The Full Belmonte, 7/9/2022
“Elon Musk announced Friday that he will abandon his tumultuous $44 billion offer to buy Twitter after the company failed to provide enough information about the number of fake accounts. Twitter immediately fired back, saying it would sue the Tesla CEO to uphold the deal.
The likely unraveling of the acquisition was just the latest twist in a saga between the world’s richest man and one of the most influential social media platforms, and it may portend a titanic legal battle ahead.
Twitter could have pushed for a $1 billion breakup fee that Musk agreed to pay under these circumstances. Instead, it looks ready to fight to complete the purchase, which the company’s board has approved and CEO Parag Agrawal has insisted he wants to consummate.
In a letter to Twitter’s board, Musk lawyer Mike Ringler complained that his client had for nearly two months sought data to judge the prevalence of ‘fake or spam’ accounts on the social media platform.” Read more at AP News
Abe's body arrives in Tokyo as Japan mourns the former leader's death
“The body of Japan's former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was returned to Tokyo Saturday after he was assassinated during a campaign speech in western Japan a day earlier. A black hearse carrying Abe's body and accompanied by his wife, Akie, arrived at his home in Tokyo's upscale residential area of Shibuya, where many mourners waited and lowered their heads as the vehicle passed. Police on Saturday said autopsy results showed that a bullet that entered Abe's upper left arm damaged arteries beneath both collar bones, causing fatal massive bleeding. Earlier, the Japanese Ministry of Home Affairs called a day of state mourning for Saturday. Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and his Cabinet ministers hastily returned to Tokyo from campaign events elsewhere after the shooting Friday, which he called ‘dastardly and barbaric.’ He pledged that the election, which chooses members for Japan's less-powerful upper house of parliament, would go on as planned Sunday.” Read more at USA Today
Who was Shinzo Abe? More on the assassination of Japan's former prime minister and the gunman who killed him
Timeline: How the assassination of Japan's Shinzo Abe unfolded
Assassination: Ex-Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe dies at 67 after campaign shooting
President Biden signed an executive order aimed at protecting abortion access and patient privacy.
“The order directs the secretary of Health and Human Services to find ways to expand access to abortion and contraceptives, including an FDA-approved abortion pill, among other measures. Some Democrats had grown frustrated with the president for not mounting a more forceful response to the Supreme Court’s decision overturning Roe v. Wade ahead of the midterm elections.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
Google has been the target of several attempts to curtail its massive ad-tech business. A Google booth at a Paris exhibit for startups last month. PHOTO: VINCENT ISORE/ZUMA PRESS
“Alphabet Inc.’s Google has offered concessions in an attempt to head off a possible U.S. antitrust lawsuit aimed at its massive ad-tech business, according to people familiar with the matter, a sign that legal and regulatory pressures on the tech giant are coming to a head.
As part of one offer, Google has proposed splitting parts of its business that auctions and places ads on websites and apps into a separate company under the Alphabet umbrella, some of the people said. That entity could potentially be valued at tens of billions of dollars, depending on what assets it contained.
It couldn’t be determined whether any offer short of asset sales would satisfy the U.S. Department of Justice, where antitrust officials have signaled a preference for deep structural changes to Google’s ad-tech business, rather than promises to change business practices, the people said.
The Justice Department has been conducting a long-running investigation into allegations that Google abuses its role as both a broker and auctioneer of digital advertisements to steer itself business at the expense of rivals. The department is preparing a lawsuit alleging Google’s ad-tech practices are anticompetitive, an action that could be filed as soon as this summer, the people said.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
Vince McMahon, WWE’s longtime leader, addressing fans during a WrestleMania event last year in Tampa, Fla. JOE CAMPOREALE/USA TODAY/REUTERS
“Vince McMahon, World Wrestling Entertainment Inc.’s longtime leader, agreed to pay more than $12 million over the past 16 years to suppress allegations of sexual misconduct and infidelity, an amount far larger than previously known.
