DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

☆ Jared Kushner's post-White House deal-making included badly timed bet on Amazon aggregator
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-14 | by ( Annie Palmer | In Annierpalmer | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +16 min

Kushner started Affinity in 2021, shortly after leaving his advisory role in the White House alongside his wife, Ivanka Trump. Neumann, who was ultimately ousted from WeWork by top SoftBank execs, introduced Kushner to Unybrands early the following year. Affinity's investment in Unybrands, which hasn't previously been reported, was one of the private equity firm's earliest deals. Following a continued slide, the company laid off roughly 10% of its staff in November 2022, according to people familiar with the matter. The House Oversight Committee launched an investigation into the investment in 2022, looking into whether Kushner's financial interests influenced Trump's foreign policy.

Persons: Jared Kushner, Alex Brandon, Kushner, Weeks, Ivanka Trump, Trump, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Jamal Khashoggi, WeWork, Adam Neumann, Neumann, Unybrands, hasn't, —, Catterton, Jason Somerville, Somerville, it's, didn't, headcount, Donald Trump, Gary Cohn, Crown Prince, Mohammed bin Salman, Jonathan Ernst, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Carolyn Maloney, Ron Wyden, Kushner didn't, Ulrich Kratz, Goldman Sachs, Kratz, Kushner's, Ian Brekke, Asad Naqvi, Bret Pearlman, Roger McNamee, Max Fink, Neumann's, Brekke, Naqvi, Pearlman, Fink, Shahar Azran, Eugen Miropolski, Robyn Laguette, Mark Goldfinger, Joe Biden, Lex, Jeff Bezos, Sam Altman, Ye, I've Organizations: U.S . Capitol, Capitol, Reuters, Affinity Partners, Companies, White House, Affinity, Saudi Crown, Unybrands, WeWork, CNBC, Amazon, BlackRock, Khosla Ventures, GW Partners, Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, United Arab, Saudi Arabia's, Crown, Ritz Carlton Hotel, Saudi, Republicans, Crayhill Capital Management, Barclays, Goldman, Kushner, Investments II, Blackstone, Partners, Financial Services, CNBC it's, Israeli American Council, IAC, Getty, Kanye Locations: Washington, Amazon's, South Florida, Miami, Silicon Valley, Saudi, Saudi Arabia, Unybrands, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Riyadh, Yemen, American, Austin , Texas, Gulf, Israel

☆ How a Political Insider Spends Her Sundays
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-18 | by ( Jackie Cooperman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Tricia Shimamura spends her days crisscrossing the city as the director of community affairs for Mark Levine, the Manhattan borough president. It’s a mission that resonates deeply with Ms. Shimamura, 34, who ran for City Council on the Upper East Side in 2021. She sits on the boards of several organizations that work with women to develop leadership skills and run for political office. On Sundays, Ms. Shimamura combines family time with community work, an exhausting and edifying balance. She lives with her husband, Dov Gibor, 44, who is a lawyer, and their two sons, Teddy, 4, and Oliver, 1.

Persons: Tricia Shimamura, Mark Levine, Shimamura, Carolyn Maloney —, Dov Gibor, Teddy, Oliver Organizations: City Council, Democratic, Columbia Locations: Manhattan, It’s, Puerto Rican, New York

☆ House GOP's 'all-star' oversight panel features 13 election deniers, 10 impeach-Biden-world advocates, and 3 congressional subpoena dodgers
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-19 | by ( Warren Rojas | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

House Republican leaders have stocked the oversight panel with partisan bomb-throwers. Many of the new panelists voted to overturn the 2020 election and defied Jan. 6 investigators. Retired Democratic Rep. Carolyn Maloney, who chaired the House Oversight Committee last session, asserted that this new cast of characters were getting into it for the wrong reasons. "The personal vendettas these committees pursue are not a legitimate use of the oversight power. "These are basically the people who own Kevin McCarthy at this point," Bardella told Insider at the Facts First event.

