Washington, D.C
Crypto Comes to Washington. Will the Millions Buy Influence?
![Crypto Comes to Washington. Will the Millions Buy Influence? Crypto Comes to Washington. Will the Millions Buy Influence?](https://www.usnews.com/dims4/USNEWS/98756ec/2147483647/thumbnail/970x647/quality/85/?url=http://media.beam.usnews.com/a4/59140ebf855a414c29589690496049/media:d91a45386a1c4bfcaaf3d132ba54bb50Congress_Crypto_Lobbying_94120.jpg)
By BRIAN SLODYSKO and FATIMA HUSSEIN, Related Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — Erin Houchin braced for the worst when a mysterious, well-financed group began shopping for tv adverts final month in her extremely aggressive southern Indiana congressional race.
Houchin assumed she would face a adverse blitz, just like the one which crushed her in 2016 when she ran for a similar seat. However, actually, the other occurred.
American Dream Federal Motion, a brilliant PAC financed by a cryptocurrency CEO, saturated the district with adverts selling Houchin as a “Trump Robust” conservative who would “cease the socialists in Washington.” That push helped safe her win final week in a Republican main.
“All you are able to do is maintain your breath,” Houchin’s longtime guide, Cam Savage, stated of once they realized in regards to the advert purchase. “It might aid you, however the worry is it would finish you.” He added that Houchin had not sought the assist and had no ties to the business aside from filling out a candidate survey from a cryptocurrency group.
Political Cartoons
The influence of the unsolicited helps exhibits how cryptocurrency tycoons are rising as the brand new energy gamers in American politics. They’re pouring tens of millions of {dollars} into main elections as they attempt to achieve affect over members of Congress, Republican and Democrat, who will write legal guidelines governing their business, in addition to different authorities officers who’re crafting rules.
This 12 months, for the primary time, business executives have flooded cash into federal races, spending $20 million to this point, in keeping with information and interviews.
It is a delicate however deliberate march by corporations that by their very nature earn a living based mostly partially on evading authorities consideration.
Along with marketing campaign spending, greater than $100 million has been spent lobbying across the subject since 2018 by crypto corporations, in addition to those that stand to lose if the business goes mainstream, information present.
Following a well-worn path, they’ve retained former high-ranking officers, like Max Baucus, a one-time Democratic senator from Montana who chaired the Finance Committee.
The push comes because the Biden administration and Congress not solely take into account new rules but in addition set funding ranges for businesses that can oversee them.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen stated this week that monetary regulators would quickly launch a report on the dangers of cryptocurrency and different digital property.
“Actually there are a lot of dangers related to cryptocurrencies,” she stated throughout a listening to on monetary stability Tuesday.
Officers are contemplating what client protections and monetary reporting necessities to implement and find out how to crack down on criminals who make the most of the anonymity supplied by cryptocurrency to evade taxes, launder cash and commit fraud.
“What do they need? They need no regulation, or they wish to assist write the regulation. What else is new?” requested Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, an business critic.
Cryptocurrencies are a digital asset that may be traded over the web with out counting on the worldwide banking system. They have been promoted as a approach for these with restricted means to construct wealth by investing within the subsequent massive factor. However they’re additionally extremely speculative and infrequently lack transparency, which considerably will increase danger.
Jan Santiago, deputy director of World Anti-Rip-off, a corporation that helps victims of cryptocurrency fraud, stated the business has been reluctant to police unhealthy actors.
“Until it impacts their backside line or public repute, I don’t assume there’s any monetary incentive for them,” he stated.
There are indicators that crypto goes mainstream. Constancy Investments, one of many nation’s largest suppliers of retirement accounts, introduced earlier this month it would begin permitting traders to place bitcoin of their 401(ok) accounts.
On the identical, authorities scrutiny is growing.
The Securities and Trade Fee unveiled a plan final week that will almost double the dimensions of its workers centered on cryptocurrency oversight. Days later, the Justice Division indicted the CEO of a cryptocurrency platform, alleging he orchestrated a “$62 million world funding fraud scheme,” which is amongst scores of civil and legal crypto circumstances introduced by federal authorities. Prosecutors say he promised beneficiant returns however as an alternative absconded with traders cash.
In the meantime, members of Congress and the administration have raised considerations that Russian oligarchs might flip to cryptocurrency to evade U.S. sanctions put in place when Russia invaded Ukraine.
However not less than one lawmaker has been an energetic participant in selling the attract of crypto riches.
