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  Published Date: 2020-07-28 

 Malaysia’s former prime minister Najib Razak has been found guilty of all seven charges in his first trial linked to the multibillion-dollar 1MDB scandal - a landmark conviction that could lead to decades in jail. Najib has denied any wrongdoing in relation to what is one of the world’s biggest financial frauds, in which billions of dollars were allegedly looted from a state fund set up to promote development. The scandal shook Malaysian politics, led to the ousting of Najib’s Umno party after 61 years in power, and prompted a series of investigations in countries around the world. Less than two years after being removed from government, Umno returned to power again in March, through an alliance led by the prime minister, Muhyiddin Yassin. Some questioned whether this change in leadership would have ramifications for ongoing corruption cases. Quick guide What is the 1MDB scandal? Show Hide What was 1MDB? 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) was an investment fund created in 2009 by former prime minister Najib Razak with a laudable aim: to finance the development of Malaysia and help its poorest people. The fund leveraged Malaysia’s reputation as a fast-growing "tiger economy" to raise debt to fund infrastructure. What went wrong? Between 2009 and at least 2014 the fund became a vehicle for government officials to steal an alleged $4.5bn (£3.5bn) and launder the proceeds. Instead of funding projects for Malaysia’s poorest, the money was spent on luxury property in the US and elsewhere, including London, and used to pay gambling expenses at Las Vegas casinos. The alleged thieves also acquired artwork worth more than $200m such as paintings by Vincent van Gogh and Claude Monet, bought lavish gifts for their family and friends and even invested in Hollywood productions, such as Martin Scorsese’s Oscar-nominated The Wolf of Wall Street – itself a story of investment fraud. Who was involved? The scandal reached the very highest political circles, with Najib accused of receiving $681m in his personal accounts. Najib, ousted in an election 2018, denies all wrongdoing. He was found guilty on 28 July 2020 of all seven charges in his first trial linked to the scandal. Najib’s wife, Rosmah Mansor, and stepson, Riza Aziz, were also charged in the case, but prosecutors recently dropped charges against Aziz following a heavily criticised settlement. One of the key figures in the fraud was Low Taek Jho, better known as Jho Low, a Malaysian financier with no formal link to 1MDB but who is alleged to have been a mastermind behind its looting. Low is a fugitive, with reports he may be living in China. On 24 July 2020, Goldman Sachs reached a $3.9bn settlement, in return for Malaysia dropping criminal charges against the investment bank over its role in helping 1MDB sell $6.5bn in bonds. Read more … 1MDB: everything you need to know Photograph: Joshua Paul/AP On Tuesday morning, Kuala Lumpur High Court judge Mohamad Nazlan Mohamad Ghazali said: “After considering all evidence in this trial, I find that the prosecution has successfully proven its case beyond a reasonable doubt.” Najib arrived at court wearing a face mask, while groups of his supporters who gathered at the court were told to social distance. He has vowed to appeal, and in a statement posted on Facebook late on Monday, said that he was prepared to fight to the end. “From day one, I have said this is the chance for me to clear my name,” he wrote. “Whatever the decision in the High Court tomorrow, it does not end here ... after this, we will go to the Court of Appeal. I am ready.” In total, Najib faces five separate trials linked to the scandal. Tuesday’s verdict relates to seven charges over the transfer of 42m ringgit ($9.9m) from former 1MDB unit SRC International into Najib’s bank accounts through intermediary companies. He could face hefty fines and up to 20 years in jail for each charge. During the trial, the court heard of Najib’s lavish spending sprees, including how, on one occasion, he spent $800,000 at a jeweller in Italy in a single day and, months later, $108,000 at a Chanel boutique in Hawaii. Najib defended the credit card spending as purchases for official purposes. He had pleaded not guilty to criminal breach of trust, money laundering and abuse of power. Najib testified that he was misled by Malaysian financier Jho Low and other 1MDB officials into believing the funds were donated by the Saudi royal family and not misappropriated from SRC, as prosecutors allege. Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister said in 2016 the funds were “a genuine donation”, but the government has not commented on the case since. Speaking to the Guardian before the verdict, Bridget Welsh, an honorary research fellow at the University of Nottingham Malaysia’s Asia research institute, said: “People will be watching carefully because they know that Malaysia’s reputation was damaged by 1MDB, and I think they are looking to this case to hope that this is going to restore Malaysia’s reputation.” US government seeks to seize $7m Warhol artworks linked to 1MDB scandal Read more A not guilty verdict would have been seen as “a miscarriage of justice on the part of many Malaysians,” said Welsh, but she added that the political situation in Malaysia is polarised, and that attitudes towards the verdict would reflect this. The judgment also has major implications for the country’s leadership. A not-guilty verdict could have paved the way for Najib to run again for office. The conviction, however, could weaken Muhyiddin’s coalition, who depends on Umno for support. Najib will be able to appeal against the verdict, however, and the terms of the sentencing may allow Najib to continue to play a role in politics from behind the scenes. “He may not be able to run for office, but he will still have power within the political party,” said Welsh. 1MDB: The inside story of the world’s biggest financial scandal | Randeep Ramesh Read more Muhyiddin has said he will introduce anti-corruption reforms. A recent decision to drop charges against Najib’s stepson, Riza Aziz, the producer behind The Wolf of Wall Street, in a settlement deal, has been criticised by activists. In total, the US justice department believes more than $4.5bn was stolen from the 1MDB fund and laundered by Najib’s associates. More than $700m from the fund allegedly landed in Najib’s bank accounts. Najib’s wife and several officials from his party and previous government have also been charged with graft. Last week, Goldman Sachs reached a $3.9bn settlement, in return for Malaysia dropping criminal charges against the investment bank over its role in helping 1MDB sell $6.5bn in bonds. Reuters contributed to this report 

