All posts tagged: aide

Ex-Starmer aide Sue Gray gets House of Lords consolation prize – POLITICO

Ex-Starmer aide Sue Gray gets House of Lords consolation prize – POLITICO

Published by Sam

In her old life, she led the investigation into lockdown-busting parties in Tory Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Downing Street at the height of the Covid pandemic. But Gray became a lightning rod for internal criticism in the wake of Labour’s victory, with colleagues blaming her for a myriad of issues including communications failures, the slow appointment of ministers and low pay for special advisers. She quit the job in October and was replaced by Morgan McSweeney, a close political aide of Starmer seen as helping propel him to power. A promised job of envoy to the nations and regions was not taken up. As a member of the House of Lords, Gray — who gained a reputation as a fear-inducing Whitehall ethics investigator before taking on the Labour job — will be entitled to claim a daily attendance allowance, shape legislation and grill ministers. Under the U.K.’s political system, prime ministers can appoint life peers to the House of Lords. Labour is in the process of thinning the thinning the ranks of peers eligible to …

Donald Trump Doesn’t Use a Computer or Have an Email Address, Former Aide Reveals in Court

Donald Trump Doesn’t Use a Computer or Have an Email Address, Former Aide Reveals in Court

Published by skeptic

He used to dictate tweets to her. Capital C As former president Donald Trump’s hush money trial continues, a lot of unusual details are coming to light — including about the former president’s unorthodox use of technology. According to former aide Madeline Westerhout, who testified this week, Trump preferred to have her take notes instead of typing himself. He even dictated tweets to her, as the BBC reports, or asked her to print out draft tweets that he would then edit by hand. “My recollection is there are certain words he liked to capitalize,” she told the court. “Words like ‘country’. He liked to use exclamation points.” Strangest of all, in a country where virtually everybody is now online, she also said that Trump didn’t even have a computer or an email address — yet another peculiar twist that highlights just how technologically challenged the former head of state is. Ctrl-P Westerhout served as the director of Oval Office Operations between February and August 2019. She was fired after telling reporters that Trump didn’t want to be seen …

Trump White House aide Steve Bannon loses appeal of contempt of Congress conviction

Trump White House aide Steve Bannon loses appeal of contempt of Congress conviction

Published by skeptic

A federal appeals court on Friday unanimously upheld the criminal contempt of Congress conviction of former Trump White House senior aide Steve Bannon for refusing to testify and provide documents to the House committee that investigated the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. The appeals court rejected Bannon’s argument that he was not guilty because his attorney had advised him not to comply with a subpoena from the House committee. The ruling by a three-judge panel on the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit makes it more likely that Bannon will soon have to begin serving a sentence of four months in jail for his conviction of two counts of contempt. An attorney for Bannon said he will now request that the full judicial panel of the D.C. Circuit hear his appeal again, which might postpone his jail term. Bannon’s lawyer Doug Schoen told CNBC in an email, ”The Court of Appeals panel held today that it does not have the authority to overrule the 1961 panel of the …

Former top aide Hope Hicks testifies about ‘Access Hollywood’ tape

Former top aide Hope Hicks testifies about ‘Access Hollywood’ tape

Published by skeptic

U.S. President Donald Trump reacts as he stands next to former White House Communications Director Hope Hicks outside of the Oval Office as he departs the White House for a trip to Cleveland, Ohio, in Washington D.C., U.S., March 29, 2018. Picture taken March 29, 2018.  Carlos Barria | Reuters This is developing news. Check back for updates throughout the day. Testifying in front of her former boss Donald Trump, Hope Hicks on Friday recalled dealing with the infamous “Access Hollywood” tape that threatened Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign just weeks before Election Day. “Everyone was just absorbing the shock of it,” Hicks testified in Trump’s criminal hush money trial in Manhattan Supreme Court. Hicks, a top press aide for the campaign, said she was “very concerned” when she received an email from The Washington Post on Oct. 7, 2016, seeking a comment on the tape in which Trump is heard bragging about sexual misconduct. Hicks was concerned “about the contents of the email” and about “the lack of time to respond,” she testified. She said …

FIFA should lose EU legal dispute over player transfer rules, court aide says – POLITICO

FIFA should lose EU legal dispute over player transfer rules, court aide says – POLITICO

