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  • US military braces for impact of Covid vaccine mandate repeal | CNN Politics

    US military braces for impact of Covid vaccine mandate repeal | CNN Politics



    CNN
     — 

    As a repeal of the US military’s Covid-19 vaccine mandate took a step closer to becoming law on Thursday, military officials and experts are warning it’s a change that could have adverse ripple-effects on military readiness and the ability of service members to deploy around the world.

    “This isn’t just our side of the equation,” a defense official told CNN regarding the possible impact of the change. “It’s what our partners and people that we would train and work with are asking us to do to enter the country.”

    The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) released on Tuesday includes a provision that would rescind the Pentagon’s current mandate requiring troops receive the Covid vaccine. And while Republican lawmakers have celebrated its inclusion, the White House said it’s a mistake – though President Joe Biden has not made clear if he will sign the bill with the included provision in it.

    The House passed the NDAA on Thursday in a 350-80 vote.

    Deputy Defense Press Secretary Sabrina Singh declined on Wednesday to go into detail about what the Pentagon was preparing for if the mandate was repealed, instead emphasizing that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin believes the mandate is important for the health of the force.

    “What is important to the readiness of the force is getting the vaccine,” Singh said. “So yes, it would impact the readiness of the force – you’re more prone to getting Covid-19.”

    It’s not just about the US. American troops often have additional vaccine requirements depending on the area of the world to which they are deploying or being rotated through. Under the Pentagon’s current policy, service members who have not gotten the vaccine are considered non-deployable, Singh said Wednesday.

    Indeed, retired Gen. Robert Abrams, who previously commanded US troops in South Korea, told CNN that the vaccine repeal “will make our job more difficult,” referring to the duties of overseas commanders. The Covid-19 vaccine is required for entry to South Korea and Japan – countries that host thousands of US service members.

    Repealing the vaccine mandate “will put the US forces in an awkward position,” Abrams said, because “the host nation expects us to follow their regulations (and SOFA [status of forces agreement] requires it).”

    Republicans have long railed against the Covid vaccine requirement – which is one of more than 15 required vaccines, depending on where a service member is deployed.

    An August 2021 policy signed by Austin required all service members to receive the vaccine; the services set their own deadlines for when their troops had to be fully vaccinated.

    Now, roughly a year later, the vast majority of US troops are: 97% of active duty soldiers are completely vaccinated, as are 99% of active duty airmen, 96% of active duty Marines, and 98% of active duty sailors.

    But as the military faces the biggest recruiting crisis in decades, critics of the mandate say it is pushing out willing service members at a time when the military needs them most and standing in the way of recruits who want to join but do not want to get the vaccine.

    Marine Corps Commandant Gen. David Berger said over the weekend that the mandate is having an impact on recruiting, specifically “in parts of the country there’s still myths and misbeliefs about the back story behind it.” Capt. Ryan Bruce, a Marine Corps spokesman, later told CNN Berger was referencing “anecdotal conversations” he has had with recruiters, and not specific data showing an impact of the mandate on recruitment.

    Officials and experts raised other concerns, however, about the impact repealing the mandate could have on troops already in uniform. Rachel VanLandingham, a retired Air Force judge advocate and law professor at Southwestern Law School, told CNN that there could be “ripple effects” for units if some service members are unable to deploy because of the vaccine.

    That is especially notable for smaller units, like those found in the special operations community. While conventional forces may be able to ensure they have the numbers they need for a deployment or rotation, smaller units could face more of a challenge if the few people they have are unable to deploy because of a vaccine requirement.

    “If one unit can’t go, then the unit they’re replacing, they don’t get to go home on leave … It’s not just one unit and one person,” VanLandingham said. “One person’s inability to show up to work in a military unit affects that entire unit, and that unit is depended on by other units. It is truly a team dynamic.”

    Abrams also pointed out that vaccinations “help prevent serious illness,” and US Forces Korea “does not have the medical capacity to handle a large number of very sick infected personnel.” Instead, US personnel would have to be sent to Korean facilities, he said, which could raise issues if there is a lack of availability or if the facility is not approved by TRICARE, the US military’s health care provider.

    Experts also raised questions about the precedent it would set to roll back a lawful military order after so many refused to follow it.

    “If I’m a commander, what concerns do I have about managing this person who failed to comply with a lawful order?” said Kate Kuzminski, the director of the Military, Veterans, and Society Program at the Center for New American Security.

    “I think there are some bigger challenges within the social context and the culture of the military if pushing back on a lawful order actually changes the nature of the lawful order,” she added. “You might see people refusing to do other things in the future that we very much need them to do.”

    Among the debated points of the vaccine repeal is the question of what will happen to the roughly 8,000 service members who have already been separated and forced to leave the military because they refused to be vaccinated. While some speculate that because they refused a lawful order they will remain separated, some lawmakers are pushing for them to be reinstated.

    A letter sent on November 30 to Republican leadership and signed by 13 Republican senators requests that not only is the mandate rescinded, but that service members who have been separated are reinstated “with back pay.” Pentagon leaders are reportedly discussing the possibility.

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  • Michael Flynn appears before Atlanta grand jury probe into Trump’s election subversion | CNN Politics

    Michael Flynn appears before Atlanta grand jury probe into Trump’s election subversion | CNN Politics



    CNN
     — 

    Former national security adviser Michael Flynn is appearing Thursday before an Atlanta-area special grand jury probing efforts by former President Donald Trump and his allies to overturn the 2020 election in Georgia.

    CNN spotted Flynn, who was escorted by a small entourage, walk up the stairs of the Superior Court of Fulton County shortly before 1 p.m. on Thursday.

    Last month, a judge in Florida ordered Flynn to testify, saying the former Trump administration official “is indeed material and necessary in the special grand jury proceeding in the state of Georgia.”

    Flynn’s attorneys had argued that Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, who is overseeing the investigation, “overstepped her authority,” so he should not be required to travel to Atlanta to testify because there is an “utter lack of facts” to support that Flynn is a necessary witness.

    Fulton County prosecutors want the grand jury to hear from Flynn about a December 18, 2020, meeting he had with Trump, attorney Sidney Powell and others associated with the Trump campaign, according to a court filing.

    During the heated Oval Office meeting, Flynn and Powell floated outrageous suggestions about overturning the election, CNN previously reported. The meeting occurred just three weeks after Trump pardoned Flynn near the end of his tenure.

    Prosecutors in Georgia are also interested in hearing from Flynn about his December 2020 interview on the conservative media outlet Newsmax, where he said that Trump “could order – within the swing states, if he wanted to – he could take military capabilities, and he could place them in those states and basically re-run an election in each of those states,” according to a court filing.

    Flynn invoked his Fifth Amendment right during a deposition earlier this year before the House select committee investigating January 6, 2021.

    In 2017, Flynn lost his job as national security adviser under Trump and pleaded guilty in federal court after lying to the FBI and then-Vice President Mike Pence while serving in the Trump White House.

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  • As more in North Carolina regain power, investigators probe domestic terrorism and threats against power infrastructure across the US | CNN

    As more in North Carolina regain power, investigators probe domestic terrorism and threats against power infrastructure across the US | CNN



    CNN
     — 

    A growing number of reported threats to power infrastructure are under investigation following attacks on substations in the South and on the West Coast as electricity becomes a more critical need in winter.

    Even before the gun assaults Saturday in Moore County, North Carolina, wiped out power for days to thousands, at least five electricity substations in Oregon and Washington had been attacked in November, according to energy companies.

    And now, the FBI is involved after reports of shots fired Wednesday near a power station in Ridgeway, South Carolina, a Duke Energy spokesperson told CNN. No outages or known property damage was reported at the Wateree Hydro Station, spokesperson Jeff Brooks said.

    While no motive or suspect behind the North Carolina attacks has been identified, investigators are zeroing in on two possible threads centered on extremist behavior: writings by extremists on online forums encouraging attacks on critical infrastructure and a series of recent disruptions of LGBTQ+ events across the nation by domestic extremists, law enforcement sources told CNN.

    Though investigators have no evidence connecting the Moore County outage to a drag event that began there around when the lights went out, the timing and context of armed confrontations around similar LBGTQ+ events across the country are being considered, the sources told CNN. The outage ended the Moore County drag show after audience members lit the stage with phone flashlights, Sandhills PRIDE has said.

    The FBI had warned of reports of threats to electricity infrastructure by people espousing racially or ethnically motivated extremist ideology “to create civil disorder and inspire further violence,” the agency said in a November 22 bulletin sent to private industry.

    Beyond this month’s incidents in South Carolina and North Carolina, where lights flickered back on Wednesday:

    • In Oregon, a substation in Clackamas was damaged in a “deliberate physical attack” over the Thanksgiving holiday, a Bonneville Power Administration spokesperson told CNN. “BPA operators discovered a cut perimeter fence and damaged equipment inside,” the spokesperson said, adding the company is working with the FBI on the incident.

    • In Washington state, “two incidents occur(ed) in late November at two different substations,” Puget Sound Energy spokesperson told CNN. “Both incidents are currently under investigation by the FBI,” it said, adding, “We are aware of recent threats on power systems across the country and take these very seriously.”

    And two Cowlitz County Public Utility District substations were vandalized in mid-November in the Woodland area, agency spokesperson Alice Dietz told The Seattle Times. “At this time, we do not have any further comment … Our facilities have since been repaired,” Dietz told the Times. CNN has reached out to the FBI’s office in Seattle for comment.

    Anti-government groups in the past two years began using online forums to urge followers to attack critical infrastructure, including the power grid. They have posted documents and even instructions outlining vulnerabilities and suggesting the use of high-powered rifles.

    One 14-page guide obtained by CNN cited as an example the 2013 sniper attack on a high voltage substation at the edge of Silicon Valley that destroyed 17 transformers and cost Pacific Gas and Electric $15 million in repairs.

    The caliber of the bullets in that California incident is different from those used in North Carolina, a law enforcement source told CNN.

    But whoever attacked the North Carolina substations “knew exactly what they were doing,” Moore County Sheriff Ronnie Fields has said.

    Investigators recovered around the damaged substations nearly two dozen shell casings from a high-powered rifle, law enforcement sources told CNN. While no rifle has been recovered, the ballistics may still offer critical evidence. And bullets pulled from a transformer station and brass shell casings found a short distance away are being examined, the sources said.

