White House Spox Releases Statement in Response to Bannon Indictment

Steve Bannon and three others were arrested Thursday and charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud.

Steve Bannon, triple amputee veteran Brian Kolfage, Timothy Shea and Andrew Badolato were charged for allegedly defrauding donors who donated to their “We Build the Wall” campaign.

US Attorney Audrey Strauss from the Southern District of New York handed down the charges.

According to the indictment, Bannon and Kolfage raised more than $25 million for their “We Build the Wall” fund under the false promise that 100% of the money would be used on construction of the border wall.

“While repeatedly assuring donors that Brian Kolfage, the founder and public face of We Build the Wall, would not be paid a cent, the defendants secretly schemed to pass hundreds of thousands of dollars to Kolfage, which he used to fund his lavish lifestyle,” U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss said in a statement.

White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany released a statement in response to the Bannon indictment.

“As everyone knows, President Trump has no involvement in this project and felt it was only being done in order to showboat, and perhaps raise funds. President Trump has previously and publicly stated the following”:

“I disagreed with doing this very small (tiny) section of wall, in a tricky area, by a private group which raised money by ads. It was only done to make me look bad, and perhaps it now doesn’t even work. Should have been built like rest of Wall, 500 plus miles.: – President Trump, July 12, 2020.

“President Trump has always felt the Wall must be a government project and that it is far too big and complex to be handled privately. The Trump Administration has already built over 300 miles of border wall, thanks to the great work of our Army Corps of Engineers, and will have almost 500 miles completed by the end of the year. Our southern border is more secure than it has ever been,” McEnany added.

“President Trump has not been involved with Steve Bannon since the campaign and the early part of the Administration, and he does not know the people involved with this project,” she said.

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2020/08/white-house-spox-releases-statement-response-bannon-indictment/

OAN’s Chanel Rion Launches New National White House Correspondents Association to “Restore Balance and Diversity of Viewpoints” in WH News Coverage

Chanel Rion, Chief White House Correspondent for One America News Network (OAN), announced Thursday the formal launch of the National White House Correspondents Association (NWHCA).

Rion’s new organization has begun accepting applications by invitation only, according to a press release.

NWHCA’s first phase mission aims to accomplish the following:

Bring more balance and diverse questions in the White House briefing room

Foster meaningful discussion and debate at the White House

Restore free and open press coverage in the briefing room and coverage of the White House

“The NWHCA seeks to restore balance and diversity of viewpoints in White House news coverage. The American public is served best when all voices are heard and the President’s message is unfiltered. According to Rion the WHCA has maneuvered almost all balance and diversity out of the White House correspondents’ pool and briefing room demonstrating daily that they consider America’s free press the exclusive property of the “progressive” reformers of Washington. This is not representative of free and balanced press.”

Read more here:

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2020/08/oans-chanel-rion-launches-new-national-white-house-correspondents-association-restore-balance-diversity-viewpoints-wh-news-coverage/

China tells the US it has no right to demand re-imposition of UN sanctions on Iran after Washington left nuclear deal

The US has no right to ask the UN Security Council to launch the 'snapback' mechanism, which allows the re-imposition of sanctions on Tehran, after Washington left the nuclear agreement, Beijing has said.

China’s foreign ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian’s said on Thursday that, given the US had already declared its withdrawal from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), it “has no due competence for demanding sanctions.” This position is shared by most members of the Security Council and a wide international consensus, according to Zhao.

Beijing firmly opposes unilateral sanctions and “long-arm jurisdictions” imposed by the US against other countries, he added. China also urges Washington to earnestly observe Security Council resolutions and fulfill its international obligations.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Wednesday that he plans to inform the UN Security Council the following day about Washington’s decision to launch the process of reinstating anti-Iranian sanctions, due to come into force in 30 days.

The move comes after a US draft resolution on extending the arms embargo against Iran failed to secure enough votes at the Security Council on August 14. Russia and China voted against it, while 11 countries abstained from the vote.

Pompeo also warned that the US was ready to sanction Russia and China if they opposed its effort to “snapback” sanctions on Tehran.

Any such sanctions against China and Russia should be considered illegal because of the US’ earlier withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal, which stripped Washington of competence to put forward any demands on this issue, Zhao said.

US threats to raise the question of restoring all previously lifted sanctions against Iran may lead to a serious crisis within the UN Security Council, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov warned on June 10. He also reminded Washington it had withdrawn from the JCPOA, and criticized the US for trying to “pick and choose what serves its interests” without regard for the views of others.

https://www.rt.com/news/498568-china-us-iran-sanctions/

"This Is NOT Normal": A Stunned Morgan Stanley Says Volumes Are "Way Beyond Just Low"

While stocks have soared to new all time highs, there has been one aspect about this latest meltup that suggests the rally is built on nothing but hot air (and trillions in Fed liquidity injections of course): the complete lack of volume, prompting some to wonder if the Fed has finally succeeded in 'killing' the market. And sure enough, as Morgan Stanley's Rob Cronin writes in an overnight note, "this is NOT a typical August lull in liquidity."

The Market Has Died

The MS team points out that volumes across almost all products are way below historic seasonal averages. Which is bizarre because this is on the back of the highest volume Jan-to-July we have seen since 2010 (except single name options where volumes were the worst Jan-July since 2010). As the bank explains, the exaggerated August drop in liquidity (leading to higher impact costs) is driven by:

large amounts of trading behind us in 2020

spot level in equities ~65% recovered

in options, vol levels are still too high for many directional funds.

The exception is cash equities where volumes are only slightly below August norms, bid/offer spreads are not wide and data shows more intraday trading vs. closing auction use than normal - indicative of more active trading in single names, which in turn suggests that retail trading remains solid. The rest of August is likely to remain subdued as seasonally volumes are unlikely to pick up until the first week of September.

Below we republish key excerpts from the MS note:

We look at liquidity across 6 products and compare average volumes traded from Aug 1st to 18th from 2010 to now.

Over the last 10Y, SX5E futures would typically have traded an average ~$41bn a day so far in August. This year it’s just $29bn (-28% lower than normal August levels).

SX5E index options traded an average of just 639k contracts/day so far in August, -48% below normal levels. 20d volumes this low were last seen in 2013.

From 1st to 18th August 2019, SX5E dividend futures traded $380m/day – this year it’s just $84m (-62% vs. normal Aug levels).

Cash equities stands out as being more ‘normal’, registering volumes that are only slightly below historic norms for this time of year. SX5E traded on average $12bn/day in August (-10% below seasonal norms) and SXXP traded $39bn (-4% below seasonal norms).

https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/market-has-died-stunned-morgan-stanley-says-volumes-are-way-beyond-just-low

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