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Top Republicans question McCarthy over release of January 6 footage as speaker vows deliberate approach | CNN Politics

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Top Republicans question McCarthy over release of January 6 footage as speaker vows deliberate approach | CNN Politics



CNN
 — 

Speaker Kevin McCarthy confronted questions from his management group Monday night time over his plans to publicly launch safety footage from January 6, 2021, a number of sources instructed CNN – a course of that he mentioned may take a while to disseminate extensively at the same time as Fox Information host Tucker Carlson has had an early glimpse.

Whereas GOP leaders are supportive of the transfer to launch the footage – which was one of many many concessions McCarthy made in his bid to turn into speaker – some lawmakers within the closed-door management assembly requested whether or not delicate safety protocols or sure evacuation routes could be uncovered by taking that step.

Others questioned how lengthy the footage goes to be dragged out within the press, with some lawmakers involved in regards to the optics of showing to attempt to downplay a lethal riot within the US Capitol.

“Let’s simply rip the Band-aid off and get this over with,” one GOP lawmaker instructed CNN.

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Sources mentioned McCarthy assured his management group that he desires to maneuver swiftly, however mentioned they have to be deliberate about how they deal with it to make sure the discharge doesn’t endanger their safety. He additionally instructed lawmakers that different media retailers will get entry to the footage after Carlson airs his unique, nevertheless it may take a couple of weeks.

CNN, together with a bunch of different media organizations, has signed on to a letter calling for congressional leaders to grant entry to the safety footage from the riot.

A congressional supply accustomed to the matter mentioned there have been ongoing discussions with the Capitol Police about what restrictions must be positioned on the footage and that it remained unclear precisely what limitations could be on the video that Carlson will likely be allowed to air. However even giving Carlson the video footage has spawned widespread issues, given the conservative host has pushed conspiracy theories in regards to the assault and downplayed the violence by the hands of Trump supporters.

Home GOP Convention Chair Elise Stefanik of New York confirmed that the subject got here up of their management assembly and mentioned she totally helps McCarthy’s choice to publicly launch the footage. She additionally mentioned Republicans would be sure that regulation enforcement and safety protocols are protected.

“Not like Democrats, we do work very successfully with the Capitol Police. And we respect regulation enforcement,” Stefanik instructed CNN. “That is about transparency.”

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McCarthy, who initially instructed reporters he would reply questions on Monday, left the Capitol and prevented reporters and questions in regards to the matter.

However certainly one of his closest allies – Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who additionally has downplayed the January 6 assault – backed his choice to provide the footage to Carlson. She instructed CNN she performed a job in McCarthy’s choice to show the footage over to Carlson, however she wouldn’t go into additional element.

Greene, who was not within the Monday night time assembly, mentioned she’s spoken with McCarthy, and that the speaker’s workplace is coordinating a course of for methods to launch the footage extra extensively, past Fox Information, whereas additionally guaranteeing it doesn’t violate any safety issues.

“We will’t give away our nationwide safety,” Greene mentioned, “Everybody in Congress agrees. And I believe the American folks agree. We don’t need Russia or China or any of those different nations with the ability to research all of the entries and exits of our capital. That’s silly.”

Greene instructed CNN that Carlson’s group was additionally given sure parameters for what they may and couldn’t air. “Sure … in fact (there have been parameters) they’re being extraordinarily cautious and accountable.”

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“I believe it’s any day now,” Greene instructed CNN of when to count on a number of the footage to air on Fox Information.

Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz, who urged the speaker to launch the footage as McCarthy was courting his vote for the speakership, wouldn’t say if that was a part of the dedication made to encourage him to vote “current” and assist the California Republican’s trigger.

“I believe it’s getting launched,” Gaetz instructed CNN of the safety footage.

Prime Democrats, too, are intently monitoring the matter.

Home Democratic Chief Hakeem Jeffries of New York mentioned he and McCarthy “haven’t had an prolonged dialog” but about releasing the footage to Carlson.