  Published Date: 2020-07-28 

 Middle East scholar, who was arrested in 2018, taken to Qarchak women’s jail, one of the most hostile institutions in the country and reportedly stricken with Covid-19 A British-Australian academic serving a 10-year-prison sentence in Iran for espionage has been moved to a remote desert prison, notorious for violence and reportedly stricken with coronavirus. Cambridge-educated Kylie Moore-Gilbert, a Middle East scholar, had been held in Tehran’s Evin Prison for nearly two years, before her sudden move three days ago to Qarchak women’s prison, south-east of Tehran. In a phone call with Reza Khandan, the husband of jailed human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh, Moore-Gilbert said she felt hopeless and isolated. 'She's not a spy': friends shocked over academic Dr Kylie Moore-Gilbert's jailing in Iran Read more “I can’t eat anything. I feel so very hopeless,” Moore-Gilbert said, speaking Persian on the call. “I am so depressed. I don’t have any phone card to call. I’ve asked the prison officers but they didn’t give me a phone card. I [was last able to] call my parents about one month ago.” Moore-Gilbert is reportedly in a quarantine section of the prison for new inmates. Isolated and overcrowded, Qarchak has a reputation as one of the most hostile prisons in the country. Last month, the US state department listed Qarchak as an entity responsible for “extrajudicial killings, torture, or other gross violations of internationally recognized human rights”. A report by the Human Rights Activists News Agency in March detailed acts of violence, including torture and rape, as well as lack of medical services. Coronavirus is understood to be present within the prison. Sources say social distancing is impossible, and access to soap is often limited. Like Evin prison’s Ward 2A, where Moore-Gilbert had been held previously, Qarchak prison is controlled by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. The Guardian has confirmed Moore-Gilbert’s move to Qarchak with independent sources inside Iran. Some have said Qarchak prison is notoriously used to “exile” prisoners considered difficult, or whose cases are acutely potentially sensitive, while other sources said the transfer could be seen as potential movement in her case, and not designed as a punitive measure. Moore-Gilbert, a lecturer in Islamic Studies at the University of Melbourne, was arrested in September 2018 after attending an academic conference, at which she was invited to speak, in Qom. Fellow conference delegates and an interview subject for her academic work flagged her as “suspicious” to Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, who arrested her at Tehran airport as she prepared to fly out of the country. She was convicted in a secret trial and sentenced to 10 years prison on charges of espionage. An appeal failed. No evidence has ever been publicly presented of Moore-Gilbert’s alleged crimes. She has denied the allegations against her, and the Australian government rejects them as baseless and politically motivated. A citizen of both the UK and Australia, Moore-Gilbert has been publicly silent for months, since a series of smuggled letters were published earlier this year detailing the privations of her imprisonment, including months isolated in solitary confinement, and a shortage of food, medicine, and money to buy personal items. “I feel like I am abandoned and forgotten … I am an innocent victim,” she wrote. She said she had rejected outright an offer to spy for the Iranian government that would have led to her being freed. “I am not a spy. I have never been a spy and I have no interest in working for a spying organisation in any country. When I leave Iran, I want to be a free woman and live a free life, not under the shadow of extortion and threats.” Iran has temporarily released more than 100,000 prisoners out of concern Covid-19 could sweep through the country’s overcrowded prisons, but Moore-Gilbert has not been among those released.  