    Duke Energy workers repair an electrical substation Tuesday in Mineral Springs near Pinehurst, North Carolina.

    The casings can be entered into a Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives database and matched to any other shell casings fired by the same gun at another crime scene, or to the gun itself if it’s found. The locations of the casings may also offer clues.

    The sheriff on Wednesday asked the public to provide any surveillance footage from the areas that were hit and announced $75,000 in reward money for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person or people responsible.

    Someone who lives near the West End substation heard around 20 gunshots in quick succession the night of the attack on the station, he told CNN affiliate WRAL. The power did not go out for about 30 minutes after that, he said.

    “Me and my wife were just sitting on the couch just watching a movie and all of the sudden, about 8:45, about 20 shots fired off right across the street,” Spencer Matthews told WRAL.

    The outages crippled the local economy and paralyzed daily life for more than 45,000 homes and businesses. And just because the electricity is back on doesn’t mean the pain is over.

    Businesses “have lost a tremendous amount over the last few days,” Moore County Manager Wayne Vest said. The outages affected more than 600 food establishments, Moore County Health Director Matt Garner said

    “We know our residents are going to end the day and go through the night in power and light and in safety. But there’s another element of our population is still suffering … and that’s our local merchants,” Pinehurst Mayor John Strickland said.

    “If you’re dining out, if you’re only going to go out once, go out twice,” Vest said. “If you were going to shop and buy one package, buy two packages.”

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  • A Virginia superintendent is fired after a state report into handling of sexual assaults at school is issued | CNN

    A Virginia superintendent is fired after a state report into handling of sexual assaults at school is issued | CNN



    CNN
     — 

    A Virginia school superintendent was fired Tuesday, a day after a report from the state accused him of lying about a sexual assault involving a student in May 2021.

    The special grand jury report, conducted by the office of Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares, also criticized former school superintendent Dr. Scott Ziegler and other school officials for mishandling the investigation of an October sexual assault allegedly by the same student that year.

    The superintendent said of the May sexual assault “to my knowledge we don’t have any records of assaults occurring in our restrooms,” at a June 2021 school board meeting, according to the report. At the time, Ziegler said he misunderstood the question.

    The Loudoun County Public School Board voted unanimously to fire Ziegler Tuesday night, but provided no reason for the firing, school spokesman Wayde Byard told CNN.

    “The Special Grand Jury’s report contains important recommendations and information,” Miyares said in a statement to CNN Wednesday. “I’m glad to see that the school board is taking the report seriously, and hope it results in positive change for the LCPS community.”

    CNN has attempted to reach Ziegler for comment. Byard would not comment further regarding allegations into LCPS mishandling of the sexual assault cases outlined in the special grand jury report.

    A teenage student had been arrested for sexual battery and abduction of another student at a Loudoun County public school in October 2021, the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office said, according to the report.

    The teenager also allegedly sexually assaulted another student in May 2021, according to the report. In that assault, the grand jury report alleged that the sexual assault occurred in a women’s bathroom while the perpetrator was wearing a skirt.

    “National outrage focused on Loudoun County because the student was labeled as gender fluid, LCPS had recently passed a transgender policy to conform with the Virginia Department of Education’s model policy,” said the report.

    CNN could not find evidence substantiating that the student identified as transgender or gender-fluid.

    The 2021 Virginia Department of Education’s Model Policies for the Treatment of Transgender Students in Public Elementary and Secondary Schools outlined that transgender students should be allowed to use bathrooms and staff should use the personal pronouns that were most consistent with their gender identity.

    In 2022, under Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin, the Department of Education replaced the policy with an updated one stating that students should use bathrooms according to his or her sex.

    On his first day in office on January 15, Youngkin passed an executive order authorizing an investigation of Loudoun County Public Schools by the Attorney General. Youngkin had mentioned the sexual assault cases at Loudoun schools several times while campaigning for governor.

    “The special grand jury’s report on the horrific sexual assaults in Loudoun has exposed wrongdoing, prompted disciplinary actions, & provided families with the truth. I will continue to empower parents & push for accountability on behalf of our students,” Youngkin tweeted Wednesday.

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  • When China and Saudi Arabia meet, nothing matters more than oil | CNN Business

    When China and Saudi Arabia meet, nothing matters more than oil | CNN Business


    Hong Kong
    CNN Business
     — 

    Chinese President Xi Jinping is visiting Saudi Arabia this week for the first time in nearly seven years, during which he is expected to sign billions of dollars of deals with the world’s largest oil exporter and meet leaders from across the Middle East.

    The visit is a sign that China and the Gulf region are deepening their economic relations at a time when US-Saudi ties have crumbled over OPEC’s decision to slash crude oil supply. As Xi wrote in an article published in Saudi media, the trip was intended to strengthen China’s relations with the Arab world.

    China is Saudi Arabia’s biggest trading partner and a source of growing investment. It’s also the world’s biggest buyer of oil. Saudi Arabia is China’s largest trading partner in the Middle East and the top global supplier of crude oil.

    “Energy cooperation will be at the center of all discussions between the Saudi-Chinese leadership,” said Ayham Kamel, head of Eurasia Group’s Middle East and North Africa research team. “There is great recognition of the need to build a framework to ensure that this interdependence is accommodated politically, especially given the scope of energy transition in the West.”

    Governments around the world have committed to drastically cutting carbon emissions over the coming decades. Countries such as Canada and Germany have doubled down on renewable energy investments to expedite their transition to net-zero economies.

    The United States has significantly increased domestic oil and gas output since the 2000s, while accelerating its transition to clean energy.

    The Russian invasion of Ukraine in February has triggered a global energy crisis that has left all countries racing to shore up supplies. And the West has further scrambled the oil markets by slapping an embargo and price cap on the world’s second biggest exporter of crude.

    Energy security has also increasingly become a key priority for China, which is facing significant challenges of its own.

    Last year, bilateral trade between Saudi Arabia and China hit $87.3 billion, up 30% from 2020, according to Chinese customs figures.

    Much of the trade was focused on oil. China’s crude imports from Saudi Arabia stood at $43.9 billion in 2021, accounting for 77% of its total goods imports from the kingdom. That amount also makes up more than a quarter of Saudi Arabia’s total crude exports.

    “Stability of energy supplies, in terms of both prices and quantities, is a key priority for Xi Jinping as the Chinese economy remains heavily reliant on oil and natural gas imports,” said Eswar Prasad, a professor of trade policy at Cornell University.

    The world’s second largest economy is heavily reliant on foreign oil and gas. 72% of its oil consumption was imported last year, according to official figures. 44% of natural gas demand was also from overseas.

    At the 20th Party Congress in October, Xi stressed that ensuring energy security was a key priority. The comments came after a spate of severe power shortages and soaring global energy prices following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

    As the West shunned Russian crude in the months that followed the invasion, China took advantage of Moscow’s desperate search for new buyers. Between May and July, Russia was China’s No. 1 oil supplier, until Saudi Arabia regained the top spot in August.

    “Diversity is a key ingredient for China’s long-term energy security because it cannot afford to put all of its eggs in one basket and turn itself into a captive of another power’s energy and geostrategic interests,” said Ahmed Aboudouh, a nonresident fellow with the Middle East Programs at the Atlantic Council, a research institute based in DC.

    “Although Russia is a source of cheaper supply chains, nobody can guarantee, with utmost certainty, that the China and Russia relationship will continue to shore up 50 years from now,” Aboudouh said.

    The Saudi Press Agency cited Saudi energy minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman as saying Wednesday that the kingdom would remain China’s “credible and reliable partner in this field.”

    Saudi Arabia also has strong motivations to deepen energy ties with China, according to Gal Luft, co-director of the Institute for the Analysis of Global Security.

    “The Saudis are concerned about losing market share in China in the face of a tsunami of heavily discounted Russian and Iranian crude,” he said. “Their goal is to ensure China remains a loyal customer even when the competitors offer [a] cheaper product.”

    Oil prices have fallen back to where they were before the Ukraine war on fears of a sharp global economic slowdown. The extent to which the Chinese economy can pick up pace next year will have a huge bearing on how bad that slump will be.

    Beyond security of supply, Saudi Arabia could offer Beijing another prize with bigger geopolitical ramifications.

    Riyadh has been in talks with Beijing to price some of its oil sales to China in the Chinese currency, the yuan, rather than the US dollar, according to a Wall Street Journal report. Such a deal could be a boost to Beijing’s ambitions to expand the Chinese currency’s global influence.

    It would also hurt the long-standing agreement between Saudi Arabia and the United States that requires Saudi Arabia to sell its oil only for US dollars and to hold its reserves partly in US Treasuries, all in return for US security guarantees. The “petrodollar system” has helped preserve the dollar’s status as the top global reserve currency and payment medium for oil and other commodities.

    Although Beijing and Riyadh never confirmed the reported talks, analysts said it was logical that the two sides would be exploring the possibility.

    “In the near future, Saudi Arabia could sell some of its oil and receive revenues in Chinese yuan, which makes economic sense as China is the kingdom’s top trading partner,” said Naser Al Tamimi, senior associate research fellow at ISPI, an Italian think tank on international affairs.

    Some believe it’s already happening, but that neither China nor the Saudis want to highlight it publicly.

    “They know too well how sensitive this issue [is] for the United States,” said Luft. “Both parties are overexposed to the US currency and there is no reason for them to continue to conduct their bilateral trade in a third party’s currency, especially when this third party is no longer a friend of either.”

    Xi’s visit could mark another step “in the erosion of the dollar’s status” as reserve currency, he added.

    Nonetheless, there are limits to the growing ties between Riyadh and Beijing.

    “The Biden administration’s approach to the Middle East has concerned the Saudis, and they see a growing relationship with China as a hedge against potential US abandonment and a tool for leverage in negotiations with the United States,” said Jon B. Alterman, director of the Middle East Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington DC-based think tank.

    The Biden administration has reoriented its policy priorities with a focus on countering China. At the same time, it has indicated its intention to downsize its own presence in the Middle East, sparking worries among allies there that the United States may not be as committed to the region as it used to be.

    “All that being said, Chinese-Saudi ties pale in both depth and complexity to Saudi-US ties,” Alterman said. “The Chinese remain a novelty to most Saudis, and they are additive. The United States is foundational to how Saudis see the world, and how they have seen it for 75 years.”

    Despite the possibility of shifting to yuan transactions, it’s too early to say Saudi Arabia would ditch the dollar in pricing its oil sales, analysts said.

