As Thousands Of Protesters Are Arrested, “The Crimes Of The Rich Are Not Prosecuted”

At least 5,600 people have been arrested since the George Floyd protests began; just one US banker was sentenced to prison for the 2008 financial crisis.

Venessa WongBuzzFeed News Reporter
Reporting From New York, New York June 2, 2020,

David Mcnew / Getty Images

People are arrested during demonstrations over the death of George Floyd on June 1, 2020 in Los Angeles.

As state and federal politicians send a surge of police and soldiers to confront the nationwide protests that emerged over the last week, the number of people arrested has already surpassed the number of white-collar criminals federally prosecuted in all of 2019.

The quickly rising tally is a reminder that while some forms of theft and devastation are punished, others draw little response at all; the criminal justice system is designed to make it easy to prosecute some types of crimes and not others. At least 5,600 people around the country have already been arrested during the protests, while just 359 white-collar crimes were federally prosecuted in the entire month of January, down 25% from 2015 levels.

Meanwhile, President Trump told governors dealing with protests on Monday: “You have to arrest and try people.”

The number of arrests is certain to rise as the protests continue and the National Guard is deployed on the streets. The rapid surge, which happened within days of the protests beginning, contrasts with the Trump administration’s light-touch approach to enforcing financial crimes, with federal white-collar prosecutions on track to reach an all-time low this year.

“If prosecutions continue at the same pace for the remainder of ... 2020, they are projected to fall to 5,175 — almost half the level of their Obama-era peak,” according to TRAC, a research group at Syracuse University that tracks federal law enforcement patterns.

Politicians and law enforcement have declared zero tolerance for looting as protests go on. Alleged financial crimes by major corporations, meanwhile, almost always end up with no one being prosecuted, and often with the companies paying the government a settlement in return for it dropping the case. Wells Fargo, for example, agreed to pay $3 billion to settle its fake account scandal, which led to customers being charged unexpected fees and likely damaged their credit scores. Bank of America paid $16.65 billion to settle claims of fraud over its role in the economic carnage caused by the 2008 financial crisis.


Matt Dunham / AP
Former Credit Suisse executive Kareem Serageldin, the only Wall Street banker to go to jail for the 2008 financial crisis.

“People are being arrested for what — peaceful protesting and being at the wrong place at the wrong time? Getting caught breaking a window?” asked Geert Dhondt, associate professor at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice. “The larger crimes, and the larger harm to society, goes unpunished.”

There have already been at least 5,600 arrests since peaceful protests and violent demonstrations erupted around the country in response to the death of George Floyd, according to estimates by the Associated Press. Some were arrested for failing to obey orders from law enforcement, stealing, obstructing traffic, or disturbing the peace. In Minnesota, 150 were arrested Sunday and early Monday for breaking the 8 p.m. curfew.

“Tactically a lot of the [protest] arrests are just for order keeping. So they’re not worried about prosecuting these folks, they’re arresting them to get them off the streets and trying to maintain control,” said Jesse Jannetta, senior policy fellow at the Urban Institute. “One question being put in front of us by the protests is, Who does the law tend to protect versus people who are constantly being enforced on by the law? Low-income communities, particularly predominantly African American communities, have a ton of police presence.”


John Legend@johnlegend
Meanwhile, billions of dollars of exploitation, fraud and other white collar crime happens with no arrests, no police involvement, nothing. We need to divest in our entire system of overincarceration and overpolicing. We are not made safer or closer to justice by any of it.11:59 PM - 30 May 2020
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The outsized police reaction to the George Floyd protests echoes the response to the Occupy movement that followed the 2008 financial crisis. More than 7,700 protesters were arrested, according to the site OccupyArrests.com; only one US banker was sentenced to prison for their role in the financial crisis, which led to 10 million families losing their homes.

Berkeley professor and former labor secretary Robert Reich tweeted, “More peaceful protestors and journalists have been jailed in the past week than all the bankers who were jailed for fraud during the financial collapse.”


