World

U.S. Secret Service provides single text exchange to Jan 6 investigation

Published

3 months ago

July 21, 2022

The US Secret Service has provided a single text exchange to the investigation into the January 6 attack on the US Capitol.

The security organisation provided the conversation to the Department of Homeland Security inspector general investigating the agency’s record-keeping.

The watchdog had requested the messages sent and received by 24 Secret Service personnel between December 2020 and January 2021.

The disclosure comes as the committee examines what then-President Donald Trump did in the 187 minutes between his speech to supporters and when he eventually called on them to go home.

“The Secret Service submitted the responsive records it identified, namely, a text message conversation from former US Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund to former Secret Service Uniformed Division Chief Thomas Sullivan requesting assistance on January 6, 2021, and advised the agency did not have any further records responsive to the DHS OIG’s request for text messages,” Assistant Director Ronald Rowe said in the letter to the committee.

WASHINGTON, DC – JANUARY 06: Protesters gather on the second day of pro-Trump events fueled by President Donald Trump’s continued claims of election fraud in an to overturn the results before Congress finalizes them in a joint session of the 117th Congress on Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021 in Washington, DC. (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times)

Secret Service cooperation

Spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said the Secret Service has been cooperating with the House investigation.

“Yesterday morning we delivered an initial set of documents and records responsive to the subpoena issued on Friday, July 15, 2022,” he said.

“Our delivery included thousands of pages of documents, Secret Service cell phone use and other policies, as well as operational and planning records.”

“We continue to scrutinize our records, databases, and archives to ensure full compliance with the Committee’s subpoena. We are taking all feasible steps to identify records responsive to the subpoena, to include forensic examinations of agency phones and other investigative techniques.”

A Secret Service spokesman last week acknowledged text messages from Jan. 5 and Jan. 6, were deleted after being sought by the DHS inspector general.

World

Liz Truss pledges to get her country through the stormy days ahead

Published

12 mins ago

October 6, 2022

William Howard

Liz Truss pledges to get her country through the stormy days ahead during Tory Party address

Liz Truss has pledged to get the UK through the stormy days head.

It comes comes against a backdrop of financial and political turmoil following the government’s mini-budget.

Markets reacted badly to the plans for 45 billion pound tax cuts funded by borrowing.

Meanwhile, the government’s U-turn on plans to slash the 45 per cent tax rate led to criticism from within the party.

In the address, Truss admitted her policies will cause “disruption”. But she says “the status quo is not an option” and her party “must stay the course”.

“I’m determined to get Britain moving, to get us through the tempest and to put us on a stronger footing as a nation,” Truss said.

Truss also vowed to take on the “anti-growth coalition” and “enemies of enterprise”. This includes opposition parties, “militant unions” and environmental campaigners.

The speech was an attempt to reassert the government’s commitment to its economic plans, in the face of criticism from both inside and outside the party.

There were a number of protestors at the conference hall during the event.

Two Greenpeace demonstrators were removed after holding up a sign which read ‘who voted for this’.

The reaction to Liz Truss’s speech was mixed.

Some commentators praised her for her “straight talking” and for her willingness to take on the “anti-growth coalition”.

Others criticised her for her lack of detail and failure to address concerns about the government’s economic plans.

Business

OPEC+ agreed to its deepest cuts to oil production since 2020

Published

2 hours ago

October 6, 2022

Reuters

OPEC+ agreed its deepest cuts to oil production since the 2020 COVID pandemic at a Vienna meeting

OPEC has agreed to the biggest cuts in oil output since the height of the global health crisis.

Ministers from the group of oil-producing nations, and allies including Russia, met in Vienna on Wednesday.

That marked their first in-person get-together since lockdowns made them impossible.

They agreed to slash production by 2 million barrels per day. This move could spur a recovery in oil prices.

They’ve fallen from $120 per barrel three months ago, to about $90 now.

But the decision is unlikely to go down well in Washington.

After OPEC+ agreed to cut oil production, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that the United States is working to ensure energy supply is on the market and that prices are low.

Asked if he was disappointed in U.S. ally Saudi Arabia agreeing to the cuts, Blinken said Washington has a “multiplicity of interests with regard to Saudi Arabia.”

“We are working every single day to make sure to the best of our ability that, again, energy supply from wherever is actually meeting demand in order to ensure that energy is on the market and the prices are kept low,” Blinken said.

It wanted OPEC to pump more oil, to help reduce prices ahead of U.S. midterm elections.

The Biden administration also wants to limit revenues for Russia, as part of moves to punish it for the conflict in Ukraine.

However, Saudi Arabia has refused to condemn Moscow, which is part of the broader OPEC+ grouping.

Market watchers at JPMorgan expect Washington to react with countermeasures by releasing more oil stocks.

The UAE energy minister said Wednesday’s decision was technical, not political.

The Saudis and other OPEC members say it’s aimed at calming market volatility, not targeting any particular price for oil.

World

President Joe Biden surveys catastrophic damage left by Hurricane Ian

Published

2 hours ago

October 6, 2022

Veronica Dudo

Many homes and businesses lay in ruins amid debris in southwestern Florida

On Wednesday, U.S. President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill visited Florida in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian making a direct hit to the state last week.

As many homes and businesses lay in ruins amid debris, the President promised to use the power of the federal government to help the community rebuild throughout the sunshine state.

The President comforted residents alongside Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis—a possible competitor in 2024— as well as joining GOP members of Congress for a tour of some of the hardest hit areas in southwestern Florida.

However, both men agreed to put politics aside for now, instead focusing on helping the community.

Speaking in Fort Meyers, which took the brunt of Ian, Biden said, “Today we have one job and only one job, and that’s to make sure the people in Florida get everything they need to fully, thoroughly recover.”

Hurricane Ian is considered one of the post powerful storms to ever hit the United States.

So far, officials have confirmed that at least 84 people died, including 75 in Florida.

Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands are still wait for power to be restored.