The payouts went to four women, all formerly affiliated with who signed agreements with Mr. McMahon that prohibit them from discussing potential legal claims against or their relationships with the 76-year-old executive, according to people familiar with the deals as well as documents reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.
The previously unreported settlements include a $7.5 million pact with a former wrestler who alleged that Mr. McMahon coerced her into giving him oral sex and then demoted her and, ultimately, declined to renew her contract in 2005 after she resisted further sexual encounters, according to people familiar with the matter. The wrestler and her attorney approached Mr. McMahon in 2018 and negotiated the payment in return for her silence, the people said.
In another previously unreported deal, a WWE contractor presented the company with unsolicited nude photos of Mr. McMahon she reported receiving from him and alleged that he had sexually harassed her on the job, according to people familiar with the woman’s 2008 nondisclosure agreement. Mr. McMahon agreed to pay her roughly $1 million, these people said.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
Brittney Griner's presence will be felt at WNBA All-Star weekend
“The WNBA All-Star Game will be held Sunday in Chicago and the presence of Phoenix Mercury star Brittney Griner will be felt, even though she's thousands of miles away in a Russian prison. Griner pleaded guilty Thursday in Russia on drug charges and she could face a sentence of up to 10 years. Though, her guilty plea may have been part of a strategy to get a more lenient sentence, an expert on the Russian legal system told USA TODAY Sports. Russian authorities arrested Griner at an airport on Feb. 17 for allegedly carrying hashish oil in vape cartridges. Griner has been named an honorary starter for the All-Star Game, and union leader Terri Jackson said the WNBA is planning a special recognition for Griner's wife, Cherelle, and the Griner family during the contest. Speaking Friday in Chicago ahead of the festivities, Cherelle joined Nneka Ogwumike, the president of the WNBA players' association, the Rev. Al Sharpton, WNBA star Sue Bird and Jackson for a press conference calling for mercy for Griner.” Read more at USA Today
Funeral set for one of the victims of the Highland Park shooting
“Services for 69-year-old Eduardo Uvaldo, who was killed by the gunman who opened fire on a July Fourth parade in Highland Park, Illinois, are scheduled for Saturday. Uvaldo died Wednesday from a gunshot wound to the head after he was taken off a ventilator Tuesday, according to a GoFundMe page set up by his family. Uvaldo's grandson and wife were also injured in the shooting. Uvaldo and his family attended the Highland Park holiday parade every year ‘filled with happiness and laughter,’ his granddaughter, Nivia Guzman, wrote on the page. Mourners remembered three of the other people killed during the holiday massacre Friday. Services for 63-year-old Jacquelyn Sundheim and 88-year-old Stephen Straus were held Friday. Friends and family also gathered later Friday in memory 78-year-old Nicolas Toledo-Zaragoza. Prosecutors on Tuesday charged the suspected gunman, 21, with seven counts of first-degree murder.” Read more at USA Today
Names of Highland Park shooting victims: Parents of a 2-year-old boy, a 'loving' grandfather and more
From USA TODAY Opinion: As a nation, we failed Aiden McCarthy, a toddler whose parents were killed in the Highland Park shooting.
Red flags and firearms checks: How the Highland Park suspect slipped through the cracks
Trump supporters scaled the walls on the Senate side of the U.S. Capitol and gained access inside the building on Jan. 6, 2021. (Michael Robinson Chavez/The Washington Post)
“U.S. prosecutors leveled new accusations Friday against the leader of the Oath Keepers and alleged members who have been charged with seditious conspiracy in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack, saying one co-conspirator came to Washington with explosives and detailing allegations that a co-defendant kept a ‘death list’ with the name of a Georgia election official.
The allegations came days before the Jan. 6 House committee is set to hold its next hearing Tuesday, which is expected to explore connections between extremist groups accused of playing key roles in the violence at the Capitol and former president Donald Trump’s effort to overturn the 2020 election through false claims of voter fraud.
