AG Barr says 'developments' in Durham investigation may arrive before end of summer

The attorney general also warned that mail-in voting is ripe for fraud.

Attorney General Bill Barr during a Fox News interview with Maria Bartiromo said that there soon may be "developments" in Connecticut U.S. Attorney John Durham's investigation into the origins of the Russia probe.

"In terms of the future of Durham's investigation, you know he's pressing ahead as hard as he can, and I expect that we will have some developments hopefully before the end of the summer," Barr said in the interview today.

Durham's investigation has slowed as a consequence of the coronavirus crisis, the attorney general said. When Bartiromo asked about a grand jury, Barr declined to divulge whether one has been impaneled.

"I don't want to suggest there has been or is a grand jury, but it is a fact that there have not been grand juries in virtually all districts for a long period of time, and also people have been reluctant to travel for interviews and things like that," Barr said.

Durham has "been working where he can on other matters that aren't affected by the pandemic. But there has been an effect," Barr noted.

During the interview, Barr expressed concern that mail-in voting is ripe for fraud and could harm public confidence in election integrity.

"It absolutely opens the floodgates to fraud," he said. "Those things are delivered into mailboxes, they can be taken out."

"Right now," he continued, "a foreign country could print up tens of thousands of counterfeit ballots and be very hard for us to detect which was the right and which was the wrong ballot."

The attorney general said that "it can upset and undercut the confidence in the integrity of our elections. If anything we should tighten them up right now."

https://justthenews.com/government/federal-agencies/ag-barr-says-some-developments-durham-investigation-may-arrive-summers

Musk Sells Bel-Air Home To Chinese Billionaire For $12 Million More Than He Paid For It In 2012

It was just a little more than a month ago that we wrote that Elon Musk claimed he would be selling "almost all" of his physical possessions and had put his houses on the market.

Now, he's found a buyer for his Bel-Air mansion: a Chinese billionaire who seems to be happy forking over $29 million to Musk for the home. The buyer is tied to billionaire William Ding, according to Business Insider, who is the founder and CEO of NetEase.

Ignoring the fact that it's odd for Musk to be offloading his assets at the same time Tesla's valuation is at, or near, all time highs of ~$185 billion, Musk was able to cash out with a $12 million profit on this home (which he bought for $17 million 2012) in the midst of a real estate market that is enduring chaos from both the supply and the demand side as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

Even stranger was that we took the time to note in our early May writeup that according to Bloomberg: "Fewer buyers were coming from China, Russia and the Middle East amid international tensions, and limits on state and local tax deductions dampened the appeal of owning California homes for wealthy U.S. buyers."

So not only did Musk find himself a buyer from China, he found one that was willing to pay him a $12 million premium on his house to what it cost in 2012.

https://www.zerohedge.com/technology/musk-sells-bel-air-home-chinese-billionaire-12-million-more-he-paid-it-2012

How Is Europe's Economy During Coronavirus? What German Chancellor Angela Merkel Said About Economic Fate Of EU

As the coronavirus pandemic continues to weaken European Union economies, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Thursday that European solidarity is more important than ever.

“The pandemic shows us how vulnerable Europe is,” Merkel told the German parliament. “Therefore I want to stress to you that cohesion and solidarity in Europe were never as important as they are today.”

“The medical and economic consequences of the crisis are deepening the imbalances in the European community,” Merkel continued. “We must not allow the economic prospects of the EU member states to drift apart as a result of the pandemic.”

EU leaders are expected to meet in July to discuss a financial rescue package.

In May, France and Germany introduced a 500 billion euro ($549 billion) recovery fund that would distribute grants to regions and industries most impacted by the virus. Later that same month, the European Commission proposed a 750 billion euro ($838 billion) recovery fund. The fund would include 500 billion euros ($560 million) in grants in line with the Franco-German plan, but also additional support for high-debt countries such as Spain and Italy.

Netherlands, Denmark, Austria and Sweden have been reportedly concerned about the plan, as the leaders of those countries feel it is unfair to foot the bill for heavily indebted Mediterranean nations.

During the first quarter of the year, Europe’s largest economy, Germany, contracted by 2.2% amid the coronavirus crisis, while French GDP declined by 5.8% in that period. Italy shrank by 4.7% in the first three months of the year, with Spain’s GDP falling by 5.2% during that time.

In April, consulting firm McKinsey warned that 60 million jobs across the EU and the U.K. are at risk from the pandemic.

https://www.ibtimes.com/how-europes-economy-during-coronavirus-what-german-chancellor-angela-merkel-said-2997836