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“However I sit up for speaking to him this week and additional about determining an strategy that is sensible and respects the safety issues that many members have articulated within the Home,” Jeffries mentioned of the speaker.

Prime Democrats are ready to see what footage is finally launched earlier than taking place on whether or not the total media must also have entry to it, a supply accustomed to the matter mentioned.

Requested if he believed the footage must be launched extensively to the media, Jeffries instructed CNN: “I’ve no touch upon that proper now.”

Different Democrats have been outraged on the speaker.

Democratic Rep. Bennie Thompson of Mississippi, who chaired the choose committee on January 6, instructed CNN that McCarthy “opened up a can of worms” by agreeing to launch the footage to Carlson and dinged the California Republican for fundraising off the transfer, which he mentioned places “the establishment in danger.”

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Companies Pull Back From Pride Events as Trump Targets D.E.I.

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Companies Pull Back From Pride Events as Trump Targets D.E.I.

When it came time to plan San Francisco Pride this year, Suzanne Ford, the organization’s executive director, reached out to some longtime corporate sponsors to ask how they planned to support the event.

Their abrupt responses stunned her: Not at all.

Several of the event’s largest sponsors — including Comcast, Anheuser-Busch and the beverage company Diageo — told Ms. Ford that they would not be providing funding this year. The companies, which together provided over $200,000 to San Francisco Pride in 2024, each told her that supporting the event was no longer in its budget, she said.

“It was totally shocking,” Ms. Ford said, adding that some of the companies had supported San Francisco Pride for decades. “It was like somebody in your family just all of a sudden saying, ‘We don’t want to be involved with you anymore.’”

With only weeks left to lock in sponsors for the summertime events, Pride organizers across the United States say that many longtime corporate sponsors are suddenly being evasive about their financial commitments or abandoning their support entirely. While some companies cited tight budgets or economic uncertainty, Pride organizers see another factor: President Trump’s widening crusade against diversity, equity and inclusion, which has prompted corporate America to retreat from such initiatives.

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“There’s a lot of fear of repercussions for aligning with our festival,” said Wes Shaver, the president of Milwaukee Pride. Many corporations he has spoken to are worried that the Trump administration will classify funding Pride events — one of the signature L.G.B.T.Q. festivals on the calendar — as a diversity, equity and inclusion effort, and that they’ll be punished or penalized. “Everyone’s afraid,” he said.

In recent weeks, Booz Allen Hamilton, Deloitte, Comcast and the auto dealership group Darcars have dropped their sponsorship of WorldPride, to be held in Washington, D.C., organizers said.

Andi Otto, the executive director of Twin Cities Pride, said that some longtime sponsors were leaving his calls and emails unanswered, and that his organization was about $200,000 behind its funding goal.

And Hampton Roads Pride in Norfolk, Va., has had some sponsors reduce their donations, while others have postponed decisions, said Jeff Ryder, the organization’s president.

This is a sharp reversal from past years — when corporations clamored to have their logos be seen at Pride events — and is creating deep unease among many L.G.B.T.Q. people.

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“The tone has definitely changed,” Mr. Shaver said. While none of his sponsors have officially dropped out, Mr. Shaver estimates that he will lose about $50,000 in corporate funds this year, a 30 percent reduction from last year.

To adjust, he plans to scale back some performances, curb marketing plans and abandon hopes to hire big-name acts.

Pride Toronto is also taking a hit, organizers said. So far, it is short over $300,000 — out of a total budget of around $5.6 million — because corporations with U.S. ties have pulled out or reduced their donations, according to Kojo Modeste, the organization’s executive director. The event plans to cut one of its five stages, shorten performances and cancel its signature “Island Party” event on the Toronto Islands.

Nissan, one of the companies that pulled out of Pride Toronto, said in a statement that its decision not to sponsor the event this year was “due to a re-evaluation of all our marketing and media activations in a variety of activities.”

Corporate sponsorships help pay for security, insurance, permitting and equipment rentals. But for some groups, the cuts could reverberate beyond this summer’s Pride events. In Washington, the funding gap is endangering an endowment planned as part of WorldPride to support local L.G.B.T.Q. organizations that provide housing, food, clothing and group therapy.

