Khan, Oxford’s director of undergraduate admissions.
This is surely fair. But it also means that hothouse independent schools are losing their edge. At St Paul’s, I heard one grouchy father press the high master to explain how he would protect the boys there from “social engineering”.
What should parents do when a policy that is good for society seems bad for their kids? I feel genuine sympathy for anyone concerned for their child’s future, but complaining about a loss of privilege comes across as tone deaf.
At Eton, attended by 20 UK prime ministers including the current one, the number of Oxbridge offers dropped from 99 in 2014 to 48 this year. At King’s College, Wimbledon, offers have fallen by nearly half in two years to 27, The Sunday Times reported in February. Both schools still sit near the top of the national league tables for total offers. But their students are finding it harder to get in, rankling parents who shell out up to £28,000 a year for day school or £44,000 for boarding.
The anger of wealthy, mostly white parents about losing the advantages they expected to be able to buy their children is part of a broader pattern of status anxiety among some sections of the British and American upper classes. It is out of step with reality: children from such backgrounds will typically enjoy greater opportunities and financial security throughout their lives.
Nevertheless, the potency of this anxiety was on display in the US during 2019’s “Varsity Blues” admissions scandal when actors and private equity giants were jailed for trying to buy their kids into Yale and Stanford, among others, with faked entrance test results and counterfeit athletic skills.
“When you have something that is very valuable to people, the system gets distorted,” says Daniel Markovits, a Yale law professor and author of The Meritocracy Trap. “Attending these universities makes a difference in people’s income and status?.?.?.?The parents see how much it costs them to live in the neighbourhoods they live in and send children to private schools, and they realise that their children will be in the same bind.”
...
MUCH MORE
https://www.ft.com/content/bbb7fe58-0908-4f8e-bb1a-081a42a045b7
Turkey's banning our plastic, so where do we send it now?
By Angus Crawford
BBC News
Published6 hours ago
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-57680723
The boy was probably only a teenager. Rummaging through bags of plastic dumped by the side of the road, he was looking for bottles to sell.
In amongst the rubbish, were plastic bags from some of the UK's biggest supermarkets, packaging for cheese, ham and beef burgers.
Our investigation in March 2020 in the southern Turkish City of Adana found that although plastic that had been carefully sorted and separated by households in the UK was being sent to Turkey for recycling, it was, instead, being fly tipped and burned.
Why is UK recycling being dumped by Turkish roadsides?
Now Ankara has had enough - from today, 2 July, almost all imports of plastic waste are expected to be banned.
This leaves the UK with a real problem.
Last year the UK sent more plastic packaging waste to Turkey than to any other country. More than 200,000 tonnes, or 30% of all such exports, according to the Environment Agency's national waste packaging database.
This means 30 shipping containers a day full of plastic waste now need a new home. The UK, however, doesn't have enough recycling capacity to handle it itself.
"The alternatives are not obvious," says Phil Conran from consultancy 360 Environmental.
China, which used to be the world's biggest importer of plastic, closed its doors in 2017. And Malaysia, traditionally another major recipient, is now more heavily regulated.
Phil Conran points out that the "UK has an unfortunate history of poor quality plastic waste exports".
Simon Ellin from the Recycling Association says most exports are compliant but admits, "Our industry is blighted by a small minority of illegal operators who take advantage of an under-resourced UK regulatory system and the lack of transparent export systems."
Will Europe pick up the slack?
In the first three months of this year Turkey took 49% of all exports - Poland was second and Holland third. But those two countries would have to more than double their imports to make up the difference.
And some UK waste sent to the Netherlands is actually incinerated and an import tax on waste for burning now makes that less appealing.
Other countries in Eastern Europe might also be preparing to receive UK material, but domestic recycling rates there remain low.
"The UK Government may try to keep pushing our plastic problem onto other countries in the short-term, but the writing is on the wall for waste exports," says Megan Randles, political campaigner for Greenpeace UK.
The Government believes plastic waste can legally and safely be sent abroad for recycling. But a spokesman for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) said: "The UK must handle more of its waste at home, and that's why we are committed to banning the export of plastic waste to non-OECD countries and clamping down on illegal waste exports."
The Environment Agency says in the past 18 months it's stopped 160 containers of illegal plastic waste from leaving the country.
Waste build-up
So if more of our plastic stays in the UK, what's going to happen to it?
The UK's recycling capacity is still only 75% of what was being sent to Turkey. So in the short term, a build-up of waste is likely.
Phil Conran says that's not without its problems.
"Excessive stocks can lead ultimately to material being landfilled or abandoned if the expected markets don't materialise."
But there is a third possibility and that's incineration - including in energy-from-waste plants. In this process, energy is recovered in the form of heat or electricity.
More than 40% of household waste in England is currently burned - of that about 8% is made up of plastic.
Simon Ellin from the Recycling Association says its a short-term solution. "Some materials will need to move down the waste hierarchy and be burnt with the energy recovered for electricity generation."
Recycling: Where does it go after it is collected?
Greenpeace's Megan Randles doesn't agree. "We can't dump or burn our way out of our plastics crisis. We need a legally binding reduction in the production of single use plastic"
The Turkey ban could lead to more recycling in the UK. Currently, Defra estimates that 46% of plastic waste is recovered or recycled.
The Government is planning a new recycling levy on plastic producers and wants all packaging to be made of at least 30% recycled material by 2022.
The recycling industry is expanding capacity. Construction of what the developer describes as the UK's first plastic-to-hydrogen plant is expected to begin this year in Cheshire, and plans have been unveiled for similar plants across the nation.
Also later this year, one of the biggest waste facilities in the country will become fully operational in Avonmouth near Bristol.
It will burn household waste to fuel a plastics recycling plant, and in its first year it's expected to take 1.6 billion bottles, pots, tubs and trays.
But in the short term there is a fear that what the BBC found in Turkey may simply be duplicated somewhere else. That could be in Eastern Europe, or Africa - or it could be in our own back yards.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-57680723
4 takeaways from the Trump Organization and Allen Weisselberg indictments
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/07/01/3-takeaways-trump-organization-allen-weisselberg-indictments/
By Aaron Blake Senior reporter
July 1, 2021 at 8:53 p.m. GMT+1
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/07/01/3-takeaways-trump-organization-allen-weisselberg-indictments/
The long-forecast criminal case against the Trump Organization was finally unveiled Thursday, via indictments against the organization as a whole and its chief financial officer, Allen Weisselberg.
The 15 charges were brought by Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr. (D), who has investigated the Trump Organization along with New York Attorney General Letitia James (D). Weisselberg and the Trump Organization have pleaded not guilty.
Here are some of the key takeaways.
1. The charges
These are the first charges stemming from the investigation, but they aren’t as serious as some wagered they might be. The 15 counts include conspiracy, grand larceny in the second degree, multiple counts of tax fraud and multiple counts of falsifying records. All 15 counts apply to Weisselberg. Most also include the Trump Organization as a whole.
The alleged crimes took place over a period of more than 15 years, between 2005 and today, with the indictment citing an alleged lengthy “scheme to defraud” the government. They include Weisselberg allegedly evading taxes on more than $1.7 million of income.
Prosecutors allege that Trump Organization executives received “secret pay raises” while failing to pay the proper amount of taxes.
“To put it bluntly, this was a sweeping and audacious illegal payment scheme,” said prosecutor Carey Dunne.
The Trump Organization’s lawyers declined to comment on the specifics of the indictment.
At the same time, prosecutors indicated there could be more to come. They asked for a protective order to limit disclosure of the proceedings, citing an ongoing investigation.
2. Mentions of Trump/"Unindicted Co-conspirator #1?
The main question in all of this, of course, is how much any of it can be connected personally to former president Donald Trump. And the indictment makes only a few mentions of Trump by name. Each time it refers to an entity or a signature in the former president’s name, rather than specific actions taken by Trump.
There are some intriguing references to an unnamed “Unindicted Co-conspirator #1,” but it’s not at all clear that it is Trump — and significant reasons to believe it’s not.
“From at least 2005 through the date of this indictment, the named defendants and others, including Unindicted Co-conspirator #1, agreed to and implemented a compensation scheme with the object of enabling Weisselberg to underreport his income to federal authorities, and thereby evade taxes and falsely claim federal tax refunds to which he was not entitled,” the indictment says early on.
It says later: “On or before April 5, 2010, the Trump Corporation, acting through its agent, Unindicted Co-conspirator #1, underreported Allen Weisselberg’s taxable income for the tax year 2009.”
Unlike in the criminal case against former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen, in which Trump was clearly referred to as “Individual 1,” this isn’t so obviously Trump. (While many wrongly labeled Trump an unindicted co-conspirator in that case, in this case prosecutors say this unnamed person participated in the crimes.) For one, at another point the indictment references the Trump Corporation’s “president,” which was Trump, without labeling that person as the unindicted co-conspirator.
One possibility would seem to be that it’s Matthew Calamari, whom the Wall Street Journal reported last week was under significant scrutiny. Calamari was not otherwise named in the indictment and hasn’t been charged. But like Weisselberg, he has been around Trump for decades, starting as Trump’s bodyguard in 1981 and later becoming the Trump Organization’s chief operating officer. In other words, there are significant reasons prosecutors would be interested in him.