Rep. Madison Cawthorn, R-N.C., touted a brand new crypto coin known as “Let’s Go Brandon” — a phrase that has turn out to be conservative shorthand for a vulgar insult to Joe Biden. In a single video posted to Twitter, Cawthorn seems alongside the cryptocurrency’s founder and emphatically declares, “That is going to the moon, child,” whereas urging viewers to go to the coin’s web site and “get on the prepare.”
After an preliminary spike, it plunged in worth and is now price a small fraction of a penny, as first reported by the Washington Examiner.
Cryptocurrency advocates in Congress acknowledge issues however argue the roughly $2 trillion business has matured.
“I’m assured that bitcoin protects customers,” stated Sen. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., who has invested between $150,002 and $350,000 within the forex, in keeping with her monetary disclosure. “I’m not assured that every one cryptocurrencies defend customers. The truth is, I’m prepared to guess that almost all of these are fraudulent.”
Others imagine concern over cryptocurrency fraud is hyped.
“It may be a straightforward conclusion for individuals to say there’s a lot fraud in that area,” stated Ashley Ebersole, a former SEC legal professional. “It is makes headlines, however I do not know that it is a larger proportion.”
In Washington, Democrats have been way more hawkish than Republicans. “That they had me at ‘Hey,’ in order that they don’t must foyer me,” stated Lummis, a Republican. “Democrats are one other story.”
Many cryptocurrency proponents lengthy opposed regulation. However lobbyists say that is now a settled debate and their present goal is to influence skeptics to not regulate too aggressively.
Perianne Boring, founding father of the Chamber of Digital Commerce, has been lobbying lawmakers and federal businesses since 2017, attempting to make the case for growing accounting requirements for cryptocurrency and different digital property and to assist crypto corporations turn out to be publicly traded corporations.
“As a result of there are not any requirements, many companies are hesitant to the touch cryptocurrency,” stated Boring, whose group has spent $1.9 million lobbying the federal authorities.
Some lobbyists are hoping {that a} wave of marketing campaign spending might assist, a lot of it directed to Democratic main races.
“Of us in crypto are, hastily, comfortable to go to political fundraisers,” stated Kristin Smith, the manager director of the Blockchain Affiliation. Smith, whose group has spent $4.2 million on lobbying since 2018. She added, “The federal government might truly are available and actually mess it up if we aren’t constructively participating.”
So the business is pushing laborious for sure candidates and that is fostered sense of resentment amongst some Democrats. In suburban Atlanta, two members of the U.S. Home, Democrats Carolyn Bourdeaux and Lucy McBath, are squaring off after their districts have been merged throughout redistricting.
A brilliant PAC known as Shield Our Future, financed by Sam Bankman-Fried, the 30-year-old billionaire founding father of the cryptocurrency trade FTX, has spent not less than $2.7 million on adverts supporting McBath, highlighting McBath’s assist of Democratic coverage priorities however saying nothing about cryptocurrency.
“They aren’t doing this out of the goodness of their coronary heart. They’re doing this as a result of they need one thing. And that’s to keep away from regulation,” Bourdeaux stated.
FTX and McBath’s marketing campaign didn’t reply to requests for remark. Shield Our Future, which plans to spend not less than $10 million on midterm campaigns, stated their expenditures don’t have anything to do with cryptocurrency regulation.
“There are a selection of things that go into our endorsements, together with voting historical past, coverage platforms, viability as a candidate, and public service {and professional} expertise,” the group’s president, Michael Sadowsky, stated in a press release.
Crypto tremendous PACs are energetic in different marquee races, together with Pennsylvania’s Democratic Senate main, the place a separate crypto group linked to Bankman-Fried spent $212,000 final week on adverts backing John Fetterman, the state’s Democratic lieutenant governor who’s operating for Senate. The adverts say Fetterman received’t “get schmoozed by lobbyists or bossed round by politicians.”
However total, the spending is on such a scale that it has generated questions in regards to the business’s motives.
“It tells each Democrat that, when you’ve got a main, they might are available with $2 million. They’re definitely making a degree,” stated Rep. Brad Sherman, D-Calif., a crypto critic who’s chairman of the Home Subcommittee on Investor Safety, Entrepreneurship, and Capital Markets. “You don’t want an excellent argument in Washington in case you received a number of well-paid lobbyists and an enormous PAC — you simply want some kind of argument.”