  Published Date: 2020-07-28 

 Ecuador has sounded the alarm after its navy discovered a huge fishing fleet of mostly Chinese-flagged vessels some 200 miles from the Galápagos Islands, the archipelago which inspired Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution. About 260 ships are currently in international waters just outside a 188-mile wide exclusive economic zone around the island, but their presence has already raised the prospect of serious damage to the delicate marine ecosystem, said former environment minister Yolanda Kakabadse. “This fleet’s size and aggressiveness against marine species is a big threat to the balance of species in the Galápagos,” she told the Guardian. Kakabadse and an ex-mayor of Quito, Roque Sevilla, were on Monday put in charge of designing a “protection strategy” for the islands, which lie 563 miles west of the South American mainland. Chinese fishing vessels come every year to the seas around the Galápagos, which were declared a Unesco world heritage site in 1978, but this year’s fleet is one of the largest seen in recent years. Sevilla said that diplomatic efforts would be made to request the withdrawal of the Chinese fishing fleet. “Unchecked Chinese fishing just on the edge of the protected zone is ruining Ecuador’s efforts to protect marine life in the Galápagos,” he said. He added that the team would also seek to enforce international agreements that protect migratory species. The Galápagos Marine Reserve has one of the world’s greatest concentrations of shark species, including endangered whale and hammerhead varieties. Kakabadse said efforts also would be made to extend the exclusive economic zone to a 350-mile circumference around the islands which would join up with the Ecuadorean mainland’s economic zone, closing off a corridor of international waters in between the two where the Chinese fleet is currently located. Ecuador is also trying to establish a corridor of marine reserves between Pacific-facing neighbours Costa Rica, Panama and Colombia which would seal off important areas of marine diversity, Kakabadse said. Ecuador’s president Lenín Moreno described the archipelago as “one of the richest fishing areas and a seedbed of life for the entire planet”, in a message on Twitter over the weekend. The Galápagos Islands are renowned for their unique plants and wildlife. Unesco describes the archipelago – visited by a quarter of a million tourists every year – as a “living museum and a showcase for evolution”. The Ecuadorean navy has been monitoring the fishing fleet since it was spotted last week, according to the country’s defence minister Oswaldo Jarrín. “We are on alert, (conducting) surveillance, patrolling to avoid an incident such as what happened in 2017,” he said. The 2017 incident he referred to was the capture by the Ecuadorean navy within the Galápagos Marine Reserve of a Chinese vessel. The Fu Yuan Yu Leng 999, part of an even larger fleet than the current one, was found to be carrying 300 tonnes of marine wildlife, mostly sharks. “We were appalled to discover that a massive Chinese industrial fishing fleet is currently off the Galápagos Islands,” said John Hourston, a spokesman for the Blue Planet Society, a NGO which campaigns against overfishing. 