Robert Reich@RBReich
More peaceful protestors and journalists have been jailed in the past week than all the bankers who were jailed for fraud during the financial collapse.05:33 PM - 31 May 2020
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“What happened in the financial crisis caused huge amounts of harm, but that’s not thought about the same way,” said Jannetta. “George Floyd, our understanding is he tried to use a fake $20 bill … So is there equality of protection and is there equality of enforcement? And I think when you look across these things, the answer isn’t yes.”


Dhondt said this inequality is only growing with every crisis. “Who does the real looting in society? Someone who smashes a window or private equity firms that buy up companies in crisis and sell off their parts and destroys thousands of people’s lives?”

“The crimes of the rich are not prosecuted; they’re ignored,” Dhondt added, “even though they do a lot more harm than a few broken windows.”

Venessa Wong is a technology and business reporter for BuzzFeed News and is based in New York.

FBI has ‘no intelligence’ Antifa was involved in Sunday’s violence at DC protests: report

Published on June 2, 2020 By Bob Brigham

journalism today.

Attorney General Bill Barr and President Donald Trump have tried to blame Antifa — or anti-fascists — for violence in the protests against police injustice. But the public data has backed up their case, and even their on intel disputes the argument.

“he FBI’s Washington Field Office “has no intelligence indicating Antifa involvement/presence” in the violence that occurred on May 31, according to an internal FBI situation report obtained exclusively by The Nation. That same day, President Donald Trump announced on Twitter that he would designate Antifa a terrorist organization, even though the government has no existing authority to declare a domestic group a terrorist organization,” Ken Klippenstein reported for the magazine.

“The FBI report, however, states, ‘based on CHS [Confidential Human Source] canvassing, open source/social media partner engagement, and liaison, FBI WFO has no intelligence indicating Antifa involvement/presence.’ The statement followed a list of violent acts like bricks being thrown at police and a backpack containing explosive materials, which were flagged by the FBI under a ‘Key Updates’ section of the report,” The Nation reported. “The report did warn that individuals from a far-right social media group had ‘called for far-right provocateurs to attack federal agents, use automatic weapons against protesters.’”

Read the full report.

GOP embraces Trump’s military clampdown after stoking conspiracies about Obama invoking martial law
June 2, 2020 By Igor Derysh, Salon


Senate Republicans who once pushed a conspiracy theory that former President Barack Obama would impose martial law had no problem with President Donald Trump threatening to send the military into American streets against the wishes of governors or police backed by the National Guard unleashing tear gas and rubber bullets on peaceful protesters to clear the way for his photo-op in front of a church

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., were among the Republicans who stoked conspiracy theories about “Jade Helm,” a military exercise which some conservatives alleged was a plot to secretly take over the red state of Texas and impose martial law.

“[Jade Helm] is a question I’m getting a lot,” Cruz warned in 2015. “And I think a lot of the reason is we have seen for six years a federal government disrespecting the liberties of citizens and that produces fear when you see a federal government that is attacking our free speech rights, our religious liberty rights, our Second Amendment rights — that produces distrust to government.”

Cruz said he demanded answers from the Pentagon about the operation.

Paul similarly vowed to look into the conspiracy theory after a radio host said people were “nervous” about the plot. He also led a 13-hour filibuster after then-Attorney General Eric Holder did not rule out using a military drone against Americans on U.S. soil.

Other Republicans, like Gov. Greg Abbott, R-Texas, similarly stoked the conspiracy theory, which former CIA and NSA Director Michael Hayden said was boosted by “Russian bots and the American alt-right media.”

The operation took place in 2015, and of course, ended without any martial law or takeover attempts.

But when asked about Trump’s threat to deploy the U.S. military to cities before authorities tear-gassed peaceful protesters so he could pose with a Bible in front of a nearby church, Cruz and Paul had none of the same reservations about federal power.

“I guess I was mostly horrified by the violence I’ve seen in our cities,” Paul told HuffPost when asked about his reaction.


Cruz went a step further, declaring that Trump was “exactly right” to clear the area to go to the church on Monday as he accused protesters of “terrorism.”

Asked whether it was an “abuse of power,” Cruz told MSNBC’s Kasie Hunt, “by the protesters, yes.”

Other Republicans also expressed support for Trump’s show of force.