Copyright 2022 The Related Press. All rights reserved. This materials is probably not revealed, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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Washington, D.C
PHOTOS: Remembering DC’s ‘Snowpocalypse’ 15 years later – WTOP News
![PHOTOS: Remembering DC’s ‘Snowpocalypse’ 15 years later – WTOP News PHOTOS: Remembering DC’s ‘Snowpocalypse’ 15 years later – WTOP News](https://wtop.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/GettyImages-96578652.jpg)
It was one of those events that makes you remember where you were and who you were with. Snowpocalypse hit the D.C. area with a fury 15 years ago this week.
It was one of those events that you can recall where you were and who you were with. Fifteen years ago to the day, “Snowpocalypse” hit the Washington area with a fury.
One-and-a-half inches of snow fell on Dec. 18, 2009. The next day, another whopping 15 inches fell on D.C., paralyzing the city for days.
Relive the historic storm through photos:
(Photo credit should read EVA HAMBACH/AFP via Getty Images)
Photo credit should read EVA HAMBACH/AFP via Getty Images
![WASHINGTON - FEBRUARY 11: A worker of the Architect of the Capitol removes snow with a front-end loader on the ground of the U.S. Capitol February 11, 2010 in Washington, DC. Washingtonians had to dig out again after the region was hard hit by a second mega snowstorm in five days making 2009 � 2010 the snowiest winter since the record has been kept in 1870. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)](https://wtop.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/GettyImages-96576935.jpg)
(Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)
Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images
![WASHINGTON - FEBRUARY 11: A pedestrian walks behind tree branches that snapped from the weight of thick snow following yesterday�s snowstorm February 11, 2010 in Washington, DC. Washingtonians had to dig out again after the region was hard hit by a second mega snowstorm in five days making 2009 - 2010 the snowiest winter since the record has been kept in 1870. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)](https://wtop.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/GettyImages-96578643.jpg)
(Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)
Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images
![PHOTOS: Remembering DC’s ‘Snowpocalypse’ 15 years later – WTOP News PHOTOS: Remembering DC’s ‘Snowpocalypse’ 15 years later – WTOP News](https://wtop.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/GettyImages-96578652.jpg)
(Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)
Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images
![Snow covers the Marine Corps War Memorial in Arlington, Virginia on December 20, 2009. The Washington, DC area was hammered December 19 by a fierce snowstorm that dumped more than a foot (38.48cm) of snow. AFP PHOTO/Karen BLEIER (Photo credit should read KAREN BLEIER/AFP via Getty Images)](https://wtop.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/GettyImages-450434690.jpg)
(Photo credit should read KAREN BLEIER/AFP via Getty Images)
Photo credit should read KAREN BLEIER/AFP via Getty Images
![TOPSHOT - People walk through the snow-covered National Mall in Washington on December 20, 2009. A ferocious snow storm blanketed much of the eastern United States, cutting power to hundreds of thousands of homes, paralyzing air traffic and stranding motorists. The governors of Virginia, Maryland, West Virginia and Delaware declared states of emergency in advance of the storm, the worst to hit the region in decades. AFP PHOTO/Nicholas KAMM (Photo by Nicholas KAMM / AFP) (Photo by NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP via Getty Images)](https://wtop.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/GettyImages-1185154975.jpg)
(Photo by NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP via Getty Images)
Photo by NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP via Getty Images
![WASHINGTON - FEBRUARY 11: A man delivers restaurant supplies on an unplowed street following yesterday�s snowstorm February 11, 2010 in Washington, DC. Washingtonians had to dig out again after the region was hard hit by a second mega snowstorm in five days making 2009 - 2010 the snowiest winter since the record has been kept in 1870. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)](https://wtop.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/GettyImages-96578628.jpg)
(Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)
Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images
![The Reston Parkway is empty of cars during the height of Snowmageddon in February 2010. (WTOP/Dave Dildine)](https://wtop.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/snowma_2-1880x1250.jpg)
(WTOP/Dave Dildine)
WTOP/Dave Dildine
![US Winter Forecast](https://wtop.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/US_Winter_Forecast_11723-1880x1220.jpg)
(AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)
AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File
![](https://wtop.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/AP_100206125575-1880x1254.jpg)
(AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin
7News First Alert Chief Meteorologist Veronica Johnson isn’t predicting that much snow for this winter, though she said we can expect a little over 5 inches in the city with up to 15 inches in the northern and western suburbs. She said southern Maryland can expect a little over 2 inches.
