A key reform the federal government says is urgently needed to modernize the electricity grid and boost the take-up of clean energy has been plunged into uncertainty after both major fossil fuel and renewable power companies hit out at the plan.
The Energy Security Board (ESB), the Commonwealth’s policy adviser, is receiving pushback, including from Origin Energy and AGL, over a proposal to direct payments to companies to run generators or store power to back up renewables when the sun isn’t shining and wind isn’t blowing.
Major power companies are questioning ESB’s proposal for a payment scheme to encourage more investment in clean power. Credit:AP
The ESB has proposed that the so-called “capacity mechanism” be technology neutral, allowing plants powered by coal, gas or renewables to receive the payments. This has sparked concerns from some major power companies that incumbent fossil fuel generators would be propped up at the expense of investment in clean energy, or that consumers would pay higher bills than necessary.
It recently published industry feedback on the proposal, ahead of a meeting with state energy ministers on Friday at which the federal government will seek to speed up the creation of a capacity mechanism.
“Importantly, the capacity mechanism should not be viewed as a means of staving off coal closures, but work alongside a credible framework to help facilitate and manage orderly exits,” coal plant owner Origin said in its submission to the ESB’s capacity mechanism.
Another coal plant owner, AGL, said it was “particularly concerned at the potential for the proposed design to result in excessive costs for energy customers” and to dampen incentives for clean energy investment.
The ESB’s proposal is also opposed by clean energy companies, whose investment will be needed to deliver on the $300 billion required over the coming decade to expand the grid and link it to distant wind and solar farms as they replace coal plants.
However, some experts, including Grattan Institute energy director Tony Wood and former ESB chair Kerry Schott, are backing the ESB’s proposal, arguing the design can be shaped by energy ministers to prioritize clean power over coal.
Grand Theft Auto V has shipped nearly 170 million copies worldwide across physical channels, continuing the game’s incremental monthly growth.
VIEW GALLERY – 3 IMAGES
Even after 9 years with releases on 3 console generations, GTA V still isn’t slowing down. Take-Two Interactive has confirmed GTA V has sold-in nearly 170 million copies worldwide. Total franchise sales are now at 380 million, so GTA V makes up 44% of total GTA sales.
GTA V has sold copies of these entire franchises:
Assassin’s Creed (155 million+)
Final Fantasy (165 million+)
Resident Evil (127 million)
Monster Hunter (84 million)
There’s two noticeable trends that arise from this data: GTA V has sold 5 million copies per quarter for six quarters in a row, and the PS5/Xbox Series X/S re-releases have not boosted game sales.
It’s also worth mentioning that the GTA trilogy remaster seems to have totally fizzled out in terms of sales. The trilogy remaster collection launched with a mighty 10 million units sold, but controversy has significantly affected continued sales of the game.
Rockstar Games will continue adding new GTA Online content to supplement GTA V as it works on the next major Grand Theft Auto game, which may release in its FY24 period.
“I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want that record. Obviously, I do. But day-to-day, I’m not really thinking about her.”
Williams later said in an Instagram post that it was time to move in a “different direction.”
Serena Williams at Wimbledon in 2018.Credit:PA Pool
“The countdown has begun. I have to focus on being a mom, my spiritual goals and finally discovering a different, but just exciting Serena.”
She also has a vast business portfolio to maintain.
For nearly a decade she has backed early-stage companies, including MasterClass, one of 16 unicorns – companies whose market value exceeds $US1 billion – to receive funding from Serena Ventures.
loading
On the court, Williams announced herself on the grandest stage by winning the 1999 US Open singles title, a tournament she would go on to win five more times.
Over the past two decades, she also claimed seven titles at both Wimbledon and the Australian Open and a further three at the French Open as she revolutionized the women’s game with a lethal mix of powerful serves, groundstrokes and athleticism.
Williams has had eight separate spells at the top of the WTA rankings, totaling 319 weeks as world number one.
“When Serena steps away from tennis, she will leave as the sport’s greatest player,” pioneer Billie Jean King said.
“After a career that has inspired a new generation of players and fans, she will forever be known as a champion who won on the court and raised the global profile of the sport off of it.”
Seven-time Grand Slam winner John McEnroe called Williams “an icon.”