Published by skeptic

The Court of Justice is ruling on a dispute from an unidentified professional player based in Paris whose contract at Russian football club Lokomotiv Moscow was terminated after one year over an alleged breach of its terms. The player challenged the decision in court in Belgium after a potential deal with Belgium’s Sporting du Pays de Charleroi fell through because of the FIFA rules. He is seeking €6 million in damages and loss of income. The EU court must rule on points of EU law to advise Belgian judges who will handle the final decision. “There can be little doubt as to the restrictive nature” of FIFA’s regulation on the status and transfer of players, Szpunar said in his opinion. “By their very nature, the contested provisions limit the possibility for players to switch clubs and, conversely, for (new) clubs to hire players, in a situation where a player has terminated his or her contract without just cause,” he said. “The contested provisions, by limiting clubs’ ability to recruit players, necessarily affect competition between clubs …

Former Trump aide Peter Navarro will remain in prison after Supreme Court rejects bid for freedom

Former Trump aide Peter Navarro will remain in prison after Supreme Court rejects bid for freedom

Published by skeptic

For a second time, the Supreme Court has rejected former Trump White House advisor Peter Navarro’s request to get out of prison while he appeals a conviction for contempt of Congress, CNN reported Monday. The former director of the White House National Trade Council reported to federal prison after Chief Justice John G. Roberts denied Navarro’s first attempt to avoid incarceration. Navarro, 74, has been serving a four-month sentence in an 80-person facility for older inmates at the Federal Correctional Institute in Miami. He had defied a congressional subpoena to testify about the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol by Trump supporters, and was subsequently found guilty of two counts of criminal contempt of Congress. The prison sentence and a $9,500 fine were passed down by a federal judge in Washington, D.C. Members of the House January 6 Committee had sought documents and testimony from Navarro, who was involved in Trump’s bid to delay the official certification of Joe Biden’s victory. Navarro argued that he was entitled to executive privilege, but Roberts ruled that …

Supreme Court denies Trump aide Navarro’s jail release bid

Supreme Court denies Trump aide Navarro’s jail release bid

Published by skeptic

Former Donald Trump adviser Peter Navarro holds a press conference before turning himself into a federal prison on March 19, 2024, in Miami, Florida.  Joe Raedle | Getty Images The Supreme Court on Monday denied a request by Peter Navarro, a former advisor to ex-President Donald Trump, to get out of jail while he appeals his four-month sentence for defying a subpoena from the House committee that investigated the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. The order rejecting Navarro’s application for release pending appeal stated only that his request was addressed to Justice Neil Gorsuch and referred to the court, which denied it. It was the second time in six weeks that the high court shot down Navarro’s efforts to pause his jail sentence while he continues to fight a guilty verdict on two counts of contempt of Congress. Navarro, 74, surrendered to a federal prison in Miami on March 19 to begin serving his sentence. Navarro was indicted after refusing to comply with a subpoena from the House select committee probing the events of Jan. 6, …

Aide to member of European Parliament arrested over charges of spying for China

Aide to member of European Parliament arrested over charges of spying for China

Published by skeptic

BERLIN — German authorities have detained the aide of a far-right European lawmaker on suspicion of spying for China in the city of Dresden, prosecutors said in a statement. The European Parliament said Tuesday that it has suspended the person in question “with immediate effect.” The aide was arrested Monday amid mounting concern in Europe over Chinese espionage activity. Less than 24 hours earlier, three other German nationals were detained on suspicion of having worked for a Chinese intelligence service. Britain also charged two men on Monday with spying for China. According to German prosecutors, the suspect repeatedly passed on information about negotiations and decisions in the European Parliament to his intelligence client in January this year. “He also spied on Chinese opposition figures in Germany for the intelligence service,” the statement said. Maximilian Krah, a member of the European Parliament for the German far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party since 2019, later confirmed media reports that the suspect was his employee. “I learned about the arrest of the member of my staff, Jian Guo, …

AfD politician’s aide arrested on suspicion of spying for China | Germany

AfD politician’s aide arrested on suspicion of spying for China | Germany

Published by skeptic

A close adviser to a leading member of Germany’s far-right populist Alternative für Deutschland party (AfD) has been arrested on suspicion on spying for China in the latest high-profile espionage case to have come to light. The man, identified by prosecutors as Jian G, was accused of “an especially severe instance” of espionage, prosecutors said, following his arrest in the early hours of Tuesday morning. It comes after the arrests of three German citizens accused of industrial spying for China in return for payment. Maximilian Krah, the AfD’s top candidate in the European parliamentary elections in early June, said in a statement that he found out about the arrest of his employee Jian Guo from the press on Tuesday. “I do not have further information,” Krah said. He added that “spying activity for a foreign state is a serious allegation” that, if proven, would lead to the employee’s immediate dismissal. Both the AfD’s website and European parliament list Jian Guo as an assistant to Krah. Maximilian Krah speaking at a rally in Dresden this month. …