  Published Date: 2020-07-28 

 Populations of migratory river fish around the world have plunged by a “catastrophic” 76% since 1970, an analysis has found. The fall was even greater in Europe at 93%, and for some groups of fish, with sturgeon and eel populations both down by more than 90%. Species such as salmon, trout and giant catfish are vital not just to the rivers and lakes in which they breed or feed but to entire ecosystems. By swimming upstream, they transport nutrients from the oceans and provide food for many land animals, including bears, wolves and birds of prey. The migratory fish are also critical for the food security and livelihoods of millions of people around the world, while recreational fishing is worth billions of dollars a year. The causes of the decline are the hundreds of thousands of dams around the world, overfishing, the climate crisis and water pollution. The scientists said the situation may be even bleaker than it seemed, as many declines began before 1970. Populations of sturgeon in the Great Lakes of North America, for example, have dropped by 95% from historic levels. Furthermore, suitable data has not been gathered on species in some of the world’s most biodiverse rivers such as the Mekong, Congo, Amazon and Yangtze, where researchers fear there will be hundreds of fish extinctions in the coming decades. The average fall in populations was 84% in Latin America, while there has been a 59% decrease in Asia-Oceania, although there is limited data there and not enough from Africa to determine any reliable trend. In North America, the fall was less dramatic, at 28%. This is probably because large declines occurred before 1970, but also as a result of a growing number of dams being removed. “For migratory fish, there’s nothing worse than a dam,” said Zeb Hogan, at the University of Nevada and an author of the new report. He said the good news was that fish could return quickly: “Almost without exception, where dams have been removed, you see populations bounce back, often much more quickly than anyone anticipated.” A river restoration completed by the Nature Conservancy in 2016 on the Penobscot River in Maine, US, led to river herring numbers growing from a few hundred to nearly 2m a year. The Dam Removal Europe coalition is working to free the continent’s rivers from more than 100,000 obsolete barriers. But thousands of hydropower dams are being built in other parts of the world. “Catastrophic losses in migratory fish populations show we cannot continue destroying our rivers,” said Arjan Berkhuysen, at the World Fish Migration Foundation. “This has immense consequences for people and nature across the globe. We can and need to act now before these keystone species are lost for good.” Michelle Jackson, at the University of Oxford, UK, who was not involved in the report, said: “The population declines are certainly very drastic, but I am not surprised. The outlook gets worse each time [there is a new report].” She said migratory fish were often the driving force in food chains because they transport nutrients: “If these fish populations continue to decline, there will be far-reaching consequences for many species which rely on them.” The decline in migratory fish populations is higher than that for land and ocean animals, whose populations have fallen by an average of 60% in the last 50 years. “Freshwaters are disproportionately at risk to human pressures, since they are affected by everything happening in the surrounding catchment,” said Jackson. Previous research by Hogan found many giant river fish are on the verge of extinction, with populations from catfish to stingrays down by 97% since 1970. Other studies have shown only a third of world’s great rivers remain free-flowing, while in Britain, for example, 97% of the river network has been interrupted by human-built structures. The report, led by Stefanie Deinet at the Zoological Society of London, examined data from 1,406 populations of 247 species. There are 1,100 species that must migrate to survive. The researchers said much more data was needed for regions outside Europe and North America to go beyond the general trends presented in the report. The analysis did show management plans for rivers and fishing helped curb the losses, with populations down 54% in such circumstances, compared with 87% for those that were unmanaged. Migratory fish often use water temperature as a cue to start their journeys, but dams can significantly lower the temperature of river water. Global heating is also a factor, and can also change rainfall patterns. “So you get these very unnatural flows that can really have an impact on migratory fish,” said Hogan. “Not all dams are created equal,” he added. “Some dams are more environmentally damaging than others and how you place, design and operate them is important.” The damage to ecosystems and livelihoods must be taken more into account when building new dams, he said. Stephanie Januchowski-Hartley, at Swansea University, UK, said the millions of small obstructions to rivers, such as road culverts, also needed to be considered: “The cumulative effects of those are potentially greater than that of larger infrastructure, because of sheer numbers in the waterscape.” “We know why we’re losing these fish and we know what to do to save or restore them,” Hogan said. “It’s now a matter of public awareness and public will.” Stuart Orr, at WWF, said: “The world needs to implement an emergency recovery plan for the benefit of people and nature.” 

