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☆ After criticism for silence, Biden White House takes questions on classified documents
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-17 | by ( Peter Nicholas | Peter Nicholas Is A Senior National Political Reporter For Nbc News. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +5 min

A White House official, Ian Sams, spoke to reporters Tuesday about documents dating back to Biden’s vice presidency — the first time the White House has solicited questions about the classified materials. Sams, a senior adviser to the White House Counsel’s office, said in the press briefing that because of an ongoing Justice Department investigation, the White House is limited in what it can responsibly disclose. At issue is whether the White House kept quiet about documents that had been stored improperly in hopes of sparing Biden the political fallout from such a disclosure. Biden’s personal attorneys found more classified documents while searching his home in Wilmington on Dec. 20. Yet the White House didn't acknowledge the found documents until a CBS News report earlier this month.

☆ Biden's classified records mistakes are serious and so far largely unexplained
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-11 | by ( Mattathias Schwartz | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

The closet where Biden's lawyers found classified documents was inside of a shared "general suite." A second batch of classified documents was discovered by aides at a separate location Biden had used, NBC News reported on Wednesday. He expressed concern about the two-month delay between Biden's lawyers discovering the documents and the White House's public announcement. Trump repeatedly (and foolishly) tried to stonewall Archives and the FBI, which then discovered additional records in the August search; Biden's lawyers say they are cooperating. Ozio confirmed that the Penn Biden Center shared a "general suite" with another Penn entity that uses the same address.

☆ Effort to impeach Alejandro Mayorkas will only complicate the immigration puzzle
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-13 | by ( Zachary B. Wolf | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

They want the incoming Republican-controlled House Judiciary Committee to launch an impeachment investigation of Mayorkas ASAP in early January. While their alleged crimes are very different, any impeachment effort against Mayorkas would likely end similarly: Belknap was acquitted in a Senate trial. Democrats, controlling the Senate majority, would surely do the same if Republicans could even muster the majority needed to impeach Mayorkas. McCarthy would rather just see Mayorkas resign, although there’s no indication Mayorkas will. “If Secretary Mayorkas does not resign, House Republicans will investigate every order, every action and every failure.

☆ Tech firm says “you’re welcome” with $8 bln LBO
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-12 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

NEW YORK, Dec 12 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Coupa Software (COUP.O) wants its investors to know one thing: Business is terrible. The developer of corporate expenditure-tracking software released a presentation Monday after announcing an $8 billion deal to be sold to private equity firm Thoma Bravo. Once the domain of hockey-stick growth charts and wild-eyed optimism, the humbling of the software industry promises a new era of real-talk. Coupa’s Thoma agreement comes after near-5% shareholder HMI Capital Management warned management about selling on the cheap. So Coupa came prepared with a bevy of charts showing growth stalling and management expectations below even analyst estimates.

Money manager positioning on the CME's copper contract shifted back to a net long at the start of November for the first time since early May. Bulls remain conspicuous by their absence, waiting to see how Doctor Copper prices the confusing combination of Western recession and tentative recovery in China. The bounce has forced an unwind of fund short positions, which have more than halved to 31,177 contracts as of last Tuesday. Bears have retracted their claws on both exchanges but there's been no corresponding surge in bullish exuberance among fund managers. Investment fund and other financial net positioning on LME copperRECOVERY AND RECESSIONFunds' reticence to commit to copper is understandable given the market is trying to price two conflicting trends.

☆ Storm clouds gather over the pound as focus turns back to dire economy
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-02 | by ( Harry Robertson | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

The good news for new Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is that few analysts now expect the pound to fall below parity with the dollar. A warm October has helped natural gas prices fall but a cold winter could drive up the cost of Britain's energy imports again, said Jordan Rochester, currency strategist at Nomura. DOLLAR PRESSURENot all strategists think the pound will return to near the lows seen in September. "The global economy is slowing down and heading for a recession and in such a scenario, the U.S. dollar does tend to outperform," said Alvin Tan, a senior currency strategist at RBC. Further rate hikes from the Federal Reserve, including on Wednesday, are also likely to support the dollar, he said.