“Obviously, it was a necessary security measure,” Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, the No. 2 Republican in the Senate, told CNN.

Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, the longest-serving Republican in the Senate, also approved of the move.

“We expect leadership from our president and particularly in times like this,” he said. “And I think that when there was destruction to a church or any other historical thing that America would put great confidence in that should not be destroyed, I think a president ought to bring attention to that terrorist activity, and go there and do . . . what he did last night.”

Not every Republican praised Trump’s decision, though. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., refused Tuesday to discuss Trump’s actions.

“I’m not going to critique other people’s performances,” the Republican said.

Meanwhile, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., questioned the president’s actions.

“Well, I don’t know what the point was,” he told CNN. “I guess he’s trying to say we’re reclaiming the church, but the point is that we need to focus on what happened to Mr. Floyd. It’s a systematic problem, but you can’t do that until you get order.”

Democratic leaders, meanwhile, decried the move and said Trump’s “continued fanning of the flames of discord, bigotry and violence is cowardly, weak and dangerous.”

Washington Episcopalian Bishop Mariann Budde, who oversees the church where Trump posed, said she was “outraged” that Trump showed up “without permission” after delivering a speech that was “antithetical to everything we stand for.”

Despite their reservations about Obama’s use of federal power, Republicans have largely called for Trump to do more — not less — in response to the protests. Members of his own party have called for protesters to be peaceful even as they trashed peaceful protesters who called out police brutality.

“Protest, yes. Free speech, yes. Violent looting, arson & rioting, NO,” Cruz tweeted over the weekend.

But Cruz likewise lashed out at NFL players who kneeled during the national anthem to protest police violence when Trump launched a racist attack against players.

“We need to be respectful of our active duty military,” Cruz complained at the time. “We need to be respectful of our veterans. We need to be respectful of law enforcement as well.”

Vice President Mike Pence also called for protesters to remain peaceful.

“We condemn violence against property or persons,” Pence tweeted Friday. “We will always stand for the right of Americans to peacefully protest and let their voices be heard.”

Pence abruptly walked out of a 2017 NFL game in Indianapolis after several players from the San Francisco 49ers kneeled during the anthem.

“I left today’s Colts game because President Trump and I will not dignify any event that disrespects our soldiers, our Flag or our National Anthem,” Pence said at the time. “While everyone is entitled to their own opinions, I don’t think it’s too much to ask NFL players to respect the Flag and our National Anthem.”

Rick Wilson: ‘Lil Dictator’ Trump’s church and tear-gas photo-op was a ‘pathetic’ failure
June 2, 2020 By Tom Boggioni


In his typically scathing style, conservative campaign consultant Rick Wilson wrote that a “humiliated” Donald Trump tried to make all the mockery of his hiding in a bunker go away with his photo-op church visit late Monday and it flopped in a big way making him look “pathetic.”

In his Daily Beast column, Wilson dropped the hammer on the president for flailing away because he is overwhelmed by the George Floyd protests and hoped to change the narrative by looking resolute with his nationally televised publicity stunt– and failed badly in the process.

“The weekend did not go well for Donald Trump, and he emerged into a sunny first day of June humiliated by his weakness, cowardice, and inability to face up to any crisis more complex than ‘Why is my Filet-O-Fish cold?'” Wilson wrote. “The man sporting the world’s most delicate ego knows the worst thing for any wannabe Maximum Leader is mockery, and America’s derision was pouring down after a weekend taunt blew up into the hashtag #BunkerBitch and trended worldwide. Like many things that set off cascades of Trump’s bad decisions—porn starlets, breakfast buffets, shady real estate deals, and Steve Bannon—he reacted as badly as one might expect to the derision, with the tantrums we saw Monday. “


Noting the reports of the president yelling at governors in a phone call that they are “weak” when it comes to dealing with protests in their states, Wilson wrote, “I’d pay good Bitcoin to have seen the expressions on the governors’ faces as a man as physically weak and personally cowardly as Trump berated them for failing to stop the national unrest. The thought of Trump directing governors like some kind of Rascal Scooter generalissimo was rich; these are men and women who’ve been fighting COVID-19 and civil unrest for months now, and their collective eye-rolling today must have altered the orbit of the planet in some measurable way.”