  Published Date: 2020-07-28 

 Lawyers for Jeffrey Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell asked a judge to stop her accusers from using evidence in the criminal case to boost civil lawsuits by posting materials to the internet. The lawyers say attorneys for women who claim Maxwell recruited and abused them should be subject to the same secrecy rules as prosecutors and Maxwell’s defense lawyers. The lawyers, though, said it was one topic that prosecutors and defense lawyers for the British woman could not agree on as they composed a proposed agreement to keep evidence secret prior to a trial scheduled in Manhattan federal court for July 2021. Maxwell, 58, who has been incarcerated without bail since her arrest several weeks ago, has pleaded not guilty to charges that she recruited and aided the abuse of three girls by Epstein in the 1990s. Epstein committed suicide in a Manhattan lockup last August as he awaited trial on sex trafficking charges related to the abuse of women and girls in Manhattan and Florida in the early 2000s. The proposed order, submitted to a judge Monday, would prevent prosecutors and Maxwell’s lawyers from releasing any information to the internet or elsewhere, including “nude, partially-nude, or otherwise sexualized images, videos, or other depictions of individuals”. The joint protective order is routine in sex abuse cases. But the lawyers said in a letter to the judge that prosecutors have refused to agree that witnesses in the trial and their lawyers should be subject to the secrecy rules. Maxwell’s lawyers cited current civil litigation between Maxwell and “many of the government’s potential witnesses”, saying numerous potential witnesses and their lawyers have already publicly commented about the case. “There is a substantial concern that these individuals will seek to use discovery materials to support their civil cases and future public statements,” the lawyers wrote. Prosecutors said they’ll respond Tuesday. 

  Published Date: 2020-07-28 

 Facebook has removed a video posted by Breitbart News earlier today, which was the top-performing Facebook post in the world Monday afternoon, of a press conference in D.C. held by the group America’s Frontline Doctors and organized and sponsored by the Tea Party Patriots. The press conference featured Rep. Ralph Norman (R-SC) and frontline doctors sharing their views and opinions on coronavirus and the medical response to the pandemic. YouTube (which is owned by Google) and Twitter subsequently removed footage of the press conference as well. The video accumulated over 17 million views during the eight hours it was hosted on Facebook, with over 185,000 concurrent viewers. The livestream had accumulated over 17 million views by the time of its censorship by Facebook. In terms of viral velocity, the post was beating content from many other prominent accounts on Facebook today, including Hillary Clinton, Rev. Franklin Graham, and Kim Kardashian. Over 185,000 viewers were concurrently watching the stream when it aired live Monday afternoon. The event, hosted by the organization America’s Frontline Doctors, a group founded by Dr. Simone Gold, a board-certified physician and attorney, and made up of medical doctors, came together to address what the group calls a “massive disinformation campaign” about the coronavirus. Norman also spoke at the event. “If Americans continue to let so-called experts and media personalities make their decisions, the great American experiment of a Constitutional Republic with Representative Democracy, will cease,” reads the event’s information page. The event was organized and sponsored by the Tea Party Patriots. “We’ve removed this video for sharing false information about cures and treatments for COVID-19,” a Facebook company spokesman, Andy Stone, told Breitbart News. The company did not specify what portion of the video it ruled to be “false information,” who it consulted to make that ruling, and on what basis it was made. Stone replied to New York Times tech columnist Kevin Roose on Twitter regarding the video: Yes, we removed it for sharing false information about cures and treatments for COVID-19. — Andy Stone (@andymstone) July 28, 2020 Stone then added that the platform would direct users who had interacted with the post to information on “myths debunked by the WHO.” Also, one other thing to note. We're showing messages in News Feed to people who have reacted to, commented on or shared harmful COVID-19-related misinformation that we have removed, connecting them to myths debunked by the WHO. — Andy Stone (@andymstone) July 28, 2020 Facebook’s decision to censor the livestream was quickly followed by YouTube, the Google-owned video-sharing platform. The video had over 80,000 views on YouTube prior to its removal. Following Facebook and YouTube’s removal of the video, Twitter followed suit, removing Breitbart News’s Periscope livestream of the press conference. Jack Dorsey’s platform also then limited the Breitbart News official account, indicating that tweets containing links to multiple stories about the press conference violate the platform’s COVID-19 policies. Are you an insider at Google, Reddit, Facebook, Twitter, or any other tech company who wants to confidentially reveal wrongdoing or political bias at your company? Reach out to Allum Bokhari at his secure email address allumbokhari@protonmail.com. Allum Bokhari is the senior technology correspondent at Breitbart News. His book #DELETED: Big Tech’s Battle to Erase the Trump Movement and Steal The Election is out in September. 