“She’s in that level where Michael Jordan, LeBron James and Tom Brady are,” he told USAToday. “Ella She’s like one of the all-time greatest athletes in the history of any sport-male or female.”
Williams also owns 14 women’s Grand Slam doubles titles with older sister Venus and has won four Olympic gold medals – singles (2012) and doubles (2000, 2008, 2012).
While she has earned a well-deserved reputation as tennis’ fiercest competitor, Williams played down expectations for her major final, after losing in the opening round at Wimbledon.
loading
“Unfortunately, I wasn’t ready to win Wimbledon this year. And I don’t know if I will be ready to win New York,” she wrote.
“I know there’s a fan fantasy that I might have tied Margaret that day in London, then maybe beat her record in New York… It’s a good fantasy. But I’m not looking for some ceremonial, final on-court moment.
“I’m terrible at goodbyes, the world’s worst. But please know that I am more grateful for you than I can ever express.”
The US Open main draw begins on August 29.
Williams said she and her husband, entrepreneur and investor Alexis Ohanian, have been trying to have another child during the last year, a decision her four-year-old daughter Olympia is excited about.
“Sometimes before bed, she prays to Jehovah to bring her a baby sister,” Williams wrote.
The American won the 2017 Australian Open while she was two months pregnant but has no interest in being a pregnant athlete again: “I need to be two feet into tennis or two feet out.”
“I never wanted to have to choose between tennis and a family,” she wrote. “But I’m turning 41 (in September), and something’s got to give.”
Reuters
Watch all the action from theUS Open ad-free, live and on demandStan Sportwith matches streaming in 4K UHD since August 30.
Director of the Center for Future Work, Jim Stanford, who authored the ACTU’s jobs summit discussion paper, which is being published on Wednesday, said the RBA could easily drive the country into a recession as it used the “sledgehammer” of interest rates to drive down inflation.
“They are willing to cause a recession and throw hundreds of thousands of people out of work,” he said.
The ACTU believes the key focus of the Reserve Bank must change to full employment.Credit:Louie Douvis
Apart from changing the RBA’s role in the economy, the ACTU is pressing for a more active government role in the economy.
In what looms as a direct challenge to the new Labor government, unions believe there is a case for prices of key goods and services to be regulated to prevent “price gouging” and to reduce inflationary pressures. This would include the energy sector but could also extend to telecommunications or transport, which the ACTU says are “heavily concentrated” industries.
The ACTU believes all governments could do more to relieve pressure on the housing sector. It wants the RBA to end price speculation around property and policy changes such as an expansion of public housing, controls on rent and regulating housing credit to “more affordable” projects.
loading
It is pressing for the government to abandon the already legislated stage-three tax cuts, due to start in mid-2024, which will deliver large benefits to high-income earners.
An excess profits tax should be imposed on businesses enjoying windfall gains due to current high inflation while businesses that channel profits back to shareholders instead of re-investing the cash into infrastructure or productivity-enhancing technology should face financial penalties.
Unions will also use the summit to press the government to revitalize enterprise bargaining, arguing the industrial relations system is now “entirely broken”. It believes this re-regulation of the system would lift real wages in tandem with productivity.
ACTU secretary Sally McManus said working Australians had endured almost a decade of insecure work and stagnant wages. They were now facing high inflation that was contributing to real wage reductions.
loading
She said the nation’s top economic goal should be to give all people the chance of gaining secure and fairly paid employment.
“At the summit we have an opportunity to address the big problems that have remained unaddressed for a decade to kick-start wage growth, deliver secure jobs for Australian workers and see living standards rise again,” she said.
“Achieving this will require more than fiddling around the edges, it requires new ways of thinking about how our system is managed, who benefits from it and how to change it for the better.”
Unions are expected to have a strong presence at the summit, which has been dismissed by the Coalition as a “Labor talkfest”.
loading
But Liberal leader Dutton will be formally invited to attend by Treasurer Jim Chalmers who said the government was serious about bringing people together to find common ground on the nation’s economic challenges.
“There’s plenty of goodwill out there and a real appetite for co-operation. That spirit of co-operation can extend to the opposition if they are willing to accept it, and I hope they will,” he said.