At the same time, another portion of the indictment seems to reference Calamari and his son, another employee who has also reportedly been probed, without listing him as an unindicted co-conspirator. The Journal reported Calamari and his son were under scrutiny for lodging and car leases, and the indictment cites two unnamed employees who “received substantial amounts of compensation in the form of lodging in New York City and the payment of automobile leases.”
There are all kinds of reasons to label someone as an unindicted co-conspirator (just not the ones Tucker Carlson recently laid out). Chief among them is that prosecutors believe the person engaged in the conspiracy but the evidence can’t yet be charged. Another is that the person has cooperated and thus avoided their own charges. (At this point, it hasn’t been reported that any Trump Organization officials have cooperated to avoid prosecution.)
For now, all we have is speculation about who that unindicted co-conspirator is. But either way, the indictment doesn’t lay out any significant and detailed actions by Trump personally.
3. Fraud in relatively plain sight?
While the charges might be less far-reaching than some expected, they do betray a certain alleged brazenness.
For instance: “Specifically, Weisselberg caused the Trump Corporation to issue corporate checks made payable to a Trump Organization employee who cashed the checks and received cash. The cash was given to Weisselberg for his personal use. The Trump Corporation booked this cash as ‘Holiday Entertainment,’ but maintained internal spreadsheets showing the cash to be part of Weisselberg’s employee compensation.”
Another example: “For certain years, the Trump Organization maintained internal spreadsheets that tracked the amounts it paid for Weisselberg’s rent, utility, and garage expenses. Simultaneously, the Trump Organization reduced the amount of direct compensation that Weisselberg received in the form of checks or direct deposits to account for the indirect compensation that he received in the form of payments of rent, utility bills, and garage expenses. The indirect compensation was not included on Weisselberg’s W-2 forms or otherwise reported to federal, state, or local tax authorities, and no income taxes were withheld by the corporate defendants in connection with the indirect compensation.”
We have yet to see the actual evidence here, but it sounds as though the records match up rather neatly to show how this was done.
All of which also raises the question: If this was happening with Weisselberg and it was recorded, could it also have been happening with other employees in seemingly relatively easy-to-prove ways?
4. The flip question
There is little doubt that a large part of the motivation for prosecuting Weisselberg — or even Calamari — is the possibility that he might flip on someone higher up, up to and including Trump. That’s just how these things generally work, and The Washington Post has reported that is indeed Vance’s goal. As far back as the Mueller investigation, Weisselberg was also a focal point because of the possibility that he, as someone who has literally been around Trump for decades (since 1973), might seek to cut a deal.
Weisselberg’s former daughter-in-law Jennifer Weisselberg, who has provided evidence in the case, has gone so far as to predict that Allen Weisselberg will indeed eventually flip.
So far, though, there is little indication that’s going to happen. And letting things get to the point of criminal charges is generally to be avoided if Weisselberg had any intention of flipping. At that point, it becomes clear that you are trying to save your own hide and trading your own legal liability for your boss’s. The benefit, of course, is that it forces prosecutors to actually make good on their threats that you could face prosecution.
They have now done that, and now Weisselberg must decide how much criminal liability he foresees for himself — along with whether he has something to offer that could reduce or eliminate it, if he might ever be so inclined. Many analysts suggested the charges, such as they currently exist, were not serious enough to spur such a flip for the 73-year-old Weisselberg, who is toward the end of his career.
Trump’s team, of course, is sending very unsubtle signals, as he has before repeatedly, that he would very much like Weisselberg to stand strong and will reward him for doing so with continued support.
“Allen Weisselberg is a loving and devoted husband, father and grandfather who has worked at the Trump Organization for 48 years,” the Trump Organization said in a statement. “He is now being used by the Manhattan district attorney as a pawn in a scorched-earth attempt to harm the former president. The district attorney is bringing a criminal prosecution involving employee benefits that neither the IRS nor any other district attorney would ever think of bringing. This is not justice; this is politics.”
The subtext: They’re trying to make you a “pawn.” Don’t be their pawn.
Trump eventually rewarded those he had urged to stand strong during the Mueller probe with pardons — despite his comments urging the likes of Paul Manafort not to cooperate figuring into Robert S. Mueller III’s breakdown of whether Trump obstructed justice.
The difference now is that Trump has no such power to legally protect Weisselberg — both because he’s no longer president and because, even if he were, this isn’t a federal case. About the best Trump can do is keep claiming Weisselberg is a political target, which his company has now set about doing.
Perhaps the biggest takeaway from Thursday’s indictments is to stay tuned. To the extent this ever touches Trump personally, there would seem to be much we don’t yet know. The question is whether prosecutors have — or will have — the goods to bring it to that level.
By Aaron Blake
Aaron Blake is senior political reporter, writing for The Fix. A Minnesota native, he has also written about politics for the Minneapolis Star Tribune and The Hill newspaper. Twitter
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/07/01/3-takeaways-trump-organization-allen-weisselberg-indictments/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/07/01/3-takeaways-trump-organization-allen-weisselberg-indictments/
Trump Team Launches New Social Media Platform With Horrendously Bad Name
GET IT
Cheyenne Ubiera
Breaking News Intern
Published Jul. 01, 2021 1:56PM ET
https://www.thedailybeast.com/donald-trumps-former-team-launches-new-social-media-platform-gettr
Former President Donald Trump and his old spokesman Jason Miller both have questionable records when it comes to their treatment of women. But somehow Miller and members of Trump’s inner circle didn’t think that naming their new social media platform GETTR—just say it out loud—would be too on the nose. According to Politico, GETTR was quietly launched recently by Miller, who has pitched it as a bias-free, anti-cancel culture alternative to Big Tech platforms. It’s unknown if Trump, who has been banned by almost every social media platform, will sign up but he’s clearly itching to get back online. He launched a blog, “From the Desk of Donald J. Trump,” recently but shut it down after a month due to low readership and widespread ridicule.
Miller has been accused of having an affair with an aide then refusing to pay child support when she fell pregnant. He also filed a $100 million lawsuit over a story that alleged he drugged a woman and caused her to miscarry. His old boss, famous for saying “grab ‘em by the pussy,” has been accused of sexual misconduct by at least 18 women.
Read it at POLITICO https://www.politico.com/news/2021/07/01/gettr-trump-social-media-platform-497606
https://www.thedailybeast.com/donald-trumps-former-team-launches-new-social-media-platform-gettr
Preet Bharara @PreetBharara ·31s - I’m not optimistic that Weisselberg will flip but I am optimistic he’ll be convicted. The law is fairly clear on what is income & what is taxable. He’s a sophisticated executive; mistake is implausible. The company booked much of it as income. And juries hate rich tax cheats.
9:24 PM · Jul 1, 2021·Twitter for iPhone
THREAD
I’m not optimistic that Weisselberg will flip but I am optimistic he’ll be convicted. The law is fairly clear on what is income & what is taxable. He’s a sophisticated executive; mistake is implausible. The company booked much of it as income. And juries hate rich tax cheats.
— Preet Bharara (@PreetBharara) July 1, 2021
Weisselberg was really stupid, and greedy, taking such petty amounts considering how much he was paid in salary –and Trump must have known all about it.
The Receipt of Unreported Cash
11. It was a further part of the scheme to defraud that Weisselberg received unreported cash that he could use to pay personal holiday gratuities. Specifically, Weisselberg caused the ‘Trump Corporation to issue corporate checks made payable to a Trump Organization employee who cashed the checks and received cash. The cash was given to Weisselberg for his personal use. The Trump Corporation booked this cash as “Holiday Entertainment,” but maintained internal spreadsheets showing the cash to be part of Weisselberg’s employee compensation. The cash distributed in this manner was not included on Weisselberg’s W-2 forms or otherwise reported to federal, state, or local tax authorities, and no income tax was withheld by the corporate defendants in connection with the cash payments. Weisselberg intentionally caused the receipt of cash payments to be omitted from his personal tax returns, despite knowing that those payments represented taxable income and were treated as compensation by the Trump Corporation. Because the cash was not reported by the corporate defendants to the tax authorities, was not subjected to income tax withholding by the corporate defendants, and was not included by Weisselberg on his personal tax. returns, he did not pay taxes on approximately $29,400 in compensation he received during the tax years 2011 through 2017.
Read: Indictment charges against Trump Organization and its CFO
By CNN
Updated 1855 GMT (0255 HKT) July 1, 2021
(CNN)Trump Organization Chief Financial Officer Allen Weisselberg is appearing in a Manhattan courtroom Thursday afternoon to respond to criminal charges against him and the company in connection with alleged tax crimes.