  Published Date: 2020-07-28 

 It is finally here. Senate Republicans officially introduced a $1 trillion coronavirus relief package on Monday including another stimulus payment for Americans and a cut to unemployment benefits, setting the stage for what looks to be a rushed and perhaps hard battle to reach an agreement with Hosue Democrats on expiring aid provisions. After days of negotiating between GOP lawmakers and the White House, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell introduced the Health, Economic Assistance Liability Protection and Schools, or HEALS, Act which includes a $1,200 stimulus payment, an extension of unemployment payments at a reduced rate, a “sequel” to the Paycheck Protection Program and funding to reopen schools. “We have produced a tailored and targeted draft that will cut right to the heart of three distinct crises facing our country: getting kids back in school, getting workers back to work and winning the health care fight against the virus,” McConnell, R-Ky., said. The bill would seek to refresh and extend relief efforts implemented in the $3 trillion Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act passed in March, including another round of direct checks. One of the most contentious provisions would reduce weekly federal unemployment payments from $600 to $200, while states would adopt a system to provide about 70 percent of wage replacement for workers who have been laid off. The Republican plan also includes another round of direct relief payments, up to $1,200 per adult and $500 per dependent. Like the first round, the payments fall for those earning above $75,000 and are not available to individuals with income above $99,0000. The aid for dependents, however, was somewhat expanded to include adult dependents. That means there will be more money for parents caring for college students and families caring for elderly parents. But Republicans held out against demands that households that include illegal immigrants also be included. The GOP plan would also provide another round of small business loans, similar to the Paycheck Protection Program which provided more than $500 billion to companies with fewer than 500 employees, this time providing firms with 300 or fewer workers a second round of loans. The original PPP barred companies from seeking a second loan on the assumption that businesses would be able to reopen quickly after the initial lockdownss. Other provisions include allocating $100 billion to help schools and universities reopen fully, liability protections for medical workers, schools and employers, additional funding for personal protective equipment for first responders and freezing 2021 Medicare premiums at 2020 levels. The Republican proposal would also provide a shield to businesses, schools, and health-care providers in coronavirus lawsuits. Senator McConnell has argued that protecting businesses from costly lawsuits is one of the keys to successfully setting the economy back on a path of growth. Democrats have opposed the package, instead backing a $3 trillion proposal passed by the House in May. Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer, D- N.Y., described the GOP bill as a “half-hearted, half-baked legislative proposal,” specifically taking aim at the change to unemployment benefits. “The Republican proposal on unemployment benefits, simply put, is unworkable,” he said. “The idea that we need to drastically reduce these benefits because workers will stay home otherwise is greatly exaggerated.” The Trump administration is pushing to separate the unemployment portion from other aspects of the proposal if lawmakers can’t agree on a single, comprehensive bill. White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said Sunday they will take that course despite express opposition from Democratic leaders. “Honestly, I see us being able to provide unemployment insurance, maybe a retention credit to keep people from being displaced or brought back into the workplace, helping with our schools,” Meadows told ABC’s This Week. “If we can do that along with liability protection, perhaps we put that forward and get that passed as we can negotiate on the rest of the bill in the weeks to come. “We have a few modifications that we’re looking for clarity on, but we’ve gotten those down to a handful that hopefully will be resolved,” Meadows added. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Senate Democratic Leader Schumer last week said the Republican plan is insufficient and rejected any move to individualize portions of the bill. But Mnuchin said the approach can be effective. “This will be the fifth set of legislation,” he told Fox News Sunday. “So there’s no reason why we can’t have numbers 5, 6 and 7 as we need to deal with issues.” –UPI contributed to this report. 