    Eurasia Group’s Kamal believes it’s “highly unlikely” that Saudi Arabia would take such a step, unless there is an implosion on the US-Saudi relationship.

    “In essence there could be discussion on pricing of barrels to China in yuan, but this would be limited in size and probably only correspond to bilateral trade volumes,” he said.

    Prasad from Cornell University said countries like China, Russia, and Saudi Arabia are all eager to reduce their dependence on the dollar for oil contracts and other cross-border transactions.

    “However, in the absence of serious alternatives and with few international investors willing to place their trust in these countries’ financial markets and their governments, the dollar’s dominant role in global finance is hardly under serious threat,” he said.

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  • The latest on Donald Trump’s many legal clouds | CNN Politics

    The latest on Donald Trump’s many legal clouds | CNN Politics

    A version of this story appears in CNN’s What Matters newsletter. To get it in your inbox, sign up for free here.



    CNN
     — 

    Former President Donald Trump has been campaigning in between his many different court appearances for much of the year.

    But his decision to attend the first day of his $250 million civil fraud trial in New York created another opportunity to appear on camera from inside a courtroom when the judge allowed photographers to document the moment before proceedings got underway.

    Keeping track of the dizzying array of civil and criminal cases is a full-time job.

    He is charged with crimes related to conduct:

    • Before his presidency – a hush money scheme that may have helped him win the White House in 2016.
    • During his presidency – his effort to stay in the White House by overturning the 2020 election.
    • After his presidency – his treatment of classified material and alleged attempts to hide it from the National Archives.

    Trump denies any wrongdoing and has pleaded not guilty in all of the criminal cases. He alleges a “witch hunt” against him. But each trial has its own distinct storyline to follow.

    Here’s an updated list of developments in Trump’s very complicated set of court cases, beginning with the one playing out in Manhattan this week.

    The civil fraud trial, unlike Trump’s multiple criminal indictments, does not carry the danger of a felony conviction and jail time, but it could very well cost him some of his most prized possessions, including Trump Tower.

    New York Attorney General Letitia James brought the $250 million lawsuit in September 2022, alleging that Trump and his co-defendants committed repeated fraud in inflating assets on financial statements to get better terms on commercial real estate loans and insurance policies.

    Judge Arthur Engoron has already ruled that Trump and his adult sons are liable for fraud for inflating the value of his golf courses, hotels and homes on financial statements to secure loans.

    The trial portion of the case, playing out in court in Manhattan, will assess what damages will be levied against Trump and how Engoron’s decision to strip Trump of his New York business licenses will play out.

    In May, a federal jury in Manhattan found Trump sexually abused former advice columnist E. Jean Carroll in a luxury department store dressing room in the mid-1990s and awarded her about $5 million.

    A separate civil defamation lawsuit will only need to decide how much money Trump has to pay her. That case for January 15 – the same day Iowa Republicans will hold their caucuses, the first date on the presidential primary calendar.

    In August, Trump was indicted by a federal grand jury in special counsel Jack Smith’s investigation into the aftermath of the 2020 election. The former president was arraigned in a Washington, DC, courtroom, where he pleaded not guilty.

    The case is based in part on a scheme to create slates of fake electors in key states won by President Joe Biden.

    In late September, Judge Tanya Chutkan rejected Trump’s request that she recuse herself from the case. Chutkan, a Barack Obama appointee, has overseen civil and criminal cases related to the January 6, 2021, insurrection and has repeatedly exceeded what prosecutors have requested for convicted rioters’ prison sentences.

    Chutkan set the trial’s start date for March 4, 2024, the day before Super Tuesday, when the largest batch of presidential primaries will occur. The trial marks the first of Trump’s criminal cases expected to proceed.

    Trump has been charged in Manhattan criminal court with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records related to his role in a hush money payment scheme involving adult film actress Stormy Daniels late in the 2016 presidential campaign.

    The former president pleaded not guilty at his April arraignment in Manhattan.

    Prosecutors, led by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, accuse Trump of falsifying business records with the intent to conceal $130,000 in payments to Daniels made by former Trump attorney and fixer Michael Cohen to guarantee her silence about an alleged affair.

    Trump has denied having an affair with Daniels.

    The trial was originally scheduled to begin in late March 2024, but Judge Juan Merchan has suggested the date could move. The next court date is scheduled for February.

    Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis is using racketeering violations to charge a broad criminal conspiracy against Trump and 18 others in their efforts to overturn Biden’s victory in Georgia.

    The probe was launched in 2021 following Trump’s call that January with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, in which the president pushed the Republican official to “find” votes to overturn the election results.

    The August indictment also includes how Trump’s team allegedly misled state officials in Georgia; organized fake electors; harassed an election worker; and breached election equipment in rural Coffee County, Georgia.

    One co-defendant, bail bondsman Scott Hall, has pleaded guilty to five counts in the case.

    Fulton County prosecutors have signaled they could offer plea deals to other co-defendants.

    Willis this week issued a subpoena to former New York City Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik, a Trump ally, who in turn demanded an immunity deal in exchange for testimony.

    Trial for two co-defendants is expected to begin this month and could last three to five months. A trial date has not been set for Trump, who has pleaded not guilty.

    Federal criminal court in Florida: Mishandling classified material

    Trump has pleaded not guilty to 37 federal charges brought by Smith over his alleged mishandling of classified documents. Smith added three additional counts in a superseding indictment.

    The investigation centers on sensitive documents that Trump brought to his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida after his White House term ended in January 2021.

    The National Archives, charged with collecting and sorting presidential material, has previously said that at least 15 boxes of White House records were recovered from Mar-a-Lago, including some classified records.

    Trump was also caught on tape in a 2021 meeting in Bedminster, New Jersey, where the former president discussed holding secret documents he did not declassify.

    Smith’s additional charges allege that Trump and his employees attempted to delete Mar-a-Lago security footage sought by the grand jury investigating the mishandling of the records.

    Trial is not expected until May, after most presidential primaries have concluded.

    There are other cases to note:

    Trump’s namesake business, the Trump Organization, was convicted in December by a New York jury of tax fraud, grand larceny and falsifying business records in what prosecutors say was a 15-year scheme to defraud tax authorities by failing to report and pay taxes on compensation provided to employees.

    Manhattan prosecutors told a jury the case was about “greed and cheating,” laying out a scheme within the Trump Organization to pay high-level executives in perks such as luxury cars and apartments without paying taxes on them.

    Former Trump Organization Chief Financial Officer Allen Weisselberg pleaded guilty to his role in the tax scheme. He was released after serving four months in jail at Rikers Island.

    Several members of the US Capitol Police and Washington, DC, Metropolitan Police are suing Trump, saying his words and actions incited the 2021 riot.

    The various cases accuse Trump of directing assault and battery; aiding and abetting assault and battery; and violating Washington laws that prohibit the incitement of riots and disorderly conduct.

    In August, Trump requested to put on hold the lawsuit related to the death of Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick, citing his various criminal trials. The estate of Sicknick, who died after responding to the attack on the Capitol, is suing two rioters involved in the attack and Trump for his alleged role in egging it on.

    Other lawsuits have been put on hold while a federal appeals court considers whether Trump had absolute immunity as the sitting president.

    Former top FBI counterintelligence official Peter Strzok, who was fired in 2018 after the revelation that he criticized Trump in text messages, sued the Justice Department, alleging he was terminated improperly.

    In summer 2017, former special counsel Robert Mueller removed Strzok from his team investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election after an internal investigation revealed texts with former FBI lawyer Lisa Page that could be read as exhibiting political bias.

    Strzok and Page were constant targets of verbal attacks by Trump and his allies, part of the larger ire the then-president expressed toward the FBI during the Russia investigation. Trump repeatedly and publicly called for Strzok’s ouster until he was fired in August 2018.

    Trump is set to be deposed this month as part of the case, according to Politico.

    A federal judge dismissed Trump’s lawsuit against Hillary Clinton, the Democratic National Committee, several ex-FBI officials and more than two dozen other people and entities that he claims conspired to undermine his 2016 campaign with fabricated information tying him to Russia.

    “What (Trump’s lawsuit) lacks in substance and legal support it seeks to substitute with length, hyperbole, and the settling of scores and grievances,” US District Judge Donald Middlebrooks wrote.

    Trump appealed the decision, but Middlebrooks also ruled that the former president and his attorneys are liable for nearly $1 million in sanctions for bringing the case.

    Trump launched a Hail Mary bid in July to revive the sprawling lawsuit, relying on a recent report from special counsel John Durham that criticized the FBI’s Trump-Russia probe.

    Trump’s former lawyer Cohen sued Trump, former Attorney General William Barr and others, alleging they put him back in jail to prevent him from promoting his upcoming book while under home confinement.

    Cohen was serving the remainder of his sentence for lying to Congress and campaign violations at home, due to Covid-19 concerns, when he started an anti-Trump social media campaign in summer 2020. Cohen said that he was sent back to prison in retaliation and that he spent 16 days in solitary confinement.

    A federal judge threw out the lawsuit in November. District Judge Lewis Liman said he was empathetic to Cohen’s position but that Supreme Court precedent bars him from allowing the case to move forward.

    Trump sued journalist Bob Woodward in January for alleged copyright violations, claiming Woodward released audio from their interviews without Trump’s consent.

    Woodward and publisher Simon & Schuster said Trump’s case is without merit and moved for its dismissal.

    Woodward conducted several interviews with Trump for his book “Rage,” published in September 2020. Woodward later released “The Trump Tapes,” an audiobook featuring eight hours of raw interviews with Trump interspersed with the author’s commentary.

    Trump-filed lawsuits: The New York Times, Mary Trump and CNN

    The former president is suing his niece and The New York Times in New York state court over the disclosure of his tax information.

    A New York judge dismissed The New York Times from Trump’s lawsuit regarding disclosure of his tax returns and ordered Trump to pay the newspaper’s legal fees. Trump is still suing his niece Mary Trump for disclosure of the tax documents. She had tried to sue him for defrauding her out of millions after the death of his father, but the suit was dismissed.

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  • Five companies will pay the feds $750 million for the opportunity to build huge floating wind turbines off the West Coast | CNN Politics

    Five companies will pay the feds $750 million for the opportunity to build huge floating wind turbines off the West Coast | CNN Politics



    CNN
     — 

    The Biden administration’s first-ever offshore wind energy lease sale for federal waters off the West Coast generated more than $750 million, as energy companies competed for five areas that could eventually be home to massive floating wind turbines.