WASHINGTON — The 2022 midterm elections were full of surprises. Republicans began the year favored to notch big victories, yet they fell short and barely captured control of the House. Lake was widely seen as the election-denying candidate with the best chance to win a statewide race in a key battleground in the 2022 elections. Secretary of state contenders who echoed Trump’s fabricated claims of a stolen election lost, including Mark Finchem in Arizona, Kristina Karamo in Michigan and Jim Marchant in Nevada. Their wins led Democrats to win every competitive House race and gain control of the state House for the first time in more than a decade — although recent vacancies have called that majority into question.

☆ Here are the 5 senators who voted against giving workers break time to pump breast milk
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-23 | by ( Madison Hall | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Five senators voted against expanding protections for breastfeeding workers. The PUMP Act will now be included in the federal Omnibus bill, which the president is expected to sign. In online statements on Thursday, Merkley and Murkowski celebrated the passage of the PUMP Act. "I am encouraged to see the PUMP Act pass the Senate—good progress toward ensuring no mother ever has to choose between a job and nursing her child," Murkowski said. Merkley and Murkowski initially tried to get the PUMP for Nursing Mothers Act voted on as a standalone bill on Tuesday, but the attempt was blocked by Paul.

Share this -Link copied'It's too much for me': Zelenskyy begins speech by thanking U.S. Zelenskyy began his remarks before a joint meeting of Congress at 7:40 p.m. "I think we share the exact same vision, that of a free, independent and prosperous Ukraine," Biden said. The Ukrainian president added that the soldier told him that "many (of) his brothers, this system saved." President Joe Biden holds a medal presented to him by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the Oval Office. Share this -Link copiedPhoto: Zelenskyy shakes hands with Biden as he arrives President Joe Biden welcomes Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to the White House.

☆ ‘Shame on you’: Club Q survivors blame GOP rhetoric for mass violence
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-14 | by ( Sarah Fortinsky | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

CNN —Survivors of the Club Q mass shooting directly tied Republicans’ rhetoric to the massacre at the Colorado LGBTQ nightclub and detailed their experiences on the night of the shooting, in prepared testimony read before the House Oversight and Reform committee Wednesday. He also placed direct blame on lawmakers’ hateful rhetoric, saying it was “the direct cause” of the Club Q massacre. “Hate rhetoric from politicians, religious leaders, and media outlets is at the root of the attacks like at Club Q, and it needs to stop now. When Club Q owner and survivor Matthew Haynes read his prepared remarks, he seemed to push back directly at Comer, saying, “I know that we, our Club Q community, are in the thoughts and prayers of so many of you. They’re not changing the rhetoric of hate.”“We need safe places like Club Q more than ever.

☆ House GOP’s inclusion of 'salacious' Commanders cheerleaders photos in official memo draws blowback
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-13 | by ( Https | Media-Cldnry.S-Nbcnews.Com Image Upload Newscms Rebecca-Shabad-Circle-Byline-Template.Jpg | Rebecca Shabad | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +3 min

WASHINGTON — Lawyers for more than 40 former Washington Commanders employees are demanding that House Republicans remove "sexualized and salacious photographs" of the NFL team's cheerleaders featured in a GOP-written memo about the football team. (The GOP report put black boxes over the women's faces and some body parts.) In a statement, a Republican Oversight Committee aide criticized the Democrats' report and defended the GOP memo. "Prior to circulating the internal memo, Committee staff took steps to ensure all sensitive images involving cheerleaders were redacted and their identities kept confidential. As we have said from the beginning, the Oversight Committee is not the proper venue for this investigation.