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A spokeswoman for Comcast declined to say why the company was withdrawing its sponsorship of WorldPride and San Francisco Pride, but said it was supporting smaller Pride events in California, including in Oakland, Silicon Valley and Sacramento. Diageo declined to comment. Anheuser-Busch, Booz Allen Hamilton, Deloitte and Darcars did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

John Paul Rollert, an adjunct associate professor at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, said that many organizations worry “that they will be subject to heightened scrutiny and perhaps even reprisal by the current administration” if they support D.E.I.-related efforts.

While many companies blamed budgetary issues or potential economic headwinds, “I don’t believe that for one moment,” Mr. Rollert said. “Supporting a Pride event is not a particularly expensive undertaking. This is a fear of potential reputational harm that might come from the administration turning its spotlight on them.”

Ms. Ford had hoped to raise $2.3 million from corporate sponsors for San Francisco Pride this year, but as of mid-March had secured only $1 million. Insurance, security and medical services alone cost over $1.2 million, she said, prompting her to seek new corporate sponsors and solicit individual donations.

Many organizers said that most sponsors were sticking with them, and that some had even increased their donations. But the cooling support from some has refocused attention on how reliant large Pride events are on corporate backing.

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For decades, companies grew increasingly comfortable associating their brands with L.G.B.T.Q. communities, said Matt Skallerud, the president of Pink Media, which specializes in L.G.B.T.Q. marketing. But that began to change in 2023, when a marketing campaign by Bud Light with the transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney provoked outrage from the right and a boycott of the beer.

Months later, Target faced a backlash over its Pride Month store displays. After Target scaled back the displays, there came another backlash, this time from the left.

“At that point, a lot of other companies said, ‘Whoa, I think we need to slow down,’” Mr. Skallerud said. Some began to dial back spending on Pride-related marketing and events.

Since returning to the White House in January, Mr. Trump has ramped up his anti-D.E.I. efforts. After he issued an executive order instructing federal agencies to investigate “illegal D.E.I.” in the private sector, Mr. Skallerud said that many companies pulled the plug on such efforts. In recent weeks, Paramount, Google and Goldman Sachs have become the latest big-name companies to roll back D.E.I. programs.

The retreat — at a moment when many L.G.B.T.Q. people feel under threat — has added to criticism that corporations only support their community when it benefits them financially, a practice called “pinkwashing” or “rainbow capitalism.”

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It suggests, Mr. Skallerud said, that companies “were only in it halfheartedly, and they weren’t completely our partners.”

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Italy’s Pirelli pushes Chinese owner to cut stake amid fears of Trump freeze-out

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Italy’s Pirelli pushes Chinese owner to cut stake amid fears of Trump freeze-out

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Pirelli’s board is pressing China’s Sinochem, its largest investor, to cut its stake over fears that the Trump administration’s hawkish position on Beijing ownership of American assets will thwart the Italian tyremaker’s US expansion.

At a board meeting on Wednesday, Pirelli’s management will demand the Chinese investor immediately cut its 37 per cent stake to less than Italian shareholder Camfin’s 26.4 per cent holding, according to several people with knowledge of the plans.

The move demonstrates the drastic steps being taken by companies as they adapt to the policies of US President Donald Trump’s administration.

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Korean car group Hyundai on Monday was the latest international business to announce large investments in the US, unveiling a $21bn package that Trump said was evidence that his trade policies “very strongly work” as he seeks to boost domestic manufacturing.

One of the options Pirelli proposed is for Sinochem to reduce its stake below 25 per cent through a share buyback with some stock being resold on the market immediately, people with knowledge of the plans said.

It is unclear whether Sinochem, which will be represented at the meeting by its president Jiao Jian — also Pirelli’s chair — will agree to the proposal. The parties failed to reach an agreement in preparatory talks ahead of the board meeting, the people added.

Pirelli declined to comment. Sinochem could not immediately be reached for comment.

