The Full Belmonte, 10/25/2022
Sunak to become UK leader at meeting with King Charles III
“LONDON (AP) — Rishi Sunak is due to be installed as Britain’s third prime minister of the year by King Charles III on Tuesday, before appointing a Cabinet that will have to wrestle with the U.K.’s economic and political crises.
Sunak, the U.K.’s first leader of color, was selected as leader of the governing Conservative Party on Monday as it tries to stabilize the economy, and its own plunging popularity, after the brief, disastrous term of Liz Truss.” Read more at AP News
“Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas temporarily blocked an Atlanta grand jury subpoena seeking testimony from Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) in an investigation of possible criminal efforts to overturn the 2020 election.” Read more at Washington Post
Double agent sting
Attorney General Merrick Garland speaks at a press conference at the Department of Justice today. Photo: Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images
"Suspected Chinese intelligence officers were duped by a U.S. double agent, Attorney General Merrick Garland revealed today.
Why it matters: The Justice Department unveiled sweeping charges today in three different cases against Chinese intelligence officers.
‘That includes espionage, harassment, obstruction of our justice system and unceasing efforts to steal sensitive U.S. technology,’ Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco said.
The two Chinese suspects allegedly tried to ‘steal files and other information’ from prosecutors investigating a Chinese telecommunications company, identified by AP as Huawei.
‘The defendants believed that they had recruited the U.S. employee as an asset, but in fact, the individual they recruited was actually a double agent, working on behalf of the FBI.’
Zoom out: FBI Director Christopher Wray said the sweeping charges show that China’s ‘economic assaults and their rights violations are part of the same problem,’ AP reports.
‘They try to silence anyone who fights back against their theft — companies, politicians, individuals — just as they try to silence anyone who fights back against their other aggressions.” Read more at Axios
Brittney Griner 'very nervous' ahead of drug charges appeal in Russia
“Brittney Griner will have her appeal heard Tuesday in Russia. The two-time U.S. Olympian and Phoenix Mercury star is seeking a reduction of the nine-year sentence she received for drug charges in August. ‘She is prepared for the appeal and is very nervous,’ Griner's legal team said in a series of statements released by her representatives. Griner's lawyers filed the appeal in August after she had already been convicted of bringing vape cartridges that contained hashish oil into Russia. Read more at USA Today
Prosecutors Pressure Trump Aides to Testify in Documents Case
The Justice Department’s effort to win the witnesses’ cooperation shows how the investigation stemming from the classified materials found at Mar-a-Lago is entering a new phase.
By Michael S. Schmidt, Maggie Haberman and Alan Feuer
Oct. 24, 2022
“Federal prosecutors investigating former President Donald J. Trump’s handling of national security documents he took with him from the White House have ratcheted up their pressure in recent weeks on key witnesses in the hopes of gaining their testimony, according to two people briefed on the matter.
The effort by the Justice Department shows how the investigation is entering a new phase as prosecutors seek to push recalcitrant witnesses to cooperate with them.
A key focus for prosecutors is Walt Nauta, a little-known figure who worked in the White House as a military valet and cook when Mr. Trump was president and later for him personally at Mar-a-Lago, the former president’s private club and residence in Florida.
Prosecutors have indicated they are skeptical of an initial account Mr. Nauta gave investigators about moving documents stored at Mar-a-Lago and are using the specter of charges against him for misleading investigators to persuade him to sit again for questioning, according to two people briefed on the matter.” Read more at New York Times
Alito Assured Ted Kennedy in 2005 of Respect for Roe v. Wade, Diary Says
In the senator’s recollection, the Supreme Court justice who wrote the opinion overturning the abortion ruling tried to show Mr. Kennedy that he was not a threat to Roe.
Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Democrat of Massachusetts, questioned Samuel A. Alito Jr. during his Supreme Court confirmation hearing in 2006.Credit...Doug Mills/ The New York Times
By John A. Farrell
Oct. 24, 2022
“Senator Edward M. Kennedy looked skeptically at the federal judge. It was Nov. 15, 2005, and Samuel A. Alito Jr., who was seeking Senate confirmation for his nomination to the Supreme Court, had just assured Mr. Kennedy in a meeting in his Senate office that he respected the legal precedent of Roe v. Wade, the 1973 court decision that legalized abortion.
‘I am a believer in precedents,’ Judge Alito said, in a recollection the senator recorded and had transcribed in his diary. ‘People would find I adhere to that.’
In the same conversation, the judge edged further in his assurances on Roe than he did in public. ‘I recognize there is a right to privacy,’ he said, referring to the constitutional foundation of the decision. ‘I think it’s settled.’