  Published Date: 2020-07-28 

 Left-wing and partisan Democrat billionaire George Soros spent more than $52 million in political spending, per Federal Election Commission (FEC) filings, according to a report for the Washington Free Beacon. The total does not include ostensibly philanthropic spending via his Open Society Foundations network. The Washington Free Beacon reported on FEC filings from Soros’s political action committee (PAC), Democracy PAC: Soros ramped up his political spending this cycle through the Democracy PAC, which he created last year to pump large sums into the coffers of other left-wing groups. New filings to the Federal Election Commission show the PAC doled out nearly $17 million last quarter, bringing its total cash disbursements this cycle to $48 million. Soros gave another $4 million directly to Democratic campaigns and committees without first depositing the money into his PAC. The $52 million cash influx is more than double Soros’s previous high of $22 million, which came during the last presidential election. Soros’s political spending captured by the FEC in 2020 is $30 more than it was in 2016. According to Open Secrets, Democracy PAC raised $51,635,003 in 2020, of which it has spent $48,091,590. Its beneficiaries are all left-wing and partisan Democrat PACs, including Senate Majority PAC, Priorities USA Action, Win Justice PAC, Illinois Justice & Public Safety PAC, Supermajority PAC, American Bridge 21st Century, and Pacronym. The Washington Free Beacon described the layers of PACs through which Soros’s dollars travel before arriving at their end destination in order to obscure his role as a political benefactor: The liberal billionaire is taking steps to obscure his election spending this cycle. In the past, he made donations to groups directly in his own name. This cycle, he has operated primarily by transferring tens of millions from the Fund for Policy Reform, a $750 million nonprofit in his sprawling Open Society Foundation network, into Democracy PAC. The PAC then disburses it to other Democratic PACs and committees. This arrangement allows Soros to keep his name from the top of donor lists. His $50 million in contributions makes him the largest donor of the 2020 cycle, though only $8 million is coming directly from him. Beyond political spending recorded by the FEC, Soros’s Open Society Foundations network claims to have spent over $15 billion over the past three decades. The U.S. is the organization’s primary target in terms of total dollars spent on any single country. The Open Society Foundation’s 2020 budget was valued at over $1.2 billion, of which $261 million was spent targeting America. A majority of the $261 spent on the U.S. was said to fund “democratic practice, economic equity and justice,” “equality and antidiscrimination,” “justice reform and the rule of law,” and “cross-thematic” programs. Follow Robert Kraychik on Twitter. 

  Published Date: 2020-07-28 

 Lin Wood, a lawyer representing Covington Catholic High School student Nicholas Sandmann, accused CNN’s Brian Stelter on Monday of breaching a confidentiality agreement with respect to the settlement reached between Sandmann and the Washington Post. Sandmann announced Friday via Twitter that he had settled a $250 million defamation lawsuit against the Washington Post on his eighteenth birthday: On 2/19/19, I filed $250M defamation lawsuit against Washington Post. Today, I turned 18 & WaPo settled my lawsuit. Thanks to @ToddMcMurtry & @LLinWood for their advocacy. Thanks to my family & millions of you who have stood your ground by supporting me. I still have more to do. — Nicholas Sandmann (@N1ckSandmann) July 24, 2020 Stelter retweeted — and subsequently undid his retweet — of a speculative assessment of the Washington Post‘s settlement with Sandmann from Mark Zaid: Those with zero legal experience (as far as I can tell) should not be conjecturing on lawsuits they know nothing about. What kind of journalism is that? I've litigated defamation cases. Sandman was undoubtedly paid nuisance value settlement & nothing more. https://t.co/pcBebNwcyb — Mark S. Zaid (@MarkSZaidEsq) July 27, 2020 Wood tweeted, “This retweet by @brianstelter may have cost him his job at @CNN. It is called breach of confidentiality agreement. Brian Stelter is a liar. I know how to deal with liars.” This retweet by @brianstelter may have cost him his job at @CNN. It is called breach of confidentiality agreement. Brian Stelter is a liar. I know how to deal with liars. pic.twitter.com/1VHxby9gim — Lin Wood (@LLinWood) July 27, 2020 Wood called for CNN to fire Stelter to “teach him not to ever against falsely speculate on confidential settlements.” Well, if @CNN does not fire @brianstelter, @N1ckSandmann, @ToddMcMurtry & I will be okay with a good butt spanking which will teach him not to ever again falsely speculate on confidential settlements. Take him to the woodshed, CNN. #FightBack https://t.co/VpKsb4nUsb — Lin Wood (@LLinWood) July 28, 2020 CNN’s Asha Ranhappa similarly speculated on a $25,000 valuation of the Washington Post‘s settlement to make Sandmann “go away.” This tweet by @AshaRangappa may have cost Ms. Rangappa her job at @CNN. It is called breach of confidentiality agreement. Asha Rangappa is a liar. I know how to deal with liars. Heads are going to roll at CNN or @N1ckSandmann is going to filing another lawsuit & reveal truth. https://t.co/0NsN6wF40C — Lin Wood (@LLinWood) July 27, 2020 CNN settled a $275 million defamation lawsuit brought by Sandmann in January. The lawsuit alleged that “CNN brought down the full force of its corporate power, influence, and wealth on Nicholas by falsely attacking, vilifying, and bullying him despite the fact that he was a minor child.” Follow Robert Kraychik on Twitter. 