He then turned to the church visit stunt that seems to have blown up in the president’s face as cable networks simultaneously showed footage of federal law officials tear-gassing peaceful protesters just so the president could get a photo-op to salvage the day.

“It was the hastily organized rant-and-stroll that made a mark on Trump’s Lil Dictator’s copybook today. What was supposed to look powerful, commanding, and terrifying to MAGA world’s latest constellation of imaginary enemies—Commie leftist agitators! Saboteurs! Professional anarchists! Antifaaaaaa!—looked like the angry rantings of a grandpa ready to head to the Old Strongman’s Home for rice pudding and a nice rest,” the conservative wrote. “Driven by a fear of continued mockery more potent than his cowardice in the face of noisy protesters, Trump then gave a feat of masculine virtue by walking two entire blocks from the White House to St. John’s Episcopal Church.”

Wilkson then described what the world saw.

“Trump, brick-red and sweating like a hog caught in a gate, then stood before the beautiful “Church of the Presidents” for a photo-op moment intended strictly for his evangelical base that provided incontrovertible proof God is dead, or at least napping, as he held aloft the Bible and didn’t turn into a pillar of salt or leave a smoking hole where the lightning bolt struck,” he described. “The awkward lineup of the Average White Administration in front of the boarded-up church was made all the more awkward by the distant sound of flashbangs exploding on unarmed and nonviolent protesters a few blocks away. Just after they departed, the bishop of the diocese said she was “outraged” the president had used the church as a prop.”

According to Wilson, Trump tried to appear calm and cool under pressure like some of his predecessors and came up way short.

“During the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, John F. Kennedy stayed at the White House even as nuclear tensions grew closer to explosion than at any point in our history. Richard Nixon, during the most heated moments of the Vietnam War, spent a long evening on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, talking with anti-war protesters. On 9/11, George W. Bush insisted that the Secret Service allow him to return to Washington, D.C., even as the attack continued and American intelligence was running blind,” he wrote. ” Now Trump has left his bunker to take a picture after a small army roughed up and drove off anyone with a voice to speak against him. Not exactly a profile in courage.”

TRUMP WALKS TO ST JOHNS CHURCH LIKE THE TALL MAN

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1960s segregationist George Wallace would ‘smile’ at seeing Trump teargas protesters for a photo op: CNN’s Bakari Sellers

June 2, 2020 By Brad Reed


CNN political commentator Bakari Sellers said on Tuesday that watching President Donald Trump teargas a group of peaceful protesters so that he could have a photo opportunity reminded him of something he’d see segregationist Alabama Gov. George Wallace do.

“Yesterday, the president of the United States used teargas, he used the military against peaceful protesters,” Sellers said. “The the only thing I could think of is George Wallace is looking over him with a smile.”

Sellers then said he was “thoroughly pissed off” at conservative evangelicals who are remaining silent even as Trump continues to pour gasoline on the fire of racism while wrapping himself in the flag and the cross.

Host Alisyn Camerota, meanwhile, remarked that Trump’s photo op at St. John’s Church in Washington, D.C. wasn’t even very compelling.

“The optics, the visuals, the symbolism yesterday of what happened was just so strange on every level,” she said. “I actually see police also using their baton against some of the protesters so that the president and his attorney general and his family and Ivanka, in her heels and big designer bag, could cross the street and the president could — could try to figure out how to hold a Bible… I mean, has anyone ever looked more uncomfortable holding a Bible?”

Jun 2 

Wolff Responds: Protests and Class War

Please note that we provide these videos free of ads. Please consider supporting our work. Visit our website democracyatwork.info/donate or join our growing Patreon community and support Global Capitalism Live Economic Update with Richard D. Wolff at https://www.patreon.com/gcleu  

Prof. Wolff talks about the protests sweeping across the US incited by yet another brutal killing of a Black American, George Floyd. He argues that the capitalist system, with its endless drive for profits over people, is the true culprit and failing Americans. The levels of inequality, massive unemployments,  and injustices are symptomatic of a system that is in deep trouble. Divide and conquer, or class war is the tactic capitalists are using to distract Americans from uniting against the common enemy: capitalism.  