But Mr. Kennedy, a Massachusetts Democrat and longtime supporter of abortion rights, remained dubious that November day that he could trust the conservative judge not to overturn the ruling. He brought up a memo that Judge Alito had written as a lawyer in the Reagan administration Justice Department in 1985, which boasted of his opposition to Roe.” Read more at New York Times
Ron DeSantis and Charlie Crist spar
“Potential Republican presidential candidate Ron DeSantis repeatedly refused to commit to serving another four years as Florida governor if re-elected, and said during a debate Monday he is currently focused on defeating Democratic challenger Charlie Crist. Crist said the incumbent is more interested in running for president two years from now, and that he is doing it by promoting divisive social issues such as opposition to abortion and school regulations that target gay, lesbian and transgender students. Read more
One thing to know: Monday's face-off served as the only televised debate before election night, and Crist clearly knew it was likely his last chance to change the course of his flagging and out-financed campaign against DeSantis.
•DeSantis weaved around abortion: Crist has tried to make the governor’s race a referendum on abortion rights in Florida, but DeSantis for months has dodged questions about what further restrictions he wants (the state's 15-week ban went into effect in July).
•As Republicans grow in Florida, Palm Beach County, once deep blue, gets more purple.
•Gubernatorial races across the country are taking a prominent role in forming national policy on a number of important fronts. From Maine to California, gubernatorial elections will be held in 36 states this fall with most featuring incumbents running for reelection.” Read more at USA Today
Supporters of Democratic candidate for governor Charlie Crist march past a supporter of Florida's Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, as they arrive at the Sunrise Theatre ahead of a debate between DeSantis and Crist, in Fort Pierce, Fla., Monday, Oct. 24, 2022.Rebecca Blackwell, AP
2 killed, 7 injured in shooting at St. Louis high school
“Two people were killed and seven others injured after a former student opened fire Monday in a St. Louis high school before he was fatally shot by police, officials said. The gunman, identified as 19-year-old Orlando Harris, fatally shot a 61-year-old woman and 16-year-old girl at Central Visual and Performing Arts High School, St. Louis Police Department Commissioner Mike Sack said in a news briefing. The gunman graduated from the school last year and has no prior criminal history, Sack said. He had almost a dozen 30-round, high-capacity magazines on him, Sack added.” Read more at USA Today
Students stand in a parking lot near the Central Visual & Performing Arts High School after a reported shooting at the school in St. Louis on Monday, Oct. 24, 2022.David Carson, AP
What happened at the third trial over the death of George Floyd?
“Jury selection for the third and likely final trial over the death of George Floyd was canceled Monday after one of the defendants pleaded guilty and another waived his right to a jury trial. Former Minneapolis police officer J. Alexander Kueng pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter just before jury selection began Monday. Meanwhile, former officer Tou Thao waived his right to a jury trial and agreed to proceed with a trial by stipulated evidence, meaning Judge Peter Cahill will deliver a verdict. The joint trial of Thao and Kueng was the third over Floyd's death and likely the last. Both former officers are already serving time on federal convictions of violating Floyd’s civil rights.” Read more at USA Today
Former Minneapolis police officer Tou Thao, left, and his attorney Robert Paule arrive for sentencing for violating George Floyd's civil rights outside the Federal Courthouse Wednesday, July 27, 2022, in St. Paul, Minnesota.David Joles/Star Tribune via AP
“DIPLOMATIC BACKLASH — “For some of Ukraine’s most ardent backers, even talking about diplomacy amounts to appeasement,” GIDEON RACHMAN, the chief foreign affairs columnist for the Financial Times, noted last week .
Thirty House Democrats led by Congressional Progressive Caucus chair PRAMILA JAYAPAL (D-Wash.) learned this lesson the hard way on Monday, after they sent President JOE BIDEN what they believed was a nuanced and carefully worded letter endorsing direct diplomacy with Russia to end the war in Ukraine .
They condemned Russia’s ‘outrageous and illegal invasion of Ukraine,’ reiterated their support for ‘a free and independent Ukraine,’ and they were clear that American ‘military and economic support’ should continue. Unlike House GOP leader KEVIN McCARTHY, they did not hint at voting against future aid packages.
But their use of the D word precipitated a torrent of criticism — mostly from fellow Democrats — that had some of them backtracking within hours. (In one notable example, former CPC co-chair MARK POCAN (D-Wis.) told a constituent the missive was written amid different circumstances in July, adding, ‘I have no idea why it went out now. Bad timing.’