Pirelli owns a factory in the US state of Georgia but produces most of its tyres for the North American market in Mexico and South America. In response to Trump’s trade policies and the looming threat of tariffs on imported cars, it has sought to expand its operations in the US, where it makes a quarter of its global revenues.

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But the tyremaker has met resistance in recent conversations in the US about its expansion plans, according to people with knowledge of the matter. The company believed that this stemmed from the fact its largest shareholder was a Chinese state-owned company, the people added.

Pirelli, which supplies the tyres used by Formula 1 cars, also owns proprietary technology that can link information picked up by tyre sensors to vehicles’ driving commands. The technology is in high demand in the US but Pirelli also fears it will be cut out of a potentially lucrative market because of Sinochem’s stake in the group, according to the people.

The US in January finalised a ban on Chinese automated driving systems as well as hardware and software that interact with cars, such as Bluetooth, WiFi and satellite.

State-owned ChemChina, which later merged with Sinochem, first bought a majority stake in Pirelli in a $7.7bn deal in 2015. Under the initial deal, the Chinese investor agreed it would not interfere with the Italian group’s day-to-day management, strategy or appointments.

This week’s showdown comes less than two years after Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s government imposed limitations on state-owned Sinochem’s shareholder rights in Pirelli.

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The rare state intervention, under Italy’s “golden power” foreign investment screening mechanism, followed repeated clashes between Pirelli’s Italian management, including its former chief executive Marco Tronchetti Provera, and Sinochem as Beijing sought to tighten its grip over one of Italy’s historic industrial groups.

Sinochem’s attempts to exert control at a time of heightened geopolitical tensions led to disputes with Pirelli’s management. The disagreements culminated with Sinochem’s attempt in 2023 to revise a shareholder pact and strip Camfin — where Tronchetti Provera is the controlling shareholder — of the indefinite right to appoint Pirelli’s chief executive.

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Wednesday briefing: Just how bad was the White House accidentally leaking military plans over Signal?

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Wednesday briefing: Just how bad was the White House accidentally leaking military plans over Signal?

Good morning. Look, it could happen to anyone: I well remember, for example, the time I added my mum to a thread with my siblings discussing what to get her for Christmas. On the other hand, I don’t have a secure communications facility in my house for when I need to get something out on the family group chat. Also, we rarely digress from pictures of cute kids to setting out war plans for an imminent set of airstrikes on the Houthis in Yemen.

So perhaps the latest Trump administration hullabaloo isn’t that relatable, after all. Two days after the Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg revealed that he had been mystifyingly added to a thread on Signal – an encrypted WhatsApp-like instant messaging app – in which vice-president JD Vance, defence secretary Pete Hegseth, and a host of others chatted about a highly sensitive operation, there are as many questions as answers. How on earth did Goldberg get added in the first place? Why didn’t anybody realise the error? Are White House officials doing this all the time? And how vulnerable are their communications to interception from America’s adversaries?

Today’s newsletter explains this absolute dumpster fire of a story, and why it matters. Here are the headlines.

Five big stories

  1. Spring statement | Rachel Reeves will make additional welfare cuts in her spring statement on Wednesday after the Office for Budget Responsibility rejected her estimate of savings from the changes announced last week. The chancellor is expected to announce an additional £500m in benefits cuts to make up part of the £1.6bn shortfall.

  2. Ukraine | Russia and Ukraine have agreed to “eliminate the use of force” in the Black Sea, though the Kremlin said it was conditional on sanctions relief for its agricultural exports. The warring parties also agreed to implement a previously announced 30-day halt on attacks against energy networks.

  3. Assisted dying | The introduction of assisted dying in England and Wales is likely to be pushed back by a further two years in a delay that supporters fear could mean the law never comes into force. The delay marks the latest major change to the proposals, which have proven deeply contentious in the Commons and beyond.

  4. Gaza | Press freedom organisations have condemned the killing of two journalists in Gaza on Monday by the Israeli armed forces. Hossam Shabat, a 23-year-old correspondent for the Al Jazeera Mubasher channel, and Mohammed Mansour, a correspondent for Palestine Today, died in separate targeted airstrikes.

