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"Our experts assess that our diplomatic efforts have slowed down this effort by the PRC," Blinken said, referring to the People's Republic of China. Blinken said the administration of former President Donald Trump knew of a 2019 Chinese upgrade of intelligence-collection facilities in Cuba but efforts to address this "weren't making enough progress". Incoming Biden administration officials were briefed on efforts by China to "expand their overseas logistics, basing, collection infrastructure, to allow them to project and sustain military power at a greater distance", including the upgrade in Cuba, Blinken said. I can’t get into every step that we’ve taken, but the strategy begins with diplomacy," Blinken said. Reporting by Simon Lewis and Humeyra Pamuk; Editing by Alex RichardsonOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Biden, Antony Blinken, Washington's, Blinken, Joe Biden, Donald Trump, Simon Lewis, Humeyra Pamuk, Alex Richardson Organizations: Wall, Incoming Biden, Thomson Locations: Beijing, Cuba, People's Republic of China . China, China

☆ Proud Boys trial: Four members found guilty of seditious conspiracy
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( Hannah Rabinowitz | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

CNN —Four members of the far-right Proud Boys have been found guilty of seditious conspiracy by a jury in Washington, DC, for their role to forcibly prevent the peaceful transfer of power from then-President Donald Trump to Joe Biden after the 2020 election. The jury was unable to reach a verdict on the seditious conspiracy charge against Pezzola. Proud Boys were at the front lines of the mob on Capitol grounds and were there when the first barriers were breached. Prosecutors have alleged that leaders of the group riled members up and communicated with them, through hand signals, to move ahead. During the trial, jurors listened to testimony from multiple officers who defended the Capitol on January 6 as well as FBI agents who investigated the Proud Boys and testimony from several Proud Boys members including two of the defendants, none of whom said there was ever a specific plan to take the Capitol.

☆ Hacked Washington law firm fights SEC subpoena in effort to protect attorney-client privilege
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-01 | by ( Rohan Goswami | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

People exit the headquarters of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in Washington, D.C., May 12, 2021. Covington & Burling has more than 700 lawyers in Washington, D.C., where the international firm has built a reputation of working with regulators rather than fighting them. "The SEC's subpoena turns advocate into informant, conscripting Covington as a source for investigative leads against its own clients," the firm said in a filing. Covington remains unyielding in its opposition, and the firm is getting a hefty dose of support from its legal peers. Officials have said cooperation and support from the private sector, ranging from small businesses to top law firms, is a critical part of law enforcement's efforts to protect U.S. interests.

Feb 14 (Reuters) - Law firm Covington & Burling fired back at a lawsuit from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday, arguing the agency overstepped by asking it to identify clients affected by a 2020 cyberattack on the firm. Covington said an SEC subpoena for the names of nearly 300 publicly traded companies whose information was accessed or stolen during the hack threatened to expose confidential client information that the firm is required to protect. The SEC sued Covington last month to force the powerful D.C.-based firm to identify the clients as part of an investigation into potential securities law violations associated with the hack. The firm pointed to legal ethics rules that require law firms to keep the confidences of their clients and protect potentially embarrassing information. Covington said it worked with the FBI to investigate the cyberattack and notified all clients whose information was potentially compromised.

☆ Jared Kushner blocked Biden's access to COVID-19 planning in the final days of the Trump era, former aide says
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-30 | by ( Joshua Zitser | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Jared Kushner denied Biden's team access to COVID-19 plans in late 2020, a former aide said. Kushner said Biden's team should "absolutely not" be looped in, claimed Alyssa Farah Griffin. "Jared just said, 'Absolutely not,'" Farah Griffin told the panel. Biden officials complained at the time that the Trump administration was refusing them access to COVID-19 data in the weeks after the election. In the same speech, Biden pressed the Trump administration to provide more details about the allocation of COVID-19 vaccinations.

Ali Alexander said he believed White House wanted him to lead rallygoers to Capitol "Stop The Steal" organizer Ali Alexander believed the White House wanted him to lead attendees of Trump's Jan. 6 rally to the Capitol, the report said. Alex Jones, who has claimed the White House told him to lead the march, texted Wren at 12:27 p.m. Finally one of the staffers told Trump they thought he should focus on his speech. Trump told Jan. 6 demonstrators at the Capitol in a Twitter video that he loved them but that they should go home. The information was expected to be available as soon as Thursday — the day the House Jan. 6 committee is set to issue its final report on the riot.

It could be worse, the president could have tried to kill’ — he didn’t say kill — ‘the president could have tried to strangle you on Jan. 6,’” Hutchinson said. Hutchinson recalled how during a drive to New Jersey she began wondering whether any aide in the Richard Nixon administration had held a position similar to her own during the Watergate scandal. In remarks, she thanked the Jan. 6 Committee for its work ahead of the final report's release. Hutchinson, who delivered bombshell testimony to the Jan. 6 committee this summer, had previously been represented by Stefan Passantino, who had also worked as a lawyer in the Trump White House. Share this -Link copiedCommittee releases Cassidy Hutchinson transcripts The committee released more transcripts on Thursday, making public the closed-door interviews with White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson.

☆ British trade minister visits Washington
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-14 | by ( David Lawder | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

LONDON, Nov 14 (Reuters) - British trade minister Kemi Badenoch will visit Washington on Monday to meet politicians and address business representatives to try to boost ties with the United States even as talks over a free trade deal have stalled. A U.S. free trade deal was touted as the one of the biggest prizes for Britain leaving the European Union. But hopes of a quick agreement were dashed when the incoming Biden administration put all free trade talks on ice. In the absence of a broader trade deal with the United States, Britain has been working to secure memorandums of understanding with individual states. The state-level MOUs have been criticised by the opposition Labour Party as being no substitute for a full U.S.-UK trade deal.

Dolan has not pleaded guilty to seditious conspiracy, but three other Oath Keepers have. Dolan testified Tuesday that before the Jan. 6 attack, he was drinking — often alone and in his garage — and getting sucked into online conspiracy theories. "I think my biggest trouble is trying to convince myself to say good bye," Dolan wrote in the message to other Florida Oath Keepers. Five members of the Oath Keepers, including Rhodes, are on trial for seditious conspiracy. The government introduced photos of Dolan entering the Capitol, and Dolan testified that he was chanting “treason!” along with other members of the pro-Trump mob.

☆ Mark Meadows told incoming Biden chief of staff Ron Klain during the presidential transition that 'no president' received a daily intelligence briefing: book
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-09 | by ( John L. Dorman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Meadows told Klain that "no president" received a daily briefing, per Maggie Haberman's new book. In "Confidence Man," Haberman detailed how Klain asked for Biden to get a daily intelligence brief. "I know the president's saying these things," Meadows told Klain at the time, per the book. "How many days a week is Vice President Biden gonna want this daily brief?" Biden also received daily briefings during his time as vice president under then-President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2017.

☆ Republican power is up for grabs in the post-Trump world. Here are the 16 GOP power centers that Joe Biden will have to contend with.
▼ + stars: | 2020-11-27 | by ( Tom Lobianco | Dave Levinthal | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Donald Trump will no longer be president on January 20, but don't expect him to disappear into the night. He will continue to be a dominant force in Republican politics that President-elect Joe Biden will have to tangle with. But Biden will also have to contend with other figures such as Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and the nation's Republican governors. Here are the 16 Republican power centers the Democrat and his team will have to either work or fight with — or both — once they take office next year. Here are the 16 most influential conservative power centers Biden could work with — or be forced to overcome — to enact his agenda.

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