“This is a working summit, not a soiree. We want participants to roll up their sleeves and bring fresh ideas to the table.”
Chalmers said the government wanted to also ensure independent MPs also had a presence at the summit, to be held on September 1 and 2.
Cut through the noise of federal politics with news, views and expert analysis from Jacqueline Maley. Subscribers can sign up to our weekly Inside Politics newsletter here.
The Fulton special grand jury appears to be interested in several events involving Giuliani in late 2020.
It’s subpoenaed witnesses who heard Giuliani’s falsehood-filled testimony before two Georgia legislative committees in Dec. 2020. It’s also interested in the appointment of the slate of “alternate” Trump electors, which Giuliani reportedly helped quarterback for the Trump campaign.
Fulton Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney talks to the lawyers during a court challenge to Rudy Giuliani’s subpoena to the Fulton County special grand jury examining Georgia’s 2020 elections at Fulton Superior Court Thursday, August 9, 2022. Steve Schaefer / [email protected] )
Credit: Steve Schaefer
Credit: Steve Schaefer
Fulton Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney talks to the lawyers during a court challenge to Rudy Giuliani’s subpoena to the Fulton County special grand jury examining Georgia’s 2020 elections at Fulton Superior Court Thursday, August 9, 2022. Steve Schaefer / [email protected] )
Credit: Steve Schaefer
Credit: Steve Schaefer
Jurors have also interviewed Georgia elected officials who received calls from Trump, Giuliani and campaign officials, including House Speaker David Ralston, R-Blue Ridge. Ralston previously told a north Georgia website that Giuliani had called him in Dec. 2020.
During Tuesday’s hour-long hearing, it quickly became clear just how much communications between Giuliani’s team and the DA’s office had broken down.
Thomas said he was brought on late last week after Giuliani’s New York attorney failed to make headway with the DA’s office. He said prosecutors did not reach out to Giuliani’s doctor to confirm the lawyer’s condition and eventually stopped returning phone calls.
Nathan Wade, a Fulton prosecutor, said Giuliani’s team initially said he couldn’t travel at all. A day later, Giuliani tweeted a smiling photo of himself with a young woman in New Hampshire. (Giuliani’s lawyer later clarified that he had been driven to New England.)
In a Monday court filing, the DA’s office also said it had received evidence that Giuliani purchased plane tickets to Italy and Switzerland for dates after his surgery. Thomas said those tickets were for a conference and other events scheduled before Giuliani’s procedure and that he ultimately canceled his trip.
McBurney said he will soon issue an order directing Giuliani to appear on Aug. 17th, barring more detail from Giuliani’s doctor about why driving or taking public transportation to Atlanta wouldn’t be feasible.
“That’s plenty of time to make the trip, a 13-hour drive,” he said. “New York is not close to Atlanta, but it’s not traveling from Fairbanks.”
Rudy Giuliani’s attorney Bill Thomas (L) and lawyer Nathan Wade for the DA shake hands before the start of a court challenge to Giuliani’s subpoena to the Fulton County special grand jury examining Georgia’s 2020 elections at Fulton Superior Court Thursday, August 9, 2022. Steve Schaefer / [email protected])
Credit: Steve Schaefer
Credit: Steve Schaefer
Rudy Giuliani’s attorney Bill Thomas (L) and lawyer Nathan Wade for the DA shake hands before the start of a court challenge to Giuliani’s subpoena to the Fulton County special grand jury examining Georgia’s 2020 elections at Fulton Superior Court Thursday, August 9, 2022. Steve Schaefer / [email protected])
Credit: Steve Schaefer
Credit: Steve Schaefer
One question that was not answered during Tuesday’s hearing is whether Giuliani is a target of the investigation.
Thomas said the answer would shape the approach Giuliani’s team would take to their client’s testimony.
Regardless, it’s likely Giuliani will cite attorney-client or even executive privilege on many of the questions he would receive from prosecutors or jurors.
The 16 Republicans who claimed to be Georgia’s “duly elected” presidential electors were recently informed by the DA’s office that they’re targets of the probe and could be indicted. But McBurney recently ruled that the portion of the case involving one of the electors, state Sen. Burt Jones, would be handled by another, to-be-determined set of prosecutors after Fulton DA Fani Willis had a conflict of interest.