  5. Society | Non-monogamous people are just as happy in their relationships as those with only one partner but are not “significantly” more sexually satisfied, research suggests. The authors of a new study said their findings challenged what they called a prevailing “one-size-fits-all approach to relationships”.

In depth: How a journalist got a front row seat to US military planning

Donald Trump speaks to the press alongside JD Vance, Pete Hegseth and Mike Waltz days before the Houthi strike. Photograph: Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images

“This is going to require some explaining,” Jeffrey Goldberg writes at the beginning of his Atlantic story about how Pete Hegseth ended up messaging him about an imminent attack on Yemen, and he’s absolutely right.

In brief: Goldberg was added to a Signal thread by Michael Waltz, Donald Trump’s national security adviser, who presumably confused his contact with someone else’s. Goldberg was allowed to lurk on the thread for several days as senior officials – here’s a rundown of the dramatis personae – discussed the timing of the strike against the Houthis, fulminated against European “free-loading”, and celebrated the operation’s success with fire emojis. Eventually, Goldberg removed himself, and then wrote a story about it. Since then, all hell has broken loose.

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Here’s what else you need to know about the significant issues raised by this fiasco – and, as a bonus, the best quote from the fallout so far: “Everyone in the White House can agree on one thing: Mike Waltz is a fucking idiot.” (Donald Trump said he was “doing his best”, but the two aren’t mutually exclusive.)


What’s the problem with having national security discussions on Signal?

The most glaring issue is the lack of adequate security protocols for discussions about US military operations – even if, hilariously, Hegseth sent a message to the group saying “we are currently clean on OPSEC” while Goldberg was still in it.

Such conversations are meant to be held in enclosed areas called sensitive compartmented information facilities, or Scifs, which have reinforced physical defences against eavesdropping, tight controls on access, and shields against electronic surveillance. Many senior government officials have Scifs installed at their homes; failing that, they are meant to use secure government-issued devices. Peter Beaumont has more on what America’s adversaries might have learned.

To state the most obvious point: if the discussion had been held under such conditions, a journalist would not have been accidentally added. But even if Goldberg hadn’t been included, significant issues would remain.

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While the messaging app Signal is a more secure way to exchange messages than ordinary texting, it is a rung below official government communication channels. One aspect of the risk is that it is possible to download messages to a desktop, which lacks the layers of security in the app itself. The Pentagon warned its employees against using Signal last week.

It is also possible that the participants were using their own devices. In this Politico piece, a former White House official warns: “Their personal phones are all hackable, and it’s highly likely that foreign intelligence services are sitting on their phones watching them type the shit out.”


Is it possible the participants broke the law?

By holding sensitive national security discussions on a commercially available app, the participants may well have violated the US espionage act. Kevin Carroll, a national security lawyer, told the Washington Post: “I have defended service members accused of violating the Espionage Act through gross negligence for far, far less. If these people were junior uniformed personnel, they would be court-martialed.”

Vance, Hegseth and their colleagues may also have been in breach of federal records law – which mandates that messages about official acts be preserved. Many former officials have said that for that reason, they confined their use of platforms like Signal to bland logistical discussions or as a way to direct others to a more secure channel.

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That is not what happened here – and because Waltz switched on Signal’s “disappearing messages” function, the discussions might have vanished for ever barring Goldberg’s accidental inclusion. Yesterday, CIA director John Ratcliffe, another participant, claimed that the decisions taken in the group were also formally recorded.


What did we learn about the Trump administration’s view of Europe?

One thing the leak makes absolutely clear: when Vance expresses his disdain for Europe in public, he isn’t putting it on. Part of the discussion about the timing of a strike against the Houthis was focused on the idea that by protecting a trade route used by European shipping, Washington was giving EU countries a free ride.

Vance, who expressed his reluctance to conduct the operation immediately, eventually said: “If you think we should do it let’s go. I just hate bailing Europe out again.” In reply, Hegseth agreed: “I fully share your loathing of European free-loading. It’s PATHETIC.”