In a 28-page filing, prosecutors said a law enforcement search on Jan. 19, 2021, of the home of charged co-defendant Thomas Caldwell, a retired Navy intelligence officer from Berryville, Va., recovered a document that included the words ‘DEATH LIST’ handwritten across the top with the name of a Georgia election official and a purported family member of the official. Both were targets of baseless accusations that they were involved in voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election, prosecutors said.” Read more at Washington Post
Robert J. Costello, Stephen K. Bannon and David Schoen in Washington, D.C., on June 15, 2022. (Win McNamee/Getty) (Photographer: Win McNamee/Getty)
“Former President Donald Trump is considering sending a letter to Stephen K. Bannon saying that he is waiving his claim of executive privilege, potentially clearing the way for his former chief strategist to testify before the House select committee investigating the pro-Trump riot at the Capitol.
The letter would reiterate that Trump invoked executive privilege in September 2021, when Bannon was first subpoenaed by the House committee. But it would say that the former president is now willing to give up that claim — the validity of which has been disputed — if Bannon can reach an agreement on the terms of an appearance before the panel. The letter was described by three people familiar with it, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the matter’s sensitivity.
Some advisers were seeking to talk Trump out of signing the letter.
Bannon was charged with contempt of Congress in November 2021 for refusing to comply with the subpoena. A trial on those charges is scheduled to begin July 18, though Bannon has sought to delay the proceedings.
The committee has argued that claims of executive privilege are not valid for Bannon, who was a private citizen at the time of Jan. 6, 2021. The committee has also said that Bannon, an outspoken advocate of false claims that the 2020 election was stolen, was required to respond to the subpoena in some way — citing claims of privilege on a question-by-question basis instead of by refusing to respond.
‘Even if your client had been a senior aide to the President during the time period covered by the contemplated testimony, which he was most assuredly not, he is not permitted by law to the type of immunity you suggest that Mr. Trump has requested he assert,’ Chairman Bennie G. Thompson (D-Miss.) wrote to Bannon’s attorney in October.
The government has declined to bring contempt charges against other former Trump aides who have also cited executive privilege, including former Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and former adviser Dan Scavino.
An attorney for Bannon and a spokesperson for Trump did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Since the bombshell testimony from Cassidy Hutchinson, a former top aide to Meadows, several Republicans have come forward to cooperate with the House select committee and more are expected to continue coming forward, according to people familiar with the investigation, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the matter’s sensitivity.
The live and videotaped testimony featured in the committee’s case against Trump has so far painted a detailed picture of the former president’s efforts to hold on to power at all costs. These public hearings could now continue into August and beyond as investigators accumulate more evidence and new witness testimony, the people familiar with the investigation added.
On Friday, former White House counsel Pat Cipollone appeared for an eight-hour, closed-door, transcribed interview with investigators to discuss his role in trying to prevent Trump’s attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
Cipollone may have provided the committee with answers to crucial questions that could corroborate previous testimony or provide new evidence about what he may have witnessed in the White House in the lead-up to Jan. 6 and on the day of the attack.” Read more at Washington Post
The Wisconsin Supreme Court and State Legislature, both controlled by conservatives, have sought to reshape the state’s voting rules, efforts that Gov. Tony Evers, a Democrat, has opposed.Credit...Chang W. Lee/The New York Times
“The Wisconsin Supreme Court on Friday prohibited the use of most drop boxes for voters returning absentee ballots, giving the state’s Republicans a major victory in their efforts to limit voting access in urban areas.
The 4-to-3 ruling by the court’s conservative majority will take effect in time for Wisconsin’s primary elections next month, although its true impact most likely will not be felt until the November general election. Gov. Tony Evers, a Democrat, and Senator Ron Johnson, a Republican, both face what are expected to be very close re-election bids.” Read more at New York Times
“COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — Protesters in Sri Lanka entered the president’s residence and his office on Saturday, as thousands descended on the capital, Colombo, to register their growing fury over his government’s inability to address a crippling economic crisis.
The protesters are demanding the resignation of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, whose family has dominated politics in Sri Lanka for much of the past two decades, accusing him of running the island nation’s economy into the ground through corruption and mismanagement.