Critics describe Premier Jason Kenney’s COVID-19 speech as ‘Trumpian’

As we watch how the global COVID-19 pandemic impacts our communities, we at the AFL are monitoring responses from different levels of government, employers and other jurisdictions around the world. Today, we want to share some of the work we’ve been doing to make sure the interests of workers are protected and that the voice of working people is heard. News Critics describe Premier Jason Kenney’s COVID-19 speech as ‘Trumpian’ Last week, Jason Kenney downplayed the risks of re-opening the economy and sending people back to work by calling the coronavirus “an influenza that does not generally threaten life apart from the elderly and the immunocompromised.” In another part of his speech, he said, “The average age of death from COVID in Alberta is 83. And I remind the house that the average life expectancy is 82.” “This is the worst kind of message to be sending to Albertans as they return to work,” said Gil McGowan, the president of the Alberta Federation of Labour.  “The science says that we’re not out of the woods yet and that we need to continue to be cautious and vigilant in terms of following the guidance of public health officials in both public spaces and workplaces. I’m afraid our Premier’s Trumpian narrative - which says that this is no worse than the flu and only a danger to the elderly - is going to lead to infections and deaths that could have been avoided.” "Not only are Premier Jason Kenney’s comments about COVID-19 only killing the elderly ghoulish and cruel, they’re also dead wrong," continued Gil McGowan. “He repeatedly said that COVID-19 was largely a disease of the elderly. And he repeatedly referred to it as a type of influenza. These are not slips of the tongue. He is trying to build a Trumpian narrative that is at odds with the science. And he needs to be called out.” Read the news story. Read our press release. Unions say Bill 1 could make Alberta a 'police state' The controversial bill the UCP government says is targeting rail blockade protesters  - Bill 1: the Critical Infrastructure Defence Act was in the legislature this week.  The Alberta Federation of Labour’s Executive Council, representing the majority of the elected union leadership in the province, released a statement asserting that it’s not an infrastructure bill, it’s an anti-democracy bill that will inevitably be used to target workers, along with environmentalists and indigenous people. If it becomes law, it will bring Alberta closer to a police state than perhaps it’s ever been. The Alberta Federation of Labour asserts that the Bill aims to make strikes and protests illegal for trade unions and our allies.  Read our statement.  Read the news story.  Alberta labour leaders demand that Kenney not stand in the way of paid sick leave for all Earlier this week Prime Minister Trudeau made a commitment to provide 10 paid sick days to all Canadians. However, workplace law is largely under the jurisdiction of the provinces. That’s why the Prime Minister says his next step is to negotiate with provincial premiers. Trudeau has promised to work with provinces to ensure all working Canadians will have access to 10 paid sick leave days. This is why Alberta union leaders issued a statement demanding that Premier Kenney work to make this a permanent reality in Alberta. Read our press release. Listen to Gil McGowan, AFL President, on 630 CHED Ryan Jespersen show. Kenney Escalates His Attacks on Public Education During COVID-19 Weaken school boards, threaten to fire trustees, provide vague and ill-defined policy around a school relaunch, all while pushing forward a “Choice in Education Act.” It is a roadmap to undermining public education in Alberta. Read more with the latest in our blog series. Child care is crucial for Alberta’s economic recovery Alberta workers are facing an urgent need for support when it comes to child care. Some workers are being forced to not return to work because of a lack of child care options. Alberta unions are calling on the provincial government to take a leadership role in child care and to help with this situation by immediately providing funding for more child care centres in Alberta. Read more. Letter to Prime Minister re: urgent need for financial support for municipal governments This week, the AFL sent a letter to the Prime Minister about the urgent need for financial support for municipal governments in response to the economic turmoil caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. In Alberta, the situation is exacerbated by a provincial government seemingly deaf to the concerns of municipal officials. The recent provincial budget has downloaded costs and cut grants to municipalities. To add insult to injury, our two largest cities, Calgary and Edmonton, had a long-term agreement for stable funding shredded by the UCP government, despite an election promise to keep it in place. Read our letter. Cities need help. Tell the federal and provincial governments to provide emergency operating funding for municipalities in order to protect the vital local services we all need. Sign the Canadian Labour Congress petition.  Workers’ Rights Town Hall - Facebook Live Watch AFL President Gil McGowan in a virtual Town Hall live on Facebook, with Heather McPherson, Member of Parliament for Edmonton Strathcona discussing workers’ rights during the COVID-19 pandemic. LAPP protected themselves from AIMCo’s $2.1 billion loss with downside protection plan done over AIMCo’s wishes As the investigation by outsiders into the Alberta Investment Management Corporation or AIMCo’s $2.1 billion loss on an exotic volatility-based strategy continues other details are trickling out. Notably that AIMCo’s biggest client, the Local Authorities Pension Plan or LAPP had a downside protection plan independent of AIMCo that actually made money while its pension fund manager was losing it. Multiple sources have confirmed that AIMCo actively discouraged this strategy and that it was done against the advice of AIMCo. “This is a concrete example of the benefits of independent governance that we fought so hard for,” said Gil McGowan, the president of the Alberta Federation of Labour. “It’s also why we were so adamant about having the option of leaving AIMCo if we lost confidence in them as our pension fund manager.” Read more. Action Join the resistance This week, the University of Alberta announced its plans to cope with the UCP government's cuts to the institution this year by nine per cent, or $110 million. Read news story.  Read the Non-Academic Staff Association's open letter. If you haven't yet, sign up for our #KenneysCuts campaign to join the fight. CUPE launches campaign to make long-term care public Canada’s largest union, the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), has launched a campaign this week to fix Canada’s broken long-term care system, by making it a part of our public universal health care system. Get involved and add your voice to the campaign at fixlongtermcare.ca.