The discussion concluded with a suggestion that “we soon make clear” that Europe should contribute to the cost of the operation.

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In Brussels yesterday, all of that was greeted with weary dismay. “Horrific to see in black and white,” one European diplomat told the BBC. “But hardly surprising.”


Are there any awkward historical precedents which the protagonists have expressed strong opinions about?

Funny you should ask! After the story broke, CNN put together a montage that showed just some of the times that those involved in the message thread took a stern line on the notorious row over Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server while in office.

“If it was anyone other than Hillary Clinton, they’d be in jail right now,” Hegseth said on Fox News in 2016. Marco Rubio said in the same year that “nobody is above the law – not even Hillary Clinton.” And Ratcliffe said in 2019 that “mishandling classified information is still a violation of the espionage act”.

Later, Trump’s consigliere Stephen Miller tweeted that because of Clinton’s “illegal” behaviour, “foreign adversaries could easily hack classified ops & intel in real time from other side of the globe.” With that uncompromising line, the White House must be hoping Stephen Miller never hears what Stephen Miller’s been up to.

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The administration steered well clear of addressing that aspect of the story. Hillary Clinton didn’t, though: “You have got to be kidding me,” she wrote on X, along with an eyeballs emoji.


How have Trump’s supporters fought back?

The White House has admitted the thread “appears to be authentic”. Still, that didn’t stop Hegseth turning to a familiar strategy in response: attack the media.

“Nobody was texting war plans,” he said, although Goldberg reported that Hegseth himself texted “operational details of forthcoming strikes on Yemen”.

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Hegseth also sought to discredit Goldberg, among the most eminent journalists in the United States and one with no obvious track record of dishonesty: “You’re talking about a deceitful and highly discredited so-called journalist who’s made a profession of peddling hoaxes.” Later, Trump called him a “total sleazebag”. Waltz, for his part, called him “bottom scum” and suggested he could have got himself added to the group “deliberately” because he “wasn’t on my phone”, a fairly head-scratching claim.

All of that aligned closely with the approach taken by presenters on Fox News. Sean Hannity dismissed it as “the state-run legacy media mob” being “obsessed with an accidentally leaked text”.

Another Will Cain, found a silver lining: “After years of secrecy and incompetence, if you read the content of these messages, I think you will come away proud that these are the leaders making these decisions in America.”

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But the idea that there’s nothing to see here doesn’t seem to have landed with everyone. At a hearing before the Senate intelligence committee yesterday, John Ratcliffe and Tulsi Gabbard, the director of national intelligence who was also on the thread, faced intense questioning about their roles, and found it tricky to agree on a strategy: immediately after Gabbard refused to confirm her participation in the thread, Ratcliffe confirmed he had done so and said it was permissible.

“What you’re saying didn’t make sense,” said Democratic senator Mark Warner. Somewhere in Washington, a Republican was probably sending an eyeroll emoji.

What else we’ve been reading

Hamdan Ballal is released from Israeli custody on Tuesday 25 March. Photograph: Léo Corrêa/AP
  • Lorenzo Tondo spoke to witnesses about the brutal assault on Oscar-winning Palestinian director Hamdan Ballal by settlers, who handed him over to the military, bruised and bleeding. The attack on Ballal, who was subsequently detained, “might be their revenge on us for making the movie. It feels like a punishment,” said Basel Adra, another of No Other Land’s directors. Nimo

  • The Guardian’s blockbuster invertebrate of the year prize continues with Patrick Barkham singing the praises of the “twerking pollinator with a bum-bag”: it is, of course, the dark-edged bee-fly. Slightly alarmingly, they “use false legs to bumble into a bee burrow and scoff the pollen left for the bee babies”. Archie

  • Rashid Khalidi is searing in his response to Columbia University’s “capitulation” with the Trump administration’s sweeping policy changes last week. “Columbia barely merits the name of a university, since its teaching and scholarship on the Middle East, and soon much else, will soon be vetted by a ‘senior vice-provost for inclusive pedagogy’, in reality a senior vice-provost for Israeli propaganda,” he writes. Nimo