Read the charges: https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/20982374/indictment-final.pdf
https://edition.cnn.com/2021/07/01/politics/trump-organization-allen-weisselberg/index.html
The Trump Organizations Payment of Rent, Utility, and Garage Expenses for Weisselberg’s Apartment on Riverside Boulevard, and Weisselberg’s Evasion of New York City Income Taxes
6. Beginning on or about March 31,2005, the Trump Corporation maintained a lease for an apartment on Riverside Boulevard in New York, New York. The building, one of several buildings on the West Side of Manhattan previously known as “Trump Place,” was not owned by the Trump Organization, and the Trump Organization paid rent pursuant to the lease. From the beginning of the lease through June 30, 2021, the sole residents in the apartment have been Allen Weisselberg and his spouse, and Weisselberg maintained the apartment as his permanent place of abode.
7. Beginning in 2005, and as part of the scheme to defraud, Weissclberg signed rental checks drawn on the Trump Corporation's bank account, and the checks were sent to the managing agent for the apartment building on Riverside Boulevard. Similarly, Weisselberg and others directed the Trump Corporation to issue checks to pay for Weisselberg’s utility bills for the Riverside Boulevard apartment, including payments for electricity, telephone services, internet, and cable television service. During this period of time, the Trump Corporation also paid for Weisselberg’s monthly garage expenses. At all relevant times, the payments of Weisselberg’s rent, utility, and garage expenses constituted employee compensation and taxable income to Weisselberg. These payments were not booked in the Trump Corporation’s general ledger as employee compensation, but were instead labeled and deducted as “rent expense in the general ledger. However, for certain years, the Trump Organization maintained internal spreadsheets that tracked the amounts it paid for Weisselberg’s rent, utility, and garage expenses. Simultaneously, the Trump Organization reduced the amount of direct compensation that Weisselberg received in the form of checks or direct deposits to account for the indirect compensation that he received in the form of payments of rent, utility bills, and garage expenses. The indirect compensation was not included on Weisselberg’s W-2 forms or otherwise reported to federal, state, or local tax authorities, and no income taxes were withheld by the corporate defendants in connection with the indirect compensation. The compensation amounts reported by the defendants to the tax authorities, and upon which income taxes were withheld, included only Weisselberg’s direct compensation. Weisselberg intentionally caused the indirect ‘compensation payments to be omitted from his personal tax returns, despite knowing that those ‘payments represented taxable income and were treated as compensation by the Trump Corporation in internal records. Because the indirect compensation in the form of payments of rent, utility bills, and garage expenses was not reported by the corporate defendants 0 the tax authorities, was not subjected to income tax withholding by the corporate defendants, and was not included by Weissclberg on his personal tax returns, he did not pay taxes on approximately $100,000 of compensation per tax year. From the tax year 2005 through 2017, the corporate defendants provided Weisselberg approximately$1,174,018 in untaxed income resulting from the payment of his rent and related expenses, 8. The defendants not only concealed, failed to report, and failed to pay income taxes in connection with Weisselberg’s New York City apartment, but they also concealed his status as a New York City resident and enabled Weisselberg to avoid the payment of New York City income taxes. Beginning in May 2005, when the Trump Corporation rented the Riverside Boulevard apartment for Weisselberg’s use as a permanent place of abode, Weisselberg spent most of his days each year in New York City, working in the Trump Organization offices at Trump Tower. He was a New York City resident, and knew that he was a New York City resident, but falsely claimed to his tax preparer and to the tax authorities that he was not a New York City resident. Weisselberg and others caused the corporate defendants not to report his compensation to New York City tax authorities and not to withhold New York City income taxes from Weisselberg’s compensation. ‘Weissclberg began to pay New York City income taxes, and to direct that New York City income 6 taxes be withheld on his direct compensation, only after selling his home in Wantagh, New York in 2013. By concealing Weisselberg’s New York City residency from the tax authorities, and by failing to withhold New York City income taxes from Weisselbergs compensation, the defendants evaded the payment of approximately $210,923 in New York City resident income taxes from the tax year 2005 through 2013.
........
Read: Indictment charges against Trump Organization and its CFO
By CNN
Updated 1855 GMT (0255 HKT) July 1, 2021
(CNN)Trump Organization Chief Financial Officer Allen Weisselberg is appearing in a Manhattan courtroom Thursday afternoon to respond to criminal charges against him and the company in connection with alleged tax crimes.
Read the charges: https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/20982374/indictment-final.pdf
https://edition.cnn.com/2021/07/01/politics/trump-organization-allen-weisselberg/index.html
Read: Indictment charges against Trump Organization and its CFO
By CNN
Updated 1855 GMT (0255 HKT) July 1, 2021
(CNN)Trump Organization Chief Financial Officer Allen Weisselberg is appearing in a Manhattan courtroom Thursday afternoon to respond to criminal charges against him and the company in connection with alleged tax crimes.
Read the charges: https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/20982374/indictment-final.pdf
https://edition.cnn.com/2021/07/01/politics/trump-organization-allen-weisselberg/index.html
THE SCHEME
4. Beginning from at least 2005 to on or about June 30, 2021, the defendants and others devised and operated a scheme to defraud federal, New York State, and New York City tax authorities. The purpose of the scheme was to compensate Weisselberg and other Trump Organization executives in a manner that was “off the books”: the beneficiaries of the scheme received substantial portions of their income through indirect and disguised means, with ‘compensation that was unreported or misreported by the Trump Corporation or Trump Payroll Corp. 10 the tax authorities. The scheme was intended to allow certain employees to substantially understate their compensation from the Trump Organization, so that they could and did pay federal, state, and local taxes in amounts that were significantly less than the amounts that should have been paid. The scheme also enabled Weisselberg to obtain tax refunds of amounts previously withheld 3 and remitted to federal and state tax authorities. Further, the scheme involved the failureof the “Trump Corporation and Trump Payroll Corp. to withhold income taxes on wages, salaries, bonuses and other forms of compensation paid to certain employees. The scheme also allowed the Trump Organization to evade the payment of payroll taxes that the Trump Organization was required to pay in connection with employee compensation.
5. One of the largest individual beneficiaries of the defendants’ scheme was Allen Weisselberg. During the operation of the scheme, the defendants arranged for Weisselberg to receive indirect employee compensation from the Trump Organization in the approximate amount of $1.76 million. As described below, the defendants enabled Weisselberg to receive this compensation in ways that enabled the corporate defendants to avoid reporting it to the tax authorities, and that did not result in the withholding of income tax by the corporate defendants Weisselberg then concealed the compensation from his tax preparer and intentionally omitted it from his tax retums. Additionally, Weisselberg concealed for years the fact that he was a resident of New York City who was required to pay New York City income taxes. During the period of the scheme, Weisselberg thereby evaded approximately $556,385 in federal taxes, approximately $106,568 in state taxes, and approximately $238,159 in New York City taxes, and he falsely claimed and received approximately $94,902 in federal tax refunds and approximately $38,222 in state tax refunds, to which he was not entitled.
Trump Organization charged with 15-year ‘scheme to defraud’ government; chief financial officer charged with grand larceny, tax fraud
By Shayna Jacobs, David A. Fahrenthold, Josh Dawsey and Jonathan O'Connell
July 1, 2021 at 7:53 p.m. GMT+1
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-business-weisselberg-indictments/2021/07/01/e2b774a0-da15-11eb-bb9e-70fda8c37057_story.html
NEW YORK — Prosecutors charged the Trump Organization with a 15-year "scheme to defraud" the government and charged its chief financial officer with grand larceny and tax fraud in a Manhattan courtroom Thursday afternoon.
Allen Weisselberg, former president Donald Trump's longtime CFO, pleaded not guilty during a brief arraignment hearing that began about 2:20 p.m. He walked into the courtroom in a dark suit, surrounded by detectives and court officers. He did not respond to questions from reporters in the hallway outside.
Weisselberg, 73, had surrendered at the Manhattan District Attorney's Office early Thursday, the morning after a grand jury filed indictments against him and the Trump Organization.
Weisselberg was released after the hearing, but he was required to surrender his passport after prosecutors said he was a "flight risk."
An attorney for the Trump Organization also pleaded not guilty on the company's behalf. Prosecutors also charged a subsidiary called Trump Payroll Corporation, which handles the company's benefits and payments to employees.
In all, 15 criminal charges filed against Weisselberg, according to a copy of the indictment obtained by The Washington Post. They included counts of conspiracy, criminal tax fraud and falsifying business records. In many of the counts, the two Trump entities were charged along with Weisselberg.
Carey Dunne, a prosecutor with the District Attorney's Office, said in the hearing that the charges related to an "off-the-books tax fraud scheme" that lasted for 15 years. He said that the scheme allowed Trump Organization executives to get "secret pay raises" while not paying proper taxes.
"To put it bluntly, this was a sweeping and audacious illegal payment scheme," Dunne said. He rejected an allegation from the Trump Organization that the charges were part of a politiclly-motivated effort to hurt Trump: "It's not about politics," Dunne said.
Trump Organization attorney Alan Futerfas said he would not respond to the allegations in the hearing.
"I appreciate the news release and I don't think at this point it warrants a response," he said, referring to Dunne's comments.
An attorney for Weisselberg, Mary E. Mulligan, said only that her side disputes the facts of the case.