☆ House Oversight Committee to host Club Q shooting survivors in hearing on anti-LGBTQ threats
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-12 | by ( Https | Media-Cldnry.S-Nbcnews.Com Image Upload Newscms Ali-Vitali-Circle-Byline-Template.Jpg | Ali Vitali | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +3 min

WASHINGTON — Less than a month after a deadly shooting at Club Q in Colorado Springs, the House Oversight Committee will host survivors for a hearing on violence and threats against LGBTQ people, NBC News has learned. The Dec. 14 hearing will include testimony from bartender Michael Anderson and from James Slaugh, both of whom survived the Club Q shooting, as well as the club’s founding partner and co-owner Matthew Haynes, the committee told NBC News. The panel will also hear from Brandon Wolf, who survived the 2016 shooting at Orlando’s Pulse nightclub, where a gunman killed 49 people. In November, a gunman opened fire at Club Q with a semiautomatic rifle, killing five people and injuring 17 others. “These attacks, like the one at Club Q, are designed to scare us from living authentically and honestly," he said.

☆ Oil companies ‘could doom global efforts’ around climate change, House committee finds
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-09 | by ( Lucas Thompson | Lucas Thompson Is A Content Producer For The Nbc News Climate Unit. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +4 min

The companies mentioned in the report did not return requests for comment. Internal documents also showed oil executives privately admitting that divesting, or moving around the accountability of emissions, will not have a meaningful impact on overall emissions levels. The report comes after Democrats lost control of the House in the 2022 midterm elections, and with it the ability to direct House Oversight investigations. Khanna said the millions of documents acquired by the committee will be handed over to those with more resources who can act on the information. “You can’t expect a House subcommittee to go up against oil companies that have been misleading American public for 40 years and all of a sudden have accountability.

☆ Big Oil has engaged in a long-running climate disinformation campaign while raking in record profits
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-09 | by ( René Marsh | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

CNN —Big Oil companies have engaged in a “long-running greenwashing campaign” while raking in “record profits at the expense of American consumers,” the Democratic-led House Oversight Committee has found after a year-long investigation into climate disinformation from the fossil fuel industry. The committee found the fossil fuel industry is “posturing on climate issues while avoiding real commitments” to reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Lawmakers said it has sought to portray itself as part of the climate solution, even as internal industry documents reveal how companies have avoided making real commitments. Many of their requests for internal documents were heavily redacted by the companies, which did not specify reasons for withholding the information. “These companies know their climate pledges are inadequate but are prioritizing Big Oil’s record profits over the human costs of climate change,” Maloney said.

[1/3] A natural gas flare on an oil well pad burns as the sun sets outside Watford City, North Dakota January 21, 2016. REUTERS/Andrew Cullen/File PhotoWASHINGTON, Dec 9 (Reuters) - Major energy companies are not doing enough to prevent the worst effects climate change despite public promises to fight the problem, a U.S. House panel said about documents released on Friday that it got in a probe. Shell's Smith said the House panel's probe failed to uncover evidence of a climate disinformation campaign. "Today's new evidence makes clear that these companies know their climate pledges are inadequate, but are prioritizing Big Oil’s record profits over the human costs of climate change." The House panel previously released a memo on Sept. 14 showing that oil majors "greenwashed" their record on climate change "through deceptive advertising and climate pledges - without meaningfully reducing emissions."

☆ AOC wasn't the first lawmaker to attend the Met Gala. But how she got the ticket — and that dress — may have made her a target for an ethics complaint, expert says.
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-09 | by ( Kelsey Vlamis | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

One ethics expert told Insider a potential ethics violation would depend on who paid for her ticket. In June, the OCE, a non-partisan body, referred the complaint to the House Ethics Committee. For instance, if Facebook purchased a Met Gala table and gifted one of its seats to a lawmaker, that could constitute an ethics violation. Wintour has served as an official co-chair or honorary chair of the Met Gala nearly every year since 1995. Rep. Carolyn Maloney also attended the Met Gala on several occasions — and became the subject of a House Ethics Committee investigation this year.

CNN —A year-long investigation by the House Committee on Oversight and Reform revealed on Thursday that Washington Commanders owner Dan Snyder established a “culture of fear” within the NFL organization and attempted to intimidate witnesses from cooperating with investigators. The 79-page report found “sexual harassment, bullying, and other toxic conduct” pervaded the workplace for decades. An internal investigation by attorney Beth Wilkinson last year resulted in the NFL fining the Commanders $10 million and Snyder handing control of the franchise’s daily operations to his wife. But the NFL declined to publicly release its findings, sparking the House Oversight Committee’s review in October. NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy issued a statement on Thursday afternoon in response to the report’s findings, saying it did not impede the investigation.