On Wednesday, attorneys for US Sen. Lindsey Graham are slated to appear before a federal judge to argue why their client shouldn’t have to appear in front of the special grand jury.
what’s next:
wednesday: Attorneys for US Sen. Lindsey Graham (RS.C.) are scheduled to argue in federal court why their client de ella shouldn’t have to honor his subpoena from the special grand jury.
next week: Hearings are scheduled in Colorado and New Mexico for subpoena challenges lodged by two lawyers affiliated with the Trump campaign, Jenna Ellis and John Eastman.
Aug 17: Barring more information from his doctor, attorney Rudy Giuliani is being ordered to testify before the grand jury.
The Commonwealth Bank has announced a 9 per cent increase in profits, despite a fall in its margins.
Key points:
CBA has posted a statutory net profit of $9.7 billion
The bank will pay a final dividend of $2.10, fully franked
CBA says most of its customers are well placed to afford rising interest rates, but 37 per cent are less than a month ahead on repayments
The bank made a net profit of $9.7 billion over the 2021-22 financial year and its preferred measure of cash profit, which excludes a range of one-offs, rose 11 per cent to $9.6 billion.
The increase in profits came despite a steep fall in net interest margin (NIM) — the gap between the rate the bank pays to borrow money and the rate it lends it out at and its main source of profits.
NIM fell 0.18 percentage points to 1.9 per cent, driven by lower home loan margins in an ultra-low interest rate environment.
Analysts expect the NIM to grow as the recent jump in interest rates is passed on in full to mortgage borrowers but only in part to savers.
The bank made up for falling profit margins on its loans by growing home lending by 7.4 per cent and business lending by 13.6 per cent, although its growth in home lending was slightly below its competitors.
CBA has expressed confidence that its customers will be able to keep up their repayments in the face of rapidly rising interest rates.
It said two-thirds of its customers had direct debits above their minimum required repayments at the current level of interest rates, although this would drop to a quarter if the cash rate rose to CBA’s forecast peak of 2.6 per cent.
The bank also noted that more than a third of its mortgage customers were at least two years ahead in their repayments, with around half at least three months ahead
However, 22 per cent are only paying just on time, while a further 15 per cent are less than one month ahead.
CBA’s economists are tipping home prices to fall at least 15 per cent from peak to trough, largely because rising interest rates are reducing borrowing capacity.
Most households can only borrow about the same amount or less than they could in 2016, while property investors have seen their borrowing capacity cut.
Commonwealth Bank shareholders will receive a final dividend of $2.10 per share, taking the full-year payout from the bank to $3.85.
The global launch for apex legends Season 14 is nearly upon us, and so is a slew of new cosmetics.
On Monday, developer Respawn Entertainment released another trailer for Apex Legends: Hunted. This one focuses entirely on what is included in the battle pass, such as skins for weapons and characters — keeping the “survival” motif going with everything. For example, Wraith now has the Veteran Voyager skin, which makes her look like some sort of dapper hunter from the 17th century. Meanwhile, Field Research Caustic is an alternative outfit that makes the mad scientist appear like he’s just starting experiments on people. Not really a softer side!
Watch the all-new trailer for Apex Legends: Hunted below. There’s also a high-quality YouTube mirror here.
Set your sights on style with the Hunted Battle Pass 🎯
Complete challenges to earn new themed rewards like Veteran Voyager Wraith, Field Research Caustic, and the Fortune Hunter Reactive Triple Take. All this and more coming tomorrow Aug 9. pic.twitter.com/zy0iNfFW8v
Anyone curious about when the latest season goes live should check out GLHF‘s launch guide. Apex Legends: Hunted will have loads of sweeping changes to the charge rifle, spit fire, EVA-8, G7 Scout, and lots more. the overall level cap is rising while Kings Canyon is getting an overhaul as well.
Of course, the big draw of Season 14 is Vantage, the legend with an eye for sniping. She will likely have a profound effect on the competitive side of things.
Apex Legends: Hunted releases on Aug. 9, 2022, for PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, and PC.
Darren Lockyer doesn’t buy the argument that, following Ricky Stuart’s “weak-gutted dog person” outburst, post-game press conferences should be scrapped.
