27 Dec, 2024 09:34

Convicted US spy worked on ‘genetic screening’ of Russians – FSB

A court in Moscow has sentenced US national Eugene Spector to 15 years in jail and a hefty fine on charges of espionage

US national Eugene ‘Gene’ Spector, who was found guilty of espionage earlier this week,had been collecting “biomedical” data in the country, Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) has said. The authorities believe thesematerials could have been used by the USgovernment to develop a genetic screening system for analyzing Russia’s population.

Over the past several years, there have been a number of high-profile cases in which Russian security services have accused American citizens of espionage. Since the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in February 2022, Moscow and Western nations have also increasingly expelled each other’s diplomats, claiming they are spies.

In a press release on Friday, the FSB alleged that the “American national, acting in the interest of the Pentagon and a commercial organization affiliated with it, gathered and handed over to a foreign party various biotechnological and biomedical data, including classified materials, with the aim of creating a high-speed genetic screening system of Russia’s population by the US.”

On Monday, a court in Moscow sentenced Spector to 15 years in prison as well as a 14 million-ruble ($135,000) fine.

The former chair of the board of Russia’sMedpolymerprom Group, a supplier of disposable medical items, was handed the punishment in conjunction with his previous sentencing for acting as an intermediary in a bribery case. In 2022, the US citizen of Russian origin was sentenced to 3.5 years behind bars after being found guilty of providing an aide to former Russian Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich with free trip vouchers from 2015 to 2016.The judge ruled at the time that Spector had thus remunerated the woman for promoting the products of several pharmacy companies.

Last August, a court separately ordered his arrest on suspicion of espionage, though the details of the case were not made public.

Earlier this year, Russia and the US exchanged a total of 26 individuals held in several countries, in the largest prisoner swap of this kind since the end of the Cold War. Among those sent to the US were Wall Street Journal correspondent Evan Gershkovich and former US Marine Paul Whelan – both of whom had been convicted of espionage in Russia. In return, ten Russian nationals who Washington accused of being intelligence agents and cybercriminals were sent to Moscow.

In September, Moscow declared six British diplomats persona non grata, claiming that their activities in the country “showed signs of intelligence and subversive work.” The UK Foreign Office dismissed the accusations as “completely baseless.”

https://www.rt.com/russia/610058-fsb-us-spy-genetic-screening-data-russians/

(This article has very little content, along with the picture, it's strange. What's the message? What's on his shirt?)

Freedom Caucus chair: House GOP needs to consider if ‘current leadership is what we need’

The lingering concern is a warning sign for Speaker Mike Johnson.

JORDAIN CARNEY

12/26/2024, 3:49PM ET

House Freedom Caucus Chair Andy Harris told Fox Business on Thursday that the chamber’s Republicans need to consider if current leadership “is what we need” going into unified GOP government next year.

“Before the last couple of weeks, I was in his corner, but now we should consider what’s the best path forward,” Harris (R-Md.) said of Speaker Mike Johnson.“We do need to consider whether — if we’re going to advance Mr. Trump’s agenda — whether the current leadership is what we need.”

Harris’ comments come after he signaled last week that he was on the fence about whether or not to support Johnson during the Jan. 3 speaker vote, saying in a statement that he was “now undecided on what House leadership should look like in the 119th Congress.”

Johnson is on thin ice with his right flank after his handling of short-term government funding. Though the speaker kept opposition on the final proposal, which will fund the government until mid-March, at only 34 GOP no votes, he sparked conference-wide frustration over his handling of the funding debate.

The growing ire toward Johnson is coming at a bad moment for the Louisiana Republican’s political future. Because Republicans are expected to have a 219-215 majority on Jan. 3, due to Matt Gaetz’s early resignation, Johnson can only afford to have one Republican vote against him.

Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) became the first Republican to vow to vote for someone else. But several Republicans, including Harris, have said they are undecided or have refused to say if they will support Johnson in the wake of the continuing resolution.

Some of Johnson’s allies have publicly urged Trump to back him before the vote to help shore up his support and reduce the chances of a protracted speaker gavel fight. They’ve also warned that if they can’t quickly settle the speaker race, they risk not being able to certify Trump’s electoral college win on Jan. 6.

Johnson has worked hard to keep Trump on his side. And while the president-elect hasn’t publicly crossed Johnson since the funding debate, one Trump adviser told POLITICO earlier this month that there wouldn’t be pushback if someone challenged Johnson.

Harris on Thursday said that Trump is going to need “strong leadership” given House Republicans’ thin margins and floated that the incoming president is “evaluating whether that exists.”

Though Harris said on Thursday that he was supporting Johnson until his handling of the spending debate, he floated Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) as a potential speaker candidate during a campaign stop with outgoing Rep. Bob Good (R-Va.) and other Freedom Caucus members in March. Jordan has repeatedly said that he is not running for the speaker’s gavel, or any other leadership position.

“I like Jim Jordan. I think he should have a shot at being speaker. I think he will have a shot at being speaker after the election,” Harris said in March, while explaining why he didn’t support a potential ouster vote against Johnson at that time.

Jordan was one of the GOP’s speaker nominees last year in the wake of Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s ouster but he was unable to get 218 votes on the floor.

(The problem here is, the democrats love Johnson, because he's unable to negotiate and always caves to democrats. He's such a loser, democrats will use him as their tool and vote 100% for him. A better plan would to remove his advisors, and they have to be much stronger than he is.)

https://www.politico.com/live-updates/2024/12/26/congress/freedom-caucus-chair-on-johnson-house-gop-harris-trump-00196049