☆ House Republicans say TikTok made misleading claims in briefings on data handling
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-23 | by ( Brian Fung | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

Washington CNN Business —House Republicans say TikTok may have misled congressional staff in private briefings about the company’s handling of US user data, in a new letter to the short-form video app this week. And it foreshadows how House Republicans, having gained a majority in the 2022 midterm elections, are likely to approach TikTok in the coming months. “Both claims appear to be misleading at best, and at worst, false,” Comer and McMorris Rodgers wrote. Tuesday’s letter calls on TikTok to preserve a broad swath of documents, communications and other records, in a preview of how House lawmakers could investigate the company in the coming months. And it reiterated a half-dozen other requests for information the GOP lawmakers had sent to the company during the summer.

☆ Democratic Rep. Carolyn Maloney faces ethics inquiry after wrangling a Met Gala ticket: 'It is the one thing she cares about'
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-21 | by ( Madison Hall | Walt Hickey | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

While in office, Rep. Carolyn Maloney of New York has been a frequent attendee of the Met Gala. "She has been coming to the party for years, and it is the one thing she cares about," the Met's former president said in an email. The OCE is a nonpartisan body, created by Congress itself in 2008, that investigates allegations of misconduct by House members and staff. The OCE also noted that they had obtained evidence Maloney "may have requested a Met Gala invitation, as recently as 2020." Maloney lost her primary after her district was merged with Democratic Rep. Jerry Nadler's district.

ID.me said it was reviewing the panels' findings and did not have immediate comment. Congress began investigating ID.me after former ID.me employees, government watchdog groups and lawmakers complained the company had been unprepared to handle an onslaught of unemployment insurance applications early in the pandemic. While Reuters and other media last year reported on the waits, investigators said their analysis definitively showed that issues had been widespread. The Democrat-led committees are continuing to investigate other concerns about ID.me, including the accuracy of its facial recognition system and the adequacy of its support for non-English speakers. Reporting by Paresh Dave; Editing by Bradley Perrett and Lisa ShumakerOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

ID.me responded that calling its fraud estimate baseless or too high was premature because government auditing was ongoing. Congress began investigating ID.me after former ID.me employees, government watchdog groups and lawmakers complained the company had been unprepared to handle an onslaught of unemployment insurance applications early in the pandemic. While Reuters and other media last year reported on the waits, investigators said their analysis definitively showed that issues had been widespread. ID.me said it regretted the long waits but described them as "short-lived and temporary and caused by historic fraud." The Democrat-led committees are continuing to investigate other concerns about ID.me, including the accuracy of its facial recognition system and the adequacy of its support for non-English speakers.

☆ Trump D.C. hotel receipts reveal $10,500-a-night rooms for foreign officials seeking to influence U.S.
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-14 | by ( Https | Media-Cldnry.S-Nbcnews.Com Image Upload Newscms Anna_Byline.Jpg | Anna Schecter | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +8 min

For their part Qatari officials and connected companies spent at least $307,941 at the Trump hotel from late 2017 through mid-2018, according to the Oversight Committee’s findings. In the letter she requests presidential records from NARA that could be related to attempts by foreign governments and lobbyists working on their behalf to influence the Trump administration by spending money at the Trump Hotel. A spokesperson for the Malaysian Embassy did not immediately respond to a request for comment. According to the Oversight Committee, documents from Mazars show the Turkish Embassy sponsored two stays at the Trump hotel around the time of Erdoğan’s visit. The documentation obtained did not show how much the embassy spent at the hotel during either of these stays.