  • The bleak sight of Conor McGregor visiting the White House on St Patrick’s Day has not gone down well with most people in Ireland, writes Justine McCarthy – but his putative presidential run risks galvanising the country’s “small but vocal minority on the hard right”. Archie

  • For those who are mourning the end of Severance (me), Claire Cao has a great antidote: the film Triangle (pictured above) will scratch the “puzzle box” sci-fi plot itch that the Ben Stiller thriller has left. Nimo

Sport

Trent Alexander-Arnold. Photograph: Richard Martin-Roberts/CameraSport/Getty Images

Football | Real Madrid are close to completing a deal to sign Trent Alexander-Arnold on a free transfer this summer. The Liverpool right-back has long been a target for the European champions and there is now a widespread expectation that he will join Carlo Ancelotti’s side when his contract expires at the end of the season.

Football | David Brooks scored in the sixth minute of injury time to rescue a point for Wales in their World Cup qualifier against North Macedonia. The game had been 0-0 until Bojan Miovski’s goal as normal time expired.

Tennis | As Emma Raducanu enjoys her best run of form since her 2021 run to the US Open title, she now comes up against Jessica Pegula in the quarter final of the Miami Open. The match is just reward for her persistence, writes Tumaini Carayol: “to her credit she kept on ­rolling with the punches and showing up.”

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The front pages

Guardian front page 26 March, 2025 Photograph: Guardian

“Fears of further tax rises as Reeves promises to ‘secure Britain’s future’” is the splash on the Guardian today, while the Financial Times says “Reeves to leaven grim spring outlook with £2.2bn defence spending boost.” The spring statement is also previewed in the Daily Mail, which has “Don’t shift blame for economy’s woes, voters tell Reeves,” and the Mirror, which runs an interview with Rachel Reeves under the headline “My mission.”

“Victims must see ‘sense of justice being served’” is the lead story on the Express, while “Mortal blow to assisted dying Bill” is the focus in the Telegraph. “JD Dunce hates Britain, hates Europe and hates Ukraine…And could be president at any moment,” says the Star, and the Metro: “Trump backs chump.” The Sun covers a row over the pricing of Oasis tickets with the headline “Definitely Shady”.

Today in Focus

A protester wearing a whirling dervish costume performs in front of Turkish riot police barricades as he tries to march to Taksim Square in Istanbul, Turkey, 23 March 2025. Photograph: Erdem Şahin/EPA

The arrest that plunged Turkey into turmoil

Protesters took to streets after President Erdoğan had his rival arrested. What will happen next? Sami Kent and Ruth Michaelson report

Cartoon of the day | Rebecca Hendin

Cartoon of the day Illustration: Rebecca Hendin/The Guardian

The Upside

A bit of good news to remind you that the world’s not all bad

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Mark Nedd, a fisher, on Soubise’s beach. He has been coping with the effects of the sargassum seaweed since he was a teenager. Photograph: Haron Forteau/The Guardian

In Grenada, the persistent issue of sargassum seaweed, which has long plagued the island’s shores, is being reimagined as an opportunity rather than a burden. While the decaying seaweed causes bad smells and disrupts fishing and tourism, innovative solutions are emerging. The Grenadian government, in collaboration with the EU, is exploring ways to turn sargassum into a valuable resource, including clean energy, bioplastics, and fertiliser.

Companies such as Seafields are developing methods to farm the seaweed and harness its potential, which could boost the economy. A bioenergy project is already converting sargassum into biogas and organic fertiliser. “They use diesel to generate electricity 1742975300, which is very expensive for the local population. We are providing a reliable, cost-effective and sustainable alternative,” Benjamin Nestorovic, who works for the Grenada-based bioenergy company SarGas, says, adding that the company plans to expand across the Caribbean.

Bored at work?

And finally, the Guardian’s puzzles are here to keep you entertained throughout the day. Until tomorrow.

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