These are the first charges to result from an investigation of Trump's company by Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr. (D) and New York Attorney General Letitia James (D). Both Vance and James were present in the courtroom for the arraignment, sitting one seat apart to observe social-distancing rules.
Weisselberg arrived at the Manhattan criminal courthouse through an employee entrance at about 6:20 a.m., according to journalists who saw him enter. His attorney, Mary E. Mulligan, confirmed the surrender in a text to The Washington Post.
“Mr. Weisselberg intends to plead not guilty and he will fight these charges in court,” Mulligan said in a statement sent on behalf of Weisselberg from herself and co-counsel Bryan C. Skarlatos.
The Trump Organization, in a statement, lauded Weisselberg as “a loving and devoted husband, father and grandfather who has worked at the Trump Organization for 48 years.”
“He is now being used by the Manhattan District Attorney as a pawn in a scorched earth attempt to harm the former President. The District Attorney is bringing a criminal prosecution involving employee benefits that neither the IRS nor any other District Attorney would ever think of bringing,” the statement said. “This is not justice; this is politics.”
Trump, in an interview Wednesday night from Texas — where he appeared at a presidential-style event with Fox News host Sean Hannity — lumped the New York investigations with other past probes that he has insisted have been politically motivated.
“All nonsense,” he said. “New York radical-left prosecutors come after me — you gotta fight.”
Prosecutors had declined to comment about the indictments Wednesday.
Although the indictments could pose trouble for Trump, exposing his company to potential fines and intensifying pressure on Weisselberg, neither the former president nor anyone else in his firm is expected to face charges this week. Prosecutors hope Weisselberg will offer testimony against Trump in exchange for lessening his own legal risk, according to a person familiar with the case.
Weisselberg, who has worked for Trump since the 1980s, is considered the most important figure in the Trump Organization apart from Trump family members. The Washington Post has previously reported that Weisselberg was a key figure in the investigations by Vance and James. Both have scrutinized whether Trump misled lenders or tax authorities, or evaded taxes on forgiven debts or fringe benefits for employees, according to court papers and people familiar with the cases.
In recent months, both sets of investigators have spoken to Jennifer Weisselberg, the chief financial officer’s former daughter-in-law, who said that Weisselberg’s son Barry had been given a free apartment and a hefty salary while he worked at the Trump Organization’s Central Park ice rink. Prosecutors were looking into whether taxes were paid on the benefits, people close to the investigation said.
The now-merged investigations of Trump’s company appear to be the longest-lasting and most extensive prosecutorial examination ever undertaken of the Trump Organization.
Vance’s office opened an investigation in 2018, responding to former Trump attorney Michael Cohen’s charges that Trump had directed improper payoffs during the 2016 presidential campaign to women who said they had affairs with Trump.
But Vance’s probe then broadened, encompassing years of business transactions. Vance examined tax breaks that Trump got on an estate in suburban New York, loans Trump took out on his Chicago tower, and statements Trump made to New York tax authorities about the value of his Manhattan towers, according to previous court filings.
Vance did not seek reelection this year; that means the bulk of the case against Trump’s company could be handled by Vance’s successor.
Trump and his organization have never faced criminal charges, but Trump has been the target of lawsuits from the office of the New York attorney general.
In one, he was sued for allegedly defrauding students at Trump University, a case that ended with Trump paying a $25 million settlement in 2016 in that and other cases. Two yeas later, Trump was sued for misusing money in a charity he controlled; a judge ordered Trump to pay damages of $2 million.
An earlier version of this article misspelled Letitia James’s first name as Leticia. The article has been corrected.
6.2k Comments
By Shayna Jacobs, David Fahrenthold, Josh Dawsey and Jonathan O'Connell
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-business-weisselberg-indictments/2021/07/01/e2b774a0-da15-11eb-bb9e-70fda8c37057_story.html
130 countries sign on to global minimum tax plan, creating momentum for Biden push
The White House believes countries need to move together to prevent firms from taking advantage of weak tax rules
By David J. Lynch
July 1, 2021 at 6:12 p.m. GMT+1
https://www.washingtonpost.com/us-policy/2021/07/01/global-corporate-tax-oecd/
The Biden administration claimed an important victory on Thursday in its drive for a global minimum corporate tax with an announcement from Paris that 130 countries had signed on to the plan.
The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) made the announcement, which includes an agreement on taxing the American giants of the Internet economy, such as Google, Facebook and Amazon.
“Multinational corporations will no longer be able to pit countries against one another in a bid to push tax rates down and protect their profits at the expense of public revenue,” President Biden said. “They will no longer be able to avoid paying their fair share by hiding profits generated in the United States, or any other country, in lower-tax jurisdictions. This will level the playing field and make America more competitive.”
Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen called the agreement “a historic day for economic diplomacy” and said it represented one of the administration’s core foreign policy goals.
“For decades, the United States has participated in a self-defeating international tax competition, lowering our corporate tax rates only to watch other nations lower theirs in response. The result was a global race to the bottom,” she wrote on Twitter. “ … Today’s agreement by 130 countries representing more than 90% of global GDP is a clear sign: the race to the bottom is one step closer to coming to an end.”
Still, a great deal of work remains before a global minimum tax will become a reality. Each of the 130 nations, including the United States, must convert its endorsement of today’s five-page plan into the nitty-gritty detail of legislation that will rewrite its tax code.
The OECD statement said the two-pronged accord would reallocate the right to tax $100 billion in digital companies’ profits from their home nations to countries where they earn money even if they lack a physical presence there. The deal also sets a minimum corporate profits tax of “at least 15 percent,” which is expected to raise $150 billion annually, according to the OECD.
“This historic package will ensure that large multinational companies pay their fair share of tax everywhere,” OECD Secretary General Mathias Cormann said. “This package does not eliminate tax competition, as it should not, but it does set multilaterally agreed limitations on it. It also accommodates the various interests across the negotiating table, including those of small economies and developing jurisdictions. It is in everyone’s interest that we reach a final agreement among all Inclusive Framework Members as scheduled later this year.”
The global minimum tax is an essential element of the president’s plan to raise the corporate tax rate at home. But early reaction from some prominent Republicans to the OECD statement was sharply negative.
“This is a dangerous economic surrender that sends U.S. jobs overseas, undermines our economy, and strips away our U.S. tax base," said Rep. Kevin Brady of Texas, the senior Republican on the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee.
283 Comments
By David J. Lynch
David J. Lynch is a staff writer on the financial desk who joined The Washington Post in November 2017 after working for the Financial Times, Bloomberg News and USA Today. Twitter
https://www.washingtonpost.com/us-policy/2021/07/01/global-corporate-tax-oecd/
Instant water cleaning method 'millions of times' better than commercial approach
by Cardiff University
JULY 1, 2021
https://phys.org/news/2021-07-instant-method-millions-commercial-approach.html
A water disinfectant created on the spot using just hydrogen and the air around us is millions of times more effective at killing viruses and bacteria than traditional commercial methods, according to scientists from Cardiff University.
Reporting their findings today in the journal Nature Catalysis, the team say the results could revolutionize water disinfection technologies and present an unprecedented opportunity to provide clean water to communities that need it most.
Their new method works by using a catalyst made from gold and palladium that takes in hydrogen and oxygen to form hydrogen peroxide—a commonly used disinfectant that is currently produced on an industrial scale.
Over four million tons of hydrogen peroxide are made in factories each year, where it is then transported to the places it is used and stored. This means that stabilizing chemicals are often added to the solutions during the production process to stop it degrading but these reduce its effectiveness as a disinfectant.
Another common approach to disinfecting water is the addition of chlorine; however, it has been shown that chlorine can react with naturally occurring compounds in water to form compounds which, in high doses, can be toxic to humans.
The ability to be able to produce hydrogen peroxide at the point of use would overcome both efficacy and safety issues currently associated with commercial methods.
In their study, the team tested the disinfection efficacy of commercially available hydrogen peroxide and chlorine compared to their new catalytic method.
Each was tested for its ability to kill Escherichia coli in identical conditions, followed by subsequent analysis to determine the processes by which the bacteria were killed using each method.
The team showed that as the catalyst brought the hydrogen and oxygen together to form hydrogen peroxide, it simultaneously produced a number of highly reactive compounds, known as reactive oxygen species (ROS), which the team demonstrated were responsible for the antibacterial and antiviral effect, and not the hydrogen peroxide itself.
The catalyst-based method was shown to be 10,000,000 times more potent at killing the bacteria than an equivalent amount of the industrial hydrogen peroxide, and over 100,000,000 times more effective than chlorination, under equivalent conditions.
In addition to this, the catalyst-based method was shown to be more effective at killing the bacteria and viruses in a shorter space of time compared to the other two compounds.
It is estimated that around 785 million people lack access to water and 2.7 billion experience water scarcity at least one month a year.
In addition to this, inadequate sanitation—a problem for around 2.4 billion people around the world—can lead to deadly diarrheal diseases, including cholera and typhoid fever, and other water-borne illnesses.
Co-author of the study Professor Graham Hutchings, Regius Professor of Chemistry at the Cardiff Catalysis Institute, said: "The significantly enhanced bactericidal and virucidal activities achieved when reacting hydrogen and oxygen using our catalyst, rather than using commercial hydrogen peroxide or chlorination shows the potential for revolutionizing water disinfection technologies around the world.