House Democrats question Trump's deal on Russian ventilators

Senior House Democrats are demanding more information on what they say is a bad deal for U.S. taxpayers struck by President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin involving ventilators.

© Joshua Roberts/Reuters, Chairwoman of the House Government Oversight and Reform Committee Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) leads a hearing about coronavirus preparedness and response on Capitol Hill, March 12, 2020.

In a letter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, the Democratic chairs said they have "grave concerns" that Trump recently agreed to provide 200 ventilators to Russia for free -- after paying $659,283 to Moscow for a separate Russian aid shipment that included 45 ventilators later deemed unusable.

ABC News first reported the details of the Russian cargo plane, including Russia's invoice and concerns expressed privately by U.S. officials at the time that the 45 ventilators included onboard might have "voltage-related" issues.

The Russian ventilators have not been used in U.S. hospitals and remain in storage.

"These misguided decisions waste millions of U.S. taxpayer dollars, undermine our foreign policy and national security interests, and impair our nation's ability to combat the coronavirus crisis," wrote the Democratic chairs, including Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., who oversees the House Oversight and Reform Committee, and Eliot Engel, D-N.Y., who oversees the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

Signing the letter were the top Democrats overseeing State Department funding and House-led investigations into the coronavirus crisis. In addition to Maloney and Engel, the letter also was signed by Nita Lowey of New York, chairwoman of the House Appropriations Committee; Rep. James Clyburn of South Carolina, chairman of a select subcommittee on coronavirus; and Stephen Lynch of Massachusetts, national security subcommittee chair on House Oversight and Reform.

The Trump administration has not said whether the U.S. might get a discount on Russia's aid bill now that the U.S. has agreed to send 200 ventilators its way.

In a statement provided Friday to ABC, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) referred questions on the status of Russia's $659,283 invoice to the State Department, which did not provide comment.

"The flight contained 45 ventilators, over 90,000 gloves of various types, and other medical supplies such as medical clothing and respirators. This was a mix of donated goods and goods purchased by the US State Department," FEMA wrote.

One source familiar with the shipments said the cargo flights were not a swap and that the two shipments were considered unrelated. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.

Tune into ABC at 1 p.m. ET and ABC News Live at 4 p.m. ET every weekday for special coverage of the novel coronavirus with the full ABC News team, including the latest news, context and analysis.

Earlier this spring, as the spike of coronavirus cases prompted fears of a ventilator shortage in New York and New Jersey, Putin offered to send the U.S. the aid shipment.