  Published Date: 2020-07-28 

 U.S. Attorney General William Barr is set to accuse House Democrats on Tuesday of attempting to cover up abuses of power in the government’s investigation of Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign, and his administration, for Russia “collusion.” Ultimately no “collusion” was found — and there is currently a criminal inquiry into the investigation itself. In a blistering statement prepared for his House Judiciary Committee testimony Tuesday, Barr plans to accuse Democrats of attempting to discredit him because he has pursued the “Russiagate” scandal. Barr writes: Ever since I made it clear that I was going to do everything I could to get to the bottom of the grave abuses involved in the bogus “Russiagate” scandal, many of the Democrats on this Committee have attempted to discredit me by conjuring up a narrative that I am simply the President’s factotum who disposes of criminal cases according to his instructions. Judging from the letter inviting me to this hearing, that appears to be your agenda today. Barr was threatened with a subpoena and potential impeachment by Chairman Jerry Nadler (D-NY) if he did not testify, and he agreed to do so. The bulk of his prepared testimony deals with ongoing controversy regarding allegations of racism among police, and ongoing “Black Lives Matter” riots. In his statement, Barr begins by acknowledging the legacy of the late civil rights legend Rep. John Lewis (D-GA), who is lying in state in the U.S. Capitol this week. Later, Barr addresses the issues raised by the killing of George Floyd, noting that while “the overall number of police shootings has been decreasing,” recent events “strike a deep chord in the black community.” Barr says that the cause is not “deep-seated racism” among police, but rather “a complex mix of factors.” He adds: In a pluralistic society like ours, composed of many races and ethnicities, we all must strive not to reduce each other to stereotypes or to allow those stereotypes to govern our treatment of our fellow citizens. Rather, we have a basic and overriding obligation to treat each other as individuals, created equal and entitled to the benefit of the doubt rather than assumptions based on skin color. Demonizing police, he says, hurts black Americans, who are the primary victims of crime. “When the police are attacked, when they are defunded, when they are driven out of urban communities, it is black lives that will suffer most from their absence.” Barr then comments on the ongoing riots: In the wake of George Floyd’s death, violent rioters and anarchists have hijacked legitimate protests to wreak senseless havoc and destruction on innocent victims. The current situation in Portland is a telling example. Every night for the past two months, a mob of hundreds of rioters has laid siege to the federal courthouse and other nearby federal property. The rioters arrive equipped for a fight, armed with powerful slingshots, tasers, sledgehammers, saws, knives, rifles, and explosive devices. Inside the courthouse are a relatively small number of federal law enforcement personnel charged with a defensive mission: to protect the courthouse, home to Article III federal judges, from being overrun and destroyed. What unfolds nightly around the courthouse cannot reasonably be called a protest; it is, by any objective measure, an assault on the Government of the United States. … Remarkably, the response from many in the media and local elected offices to this organized assault has been to blame the federal government. To state what should be obvious, peaceful protesters do not throw explosives into federal courthouses, tear down plywood with crowbars, or launch fecal matter at federal officers. Such acts are in fact federal crimes under statutes enacted by this Congress. As elected officials of the federal government, every Member of this Committee – regardless of your political views or your feelings about the Trump Administration – should condemn violence against federal officers and destruction of federal property. So should state and local leaders who have a responsibility to keep their communities safe. To tacitly condone destruction and anarchy is to abandon the basic rule-of-law principles that should unite us even in a politically divisive time. At the very least, we should all be able to agree that there is no place in this country for armed mobs that seek to establish autonomous zones beyond government control, or tear down statues and monuments that law-abiding communities chose to erect, or to destroy the property and livelihoods of innocent business owners. The most basic responsibility of government is to ensure the rule of law, so that people can live their lives safely and without fear. The Justice Department will continue working to meet that solemn responsibility. Nadler raised eyebrows Sunday when he denied that there was violence associated with ongoing riots in Portland, which Barr describes in his statement in detail. Nadler — a key figure in Trump’s impeachment — called the riots a “myth.” Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). His new book, RED NOVEMBER, tells the story of the 2020 Democratic presidential primary from a conservative perspective. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.