"We now have proven one-step process where, besides the catalyst, inputs of contaminated water and electricity are the only requirements to attain disinfection.
"Crucially, this process presents the opportunity to rapidly disinfect water over timescales in which conventional methods are ineffective, whilst also preventing the formation of hazardous compounds and biofilms, which can help bacteria and viruses to thrive."
https://phys.org/news/2021-07-instant-method-millions-commercial-approach.html
Researchers reveal corrosive power of Trump’s lie of a stolen election
Exposure to unsubstantiated claims of voter fraud reduces confidence in elections and factchecks have little effect – study
Sam Levine in New York
Thu 1 Jul 2021 10.00 EDT
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jul/01/researchers-reveal-corrosive-power-of-trump-lie-of-a-stolen-election
Happy Thursday,
Republicans across the country have embraced a similar refrain as they push for new restrictions on voting. A significant chunk of the American electorate doesn’t have confidence in the results of the 2020 election, they argue, so new laws to restore “integrity” to elections are needed.
There is no evidence of widespread fraud or other irregularities in the November 2020 election, which officials said was the “most secure” in American history. Nonetheless, public opinion polls regarding the integrity of the 2020 vote are alarming. Nearly a third of Americans believe Joe Biden won the presidency due to voter fraud, one June poll from Monmouth University found. More than half of Republicans believe Trump is the “true president”, a May Reuters/Ipsos poll showed, a percentage that has remained relatively stable since November.
But even while Republicans express concern about voter confidence, they have not acknowledged the force that is driving it: Donald Trump. Both before and after the election, Trump and his allies attacked the integrity of the vote, claiming the results could not be trusted.
A new study sheds light on just how damaging those claims are.
https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-experimental-political-science/article/effects-of-unsubstantiated-claims-of-voter-fraud-on-confidence-in-elections/9B4CE6DF2F573955071948B9F649DF7A
After the 2018 election, a team of researchers surveyed more than 4,200 people and exposed them to tweets claiming voter fraud. The people in the study either saw non-political tweets, or a series of tweets from politicians alleging voter fraud. Some participants saw a series of factchecking tweets after they saw the voter fraud ones.
The people who saw the voter fraud tweets reported less confidence in elections than those who saw non-political tweets, the study found. The factchecks did not have a measurable effect on voter confidence.
“Our results show that exposure to unsubstantiated claims of voter fraud from prominent Republicans reduces confidence in elections, especially among Republicans and individuals who approve of Donald Trump’s performance in office,” researchers wrote in the study, published this week in the Journal of Experimental Political Science. “Worryingly, exposure to fact-checks that show these claims to be unfounded does not measurably reduce the damage from these accusations.”
“The results suggest that unsubstantiated claims of voter fraud undermine the public’s confidence in elections, particularly when the claims are politically congenial, and that these effects cannot easily be ameliorated by fact-checks or counter-messaging.”
The study leaves unanswered how exactly elected officials and other experts can go about restoring voter confidence after a politician claims fraud. The researchers suggest studying whether factchecks from GOP figures and conservative news outlets might help restore voter confidence.
“Dismissals from prominent Republican officials themselves might be more influential as they signal intra-party disagreement,” they write. “However, such messengers may alternatively be subject to negative evaluation by way of a “black sheep effect”.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jul/01/researchers-reveal-corrosive-power-of-trump-lie-of-a-stolen-election
Brian Fung @b_fung NEW: US and UK national security officials say that since mid-2019, Russian military intelligence has sought to break the passwords of employees at hundreds of organizations worldwide, including US and European military agencies, government offices, law firms and more.
4:03 PM · Jul 1, 2021·TweetDeck
THREAD
NEW: US and UK national security officials say that since mid-2019, Russian military intelligence has sought to break the passwords of employees at hundreds of organizations worldwide, including US and European military agencies, government offices, law firms and more.
— Brian Fung (@b_fung) July 1, 2021
Noah Bacon and Chase Allen arrested by Boston FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force for alleged involvement in US Capitol insurrection
By Douglas Hook | dhook@masslive.com
Updated Jul 01, 2021; Posted Jun 30, 2021
https://www.masslive.com/boston/2021/06/noah-bacon-and-chase-allen-arrested-by-boston-fbis-joint-terrorism-task-force-for-alleged-involvement-in-us-capitol-insurrection.html
Law enforcement officers with Boston’s Federal Bureau of Investigations Joint Terrorism Task Force have arrested Noah Bacon of Somerville and Chase Allen of Seekonk for their alleged roles in the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
According to a press release issued by the FBUI Wednesday afternoon, the two latest arrests bring the total number of those arrested by the FBI’s Boston Division to 10.
The arrest warrant for Bacon,”Knowingly Entering or Remaining in any Restricted Building or Grounds Without Lawful” among other charges was signed on Tuesday by United States District Court Judge Harvey G. Michael.
“The FBI is the lead investigative agency,” the agency said in the release. “Every case is being prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia. Following arrests, or surrender, defendants must appear before district court magistrate/judge where the arrest takes place, in accordance with the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure.”
The FBI continues to seek the public’s help in identifying individuals who made unlawful entry into the U.S. Capitol building on Jan. 6, 2021.
If you have witnessed unlawful violent action or have any information on the individuals pictured on our website, please call 1-800-CALL-FBI, or submit a tip online at tips.fbi.gov.
Law enforcement officers with Boston’s Federal Bureau of Investigations Joint Terrorism Task Force have arrested Noah Bacon of Somerville and Chase K. Allen of Seekonk for their alleged roles in the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
https://www.masslive.com/boston/2021/06/noah-bacon-and-chase-allen-arrested-by-boston-fbis-joint-terrorism-task-force-for-alleged-involvement-in-us-capitol-insurrection.html
Capitol Rioter Who Destroyed Press Gear Gives Shirtless Interview: ‘I’m a Documentarian’
COOL GUY
Danika Fears
Breaking News Editor
Published Jul. 01, 2021 9:42AM ET
https://www.thedailybeast.com/chase-allen-capitol-rioter-who-destroyed-press-gear-gives-shirtless-interview-says-hes-a-documentarian?via=twitter_page
A Massachusetts man arrested Wednesday for allegedly destroying thousands of dollars worth of journalists’ equipment at the Jan. 6 Capitol riot insisted to reporters that he’s just a “documentarian,” during a shirtless interview outside his home. “As like you guys, when you guys hear of something you guys show up... and ask questions or record and see what happens,” Chase Allen, 25, of Seekonk, told a local reporter. “That’s what I was doing there.” As for photos that the feds say show him stomping on the press gear, Allen said he “would not like to comment on that at this time.” According to a criminal complaint, the feds say Allen “runs a YouTube channel… where he frequently does livestreams as he goes into police stations and state houses to audit America.” He told authorities that he never went inside the Capitol during the riot and “believes the worst thing he did at the U.S. Capitol riot was to use foul language after getting sprayed with mace and in attempt to fit in with the rioters.”
Read it at WPRI https://www.wpri.com/news/local-news/se-mass/seekonk-man-accused-of-stomping-on-media-equipment-during-capitol-riots/
https://www.thedailybeast.com/chase-allen-capitol-rioter-who-destroyed-press-gear-gives-shirtless-interview-says-hes-a-documentarian?via=twitter_page
New ad gaslights Donald Trump like a bad dream, where McConnell is the villain
CARLA SINCLAIR 8:20 AM WED JUN 30, 2021
https://boingboing.net/2021/06/30/new-ad-gaslights-donald-trump-like-a-bad-dream-where-mcconnell-is-the-villain.html
"People Are Saying…" is a new Lincoln Project ad that gaslights Donald Trump in the most hilarious way. As a narrator questions Trump's standing with his base, suggesting he's losing control to Mitch McConnell, nightmarish whispers – or Trump's paranoid psyche – are injected throughout.
"Does Mitch call the shots now, Donald?" the narrator asks. Followed by a whisper: Yes he does!
"He says he runs the Republican party, the party you built." He's the boss now.
"He's even taking shots at you. When did Mitch overpower you?" No power.
As the narrator keeps trolling Trump, his breathless subconscious keeps chiming in. He's in charge. No control. You can't beat him. Loser. …
"You're losing your base." the narrator sums up. And Trump's takeaway? They've forgotten you.
VIDEO -
White Supremacist Arrested after Ankle Monitor Places Him at Capitol Riots
https://maxcrime.com/white-supremacist-arrested-after-ankle-monitor-places-him-at-capitol-riots/
A self-confessed white supremacist who openly discussed plotting a school shooting and killing people in a church has been charged with being involved in the attack on the Capitol after his GPS monitor placed him at the scene.
Bryan Betancur, of Silver Spring, is facing charges including unlawful activities on Capitol grounds and disorderly conduct after he was arrested in Maryland on Sunday, authorities have said.
According to an affidavit signed by FBI Special Agent Alexis Brown, Betancur admitted to law enforcement officers that he is a white supremacist and that he is a member of several white supremacy organizations.