    Five companies, including Equinor and Invenergy, bid on five lease areas totaling more than 370,000 acres off the coast of Northern and Central California. The two-day lease sale concluded on Wednesday.

    When developed, the leased areas near Morro Bay and Humboldt County have the potential to generate enough green energy for up to 1.6 million homes over the next decade, administration officials said last year.

    The deep-water regions off the West Coast – and other coastal areas, including the Gulf of Maine – will require turbines to be installed on floating platforms and tethered to the sea floor. The platforms will also allow turbines to be installed farther from the coast.

    In all, floating wind turbines off US coastlines could unlock up to 2.8 terawatts of clean energy in the future – more than double the country’s current electricity demand, US Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm estimated in September.

    This week’s auction was ultimately not as lucrative as February’s offshore wind lease sale off the coast of the New York Bight, which drew a record $4.37 billion from six companies.

    The New York lease sale “was just a perfect storm of all the right factors coming together to create a very, very expensive auction,” said John Begala, vice president for state and federal policy at nonprofit the Business Network for Offshore Wind. “I don’t see that happening again anytime soon.”

    The lower bids in this week’s lease sale were due in part to the unique challenges of developing wind energy off the West Coast, Begala said. Because of the much deeper waters in Pacific, technology for floating offshore wind platforms is still being developed and tested.

    But even with the challenges, Begala said there is massive potential with floating offshore wind – and an opportunity for the US to compete with Europe, which is also starting to develop floating offshore technologies.

    “Not only is the potential massive for decarbonization on the West Coast, but there’s a huge economic potential here,” Begala said. “We have a lot of expertise here in the US when it comes to building floating offshore energy platforms; this is something we can do really well.”

    The Biden administration has set a goal of deploying 30 gigawatts of offshore wind energy capacity by 2030, as well as 15 gigawatts of floating offshore wind capacity by 2035. In addition to the Pacific coast, the Gulf of Maine is being eyed for floating offshore projects.

    White House national climate advisor Ali Zaidi said in a statement that the lease sale is part of “an unprecedented expansion in American clean energy production” and a “massive opportunity for the US economy.”

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  • Two men, one a descendant of Holocaust survivor, indicted in connection with threat to attack NYC synagogue | CNN

    Two men, one a descendant of Holocaust survivor, indicted in connection with threat to attack NYC synagogue | CNN



    CNN
     — 

    A grand jury indicted two men – one of whom is Jewish and a descendant of a Holocaust survivor – in connection with an online threat last month to attack a synagogue in New York City.

    Christopher Brown and Matthew Mahrer were both indicted on charges of conspiracy and weapons possession. Brown also was charged with a felony count of making terroristic threats as a hate crime, and possession of a weapon as a crime of terrorism, among other charges.

    Mahrer, who previously made bail, appeared on Wednesday in Supreme Court in New York, with family members present. He is Jewish and his grandfather is a Holocaust survivor, defense attorney Brandon Freycinet said in court, adding that his client would not want to harm his own people.

    Both defendants pleaded not guilty to the charges on Wednesday. Brown faces up to 25 years in prison and Mahrer faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted of the most serious charge.

    The two were arrested by Metropolitan Transportation Authority officers as they were entering Penn Station in Manhattan on November 19, according to NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell.

    The suspects allegedly possessed a firearm, high-capacity magazine, a military-style hunting knife, a Nazi swastika arm patch, a ski mask and a bulletproof vest, officials said.

    “A horrific tragedy was averted thanks to the diligence, hard work and coordination between my Office and our local, state and federal law enforcement partners,” Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said in a statement Wednesday. “The increase in antisemitic attacks and threats cannot and will not be tolerated. Manhattanites and all New Yorkers should know that we continue to vigorously prosecute hate crimes every day and are using every tool at our disposal to address hate and bias.”

    New York state leads the nation in antisemitic incidents, with at least 416 reported in 2021, including at least 51 assaults – the highest number ever recorded by the Anti-Defamation League in New York. There were 12 assaults reported in 2020, the ADL said in an audit last week.

    A total of 2,717 antisemitic incidents were reported last year across the nation – a 34% increase compared to 2,026 in 2020, according to the ADL. The ADL has been tracking such incidents since 1979 – and its previous reports have found antisemitism in America has been on the rise for years.

    The indictment comes the same day that Doug Emhoff, the husband of Vice President Kamala Harris, held a roundtable on antisemitism at the White House during which he warned of an “epidemic of hate facing our country.”

    A statement of facts from the prosecution and the criminal indictment offer a timeline of the men’s actions and allege that they drove from New York to Pennsylvania to get a firearm.

    The documents state Brown sent out a series of disturbing tweets from November 12 to November 17, including one saying, “Gonna ask a Priest if I should become a husband or shoot up a synagogue and die.”

    Call records show Brown and Mahrer communicated with each other on the phone, and on November 18 they went to St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York, the documents state. Surveillance footage showed that Brown was wearing a backpack that police later found contained a knife, a Swastika armband and a ski mask, the documents state.

    The two men then met with a third person and, in a recorded phone call with a prison inmate, said they were driving to Pennsylvania to get a firearm, the indictment states. Brown sent Mahrer $650 and Mahrer then sent $700 to this third person, the documents say.

    Later that night, surveillance footage shows Brown and Mahrer walking into the Upper West Side building where Mahrer lives, the documents say. Mahrer is seen on video wearing a camouflage backpack that police later recovered; the backpack contained a firearm, a large-capacity ammo feeding device and 19 rounds of ammunition, according to the documents.

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  • Chinese President Xi Jinping lands in Saudi Arabia amid tensions with US | CNN

    Chinese President Xi Jinping lands in Saudi Arabia amid tensions with US | CNN



    CNN
     — 

    Chinese President Xi Jinping landed in the Saudi Arabian capital Riyadh on Wednesday for a multiple-day visit, China’s official news agency Xinhua reported, amid frayed ties between the two countries and the United States.

    Saudi state TV showed Xi walking down the steps of his presidential aircraft at King Khalid International Airport, where he was received by Saudi Prince Faisal bin Bandar bin Abdulaziz, governor of the Riyadh region, and Prince Faisal bin Farhan bin Abdullah, Saudi foreign minister.

    A purple carpet was rolled out for the Chinese president, and canons were fired.

    The visit will include a “Saudi-Chinese summit,” a China-Arab and a China-Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) summit, the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA) previously reported.

    Rumors of a Chinese presidential visit to the US’ largest Middle East ally have been circulating for months as the nations have solidified their ties, possibly to Washington’s dismay.

    The trip comes against the backdrop of a number of disagreements harbored by the US toward both Beijing and Riyadh, including grievances about oil production, human rights and other issues.

    But Saudi Arabia’s grand reception of the Chinese president is only emblematic of the magnitude of their growing relationship, specifically around oil, trade and security. The two countries are expected to sign deals worth more than $29 billion during this week’s visit, according to SPA.

    China is today Saudi Arabia’s largest trading partner, with the value of the kingdom’s exports to China having exceeded $50 billion last year, constituting more than 18% of Saudi Arabia’s total exports in 2021. Bilateral trade between the two states is more than $80 billion dollars, SPA reported.

    Saudi Arabia has also traditionally been China’s top oil supplier, with Saudi barrels making up around 17% of total Chinese oil imports as of last year, according to the Saudi-backed Arab News.

    While the kingdom remains a key supplier for its Chinese partner, oil relations may have been slightly on edge this year as sanctioned Russia pours its discounted barrels into the Asian market.

    Apart from oil exports, Saudi Arabia has this year ramped up its Chinese investments, which culminated in Aramco’s whopping $10 billion dollar investment into a refinery and petrochemical complex in China’s northeast.

    These close ties have been years in the making as both countries have sought to diversify their security and energy sources, experts say.

    “Now it is the height of the bilateral relations between the two since their establishment of diplomatic relations in 1992,” Shaojin Chai, an assistant professor at the University of Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates, told CNN.

    “They become closer as both sides need each other in many areas: energy transition, economic diversification, defense capacity building for KSA and climate change, to name just a few,” said Chai, referring to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and adding that “the diversification of security risk entails KSA including rising China in its hedge.”

    While China and Saudi Arabia’s friendship has blossomed over the decades, they seem to have become closer as both find themselves in precarious positions in regard to the US.

    A strong American ally for eight long decades, Saudi Arabia has become bitter over what it perceives to be waning US security presence in the region, especially amid growing threats from Iran and its armed proxies in the Middle East.

    An economic mammoth in the east, China has been at odds with the US over Taiwan, the democratically governed island of 24 million people that Beijing claims as its territory despite never having controlled it.

    US President Joe Biden has repeatedly vowed to help Taiwan in the event of an attack by China, which has not ruled out the use of force to “reunify” with the island.

    The thorny topic has gravely aggravated a precarious relationship between Washington and Beijing, who are already competing for influence in the volatile Middle East.

    China has also been cementing its ties with other Gulf monarchies, as well as with US foes Iran and Russia.

    “If they’re signaling anything to the rest of the world, I suspect it’s mainly that they are two important countries with a deep, interest-based relationship,” said Jonathan Fulton, a nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council think tank.

    “At a time when negative perceptions of China dominate in much of the West, Xi will be lavishly welcomed in Saudi Arabia, the most important Arab state, the most important country in global Islam, and a major actor in global energy markets,” Fulton told CNN.

    “And the Saudis can show that they remain important to extra-regional powers, even if their relationship with Washington is rocky,” he added.

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  • Power may be back for thousands on Wednesday night as authorities continue to go through tips on electric substation attack | CNN

    Power may be back for thousands on Wednesday night as authorities continue to go through tips on electric substation attack | CNN



    CNN
     — 

    The tens of thousands of customers in central North Carolina who haven’t had power since two weekend attacks on utility substations should see the lights come on by late Wednesday, a spokesperson for Duke Energy said at a news conference.

    The two substations in Moore County were damaged by gunfire Saturday night in what investigators believe were “intentional” and “targeted” attacks, officials said, with Moore County Sheriff Ronnie Fields saying that whoever fired at the substations “knew exactly what they were doing.”