The letter’s suggestion that Biden ought to ‘engage in direct talks with Russia’ and pursue a new European security arrangement ‘acceptable for all parties’ crossed into ideological territory that remains outside of the Washington foreign policy establishment’s Overton window.
The reaction was swift.
— ‘VLADIMIR PUTIN would have signed that letter if asked,’ one member of the House Democratic leadership told Playbook, ‘That bone-headed letter just put Dems in the same league as Kevin McCarthy, who said in the same week that Ukraine funding could be in jeopardy.’
— Sen. CHRIS MURPHY (D-Conn.) cited ‘moral and strategic peril in sitting down with Putin too early.’ Writing on Twitter , he said, ‘Sometimes, a bully must be shown the limits of his power before diplomacy can work.’
— Rep. RUBEN GALLEGO (D-Ariz.), a member of the CPC who did not sign the letter, told Playbook it isn’t America’s role to force talks: ‘It’s up to the Ukrainians to determine their destiny, and the best way to do that is to support Ukraine in their fight for freedom, their fight for democracy.’
Jayapal later issued a second statement ‘clarifying the position of the letter.’ But rather than clarify, it reversed the heart of the letter’s demands. ‘Diplomacy is an important tool that can save lives — but it is just one tool,’ she said. ‘As we also made explicitly clear in our letter and will continue to make clear, we support President Biden and his administration’s commitment to nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine.’
While ‘nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine’ has become a mantra for the Biden administration, the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft’s GEORGE BEEBE, who endorsed the Jayapal letter, and Council on Foreign Relations president RICHARD HAAS, who did not, both made clear in The Washington Post this morning that it’s a bit of a fiction.
— ‘Simply saying it’s up to Ukraine to decide is abdicating the responsibility America’s leaders have’ to preserve global security, Beebe said, while Haas noted ‘the United States cannot subcontract out its foreign policy to Ukraine or anybody else.’
Given the risks of nuclear escalation, Rachman noted in his FT column that the lack of diplomacy was ‘both striking and worrying.’ But Monday’s episode makes it clear that Washington is barely ready to talk about diplomacy, let alone pursue it.
On the other hand, the door has been opened: Biden is dealing with splits at home on both the right and left as Europe heads into a winter that will severely test the unity of the Western coalition against Putin. The D word will be back.” Read more at POLITICO
“Threatening behavior | Ukraine’s allies are increasingly concerned that desperation over battlefield failures may lead Russia to escalate its war, possibly with an attack on a target like a dam or even a weapon of mass destruction. Officials said there’s no sign currently that the Kremlin is preparing for such a strike, even as it ratchets up rhetoric that may be aimed more at trying to intimidate Kyiv’s backers.” Read more at Bloomberg
Artillery and mortar craters pierce the ground next to a destroyed Russian tank in Kharkiv Oblast in Ukraine on Oct. 23. Photographer: Carl Court/Getty Images Europe
“Scientists may have discovered a method for making magnets used in wind turbines and electric cars, which would loosen China’s dominance of the rare-earth metals market.” Read more at Bloomberg
Leslie Jordan, Comic Actor and Instagram Star, Dies at 67
Shows like ‘Will & Grace’ made him a familiar face, then the pandemic brought new fame. He was killed in a car crash in Hollywood.
Oct. 24, 2022
“Leslie Jordan, a comic actor who after a late start in his performing career became a recognizable face from roles on numerous television shows, most notably ‘Will & Grace,’ then achieved even more fame during the pandemic when his quirky homemade videos attracted millions of Instagram followers, died on Monday in a car crash in Hollywood, Calif. He was 67.
David Shaul of the BRS/Gage Talent Agency, which represented him, confirmed the death. News reports quoting the police said Mr. Jordan’s car crashed into the side of a building after he had apparently experienced a medical emergency. A spokesman for the Los Angeles Police Department confirmed that someone driving a BMW collided with a wall in Hollywood at 9:30 a.m. and died, but he declined to identify the victim.
‘Not only was he a mega-talent and joy to work with,’ Mr. Shaul said of Mr. Jordan by email, ‘but he provided an emotional sanctuary to the nation at one of its most difficult times.’
That was a reference to Mr. Jordan’s surprising foray into viral videos during the pandemic. Sitting out Covid-19 in Tennessee, near his family, he began posting vignettes on Instagram — simple, amusing moments from his life — and was surprised to find his number of followers balloon into the millions. He had accumulated more than 130 television and film credits, so he hadn’t been exactly undiscovered, but the Instagram stardom at age 65 was an unexpected treat.” Read more at New York Times