Paul Gallen presented that argument in his latest column for Wide World of Sports, on the back of Stuart’s astonishing spray directed at Panthers playmaker Jaeman Salmon.
“Doing a media conference moments after a game is just stupid,” Gallen wrote.
READMORE:Raiders coach hit with unprecedented penalty
READMORE:Fresh contract farce spotlights dud NRL system
READMORE:Cripps learns fate for crunching hit on Lion
Darren Lockyer doesn’t agree with an argument presented by Paul Gallen following Ricky Stuart’s press outburst. (Jono Searle/Getty Images)
“It’s stupid and 99 per cent of the time it’s boring.
“The coaches go in there, and whenever they get asked a question about a contentious play they have the same answer.”
But Lockyer sees value in the coach and captain facing the press shortly after the game.
“Sometimes they televise it. I look at it in the AFL. Sometimes it’s quite enlightening watching them,” Lockyer said on Wide World of Sports’ QLDER.
“The passion, whether you’ve won or lost, is actually good to see.
“This is a slip-up from Ricky, it’s the wrong part.
“Changing the system based on what happened there — I think that would be wrong.
“I think it’s just a mistake by an individual that not many others would make.”
Stream the NRL premiership 2022 live and free on9Now.
The NRL hit Stuart with a one-match ban and $25,000 fine, ruling the Raiders coach out of his side’s clash with St George Illawarra in Canberra on Sunday.
Raiders coach banned for ‘unacceptable’ spray
The suspension means as of Tuesday afternoon until next Wednesday Stuart is not allowed to enter Raiders headquarters, attend any training session or provide any coaching.
Those duties have been left to his three assistants.
Lockyer thought Stuart, an intense figure in rugby league, had “mellowed out”.
“We know Ricky’s a passionate person and at times he can boil over,” Lockyer said.
“We’ve seen it in the past.
“He’d been quite good the last sort of 18 months.
“I hadn’t seen a chair kicked on the sideline for a while.”
For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter byclicking here!
The backstories and controversies that have ignited feuds involving athletes
COVID-19 threatens to thwart many Queenslanders’ Christmas plans for a third consecutive year, but the New Year brings the hope of next generation vaccines that may better dampen virus transmission.
Key points:
Experts are warning waves of COVID to continue indefinitely
More than 65 per cent of Queenslanders aged 65 and older have received four doses of a COVID vaccine
Experts say “variant-specific boosters” and nasal vaccines will be rolled out to the public in 2023
With experts predicting COVID waves to roll on indefinitely, Queenslanders are being urged to prepare for a “new normal”, with mandatory mask wearing expected to continue in “vulnerable” settings, such as hospitals and aged care.
Chief Health Officer John Gerrard this week tentatively forecast the next COVID wave to begin in December, although he said it was impossible to predict its severity.
While the third Omicron wave has peaked, Princess Alexandra Hospital Director of Infectious Diseases Geoffrey Playford called on the public to remain vigilant by continuing to wear masks when unable to socially distance and to stay up to date with their COVID-19 vaccines to protect themselves and “keep our healthcare system going as best as it can”.
“We’re all aware in other societies, particularly in South-East Asia, and North Asia, that mask wearing has been a part of normal business, normal society for quite some time – well before COVID-19,” Dr Playford said.
“It may well be that’s where the rest of us go as well.
Masks will be the norm for the foreseeable future. (ABC News: Elizabeth Pickering)
“Humans are incredibly adaptable, and I suspect we will just get to a new normal that we’ll accept as the normal moving forward and we will adapt to that.
“I doubt it will get back to the old normal.”
Hospital balancing act an ‘enormous challenge’
As the fourth year of the pandemic looms in 2023, Dr Playford said the unprecedented coronavirus pandemic had left healthcare workers concerned about the management of other diseases, unrelated to COVID, moving forward.
The Princess Alexandra Hospital’s Dr Geoffrey Playford says hospitals have grappled with enormous challenges.(ABC NewsEmma Pollard)
“People’s cancer screenings, people’s cancer management, all the other non-COVID-related health conditions need to be managed as best as we can side by side with the COVID response,” he said.