Betancur was reported to have voiced “homicidal ideations, made comments about conducting a school shooting, and has researched mass shootings.”
He also expressed support for James Fields, the white supremacist convicted for killing counter-protester Heather Heyer with his car during the neo-Nazi “Unite the Right” protests in Charlottesville, Virginia in 2017.
The affidavit adds that Betancur stated he also wanted to run people over with a vehicle, kill people in a church, and had a desire to be a “lone wolf” killer.
“Betancur subsequently stated that he had changed his mind about hurting people,” the FBI said.
The suspect was arrested after a GPS device he wears as part of his probation following a fourth degree burglary conviction tracked him to being at the Capitol on January 6. The GPS was able to place Betancur in the vicinity of the building from between 2 p.m. and 5 p.m.
According to the affidavit, Betancur was able to get permission to leave his home state of Maryland to travel to Washington D.C. while on probation in order to distribute bibles with an organization called Gideon International. Betancur has previously been able to travel to the capital with the group.
Betancur is also said to have violated his probation by continuing to “engage racially motivated violent extremist groups” on the internet.
An Instagram profile believed to belong to Betancur showed him posting images from Washington D.C. while wearing a T-shirt of the far-right Proud Boys group.
In the image and one other video on his Instagram, Betancur is seen flashing the OK hand gesture—a previously innocuous symbol that has been co-opted by some on the far-right as a coded message to show support for white supremacy.
Betancur is also believed to have been photographed on scaffolding erected on the western side of the Capitol Building holding the corner of a Confederate battle flag.
“Based on my training and experience, and my knowledge of the facts uncovered in this investigation to date, I believe that at no time on or before January 6, 2021, was Bryan Betancur granted permission or authorized by rule to enter restricted grounds around the Capitol, nor did he, at any time, have authorization to assemble, display flags, or parade on the Grounds or in the Capitol Building,” Brown said.
The FBI has identified more than 270 suspects involved in criminal activity in and around the Capitol on January 6.
The agency is examining around 140,000 photos and videos from the scene of the attack which has been sent to them by members of the public.
Self-professed white supremacist Bryan Betancur was arrested after his GPS monitor placed him at the Capitol during the riots on January 6.
Screenshot/FBI
https://maxcrime.com/white-supremacist-arrested-after-ankle-monitor-places-him-at-capitol-riots/
Ryan J. Reilly @ryanjreilly New Capitol arrest: Steven Thurlow, an Army veteran associated with the “Boogaloo” movement, was arrested in Saint Clair Shores, Michigan.
6:19 PM · Jun 30, 2021·TweetDeck
THREAD
New Capitol arrest: Steven Thurlow, an Army veteran associated with the “Boogaloo” movement, was arrested in Saint Clair Shores, Michigan. pic.twitter.com/XgeeMbunaP
— Ryan J. Reilly (@ryanjreilly) June 30, 2021
Trump Organization executive surrenders to face charges in tax investigation
Trump Organization’s CFO, Allen Weisselberg, is preparing to face charges in tax-related investigation that marks a turning point for former president
Dominic Rushe in New York and agency
@dominicru
Thu 1 Jul 2021 06.58 EDT
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jun/30/trump-organization-allen-weisselberg-charged-tax-crimes
The Trump Organization’s chief financial officer, Allen Weisselberg, surrendered to the Manhattan district attorney’s office early on Thursday as he and the Trump family business prepare to face criminal charges in a tax-related investigation.
Weisselberg, who has worked for the Trump family for nearly 50 years, entered a building housing Manhattan’s criminal court, where he and a Trump Organization representative are expected to appear later in the day.
These are the first criminal charges against the former president’s company since prosecutors began investigating it three years ago, and represent the latest stage of an escalating battle between New York prosecutors and the former president.
The exact charges against Weisselberg and the Trump Organization are not yet known, but are expected to involve alleged tax violations related to benefits the company gave to top executives, possibly including the use of apartments, cars and school tuition, people familiar with the case said.
While no charges are expected to be brought against Trump personally, they mark an extraordinary turning point for the former president and more are likely to follow.
New York prosecutors are still investigating allegations of “hush money” paid to women who say they had sexual relations with Trump, and claims of real-estate price manipulation. Trump denies wrongdoing and calls the investigations a “witch hunt” by politically-motivated prosecutors.
The charges are also a severe blow to the Trump Organization, the family business which may now find it more difficult to raise money as the case continues. They also pose a challenge to Trump’s apparent political ambitions. The former president has begun a series of campaign-style rallies and is positioning himself for another run at the presidency in 2024.
Prosecutors had been pressing Weisselberg, 73, to cooperate with their investigations but with little success so far.
No one other than Trump has such a thorough knowledge of the Trump Organization. “They are like Batman and Robin,” Jennifer Weisselberg, the ex-wife of Allen Weisselberg’s son Barry told the New York Times. Jennifer Weisselberg has aided the Manhattan district attorney’s Cyrus Vance’s investigation into Trump’s business after a contentious divorce, supplying hundreds of pages of tax documents.
Michael Cohen, Trump’s former lawyer, testified before Congress in 2019 that Weisselberg helped orchestrate a cover-up to reimburse him for a $130,000 payment made to the adult film actor Stormy Daniels, who has claimed she had sex with Trump.
Cohen also testified that he and Weisselberg concocted phoney valuations of Trump’s real estate holdings to devalue assets for tax purposes while inflating them for loan agreements. Vance and the New York state attorney general, Letitia James, are investigating both those allegations.
A grand jury was recently empaneled to weigh evidence, and James said she was assigning two of her lawyers to work with Vance on the criminal inquiry while she continues a civil investigation of Trump.
The Manhattan district attorney’s office did not respond to a request for comment from the Guardian.
Trump had blasted the investigation in a statement Monday, deriding Vance’s office as “rude, nasty, and totally biased”.
Trump Organization lawyers met virtually with Manhattan prosecutors last week in a last-ditch attempt to dissuade them from charging the company. Prosecutors gave the lawyers a Monday deadline to make the case that criminal charges shouldn’t be filed.
Weisselberg, a loyal lieutenant to Trump and his real estate-developer father, Fred, came under scrutiny, in part, because of questions about his son’s use of a Trump apartment at little or no cost.
Prosecutors investigating untaxed benefits to Trump executives have also been looking at Matthew Calamari, a former Trump bodyguard-turned-chief operating officer, and his son, the company’s corporate director of security. However, a lawyer for the Calamaris said Wednesday that he didn’t expect them to be charged.
“Although the DA’s investigation obviously is ongoing, I do not expect charges to be filed against either of my clients at this time,” said the lawyer, Nicholas Gravante.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jun/30/trump-organization-allen-weisselberg-charged-tax-crimes
Federal judge blocks Florida law that would penalize social media companies
By Cat Zakrzewski
July 1, 2021 at 4:28 a.m. GMT+1
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2021/06/30/florida-social-media-law-trump/
A federal judge on Wednesday blocked a Florida law that would penalize social media companies for blocking a politician’s posts, a blow to conservatives’ efforts to respond to Facebook and other websites’ suspension of former president Donald Trump.
The law was due to go into effect Thursday, but in issuing a preliminary injunction, U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle of the Northern District of Florida suggested that the law would be found unconstitutional.
“The plaintiffs are likely to prevail on the merits of their claim that these statutes violate the First Amendment,” Hinkle wrote. “There is nothing that could be severed and survive.”
The law laid out fines for tech companies that suspended political candidates in the run-up to an election.
Florida legislators approved the law after Facebook, Twitter and YouTube suspended Trump’s accounts for violating their policies following the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), a potential 2024 presidential candidate and key Trump ally, touted the law as a stand against alleged censorship of conservatives when he signed it in May.
DeSantis plans to immediately appeal Hinkle’s decision in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit.
“We are disappointed by Judge Hinkle’s ruling and disagree with his determination that the U.S. Constitution protects Big Tech’s censorship of certain individuals and content over others,” his office said in a statement.
But legal and tech experts immediately questioned its constitutionality. NetChoice and the Computer and Communications Industry Association (CCIA), which represent companies including Facebook, Google and Amazon, swiftly brought a lawsuit challenging it.
“This decision upholding the Constitution and federal law is encouraging, and reaffirms what we have been saying: Florida’s statute is an extraordinary overreach, designed to penalize private businesses for their perceived lack of deference to the Government’s political ideology,” CCIA President Matt Schruers said in a statement. “The court’s ruling is a win for Internet users and the First Amendment.”
The judge wrote a blistering criticism of the Florida law, saying that it “compels providers to host speech that violates their standards.”
“Like prior First Amendment restrictions, this is an instance of burning the house to roast a pig,” he wrote.
He also said that remarks from the governor and other lawmakers made clear that the law was “viewpoint-based,” adding that there was “substantial factual support” showing the law was motivated by hostility toward the perceived liberal bias of large tech firms.
Hinkle also referred to the law as “riddled with imprecision and ambiguity” and said it “does not survive strict scrutiny.”