    Duke Energy, which has has about 47,000 customers in Moore County, has made “very good progress” since Saturday and moved up its restoration timeline by a day, saying it expects most customers to have power restored by late Wednesday.

    “That will not happen all at once,” Duke Energy spokesperson Jeff Brooks said Tuesday afternoon. “You will see waves of customers coming on. A few thousand at a time.”

    He said new equipment has been installed but it needs to be calibrated and tested so that it works in sync with the grid.

    About 35,000 customers in Moore County remained without power Tuesday afternoon, according to Brooks.

    The mayor of Southern Pines called the attack a cruel and selfish act.

    “There are so many people that are hurting,” Mayor Carol Haney said on CNN on Monday. The revenue stream has been stopped. If you have health issues, it is critical. It is just a horrible, horrible, terrorist, in my opinion, act.”

    No suspects or motives have been announced.

    At Tuesday’s news conference, Moore County Chief Deputy Richard Maness had no major updates about the investigation but said a tip line has been “very, very active” in the past 24 hours.

    Tom McInnis, the North Carolina Senate Majority Whip whose district includes Moore County, told reporters he is looking at potential legislation to modernize penalties for this kind of incident, which he said is something that has never happened in North Carolina.

    The outages have made life difficult for residents. Schools will be closed through Thursday, four days with no classes. Businesses without generators are shuttered. Residents without power must leave their homes for hot food and to charge their electronic devices.

    The owner of a Moore County pharmacy is storing medicines in his home, which is powered by a generator, so that people can continue to get their prescriptions, he said.

    Rob Barrett, the owner of Whispering Pines Prescription Shoppe, believes he has enough gas to keep the generator running, but the pharmacy faces other issues: Some employees have no gas to get to work, and there are communication issues.

    In rural areas of the county, the loss of electricity has also impacted the water supply to families.

    “Rural communities rely on electricity a lot more than people realize,” Andrew Wilkins, whose parents own a farm in Whispering Pines, told CNN. “Many big cities don’t lose their water when the power goes out, but a lot of rural areas rely on a well for water.

    “My family draws their water from a well, so when the power goes out, the well stops and the water pressure drops and we slowly lose water.”

    Southern Pines, a town of about 15,900 residents roughly a 40-mile drive northwest of Fayetteville and a 70-mile drive southwest of Raleigh, lost all power, according to the mayor. Haney said she had to get her 98-year-old mother out of the town and to Charlotte so she could be in a warm home.

    With the power out, the town’s water and sewer system is operating on generator power, according to Southern Pines Fire and Rescue.

    The town’s fire department has seen an increase in car crashes related to the lack of traffic lights, and more fires as people try to find alternate ways to heat their homes, Southern Pines Fire Chief Mike Cameron told CNN.

    The fire department also is getting more medical calls from people using supplemental oxygen or other medical devices that require power, Cameron said.

    FirstHealth Moore Regional Hospital in Pinehurst is running on a backup generator. However, the hospital is postponing certain elective procedures, and family medicine and other clinics in the country will be closed until power service is restored, hospital officials said in a news release Sunday.

    Investigators are “leaving no stone unturned to find out who did this,” North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper told “CNN This Morning” on Tuesday. FBI and state investigators have joined the investigation.

    “This was a malicious, criminal attack on the entire community that plunged tens of thousands of people into darkness,” Cooper said.

    “Our priorities now are health and safety, getting the power back on as quickly as possible, and making sure that federal, state and local law enforcement find out who did this, and why, and bring them to justice.”

    Several communities across the county began experiencing power outages just after 7 p.m. Saturday, the Moore County Sheriff’s Office said.

    Whoever fired bullets at the substations “knew exactly what they were doing,” Moore County Sheriff Ronnie Fields said Sunday.

    Fields on Sunday noted “no group has stepped up to acknowledge or accept they’re the ones who (did) it.”

    Investigators were trying to determine whether both substations were fired at simultaneously, or one after the other, the sheriff said Monday.

    A countywide mandatory curfew from 9 p.m. until 5 a.m. has been in effect since Sunday night, with Fields saying the decision was made to protect residents and businesses.

    Residents fill gas containers Monday just outside the area impacted by the power outage.

    The governor stressed Tuesday that the state needs to learn from the incident, saying “this is unacceptable to have this many people without power for this long.”

    “This is a retirement community, so there are a lot of adult care homes that do not have power,” Cooper told CNN on Tuesday. “We’re providing generators and help to make sure people are safe here.”

    The country needs to have “a serious … conversation about protecting our critical infrastructure,” Cooper said.

    “It was clear that (whoever is behind the gunfire) knew how to cause significant damage, and that they could do it at this substation, so we have to reassess the situation,” Cooper said.

    Officials are not disclosing whether there were cameras at the two affected substations, because that is “part of the investigation that they do not want to reveal at this time,” Cooper said.

    Less than two weeks before Saturday’s substation damage, the FBI said there had been an increase in reported threats to electric infrastructure from people who espouse “racially or ethnically motivated violent extremist ideology.”

    The FBI has received reports of threats to electric infrastructure by people espousing racially or ethnically motivated extremist ideology “to create civil disorder and inspire further violence,” the FBI said in a November 22 bulletin sent to private industry, which CNN obtained.

    Though the motives for Saturday’s damage still are unclear, US officials have consistently been concerned by the interest violent extremists have shown in the country’s electric grid.

    Cooper said Tuesday he was aware of the FBI warning.

    “Matter of fact, we have worked to organize and step up our protection of our infrastructure, particularly in the area of cyber security. We know that those attacks can be massive and put down power or water or other infrastructure for a lot of people across the country, so we’ve been working on that,” Cooper said.

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  • A man in New York has been arrested and charged with hate crime after Jewish father and son were targeted in BB gun shooting, official says | CNN

    A man in New York has been arrested and charged with hate crime after Jewish father and son were targeted in BB gun shooting, official says | CNN



    CNN
     — 

    Police in New York have arrested a man accused of firing a BB gun at a Jewish father and son who were out grocery shopping, a law enforcement official told CNN.

    The alleged shooter, a 25-year-old man, is charged with assault as a hate crime, endangering the welfare of a child, reckless endangerment and assault, according to the official.

    The BB gun shooter was driving on a main thoroughfare on Staten Island Sunday afternoon when he spotted the 32-year-old father and his 7-year-old son shopping in front of a Kosher grocery store wearing yarmulkes, the official said.

    That is when the assailant allegedly opened fire, striking the boy in the right ear and the father in the chest, the official said.

    He then sped off in a Black Ford Mustang that did not have a license plate, the official said.

    Paramedics arrived at the scene a short time later and treated the pair for their injuries at the scene, the official said.

    In a Tuesday news conference, Staten Island District Attorney Michael McMahon said his office will continue working with police to bring justice to the victims.

    “We want our Jewish brothers and sisters to know in this instance that we stand with them just as we do with anyone who is a victim of a hate crime for any reason whatsoever,” McMahon told reporters on Tuesday.

    New York Mayor Eric Adams, speaking at the same news conference, said: “We are not going to allow hate to run our city.”

    The mayor added that New York has the largest Jewish population outside of Israel and that hate crimes have been on the rise across the country.

    “We need to stop what’s happening on social media, we need to stop the spreading of this hate, we need to combat it in a very real way,” Adams said.

    The alleged hate crime is the latest in a string of incidents in the city.

    The New York Police Department has seen an increase in overall hate crimes, led by a sharp increase in anti-Semitic incidents for the month of November. The NYPD reported 45 incidents in November, which is up from 20 crimes reported on November 2021, according to NYPD statistics.

    The increase in anti-Semitic incidents comes as the NYPD, along with other federal law enforcement agencies, thwarted a potential attack on a New York area synagogue last month, arresting and arraigning two men in connection with online threats.

    NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell said investigators from the FBI/NYPD Joint Terrorism Task Force and the NYPD Counterterrorism and Intelligence Bureau, in collaboration with law enforcement partners, uncovered “a developing threat to the Jewish community.”

    Authorities said they seized a number of weapons from the pair, who were also in possession of a swastika arm patch, according to a statement from Manhattan’s district attorney.

    New York state leads the nation in anti-Semitic incidents, with at least 416 reported in 2021, including at least 51 assaults – the highest number ever recorded by the Anti-Defamation League in New York. There were 12 assaults reported in 2020, the ADL said in an audit last month.

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  • TSMC ups its Arizona chipmaking investment to $40 billion ahead of Biden’s visit | CNN Business

    TSMC ups its Arizona chipmaking investment to $40 billion ahead of Biden’s visit | CNN Business


    New York
    CNN Business
     — 

    Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company is upping its investment in the United States, announcing Tuesday that it’s building a second semiconductor factory in Arizona and raising its investment there from $12 billion to $40 billion.

    TSMC’s plans come as tensions between Washington and Beijing are rising over chips, with President Joe Biden imposing a sweeping set of controls on the sale of advanced chips and chip-making equipment to Chinese firms.

    Biden visited the manufacturer’s site in Phoenix and spoke about bringing jobs and investment to Arizona, calling TSMC’s $40 billion commitment “the largest foreign investment in the history of this state.” Other lawmakers and business leaders also attended the event, including Apple CEO Tim Cook.

    “American manufacturing is back, folks,” Biden said at the event. “These are the most advanced semiconductor chips on the planet, chips that will power iPhones and MacBooks, as Tim Cook can attest … It could be a game changer.”

    In his remarks, Cook said: “As many of you know, we work with TSMC to manufacture the chips that help power our products all over the world, and we look forward to expanding this work in the years to come as TSMC forms new and deeper roots in America.” He added that with the opening of the new facility, Apple’s own Silicon chips “can be proudly stamped ‘Made in America.’”

    TSMC previously announced that it was building a $12 billion facility in Arizona that will eventually manufacture 3-nanometer chips, TSMC’s most advanced technology. Between the two factories, thousands of “high-paying high-tech jobs” will be added to the state and 600,000 wafers per year will be produced, the company said.

    TSMC accounts for an estimated 90% of the world’s super-advanced computer chips, supplying tech giants including Apple

    (AAPL)     and Qualcomm

    (QCOM)    .

    Chips are an indispensable part of everything from smartphones to washing machines — but are also difficult to make because of the high cost of development and the level of knowledge required, meaning much of the production is concentrated among a handful of suppliers.

