See Who Else Has Visited Trump’s Mar-A-Lago Office

Watch: The ‘Most Alarming’ Visitors Trump Had at Mar-A-Lago Revealed

Your correspondent has joined Forbes Newsroom and assistant editor Diane Brady to discuss who has been seen at Mar-a-Lago while the private club had classified documents.

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Bannon charged in New York over border wall scheme – Here are the charges he faces

“Former Trump adviser Steve Bannon and the organization WeBuildTheWall were indicted in New York state court on Thursday on six counts of money laundering, conspiracy and scheme to defraud, the second time the far-right figure has faced consequences for the role his in the fund-raising scheme for the border wall. “More than a year after he was freed from federal charges thanks to a pardon from former President Donald Trump,” reports Alison Durkee.

The indictment alleges that, despite publicly claiming WeBuildTheWall would pay no salary to CEO Brian Kolfage, the group actually sent more than $250,000 in compensation to Kolfage from January 11, 2019 through the end of that year, constituting fraud and conspiracy alleged (Kolfage has pleaded guilty to similar charges in federal court and is identified in the indictment as “unindicted co-conspirator 1”).

WeBuildTheWall repeatedly stated that Kolfage would not receive a salary, a promise that served as a “material part” of the fundraising campaign, the indictment says, including in media appearances, on the campaign website and in bylaws. submitted to a crowdfunding website to convince him. for the release of funds for the organization.

Watch: Trump gets more bad news after rally

The White House wants crypto mining companies to share how much energy they use with regulators

“The White House announced Thursday that crypto mining operations in the US are on track to consume as much power as all of the nation’s home computers, calling for formalized measures to curb the industry’s energy demands,” reports Sarah Emerson.

A new report released by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) addressed environmental concerns that industrial-scale crypto miners could strain local and federal power grids and undermine global climate change efforts.

As a result of its findings, the department recommended that mining operations be regularly assessed for risk in accordance with federal energy standards and that these companies make their data available to regulators. Miners are unlikely to be happy with the latest suggestion, as some companies have sought to redact information about power purchase agreements and power usage, even when doing business with public utilities.

Most notably, the report challenged the refrain that mining will drive the development of more renewable energy sources. This belief has fueled the mantra that “bitcoin is a battery,” which encompasses a number of ideas, including the notion that mining crypto can distribute power throughout the network.

Persistent problems

Updates on previous reporting of checks and balances

“Senator Richard Burr (RN.C.) cited Covid when he dumped the stock before the stock market crashed,” according to newly released FBI records, ProPublica reported Wednesday. In January 2021, the Justice Department closed its investigation into Burr without filing charges over the insider trading allegations. Campaigns or personal accounts of 42 current or former legislators have contributed to Burr’s legal defense fund, which has received a total of $575,000 from donors.

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Trump’s former ambassador to the United Nations, Kelly Craft, announced her candidacy for governor of Kentucky on Wednesday. During a two-month stint as U.S. ambassador to Canada under Trump, Craft spent more than half of his days in Kentucky or meeting with Kentuckians visiting Canada, according to her calendar issued by the State Department, as Checks & Imbalances reported last September.

Impeachment figure Lev Parnas reports in prison

Lev Parnas, a key figure in Trump’s first impeachment, has began serving a 20-month sentence ABOUT campaign finance and fraud, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons. Parnas is currently housed in a “medium security federal correctional facility with a minimum security satellite camp and detention center” in Otisville, New York. Parnas first appeared in the bureau’s prisoner locator in the past two weeks. Parnas’ attorney did not immediately respond to an inquiry.

“Parnas was convicted last year of illegally funneling a Russian oligarch’s money into several 2018 political campaigns, a scheme prosecutors say was designed to induce politicians to grant licenses to a recreational marijuana business,” Joe Walsh reported in June. “He also pleaded guilty in March to fraud charges for bilking investors out of a company he co-founded to insure businesses against fraud (the company’s name, incidentally, was Fraud Guarantee).

In August, Parnas and the government reached an agreement that the restitution owed to him is $1.8 million.