The decision on the Florida law comes as states across the country have been considering their own similar bills, while Democrats remain in control of efforts to regulate the tech industry in Washington.
The Texas Senate approved legislation similar to Florida’s that would prevent large tech companies from blocking or discriminating against a user based on their viewpoint or their location within Texas, but the Texas House did not pass the bill during the recent legislative session. North Carolina and Louisiana state lawmakers have introduced similar bills.
NetChoice took a victory lap. “America’s judiciary system is designed to protect our constitutional rights, and today’s ruling is no different, ensuring that Florida’s politically motivated law does not force Floridians to endure racial epithets, aggressive homophobia, pornographic material, beheadings, or other gruesome content just to use the Internet,” Carl Szabo, the group’s vice president and general counsel, said in a statement.
941 Comments
Cat Zakrzewski is a technology policy reporter and authors the Washington Post's Technology 202 newsletter. Twitter
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2021/06/30/florida-social-media-law-trump/
Nissan sets out plans for £1bn electric car hub in Sunderland
Increase in production at plant will result in 1,650 new jobs and support thousands more in UK supply chain
Jillian Ambrose
Thu 1 Jul 2021 04.03 EDT
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2021/jul/01/nissan-sets-out-plans-for-1bn-electric-car-hub-in-sunderland
Nissan has set out plans for a new £1bn electric vehicle hub in Sunderland, which will create thousands of jobs.
The plans include a new electric battery plant, built by its partner Envision, and production of its new all-electric model.
The Japanese carmaker said that about 900 new jobs would be created at Nissan, 750 at Envision and 6,200 in total throughout the wider UK supply chain.
Nissan’s president and chief executive, Makoto Uchida, said the carmaker’s “comprehensive approach” would extend beyond the development and production of electric vehicles to include a renewable energy “microgrid” to provide its Sunderland car factory with 100% clean electricity, and plans to reuse car batteries for energy storage.
The site is expected to open in 2024 and produce 9 gigawatt hours (6GWh) of battery capacity a year, far more than the 1.9GWh at its existing Sunderland plant, and could grow to to 35GWh, matching Tesla’s 35GWh gigafactory in Nevada.
The carmaker’s green energy investment represents a “major vote of confidence in the UK and our highly skilled workers in the north-east”, according to the prime minister, Boris Johnson.
Kwasi Kwarteng, the business secretary, said Nissan’s energy hub plan “represents a solemn commitment to the people of Sunderland, bringing further high-skilled jobs and turbocharging our plans to level up the north-east”.
He said: “This is a huge step forward in our ambition to put the UK at the front of the global electric vehicle race, and further proof, if any was needed, that the UK remains one of the most competitive locations in the world for automotive manufacturing.
“The cars made in this plant, using batteries made just down the road at the UK’s first at scale gigafactory, will have a huge role to play as we transition away from petrol and diesel cars and kickstart a domestic electric vehicle manufacturing base.”
Mike Hawes, the chief executive of the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, said: “It also demonstrates the UK automotive industry’s commitment to net zero and that the transition to these new electrified vehicles can be ‘made in Britain.’”
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2021/jul/01/nissan-sets-out-plans-for-1bn-electric-car-hub-in-sunderland
Trump Organization CFO expected in court after indictment
By MICHAEL R. SISAK
today
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jun/30/trump-organization-allen-weisselberg-charged-tax-crimes
New York prosecutors are expected to announce the first criminal indictment Thursday in a two-year investigation into Donald Trump’s business practices, accusing his namesake company and its longtime finance chief of tax crimes related to fringe benefits for employees.
The charges against the Trump Organization and its chief financial officer, Allen Weisselberg, remained sealed Wednesday night but were to be unveiled ahead of an afternoon arraignment at a state court in Manhattan, according to two people familiar with the matter.
The people were not authorized to speak about an ongoing investigation and did so on condition of anonymity.
There was no indication Trump himself would be charged at this stage of the investigation, jointly pursued by Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. and New York Attorney General Letitia James, both Democrats.
Trump did not respond to reporters’ shouted questions about the New York case as he visited Texas on Wednesday, but earlier in the week, the Republican had blasted the New York prosecutors as “rude, nasty, and totally biased” and said his company’s actions were “standard practice throughout the U.S. business community, and in no way a crime.”
The planned charges were said to be linked to benefits the company gave to top executives, like the use of apartments, cars and school tuition, the people familiar with the matter told the AP.
Messages seeking comment were left with a spokesperson and lawyers for the Trump Organization. Weisselberg’s lawyer, Mary Mulligan, declined to comment. The Manhattan district attorney’s office declined to comment.
Vance, who leaves office at the end of the year, has been conducting a wide-ranging investigation into a variety of matters involving Trump and the Trump Organization.
His office has looked into hush-money payments paid to women on Trump’s behalf and truthfulness in the company’s property valuations and tax assessments, among other matters.
Vance fought a long battle to get Trump’s tax records and has been subpoenaing documents and interviewing company executives and other Trump insiders.
James assigned two lawyers from her office to work with Vance’s team after her office found evidence of possible criminal wrongdoing while conducting a separate civil investigation of Trump.
Weisselberg, 73, had come under scrutiny, in part, because of questions about his son’s use of a Trump apartment at little or no cost.
Barry Weisselberg, who managed a Trump-operated ice rink in Central Park, testified in a 2018 divorce deposition that Trump Parc East apartment was a “corporate apartment, so we didn’t have rent.”
Barry’s ex-wife, Jen Weisselberg, has been cooperating with both inquiries and given investigators reams of tax records and other documents.
The case against Allen Weisselberg — a loyal lieutenant to Trump and his real estate-developer father, Fred — could give prosecutors the means to pressure the executive into cooperating and telling them what he knows about Trump’s business dealings.
The Trump Organization is the business entity through which the former president manages his many entrepreneurial affairs, including his investments in office towers, hotels and golf courses, his many marketing deals and his television pursuits. Trump sons, Donald Jr. and Eric, have been in charge of the company’s day-to-day operations since he became president.
Although Trump isn’t expected to be charged Thursday, allegations against the company bearing his name raise questions about his knowledge of — or involvement in — business that practices prosecutors suspect were illegal.
James Repetti, a tax lawyer and professor at Boston College Law School, said a company like the Trump Organization would generally have a responsibility to withhold taxes not just on salary, but other forms of compensation — like the use of an apartment or automobile.
Such perks wouldn’t be considered taxable income if they were required as a condition of employment, Repetti said, such as providing an apartment for the convenience of an employee who is required to be at the office or worksite at odd or frequent hours, or allowing the use of a car for business purposes.
Another prominent New York City real estate figure, the late Leona Helmsley, was convicted of tax fraud in a federal case that arose from her company paying to remodel her home without her reporting that as income.
The Trump Organization case involves possible violations of New York state tax laws.
“The IRS routinely looks for abuse of fringe benefits when auditing closely held businesses,” Repetti said. “The temptation for the business is that it claims a tax deduction for the expense, while the recipient does not report it in income.”
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jun/30/trump-organization-allen-weisselberg-charged-tax-crimes
Trump Organization and financial chief charged in a tax-related investigation
Allen Weisselberg charged by New York district attorney
Charges mark turning point for former president
Dominic Rushe in New York and agency
@dominicru
Wed 30 Jun 2021 21.47 EDT
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jun/30/trump-organization-allen-weisselberg-charged-tax-crimes
The Trump Organization and its chief financial officer, Allen Weisselberg, have been charged in a tax-related investigation, marking the first criminal charges against the former president’s company since prosecutors began investigating it three years ago, two people familiar with the matter told the Associated Press.
Multiple news outlets including the New York Times and the Washington Post reported the indictment on Wednesday evening, citing sources familiar with the matter.
The move marks the latest stage of an escalating battle between New York prosecutors and the former president. The charges against the Trump Organization and Weisselberg remained sealed Wednesday night, but were expected to involve alleged tax violations related to benefits the company gave to top executives, possibly including use of apartments, cars and school tuition, people familiar with the case said.
While no charges are expected to be brought against Trump personally the charges mark an extraordinary turning point for the former president and more are likely to follow. New York prosecutors are still investigating allegations of “hush money” paid to women who say they had sexual relations with Trump, and claims of real-estate price manipulation.
The charges are a severe blow to the Trump Organization, which may now find it more difficult to raise money as the case continues. They also pose a challenge to Trump’s apparent political ambitions. The former president has begun a series of campaign style rallies and is positioning himself for another run at the presidency in 2024.
Prosecutors have been pressing Weisselberg, 73, to cooperate with their investigations but with little success so far.
No one other than Trump has such a thorough knowledge of the Trump Organization. “They are like Batman and Robin,” Jennifer Weisselberg, ex-wife of Allen Weisselberg’s son Barry told the New York Times. Jennifer Weisselberg has aided Manhattan district attorney Cyrus Vance investigation into Trump’s business after a contentious divorce, supplying hundreds of pages of tax documents.
Michael Cohen, Trump’s former lawyer, testified before Congress in 2019 that Weisselberg helped orchestrate a cover-up to reimburse him for a $130,000 payment made to the adult film actor Stormy Daniels, who has claimed she had sex with Trump.