“Patients who have COVID need to be managed in specific areas of the hospital and that’s over and above all the other pressures upon our healthcare system and our hospital beds.
“That’s been an enormous challenge trying to balance both.
“Although COVID is circulating within the community and will always circulate within the community … we shouldn’t just be accepting transmission without trying to reduce it as much as possible.
“That takes the pressure off the healthcare system and allows all the non-COVID-related conditions to get the appropriate management that they deserve.”
Queensland’s third Omicron wave is in decline.(ABC NewsAlice Pavlovic)
In Queensland on Tuesday, 710 people were taking up hospital beds with COVID – down about 36 per cent from the third wave peak of 1,123 on July 26.
The state also recorded 24 COVID deaths in the previous 24 hours, taking the total since the pandemic began to 1,677.
‘Variant-specific boosters’ and nasal vaccines set to roll out
Federal Health Department data shows 65.81 per cent of Queenslanders aged 65 and older have received four doses of a COVID vaccine – just above the national average of 64.87 per cent.
While the first generation of vaccines have not generated herd immunity – creating immunity within the population to effectively quell the spread of COVID – they have been highly successful in reducing hospitalization and death.
Infectious diseases specialist Paul Griffin says more than 100 COVID vaccines are undergoing clinical trials.(Supplied)
Infectious disease physician Paul Griffin said 2023 should see the availability of second-generation COVID jabs, including a “variant-specific booster”, that may be better at hosing down infections.
“We’re going to get improved tools to combat this virus,” he said.
“If we get a vaccine next year that’s a little bit better at blocking infection, that will go a very long way, if the uptake is good, of course, of reducing the burden of the virus.
“The Omicron-specific vaccines will do that, hopefully, to a better degree.”
Dr Griffin also foreshadowed the possibility of a nasal vaccine being available next year that looks “very promising” in reducing the spread of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.
“I think we’ll get some additional vaccine options next year, which will hopefully be of greater help in terms of reducing the overall burden of the virus that’s around,” he said.
“There’s well over 100 vaccines still in clinical trials.”
Outbreaks in aged care homes in decline
Until the emergence of better vaccines, Dr Griffin joined Dr Playford in urging Queenslanders to keep wearing masks in high-risk venues, to stay up to date with their booster doses of first-generation COVID shots and when they are infected with SARS-CoV- 2, to access anti-viral medication, if eligible.
“We’re not back to normal,” he said.
“Being back to normal is probably some time away but if we get the basics right, we’ll be able to enjoy a quality of life that will be very close to what we had pre-pandemic.”
For the first time in weeks, Australia’s weekly COVID-19 aged care report shows the number of active outbreaks in nursing homes to be trending down.
More than four in five Australian aged care residents have received a fourth dose of vaccine.(Pexels: Matthias Zomer )
Queensland reported active outbreaks in 201 aged care facilities – down from 231 the previous week.
While Paul Sadler, the interim CEO of Aged and Community Services Australia, described the signs as “positive”, he said that they still represented about 40 per cent of aged care facilities in Queensland with active COVID outbreaks.
“It’s far from over and the expectation is we will continue to see elevated levels of outbreaks and infections through August and probably into September,” Mr Sadler said.
More than four in five Australian aged care residents have received a fourth dose of vaccine.
Mr Sadler said some facilities had needed to cancel booster clinics because of outbreaks.
“In many cases, those services have been rebooked for some time in August. We are confident … that the vaccination rate will continue to improve,” he said.
Mr Sadler said 99 per cent of Australia’s 2,700 aged care facilities had reported COVID cases in residents or staff during the pandemic, compared with 63 per cent of Canadian nursing homes.
“It’s very striking,” he said.
“That statistic about this disease getting into all bar one per cent of aged care homes nationally just shows that we’re fighting something that’s a considerable threat to aged care services and particularly, to older people who live in them.”
When President Biden tapped Merrick Garland to lead the Justice Department last year, he selected a cautious appeals court judge known as a political moderate who could build consensus.
Garland, a former federal prosecutor, would attempt to rebuild trust in the sprawling and powerful law enforcement agency after the tumultuous Trump presidency, his supporters said. He would try to convince the public and lawmakers that he was an apolitical attorney general, even as he tackled some of the nation’s most contentious political issues.