    The White House is touting the new investments as a direct result of Biden’s economic plan, including the $200 billion CHIPS and Science Act. Biden has been visiting communities where companies like TSMC and Intel have announced new investments since the passage of the law this summer.

    “It means more workers in these major factories, but it also means more opportunities for suppliers and contractors, good paying construction jobs, opportunities for small and medium sized manufacturers and suppliers,” National Economic Council Director Brian Deese told reporters in a call on Monday. “It means economic opportunity for communities that have often been left behind in economic cycles, including traditional energy communities that have powered our nation for generations and tribal nations.”

    The global chip shortage first surfaced at the beginning of the pandemic, which upended supply chains and changed consumer shopping patterns. Automakers cut back on their orders for chips while tech companies, whose products were boosted by lockdown living, snapped up as many as they could.

    The facility Biden will visit Tuesday in Phoenix is slated to begin producing chips in 2024. The new facility should start production in 2026.

    – CNN’s Nikki Carvajal, Wayne Chang, Clare Duffy and Diksha Madhok contributed to this report.

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  • Idaho authorities continue to investigate whether one of the slain university students had a stalker, police say | CNN

    Idaho authorities continue to investigate whether one of the slain university students had a stalker, police say | CNN



    CNN
     — 

    Three weeks after four Idaho college students were found stabbed to death in an off-campus house, Moscow police said they are still looking into the possibility that one of the victims had a stalker.

    Police outlined a situation in October when a man appeared to be following Kaylee Goncalves, one of the victims, outside a local business, according to a news release from the department. Police said this was an isolated incident, and the man and an associate were trying to meet women at the business, which police said was corroborated through additional investigation. It was not an ongoing pattern of stalking. There is currently no evidence tying the two men to the killings, the release said.

    Last month, investigators looked “extensively” into hundreds of pieces of information about Goncalves having a stalker, but “have not been able to verify or identify a stalker,” police said.

    Police are still asking for tips from the public on information regarding a possible stalker.

    “Investigators continue looking into information about Kaylee having a stalker. Information about a potential stalker or unusual occurrences should go through the Tip Line,” according to the release.

    Goncalves, 21, along with roommates Madison Mogen, 21, and Xana Kernodle, 20; as well as Kernodle’s boyfriend, Ethan Chapin, 20, who did not live in the house, were found dead November 13. Police initially said the slayings took place after 1:45 a.m., but no one called 911 until noon that same day. In the updated release Monday, police said the surviving roommates called friends to the home because they believed one of the victims had passed out and was not waking up. This prompted someone, using one of the surviving roommates’ cell phones, to call 911 for an unconscious person. Police arrived and found all four victims whose cause and manner of death was ruled four days later to be homicide by stabbing, the release said.

    A coroner determined the four victims were each stabbed multiple times and were likely asleep when the attacks began, police have said. Local, state and federal investigators have all been working to find a suspect. They are starting to receive forensic testing results from the crime scene, Moscow police spokesperson Rachael Doniger told CNN last week.

    On Saturday, Moscow police said they’ve received more than 2,000 email tips, phone tips and more than 1,000 submissions to an FBI link. The killings have unnerved the town of Moscow, with its 26,000 residents, because it had not recorded a murder since 2015.

    At this point in the investigation, police have not identified a suspect or found the murder weapon, believed to be a knife. Police have also not released the names of the surviving roommates who were said to have been in the home at the time of the killings. CNN did not report their names until they were publicly identified during a memorial service Sunday when a pastor read letters written by the two roommates – identified as Dylan Mortensen and Bethany Funke.

    In the letters that were read aloud Sunday, Mortensen and Funke wrote how much they would miss the victims and what they meant to them as both roommates and friends.

    “My life was greatly impacted to have known these four beautiful people,” the pastor read in Mortensen’s letter. “My people who changed my life in so many ways and made me so happy. I know it will be hard to not have the four of them in our lives, but I know Xana, Ethan, Maddie and Kaylee would want us to live life and be happy and they would want us to celebrate their lives.”

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  • US trade deficit edged up to $78.2 billion in October | CNN Business

    US trade deficit edged up to $78.2 billion in October | CNN Business


    New York
    CNN Business
     — 

    The US trade gap edged only slightly higher in October than the month before, to $78.2 billion.

    The latest reading was up just 5.4%, less than half the pace of increase from the revised September reading, when the trade deficit jumped by 12.7% to $74.1 billion.

    A strong dollar and weaker global demand weighed on exports both months. A strong dollar makes US goods more expensive to foreign buyers and it also makes imports more affordable for US buyers. But economic slowdowns in overseas markets also hit US exports in the most recent readings.

    The latest report shows exports fell 0.7% in October compared to the month before, and are down nearly 2% from the record exports set in August. Most of the drop was in the export of goods, rather than services, which fell 4.4% compared to August.

    Oil prices have come down since earlier this year, according to data released in the report. The average price of crude oil imports in the month was $82.05 a barrel, down 5.7% from September, and down 21.7% from the peak in June.

    But the United States now exports more petroleum products, by dollars, than it imports. So a lower price of crude no longer helps the trade deficit the way it might have done in the past, when crude and petroleum product imports vastly exceeded exports.

    The deficit in the movement of goods between the United States and China narrowed significantly in the latest report, falling 22.6% to $28.9 billion from $37.3 billion, one factor in the smaller trade gap increase.

    Although most of that narrowing was due to a 31.3% jump in the export of US goods to China, compared to September, a 9.5% decline in US imports of Chinese goods was also a factor in the smaller trade deficit between the two countries.

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  • The search for a missing toddler in Tacoma continues nearly 24 years later | CNN

    The search for a missing toddler in Tacoma continues nearly 24 years later | CNN



    CNN
     — 

    Theresa Czapieski couldn’t hold back tears when police in Tacoma, Washington, showed her what her daughter could look like today. She has not stopped searching for the then-2-year-old Teekah Lewis since 1999.

    “I’m not giving up until my daughter is found,” Czapieski told CNN.

    Tacoma police released an age progression photo of Teekah last week in the hopes of solving one of the area’s oldest missing children’s cases.

    Teekah was last seen in the video game area at the New Frontier Lanes bowling alley on the night of January 23, 1999. Czapieski said Teekah was a “mama’s girl.” The toddler had been next to her until it was Czapieski’s turn to bowl. She then asked her brother and then-boyfriend to keep an eye on the toddler. When Czapieski turned around to check on her daughter, she was gone.

    “They said they didn’t see nothing, so whoever took her, took her within seconds.” Czapieski told CNN.

    Police say no one remembers seeing the toddler leave the building. That night, Czapieski says, the bowling alley was packed, and hundreds of people could have been there.

    Czapieski previously visited the bowling alley with some of her children and thought it was a safe place to take Teekah in an outing with other family members, she said.

    Tacoma Police Detective Julie Dier said Teekah’s disappearance has been “a big mystery.”

    “At this point, we don’t have any evidence, any physical evidence. We have no body. And while that remains the case, there is always a chance that she is still somewhere out there,” Dier told CNN on Monday. “It’s a big mystery.”

    When the toddler disappeared in 1999, Dier said police went to great lengths to find her, mowing down a wetland and using search dogs. Investigators have received numerous tips since Teekah went missing, but none have ever led to a suspect, police said.

    Now, they’re asking the public for information about a late 1980s or early 1990s maroon or purple Pontiac that a witness says fishtailed while speeding from the bowling alley parking lot, moments before announcements of Teekah’s disappearance were made inside the building.

    Dier said investigators are hoping the release of the age progression photo and calls for information about Teekah’s disappearance result in someone who may have seen something contacting police.

    It is still a possibility that Teekah is alive and doesn’t know she was a kidnapping victim, police said.

    The composite showing how Teekah might currently look was created by the Forensic Anthropology and Computer Enhancement Services (FACES) Laboratory at Louisiana State University, which offers forensic anthropology services to law enforcement and coroner’s offices.

    Larry Livaudais, an imaging specialist at the lab, told CNN it took him about three weeks to create the age progression image. He referenced about four dozen photos of Teekah’s mother, father and siblings, alongside images of Teekah herself, to get a possible image of what she would look like in 2022.

    “It really is an artistic creation, but it is based upon scientific knowledge of facial growth patterns and morphological changes that take place in the face,” Livaudais said, adding that he built cognitive triggers into the image that are designed to spur recognition and memory in people who know might know Teekah.

    Czapieski says she hopes her daughter, who would be in her mid-20s, has so far lived a good life. She likes to imagine that Teekah played sports in high school, graduated and went on to college, the mother said.

    “If she’s out there and she sees this, know you have five sisters that want to meet you. You have a mom and (an) enormous number of aunts and uncles that are just waiting for you to come home. We know it’s been almost 24 years, and I’m sure you don’t know this but we want to know you. We want to bring you home, because I’ve never given up on you,” Czapieski said. “I will not stop looking for you until you’re found.”

    The Tacoma Police Department is asking anyone with information about the case to contact call the Crime Stoppers of Tacoma-Pierce County at 1-800-222-TIPS. Police are also offering a $1,000 reward for information leading to arrest and charges in the case.

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  • Why the power grid is an ‘attractive target’ for attacks | CNN Politics

    Why the power grid is an ‘attractive target’ for attacks | CNN Politics

    A version of this story appears in CNN’s What Matters newsletter. To get it in your inbox, sign up for free here.



    CNN
     — 

    The motivation behind an attack on the electrical grid in a North Carolina county remains a mystery.

    But the method – apparently coordinated attacks on multiple substations – exploits a vulnerability that has long been a source of concern for authorities warning about domestic terrorism.

    Just last week the Department of Homeland Security renewed a national bulletin to warn of attacks on critical infrastructure.

    The details of this particular story are only starting to come into view, although Moore County, North Carolina, remains plunged in darkness. The FBI has joined the hunt for answers into how attacks on substations left around 40,000 without power over the weekend.

    In a Sunday news conference, the county sheriff described the attacks as “intentional” and “targeted,” but had no reason why the person or persons involved would choose the place.

    CNN’s Whitney Wild, reporting from Moore County, mentioned online rumors that disrupting a drag show planned for Saturday night may have been the cause of the attack, but authorities have not confirmed that and said no person or group has claimed responsibility.

    What authorities have confirmed is that someone or some people removed a gate at one substation from its hinges. The damage to transformers was apparently caused by gunfire, although it’s not clear what kind of weapon was used.