Cohen also testified that he and Weisselberg concocted phoney valuations of Trump’s real estate holdings to devalue assets for tax purposes while inflating them for loan agreements.
Vance and the New York state attorney general, Letitia James, are investigating both those allegations.
A grand jury was recently empaneled to weigh evidence, and James said she was assigning two of her lawyers to work with Vance on the criminal inquiry while she continues a civil investigation of Trump.
The Manhattan district attorney’s office did not respond to a request for comment from the Guardian.
Trump had blasted the investigation in a statement Monday, deriding Vance’s office as “rude, nasty, and totally biased”.
Trump Organization lawyers met virtually with Manhattan prosecutors last week in a last-ditch attempt to dissuade them from charging the company. Prosecutors gave the lawyers a Monday deadline to make the case that criminal charges shouldn’t be filed.
Ron Fischetti, a lawyer for the Trump Organization, told the AP this week that there was no indication Trump himself was included in the first batch of charges.
“There is no indictment coming down this week against the former president,” Fischetti said. “I can’t say he’s out of the woods yet completely.”
Weisselberg, a loyal lieutenant to Trump and his real estate-developer father, Fred, came under scrutiny, in part, because of questions about his son’s use of a Trump apartment at little or no cost.
Prosecutors investigating untaxed benefits to Trump executives have also been looking at Matthew Calamari, a former Trump bodyguard turned chief operating officer, and his son, the company’s corporate director of security. However, a lawyer for the Calamaris said Wednesday that he didn’t expect them to be charged.
“Although the DA’s investigation obviously is ongoing, I do not expect charges to be filed against either of my clients at this time,” said the lawyer, Nicholas Gravante.
The company and Weisselberg were expected to make their first court appearance Thursday.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jun/30/trump-organization-allen-weisselberg-charged-tax-crimes
Sedition Track @seditiontrack [UPDATE] This insurrectionist cop was caught having amassed an "arsenal" of weapons and a pipe bomb while out on bail. He'll likely be headed back to jail soon.
Thread continues with more shocking details ...
10:44 PM · Jun 30, 2021·Twitter Web App
THREAD
https://twitter.com/seditiontrack/status/1410353491227336710
Millions set to get COVID booster jab from September to 'keep virus at bay'
The government's plan comes following interim advice from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation.
Wednesday 30 June 2021 19:57, UK
https://news.sky.com/story/millions-set-to-get-covid-booster-jab-from-september-to-keep-virus-at-bay-12345816
Millions of people most vulnerable to COVID-19 are set to be offered a COVID booster vaccine from September to increase their protection ahead of winter.
New interim guidance from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) sets out the priority list for who should get a third jab if a booster programme is needed.
The plans have been drawn up to ensure the NHS is prepared for any possible booster jab campaign while officials await more data on whether a third vaccine is required to bolster protection over the winter months.
It will coincide with the rollout of flu jabs, which health officials have said will be vital this winter as they prepare for a potentially difficult influenza season.
The UK is the first country in the world to publish interim guidance on a COVID-19 vaccine booster campaign, though a number of other countries are considering proposals.
Health Secretary Sajid Javid said: "Our first COVID-19 vaccination programme is restoring freedom in this country, and our booster programme will protect this freedom.
"We are working with the NHS to make sure we can rapidly deliver this programme to maintain protection for people in the winter months."
He said the plan was designed to "keep the virus at bay" in winter, when restrictions should have fully eased.
The final JCVI advice will be published before September and will take into account the latest figures on coronavirus infections, as well as additional scientific data from trials and real-time surveillance of the effectiveness of the vaccines.
As most younger adults will receive their second COVID-19 vaccine dose in late summer, the benefits of booster vaccination in this group will be considered by the JCVI at a later time.
England's deputy chief medical officer Professor Jonathan Van-Tam said: "Being able to manage COVID-19 with fewer or no restrictions is now heavily dependent on the continued success of the vaccination programme.
"We want to be on the front foot for COVID-19 booster vaccination to keep the probability of loss of vaccine protection due to waning immunity or variants as low as possible.
"Fewer or no restrictions will mean that other respiratory viruses, particularly flu, will make a comeback and quite possibly be an additional problem this winter, so we will need to ensure protection against flu as well as maintaining protection against COVID-19."
The JCVI's interim advice is that a third booster jab is offered to the following groups in two stages:
Stage 1
The following people should be offered a third dose COVID-19 booster vaccine and the annual influenza vaccine, as soon as possible from September 2021:
• Adults aged 16 years and over who are immunosuppressed
• Those living in residential care homes for older adults
• All adults aged 70 years or over
• Adults aged 16 years and over who are considered clinically extremely vulnerable
• Frontline health and social care workers
Stage 2
The following people should be offered a third COVID-19 booster vaccine as soon as practicable after Stage 1, with equal emphasis on deployment of the influenza vaccine where eligible:
• All adults aged 50 years and over
• All adults aged 16 - 49 years who are in an influenza or COVID-19 at-risk group as outlined in the Green Book
• Adult household contacts of immunosuppressed individuals
https://news.sky.com/story/millions-set-to-get-covid-booster-jab-from-september-to-keep-virus-at-bay-12345816
Trump debuts at 41st in C-SPAN presidential rankings
His predecessor, Barack Obama, moved up to the No. 10 spot.
By MAEVE SHEEHEY
06/30/2021 12:46 PM EDT
https://www.politico.com/news/2021/06/30/trump-cspan-president-ranking-497184
Barack Obama moved his way up into the top 10 of C-SPAN’s presidential leadership survey for the first time this year, while Donald Trump clocked in at 41st on the list, months after the end of his term in office.
C-SPAN released the rankings from its Historians Survey of Presidential Leadership, which is taken after each presidential transition, on Wednesday. This survey marks Trump's first appearance on the list, on which the one-term president placed higher than only three other presidents: Franklin Pierce, Andrew Johnson and the perpetually last-ranked James Buchanan.
In the survey, which was first conducted in 2000, participants rate each president based on 10 qualities of presidential leadership: Public Persuasion, Crisis Leadership, Economic Management, Moral Authority, International Relations, Administrative Skills, Relations with Congress, Vision/Setting an Agenda, Pursued Equal Justice for All and Performance Within the Context of the Times. This year's survey polled 142 respondents — including historians, professors and other professionals with knowledge of the field.
In the administrative skills category, Trump was ranked last among the 45 former presidents. He also fell in last in the category of moral authority, just below Buchanan — who is most widely known for his failure to prevent the Civil War. Trump fared better in the Public Persuasion category, in which he was ranked 32nd, and economic management, where he was 34th.
Rice University professor Douglas Brinkley, who has advised C-SPAN on the survey since its first iteration, said one reason for Trump’s low ranking could be his 2021 impeachment, which made him the only U.S. president ever to be impeached twice.
“This year, people compared which is worse: Watergate or the Trump impeachment?,” Brinkley said in a C-SPAN press release. “The word ‘impeachment’ probably cost Nixon a few spots downward this year, and maybe Clinton too."
Trump’s four years in office were also marked by the onset of Covid-19, his administration’s handling of which has been widely criticized, as well as the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, for which Trump has been widely blamed. Trump still maintains the disproven claim that the 2020 election was stolen from him.
In the overall survey, Abraham Lincoln was ranked first, as has been the case since the survey began. George Washington came in second and Franklin D. Roosevelt in third — the same former presidents comprising the top three in the list since 2000. The top nine rankings remained the same as they were in 2017, following Obama's second term.
In Obama’s climb to the top 10, his rating improved greatly in the relations with Congress category, where he jumped from 39th to 32nd. In the performed within context of times category, Obama also improved from 15th to 10th. The 44th president’s pursued equal justice for all rating remained his highest, with him sitting at third, just below Lincoln and Lyndon B. Johnson, for the second survey in a row.
C-SPAN noted that the category with the most change in rankings over the last 20 years was pursued equal justice for all, with Woodrow Wilson’s category ranking dropping 17 points since the first survey to this year’s.
"Despite the fact that we've become more aware of the historical implications of racial injustice in this country and we're continuing to grapple with those issues, we still have slaveholding presidents at or near the top of the list," Howard University professor Edna Greene Medford said in the press release. Washington, still the second president on the list, enslaved people during his term. “So even though we may be a bit more enlightened about race today, we are still discounting its significance when evaluating these presidents.”
Obama's move into the group of top 10 presidents in this year's survey edged out Johnson, who fell to 11th place. Other presidents whose position dropped in this year’s survey include Gerald Ford (28th place) and Bill Clinton (19th place), while others, like Warren Harding (37th place) and Chester Arthur (30th place) moved their way up the list. Still, the rankings remained largely similar to the previous survey, taken in 2017.
The largest jump since the 2000 survey to 2021 was claimed by Ulysses S. Grant, who served during Reconstruction. Grant was ranked No. 33 in the first survey, and now stands at No. 20.
“Grant,” Brinkley said in the press release, “is having his Hamilton moment.”
https://www.politico.com/news/2021/06/30/trump-cspan-president-ranking-497184