But the FBI’s highly unusual court-approved search Monday of former president Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club put Garland square in the middle of a huge political firestorm. The search, part of a long-running probe into the possible mishandling of presidential documents, drew praise from Democrats who have been hoping the Justice Department would seriously investigate Trump and the ire of conservatives who decried the search as an abuse of power.
Trump called the court-authorized search for “prosecutorial misconduct” and the “weaponization of the Justice System.” Some of his supporters of him say the FBI’s action could galvanize Trump’s base if he runs for president in 2024.
Republican allies on Capitol Hill denounced Garland and pledged to turn the tables and investigate the Justice Department. Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) said the attorney general should resign or be impeached.
Merrick Garland’s goal is to restore the integrity of the Justice Department. His legacy will still be defined by Trump.
The partisan outcry was the opposite of what Garland has sought in his 17 months on the job, during which he has launched multiple high-profile civil rights investigations and efforts to fight gun trafficking and hate crimes, while also overseeing the sprawling investigation of the Jan 6, 2021, riot at the US Capitol and the unprecedented efforts by Trump and his allies to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.
Time and again, Garland has refused to discuss that probe or any other investigation in progress, whether or not it involves the former president. He has repeatedly pledged to follow the facts where they lead, and to hold anyone who breaks the law accountable, regardless of who that person may be.
At news conferences, I have dodges reporters’ queries about Trump, which inevitably comes up. Two of the four reporters permitted to ask questions at a news conference last week on charges filed against police officers in connection with the killing of Breonna Taylor chose to ask about investigations into Trump. Both times, Garland declined to answer.
For months, Trump’s critics — especially, but not limited to, the left — pummeled Garland for not moving quickly to investigate Trump on multiple fronts. In recent weeks and months, without fanfare, the Justice Department and US attorney’s office in Washington began obtaining communications from people in Trump’s inner circle and subpoenaing witnesses to appear before a grand jury, clearly indicating that Trump’s actions and conversations had become part of the scope. of the Jan. 6-related probe.
“You are undoubtedly going to have people saying that this is the ultimate political act,” said Donald B. Ayer, a deputy attorney general under President George HW Bush, said of the raid. “But that’s just nonsense. … He has a job to do.”
The Justice Department would not comment on whether Garland signed off on the FBI raid, and Garland has not discussed it. He made just one public comment on Monday, about the sentencing of three men convicted on federal charges in connection with the murder of Ahmaud Arbery, a young Black man killed while jogging in his Georgia neighborhood.
“The Justice Department’s prosecution of this case and the court’s sentences today make clear that hate crimes have no place in our country,” Garland said in a statement. “Protecting civil rights and combatting white supremacist violence was a founding purpose of the Justice Department, and one that we will continue to pursue with the urgency it demands.”
What might the Mar-a-Lago search mean for Trump legally?
Kristy Parker, a former federal prosecutor and counsel at the advocacy group Protect Democracy, said that while it’s inevitable the reaction to the search would be politicized, Garland’s silence before and after the search of Trump’s property was critical to him building trust in the process. She said it showed the attorney general wasn’t trying to appeal to any group during the investigation and has been letting the probe run its course.
“It is important to look at the manner of what is being done, and not just the substance of what is being done,” Parker said. “And it’s just as important to depoliticizing the department to ensure that no one is above the law as it is to try to avoid prosecuting the president or someone from the opposite political party.”
But some lawyers questioned why the Justice Department and FBI would execute such a high-profile search on a former president’s residence over missing documents, even if some of them are classified (sitting presidents have broad powers to declassify documents, further complicating the situation).
Stanley Brand, a former House counsel who represents some of the Jan. 6 defendants and witnesses, said that search warrants don’t always yield any blockbuster or useful information. He called the FBI search of Trump’s property a huge escalation in the investigation of documents improperly taken to Mar-a-Lago. If investigators don’t recover materials that showed that there were serious national consequences for the materials he potentially kept, Brand said, it could tarnish the Justice Department’s reputation.
“If they are trying to rebound from the perception that their decision-making was skewed from the Trump era, this is not going to help that,” Brand said. “Part of it depends on what happens hereafter.”