☆ Companies are making climate pledges they don't have the capacity to keep, Microsoft President Brad Smith says
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-26 | by ( Catherine Clifford | In Catclifford | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Brad Smith, president of Microsoft Corp., speaks during a climate initiative event at the Microsoft Corp. campus in Redmond, Washington, U.S., on Thursday, Jan. 16, 2020. SEATTLE — Companies are on the hot seat to respond to climate change like never before, but most corporate leaders don't have the tools necessary to meet those pledges, said Microsoft President Brad Smith last week at the inaugural Breakthrough Energy Summit in Seattle. "By our count, 3,470 companies around the world have signed up for a climate pledge," said Smith. That stage of the industry, often called carbon accounting, is also "in this incredibly nascent stage," Smith said, and companies don't have enough workers with the right skillsets to help accelerate their progress, Smith noted. As the industry matures, tools will emerge to help with tracking, but with so much uncertainty today, some companies avoid making climate pledges at all, according to Greg Guyett, co-CEO of global banking and markets at HSBC.

☆ Texas regulators have their eyes on one of the most powerful players in the crypto world
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-20 | by ( Jon Sarlin | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

CNN Business —The big news in crypto this week came via a court filing in Texas. FTX, the crypto giant that is led by arguably the most powerful person in the industry, is under investigation by Texas regulators for selling unregistered securities. FDIC, OCC, SEC, DOL, FBI, US Treasury and IRS have all stepped up their crypto enforcement efforts. The crypto lawyer I spoke with told me that those who prefer the CFTC over the SEC fall into two camps. I interviewed Saylor last year for CNN’s crypto interactive (“The Bitcoin Billionaire” is what we dubbed him).

While the show had to close its curtains to new audiences in New York, it’s been given a new life touring the United States and opening in London’s West End. "It was devastating, the COVID moment," Morissette told Reuters before opening night at the Pantages Theatre in Hollywood. "But at the same time the whole planet was subject to the COVID shift so we were in the pool with everybody." It can feel trippy to hear the words she wrote based on her own experiences resonate with others, she said. “Jagged Little Pill” is playing at the Pantages Theatre in Los Angeles, before touring the United States.

☆ Peter Thiel was the 'puppet master' behind Facebook's political dealings, and 6 other unusual details about the billionaire tycoon's relationship with Mark Zuckerberg
▼ + stars: | 2022-02-08 | by ( Dorothy Cucci | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Peter Thiel and Mark Zuckerberg have known each other since 2004, when Thiel became Facebook's first major investor. Some believe Thiel acted as Zuckerberg's "puppet master," and Facebook employees noticed that Zuckerberg seemed to rely on Thiel in an unusual and sometimes concerning way. Zuckerberg told Thiel he should resign from Facebook's board of directors in August 2017. Thiel underestimated Facebook's potential and told Zuckerberg to sell the company in its second year. When Yahoo offered to buy Facebook for $1 billion, Thiel told Zuckerberg to take the deal — but then-22-year-old CEO said no.

☆ Trump's most important 2016 donor is sitting out 2020
▼ + stars: | 2020-07-24 | by ( Dave Levinthal | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +20 min

Robert and Rebekah Mercer ranked among President Donald Trump's most influential backers in 2016. A representative for Priorities USA Action, a leading pro-Biden super PAC, said the organization wasn't underestimating Trump's reelection forces, Mercers or no Mercers. (Bossie, like former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski and many others, has recently found himself back in Trump's favor.) The Cambridge Analytica data that the Trump campaign paid for was "so stupidly wrong" and a "complete joke," Spicer added. But sources familiar with the Mercers' political spending said they have no evidence that the Mercers are doing so.

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