    Most of the roughly 40,000 people who lost power aren’t expected to get it back until Thursday, according to Duke Energy.

    Mike Cameron is the assistant town manager and fire chief of Southern Pines, North Carolina, which is in Moore County.

    Appearing on CNN on Monday, he said medical calls have increased as people who rely on oxygen and plug-in medical devices struggle.

    In temperatures that have dipped almost to freezing overnight, people have gotten creative to heat their homes, which has led to an increase in calls about house fires.

    There has also been an increase in emergency calls about traffic accidents, “just because our traffic lights are obviously not working,” he said.

    Southern Pines Mayor Carol Haney did not hold back on her message to whoever is responsible for plunging her town into darkness.

    “It is just a horrible, horrible terrorist, in my opinion, act. Cowardly,” she told CNN’s Victor Blackwell on Monday.

    The mayor of Pinehurst, North Carolina, John Strickland, said on CNN that investigators will have to determine if this was a targeted attack by domestic extremists, but he said it was meant to be destructive.

    “This is clearly an act that was intentional, very forceful and an act of vandalism to create a situation where the citizens of Pinehurst and Moore County are lacking heat and other support services at the present time,” he said on “CNN Newsroom.”

    FirstHealth Moore Regional Hospital is currently being powered by diesel fuel, according to its president, Jonathan Davis, but elective procedures have been delayed.

    CNN’s chief law enforcement and intelligence analyst John Miller said this type of attack has long been feared.

    The American electrical grid is decentralized and controlled by a hybrid of public and private entities.

    “The challenge is most of these places are outdoors, most are in remote areas and most of them are available for attack from a long distance,” Miller said on “CNN This Morning.”

    He also noted there has been an uptick in chatter among various anti-government and ecoterrorist groups who consider attacks on the electrical infrastructure as a way to create chaos in the US.

    In particular, Miller said right wing neo-Nazi groups have suggested creating a chain reaction of attacks to systematically take down the power grid.

    “Their theory is that if you identify the key nodes and you knock out one and they divert power to the next one, and you knock out the next one and the next one, a domino effect can actually start to topple the national grid and plunge the nation into darkness and chaos,” Miller said.

    It’s obviously not clear if this North Carolina attack is anything along those lines, but the Department of Homeland Security has been warning about such attacks for some time.

    Sniper fire hit a Silicon Valley substation in April 2013, when 150 rounds from an assault rifle took out 17 transformers. Workers rerouted power in that case, but repairs to the transformers took nearly a month.

    Miller said that after that incident, power companies and the government undertook a systemic review of grid security and made changes to add more cameras and motion sensors.

    In January 2022, CNN’s Geneva Sands reported on a DHS memo about potential electrical grid threats from extremist groups angry at the outcome of the 2020 presidential election.

    Violent extremist groups have identified the electrical grid as a “particularly attractive target,” according to the intelligence bulletin, and have drawn up specific plans.

    In October 2020, the memo noted, White supremacists in Idaho were charged with conspiracy for trying to damage transformers in that area.

    Also, in May 2020 the government charged followers of the Boogaloo movement, which believes there is a civil war coming, for allegedly conspiring to attack a substation in Las Vegas. Their larger goal was to incite riots and violence.

    Unsophisticated small-scale attacks are unlikely to cause the kind of large-scale meltdown that anti-government plotters envision, but they are likely to cause substantial harm and expensive damage – which is precisely what’s happening in Moore County.

    Juliette Kayyem, a CNN analyst and the former assistant secretary for intergovernmental affairs at DHS, said on CNN’s “The Lead” that investigators are probably looking at three possible scenarios:

    Foreign attack. She said this seems unlikely, since Moore County is a rural area and not the expected target for a foreign actor.

    Hate crime or domestic terrorism. She noted the lights went out at the drag show, which was organized by a LGBTQ group, just as it began.

    Insider threat. Kayyem noted the knowledge it would take to disable the substations could be a clue.

    “You don’t just drive by these places and know where to shoot,” she said. “(Investigators) will be looking at the potential there was either casing or someone who knew the area, the facilities and knew where to shoot. These aren’t drive-by incidents,” she said.

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  • As Mauna Loa’s lava inches toward a key Hawaii highway, some residents recall bygone devastation | CNN

    As Mauna Loa’s lava inches toward a key Hawaii highway, some residents recall bygone devastation | CNN


    Mauna Loa, Hawaii
    CNN
     — 

    From a deep fracture in Mauna Loa’s dark terrain, the volcano’s magnificent eruption sends geyser-like fountains of lava spraying into the sky.

    The fissure – cracked open on the northeastern slope of the world’s largest active volcano – feeds a searing flow of molten rock that cuts through the contours of Hawaii’s Big Island. Plumes of volcanic gas, including sulfur dioxide, rise into the air, and delicate strands of volcanic glass, called Pele’s hair, float downwind.

    In the week since Mauna Loa erupted, the stream of lava has coursed northeast, away from the volcano’s summit. Once a quick-moving stream, the flow has slowed significantly as it reaches more softly sloping inclines.

    Though no communities are at risk, the lava flow is inching closer to the Daniel K. Inouye Highway, a major artery that remains open, connecting two sides of this island, according to the US Geological Survey. The lava is flowing at an average rate of 25 feet per hour, the agency said Monday.

    “Though the advance rate has slowed over the past several days, the lava flow remains active with a continuous supply from the fissure 3 vent,” the release said.

    Advance rates of the lava may be “highly variable” in the coming days and weeks with individual lobes advancing quickly and then stalling, the release said.

    “If the eruption continues, it might cover the highway. But at this stage, it’s still about 2.3 miles away from the highway. But it is advancing every day,” said Natalia Deligne, a volcanologist with the USGS at the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory. “We don’t know how long this eruption is going to last, and that will dictate whether or not the highway becomes more threatened.”

    If it closes, residents’ commutes could grow by hours as they seek alternate routes, creating “a tremendous inconvenience,” Hawaii Gov. David Ige told CNN on Saturday.

    Hawaii’s Defense Department activated 20 members of the state’s National Guard Monday as a result of the lava flow from Mauna Loa, a Hawaii Emergency Management Agency statement said. The National Guard members will “assist Hawai’i County with traffic control and other roles in the Mauna Loa eruption,” according to the statement.

    Mauna Loa’s eruption has attracted waves of awestruck visitors, some making the pilgrimage in the middle of the night to avoid the crowds, bundled in jackets and hats to protect against the chilly night air.

    Also erupting now is nearby Kilauea, whose monthslong eruption in 2018 was one of the most destructive in recent Hawaii history, the USGS says.

    Kilauea began erupting again in 2021 and hasn’t stopped. And though it poses no risk now to surrounding communities, Mauna Loa’s rare simultaneous eruption has rekindled memories of the pain and destruction Kilauea wrought four years ago, when it wiped out hundreds of homes and dozens of miles of road.

    Just 21 miles east of Mauna Loa, Kilauea’s ongoing eruption is now confined to a lake of lava rippling at its summit. But the history of this volcano is painful for Hawaii’s Big Island.

    Its 2018 eruption spewed lava into the large Leilani Estates neighborhood, swallowing more than 700 homes and surrounding others with thick layers of volcanic rock, creating unreachable patches of green foliage in a sea of blackened destruction.

    Dorothy Thrall can still walk to the spot where her community once stood, now blanketed with hardened lava. From the deck of her friend’s home, she can see the edge where the lava stopped and blackened into volcanic rock, still steaming years afterward.

    An area wiped out during the 2018 Kilauea eruption is seen Sunday from the sky.

    Mauna Loa’s eruption has reopened some of the wounds she and her friends still have from 2018.

    “I thought I was doing pretty good,” Thrall said. “My neighbor called me Day 2 (of Mauna Loa’s eruption), and she was in tears. She says, ‘I have PTSD, and I didn’t even know it.’ And I started crying, too, and I said, ‘I guess I do, too.’”

    Thrall has no desire to see Mauna Loa’s eruption, saying she has seen enough lava in her time. Still, though, she still appreciates the majestic beauty and importance of volcanic events.

    “Lava is beautiful. It’s Pele’s creation,” she said, referencing the ancient Hawaiian volcano deity. “That’s how the island was formed. That’s how the island was built.”

    For many Native Hawaiians, the eruption of volcanoes, including Kilauea and Mauna Loa, holds incredible spiritual significance. Some have honored this week’s occasion by leaving offerings and participating in traditional chants near Mauna Loa.

    As onlookers and tourists flock, officials urge caution and advise people not to venture into closed areas that could pose risk of lethal volcanic fumes, sudden collapses and hidden earth cracks, the National Park Service said.

    A spot for safe viewing is a one-way route is accessible through the Daniel K. Inouye Highway, the Hawaii County Civil Defense Agency said, noting vehicles parked on the roadway could get ticketed or towed.

    The eruption has also created a risk of low air quality in some places due to volcanic ash and vog, or air pollution caused by volcanic gases. Sensitive groups, including children, the elderly and those with respiratory conditions, are advised to reduce outdoor activities that cause heavy breathing and reduce exposure by staying indoors and closing windows and doors, according to the Hawaii Department of Health.

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  • DOJ antitrust regulators should look at Apple, Google’s handling of TikTok, says FCC commissioner | CNN Business

    DOJ antitrust regulators should look at Apple, Google’s handling of TikTok, says FCC commissioner | CNN Business


    Washington
    CNN Business
     — 

    Apple and Google’s continued hosting of TikTok on their app stores, despite US national security concerns about the short-form video app, reflects the tech giants’ “gatekeeper” power and should be made part of any antitrust reviews the app stores may face, a member of the Federal Communications Commission wrote to the Justice Department last week.

    The previously unreported letter — sent on Dec. 2 to DOJ antitrust chief Jonathan Kanter and obtained by CNN — said that continuing to make TikTok available on the app stores risks harming consumers, whose personal information US officials have worried may be being fed to the Chinese government.

    Beyond possible consumer harm, TikTok’s continued presence on app stores also undercuts Apple and Google’s arguments that their dominance in app distribution leads to better user security and privacy, FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr wrote in the letter.

    It’s the latest attempt by Carr, a top Republican at the FCC, to pressure Apple and Google to remove TikTok. Last month, Carr called for the US government to ban TikTok over the bipartisan concerns that China could wield its influence over TikTok’s parent, ByteDance, to gain access to US user data or to disseminate propaganda and disinformation. Now, Carr is trying a new tack by framing the TikTok matter as an antitrust issue.