☆ Saudi defense officials rented suites at Trump's DC hotel that cost $10,500 right before MBS visited White House
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-14 | by ( John Haltiwanger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Officials from six countries spent over $750k at Trump's DC hotel in 2017 and 2018, documents show. The officials stayed at Trump's hotel amid rocky periods in relations between their countries and the US. Saudi officials spent nearly $86k in March 2018. The Saudi officials spent nearly $86,000 from March 7 to March 18, including renting several $10,500 suites. Prince Mohammed, the de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia, was explicitly implicated in Khashoggi's killing by the US government.

☆ Trump D.C. hotel receipts reveal $10,500-a-night rooms for foreign officials seeking to influence U.S. policy
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-14 | by ( Anna Schecter | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +8 min

The Saudi revenues for the Trump hotel came during a period when Saudi Arabia and the UAE were lobbying the Trump administration to support them during their blockade against economic rival Qatar. In the letter she requests presidential records from NARA that could be related to attempts by foreign governments and lobbyists working on their behalf to influence the Trump administration by spending money at the Trump Hotel. The Malaysian expenditures at the Trump Hotel were the most extensive in a one-week period found by the Oversight Committee to date. A spokesperson for the Malaysian Embassy did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The documentation obtained did not show how much the embassy spent at the hotel during either of these stays.

☆ Foreign governments dropped $750,000 on Trump's DC hotel during key lobbying pushes, subpoenaed documents show
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-14 | by ( Charles R. Davis | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Documents released Monday detail foreign government spending at the Trump Hotel in Washington, DC. The documents show Saudi Arabia and the UAE rented rooms while lobbying the Trump administration. Rep. Carolyn Maloney said the records show Trump may have been "guided by his personal financial interest." Monday's records, which had been subpoenaed by the Democratic-led committee, detail spending that came during key moments in US foreign policy. The Qatari government also spent more than $300,000 at the property during this time, the records show.

Share this -Link copiedWisconsin Senate race too close to call Wisconsin's Senate race between GOP Sen. Ron Johnson and Democrat Mandela Barnes is too close to call, NBC News says. Vance wins Ohio Senate race, defeating Democrat Tim Ryan, NBC News projects COLUMBUS, Ohio — J.D. Ohio Republican Senate candidate J.D. Vance is leading The Senate race in Ohio is too early to call, NBC News says, but Republican candidate J.D. Share this -Link copiedGeorgia Senate race too close to call Georgia's Senate race is too close to call about three hours after polls closed at 7 p.m.

House Oversight Committee Chairwoman Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., will introduce a bill Friday aimed at improving access to abortion services, as well as accurate information on the procedure, in the wake of the Supreme Court’s ruling overturning Roe v. Wade, NBC News has learned. The Abortion Care Awareness Act of 2022 is the latest effort by Democrats to address the fallout from the Supreme Court’s decision to end the constitutional right to an abortion, which has since spurred multiple states to limit or outright ban the procedure. The bill would direct HHS to set up a national campaign to promote resources on where and how to obtain abortion care, medication abortion, and a patient’s right to travel across state lines to get the procedure. John Nacion / STAR MAX/IPx via AP fileA large coalition of reproductive health groups — including the National Family Planning and Reproductive Health Association, Planned Parenthood Federation of America, and more — will endorse Maloney’s bill. Karen Stone, Planned Parenthood Federation of America vice president of public policy and government relations, echoed the need to expand access to educational resources on reproductive health care.

Amazon quietly donated $400,000 to a conservative nonprofit last year as the group pushed back on antitrust bills being considered in Congress, according to documents reviewed by CNBC. The donation is tied for the second-highest contribution listed on the documents showing last year's top donors to the conservative nonprofit. She wrote, "antitrust efforts such as this bill, are not protecting consumers, but reducing their choices and driving up prices." The Independent Women's Forum was also among 30 organizations that co-signed an Oct. 2021 open letter to Senate lawmakers pushing back on antitrust legislation. We have highlighted our concerns about big tech censorship and publicly criticized what we see as censorship of conservative views.

Search resuls for: "Carolyn Maloney"

25 mentions found