Sri Lanka has run out of foreign-exchange reserves for imports of essential items like fuel and medicine, and the United Nations has warned that more than a quarter of Sri Lanka’s 21 million people are at risk of food shortages.
The economic crisis is a major setback for the island nation that was still grappling with the legacy of a bloody three-decade civil war. That conflict, between the government and the Tamil Tiger insurgents who had taken up the cause of discrimination against the ethnic minority Tamils, ended in 2009. But many of its underlying causes have remained, with the Rajapaksa family continuing to cater to the majority Buddhist Sinhalese.
At least 42 people have been injured in clashes with security forces in the city, health officials said, after the police used tear gas and water cannons against protesters and fired shots into the air to try to disperse them.
Local news media showed footage of protesters breaching parts of the presidential residence as well as his secretariat, a separate building that houses his office.” Read more at New York Times
“BRUSSELS (AP) — From his days stoking anti-European Union sentiment with exaggerated newspaper stories, to his populist campaign leading Britain out of the bloc and reneging on the post-Brexit trade deal he signed, outgoing U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been the bane of Brussels for all so many years.
Such was his impact on breaking the bonds between Britain and the EU that after Johnson was forced to announce Thursday that he would step down, the news brought little public jubilation in EU circles. Instead, there was just the numb acceptance of the inevitable and resignation that things will never be the same.
‘I will not miss him,’ French finance minister Bruno Le Maire said, highlighting an open disdain unseen since the Europeans welcomed the U.S. election loss of Donald Trump in 2020. And while trans-Atlantic relations picked up quickly since the arrival of President Joe Biden, don’t expect anything similar with a new British leader, politicians and experts said.” Read more at AP News
“The meltdown in cryptocurrency markets deepened as major players contended with withdrawal freezes, trading halts, bailouts and, in the case of Three Arrows Capital, a liquidation order. If you’re an account holder at bankrupt crypto firm Voyager, you probably won’t get all your money back. The crypto rout, which erased $2 trillion in market value since last fall, has also disproportionately hurt Black and Hispanic investors. And the dollarsurged to its strongest level in more than two years with speculation it might soon reach parity with the euro, and shorting that currency has become a popular trade. A strong greenback makes it a great time for Americans to travel to Europe. With the extra buying power, perhaps a luxury hotel in Paris’ Marais? Or wine tasting in Kent, the ‘Garden of England?’ But wherever you go this summer, good luck getting there.” Read more at Bloomberg
Kent, England Source: Bloomberg
“Under earnings pressure after a big loss last year, the food distribution company Grubhub struck a deal with Amazon on Wednesday, offering restaurant delivery services without a fee for Amazon Prime members.
As of Wednesday, the premium service, called Grubhub+, is now a free perk for Amazon Prime customers. Here is what we know.
What is Grubhub+?
Grubhub+ is a membership service, introduced in 2020, that costs $9.99 a month. It cancels delivery fees on orders that total $12 or more before taxes, tips and other fees. Amazon Prime members (including those who are already Grubhub+ members) will get a free year of Grubhub+.” Read more at New York Times
Ons Jabeur in her semifinal match on Thursday.Sebastien Bozon/Agence France-Presse, via Getty Images
“Ons Jabeur vs. Elena Rybakina, Wimbledon final: Jabeur, a native of Tunisia, is the first Arab or African woman to reach a Grand Slam singles final in the modern era. Like Roger Federer, to whom she has long been compared, Jabeur excels at a range of shots: approaches, overhead smashes, deft drop volleys. Her opponent, Elena Rybakina, was born in Moscow but a few years ago switched her home country to Kazakhstan — which has allowed her to get around Wimbledon’s ban on Russian athletes, imposed after the invasion of Ukraine. 9 a.m. Eastern today, ESPN.” Read more at New York Times
“Actor Tony Sirico, known for playing Peter Paul ‘Paulie Walnuts’ Gualtieri on the Emmy-winning HBO series ‘The Sopranos,’ died Friday at 79.” Read more at USA Today