    “Apple and Google are not exercising their ironclad control over apps for the altruistic or procompetitive purposes that they put forward as defenses to existing antitrust or competition claims,” Carr wrote. “Instead, their conduct shows that those rationales are merely pretextual — talismanic references invoked to shield themselves from liability.”

    DOJ’s Antitrust Division should consider that “to the extent that it assesses the reasonableness of Apple’s and Google’s anticompetitive actions,” Carr added.

    Google declined to comment. Apple the Justice Department didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

    The FCC does not regulate app stores or social media, focusing instead on telecommunications and traditional media such as radio and television broadcasters and cable operators. But Carr has become the most vocal commissioner to speak out on TikTok, drawing what he’s said are lessons from the FCC’s own decisions to block Huawei, ZTE and other telecom companies with ties to China from the US market.

    His remarks also echo those by prominent lawmakers of both parties, including Virginia Democratic Sen. Mark Warner and Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio, who together lead the Senate Intelligence Committee.

    Carr’s call comes as Apple and Google’s critics have increasingly sought to apply the nation’s antitrust laws against the tech giants. Third-party software developers have long alleged that Apple and Google’s app store fees and rules are monopolistic and anticompetitive. A high-profile 2020 lawsuit along those lines brought by Epic Games, the maker of video game “Fortnite,” has so far proven largely unsuccessful, though an appeal is pending.

    More recently, Apple’s conservative critics have accused the company of abusing “monopoly” power by allegedly threatening to remove Twitter from its app store — a claim that Twitter’s new owner Elon Musk has made without evidence and that he says has since been resolved thanks to a conversation with Apple CEO Tim Cook. Apple has not commented on Musk’s allegation or purported exchange with Cook.

    For years, TikTok has been negotiating with the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, a multi-agency US government panel charged with reviewing the national security implications of foreign investment deals, to arrive at an agreement to allow TikTok to operate in the US market despite the security concerns.

    TikTok has said Project Texas, its plan to migrate US user data exclusively to cloud servers hosted by Oracle, is a core part of the solution. Last week, TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew said at a conference hosted by the New York Times that “no foreign government has asked us for user data before, and if they did, we would say no.”

    In congressional testimony, TikTok has said it maintains robust data controls but has sought to sidestep questions about its parent company and declined to stop letting China-based employees access US users’ data.

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  • Sky-high Black turnout fueled Warnock’s previous win. Will Georgia do it again? | CNN Politics

    Sky-high Black turnout fueled Warnock’s previous win. Will Georgia do it again? | CNN Politics


    Atlanta
    CNN
     — 

    Former UN Ambassador Andrew Young rode his scooter alongside Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock, Martin Luther King III and a fervent crowd of marchers on a recent Sunday through a southwest Atlanta neighborhood. The group stopped at an early polling location to vote, forming a line with some waiting as long as one hour to cast their ballots.

    At the age of 90, Young says he is selective about public appearances but felt the “Souls to the Polls” event was one where he could motivate Black voters in Tuesday’s hotly contested US Senate runoff between Warnock and Republican challenger Herschel Walker – a historic matchup between two Black men.

    Community leaders and political observers say the Black vote has consistently played a pivotal role in high-stakes races for Democrats, including in 2021, when Warnock defeated then-Sen. Kelly Loeffler in a runoff. Black voters likely to cast a ballot are near unanimous in their support for the Democrat (96% Warnock to 3% Walker), according to a CNN poll released last week that showed Warnock with a narrow lead.

    A second runoff victory for Warnock could once again hinge on Black voter turnout in a consequential race. If Warnock wins, it would give Democrats a clean Senate majority – one that doesn’t rely on Vice President Kamala Harris’ tie-breaking vote and allows Majority Leader Chuck Schumer more control of key committees and some slack in potentially divisive judicial and administrative confirmation fights.

    Voting, Young said, is the “path to prosperity” for the Black community. He noted that Atlanta’s mass transit system and economic growth have been made possible by voters.

    “Where we have voted we have prospered,” Young said.

    The rally led by Young, King and Warnock seems to have set the tone for many Black voters in Georgia. Early voting surged across the state last week with long lines reported across the greater Atlanta area. As of Sunday, more than 1.85 million votes had already been cast, with Black voters accounting for nearly 32% of the turnout, according to the Georgia Secretary of State’s Office. The early voting period, which was significantly condensed from 2021, ended on Friday.

    Billy Honor, director of organizing for the New Georgia Project Action Fund, said the Black turnout so far looks promising for Democrats.

    “When we get Black voter turnout in any election statewide that’s between 31 and 33%, that’s usually good for Democrats,” Honor said. “If it’s between 27 and 30%, that’s usually good for Republicans.”

    Honor added: “This has an impact on elections because we know that if you’re a Democratic candidate, the coalition you have to put together is a certain amount of college-educated White folks, a certain amount of women overall, as many young people as you can get to turn out – and Black voters. That’s the coalition. (Former president) Barack Obama was able to smash that coalition in 2008 in ways we hadn’t seen.”

    Young said he believes that Black voters are more likely to show up for runoff elections, which historically have lower turnout than general elections, when the candidate is likeable and relatable.

    Warnock is a beloved figure in Atlanta’s Black community who pastored the church once led by Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. He grew up in public housing and relied on student loans to get through college.

    Young said Warnock’s story is inspiring.

    “He is an exciting personality, he’s a great preacher,” Young said. “He speaks from his heart and he speaks about how he and his family have come up in the deep South and developed a wonderful life.”

    Young said some Black voters may also be voting against Walker, who has made a series of public gaffes, has no political experience and has a history of accusations of violent and threatening behavior.

    Last week’s CNN poll showed that Walker faces widespread questions about his honesty and suffers from a negative favorability rating, while nearly half of those who back him say their vote is more about opposition to Warnock than support for Walker.

    Views of Warnock tilt narrowly positive, with 50% of likely voters holding a favorable opinion, 45% unfavorable, while far more likely Georgia voters have a negative view of Walker (52%) than a positive one (39%).

    Still, Walker is famous as a Heisman Trophy-winning football star from the University of Georgia. And among the majority of likely voters in the CNN poll who said issues are a more important factor to their vote than character or integrity, 64% favor Walker.

    He campaigned on Sunday with, among others, GOP Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, one of just three Black senators currently serving in the chamber. Scott tried to tie Warnock to President Joe Biden – who, like former President Donald Trump, has steered clear of the Peach State – and reminded voters in Loganville of the GOP’s losses in the 2021 runoffs.

    At the event, which began with prayers in Creole, Spanish and Swahili from speakers with Ralph Reed’s Faith and Freedom Coalition, Walker encouraged getting out to vote more than he typically does.

    “If you don’t have a friend, make a friend and get them out to vote,” Walker said.

    Back at the “Souls to Polls” march, some Black voters said they were excited to show up and cast their early votes in the runoff race.

    Travie Leslie said she feels it is her “civic duty” to vote after all the work civil rights leaders in Atlanta did to ensure Black people had the right to vote. Leslie she does not mind standing in line or voting in multiple elections to ensure that a quality candidate gets in office.

    “I will come 12 times if I must and I encourage other people to do the same thing,” Leslie said Thursday while at the Metropolitan Library polling location in Atlanta. “Just stay dedicated to this because it truly is the best time to be a part of the decision making particularly for Georgia.”

    Martin Luther King III credited grassroots organizations for registering more Black and brown voters since 2020, when Biden carried the state, and mobilizing Georgians to participate in elections.

    Their work has led to the long lines of voters in midterm and runoff races, King said.

    King said he believes Warnock also appeals to Black voters in a way that Walker does not.

    “Rev. Warnock distinguishes himself quite well,” King said. “He stayed above the fray and defined what he has done.”

    The Black vote, he said, is likely to make a difference in which candidate wins the runoff.

    “Black voters, if we come out in massive numbers, then I believe that on December 6 we (Democrats) are going to have a massive victory,” King said.

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  • Midwestern Democrat voices concern over Iowa possibly losing front-runner status on 2024 calendar | CNN Politics

    Midwestern Democrat voices concern over Iowa possibly losing front-runner status on 2024 calendar | CNN Politics


    Washington
    CNN
     — 

    Democratic Rep. Cheri Bustos of Illinois voiced concerns Sunday with Iowa potentially losing its status as the first state to vote in the presidential nominating process following a proposal by President Joe Biden to reshape the 2024 calendar.

    The rule-making arm of the Democratic National Committee voted Friday voted to approve a plan that would make South Carolina the first state to hold a primary, followed by other early-voting states of Nevada, New Hampshire, Georgia and Michigan. The proposal needs to be approved at a full DNC meeting, and states will still need to set their own primary dates.

    Such a shake-up would strip Iowa of the first-in-the-nation status it has held since 1972.

    Bustos, who is from the Quad Cities area that includes both Iowa and Illinois and represents a district that borders the Hawkeye State, told CNN’s Jake Tapper on “State of the Union” that the “bad” part of the proposal starts with the economic impact it would have on Iowa.

    “The other thing is, do you think a presidential candidate is going to care about ethanol? Or care about farm country as deeply as they do now because Iowa was always that first state for the caucuses?” said Bustos, who is retiring next month after five terms in the House.

    “So that’s the kind of thing that concerns me. I’ve got close to 10,000 family farms in the congressional district I represent. So it’s more about: What issues are going to take a back seat because of this? That is a concern I have,” she added.

    GOP Strategist: If we nominate Trump, Biden will probably win re-election

    Asked by Tapper if Biden was “stabbing the Midwest in the back” with the proposed change to Iowa’s status, Bustos said he wasn’t, pointing to the inclusion of Michigan, a Midwestern state that she said “better exemplifies the make-up of our country.”

    Iowa’s first-in-the-nation status came under scrutiny after the chaos of the 2020 Iowa caucuses received widespread backlash. Additionally, there has been pressure on the Democratic side to oust Iowa from its top slot because it is largely White and no longer considered a battleground state.

    But enacting the new dates on the 2024 Democratic nominating calendar could prove a steep challenge, as primary dates are set at the state level and each state has a different process.

    Lawmakers in Iowa have also made their displeasure with the proposal clear. The state’s junior senator, Republican Joni Ernst, told Fox News on Sunday that “Democrats have really given middle America the middle finger.”

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