The April 1 cargo flight that landed at New York City's John F. Kennedy airport included thousands of pieces of equipment not typically used by hospitals, including chemical warfare-style gas masks and household cleaning gloves, as well as 45 ventilators and thousands of surgical gloves, medical clothing and antiseptic packets.

"It was a very nice gesture on behalf of President Putin and I could have said 'no thank you' or I could have said 'thank you' and it was a large plane of very high-quality medical supplies, and I said 'I'll take it,'" Trump told reporters April 2.© Alex Brandon/AP President Donald Trump speaks with reporters about the coronavirus in the James Brady Briefing Room of the White House, May 22, 2020, in Washington.

New York and New Jersey wound up returning the Russian ventilators to the federal stockpile after reports that several coronavirus patients in St. Petersburg were killed in fires linked to overloaded ventilators.

"Out of an abundance of caution, the states are returning the ventilators to FEMA," a spokesperson said in a statement released earlier this month. "The conclusion(s) of the investigation being conducted by the Russian authorities into the fire in St. Petersburg will help inform our decision regarding any future use of the ventilators."

Since then, the State Department has agreed to send 200 ventilators to Russia, which has the third largest number of cases of COVID-19 in the world. The first batch of 50 ventilators were delivered on May 21, with another 150 ventilators expected to ship next week, according to a senior administration official.

The ventilators are being manufactured by Vyaire Medical in California and will be donated to the Pirogov National Medical and Surgical Center in Moscow.

Russia isn't alone. The U.S. has agreed to provide more than 15,000 ventilators to more than 60 countries, including in Europe.

Democrats are also questioning why the U.S. would buy ventilators manufactured by a subsidiary of a company currently under U.S. sanctions as a result of Moscow's 2014 aggression against Ukraine.


According to Russia's foreign ministry, the money for the supplies came from the Russian Direct Investment Fund -- Russia's sovereign wealth fund that was sanctioned by Treasury in June 2015 as part of sanctions punishing Russia for its annexation of Crimea from Ukraine.


Also, at least some of the ventilators were made by a Siberian factory that is owned by a Russian state company sanctioned by the U.S. over Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2014.

Sanctions on the Russian Direct Investment Fund don't apply to medical equipment and supplies.

US Labor Department inspector general retires after warning of fraud

Dahl said the decision "has been long in the works and is for entirely personal reasons," adding that he was not "told or asked to resign."


J. Scott Applewhite/AP Photo

By REBECCA RAINEY

06/02/2020

Labor Department Inspector General Scott Dahl announced Tuesday he was retiring from his post just a day after warning lawmakers of massive fraud in the unemployment insurance system, becoming the latest watchdog to exit the Trump administration.

Dahl, who will leave the office effective June 21, said the decision "has been long in the works and is for entirely personal reasons," adding that he was not "told or asked to resign."

"The Department and the people it serves have benefited greatly from his contributions," Labor Secretary Eugene Scalia said in a statement. "We wish Scott and his family the very best in the future.”

On Monday, Dahl and other officials from his office told a House oversight subcommittee that they've seen a "significant amount of fraud" in unemployment programs during the coronavirus pandemic. He told lawmakers that DOL punted on his recommendation that states should collect more earnings information from applicants to combat the fraud.

Dahl also said he was "very surprised" that DOL's Occupational Safety and Health Administration had only issued one citation during the entire Covid-19 pandemic.

"This is something that we're planning on turning our attention to to look at [OSHA's] enforcement activities and seeing if they are following their standards, and what can be done to make them more efficient, effective," he told lawmakers.

During the briefing Dahl also suggested, in response to a lawmaker, that he could investigate Scalia for pressing a federal retirement board to reverse plans to begin investing in a new index that includes Chinese companies. The board's decision came after Scalia and White House officials applied pressure.

His exit comes as the Trump administration has seen an exodus of watchdogs across the federal government, including Glenn Fine, who resigned from the Defense Department inspector general's office last month.

President Donald Trump has ousted Michael Atkinson as inspector general of the intelligence community, Steve Linick as the top State Department watchdog and acting Transportation Department inspector general Mitch Behm.