So why do these massive snowfall totals seem to be a thing of the past for the D.C. area?
“It’s a warming climate for us,” Johnson said. “It’s hard to get the colder conditions that will produce snowfall.”
Two months later, another record 3 feet of snow blanketed the D.C. region in 2010, putting flights out of the city at a standstill and leading to snowball fights outside of the Capitol Building. The snowfall was nicknamed “Snowmageddon.”
The mammoth snowstorms during the winter of 2009-2010 led to the region’s snowiest winter of all time. The 2009-2010 winter will be long remembered for its relentless snowstorms that led to a record seasonal snowfall at Reagan National and Dulles International airports.
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© 2024 WTOP. All Rights Reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.
Washington, D.C
Mayor Bowser celebrates federal funding deal that gives DC control of RFK stadium site – WTOP News
![Mayor Bowser celebrates federal funding deal that gives DC control of RFK stadium site – WTOP News Mayor Bowser celebrates federal funding deal that gives DC control of RFK stadium site – WTOP News](https://wtop.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Trump_DC_43701-scaled.jpg)
Mayor Muriel Bowser joined WTOP to talk about the legislation that would transfer the land of the old RFK Stadium to the District and her efforts to bring the Washington Commanders back to D.C.
As lawmakers on Capitol Hill come to terms on a stopgap funding bill, one provision could bring the Washington Commanders back to the team’s old stomping grounds in Northeast, D.C.
Mayor Muriel Bowser is celebrating the bill after years of pushing to bring the team back to D.C.
The legislation, which is expected to pass, would transfer the land of the old RFK Stadium in Northeast from the federal government to the District.
Read more:
Bowser joined WTOP anchors John Aaron and Michelle Basch to talk about the bill and her efforts to bring the team back to D.C.
Listen to the full interview below or read the transcript, which has been lightly edited for clarity.
D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser talks about the funding bill with WTOP anchors John Aaron and Michelle Basch.
John Aaron: You’ve called the legislation a giant step forward. It seems like this was the biggest hurdle to getting a stadium back in that spot, was it?
Muriel Bowser: Well, it’s been a hurdle to for the District to get control of 177 acres that’s been sitting blighted and vacant for several years now. And we think in 177 acres, you can do quite a lot, and we have been restricted in how we can use it because of our lease to only a stadium use. What this legislation would do is give us control and the ability to develop multiple uses, including a world class stadium.
Michelle Basch: So if this bill passes in Congress, as expected, what’s the timeline here? What comes next?
Muriel Bowser: Well, we’re going to have conversations in D.C. with our policy makers. We’re developing a great plan for the site that we will be very anxious to present. We’ll sit down in earnest with the team, talk about our joint goals, and we will be demolishing the current stadium on the RFK site.
John Aaron: What were your conversations like with lawmakers, and how did you get members of both parties on board with this idea when they can’t seem to agree on anything?
Muriel Bowser: I know it’s been an amazing, amazing kind of story, I think. We sat down. I went early on for a hearing with Congressman (James) Comer in the Oversight Committee, and I think they were expecting to talk about crime, and we were expecting to talk about how they could help us. And I have to give a lot of credit to (James) Comer. He said he would help us, and he did. He introduced a piece of legislation with Congresswoman (Eleanor Holmes) Norton, and he has been with us every step of the way. So we had one of the most comical committee votes I’ve ever seen. People that never agree on anything, agreed that Washington, D.C. should step into place for the National Park Service, develop this land, control our destiny and create a lot of jobs and opportunities for D.C. residents and our visitors.
Michelle Basch: Can we also talk about the Council making the final approval to keep Capital One Arena upgraded and keep the Caps and Wizards in the cities?
Muriel Bowser: Yes. It’s been an amazing kind of a year. Somebody mentioned to me that last year, this time, we were concerned that the Wizards and Caps would leave. Yesterday, the council approved my legislation that it allows us to buy Cap One Arena and keeps the Wizards and the Caps playing in Washington, D.C. until at least 2050 and our landmark legislation that gives us control of the RFK site is almost passed. It was agreed upon, and we expect it to pass this week.
John Aaron: Of course, there’s the issue of paying for all of the upgrades to the RFK Stadium site. How would that work?
Muriel Bowser: Well, it’s going to work like all of our major developments work, like the Wharf, like Walter Reed, like St. Elizabeth. Whether we have a stadium there or not, the District is going to be a partner in the redevelopment. And so we always go in, we create a great plan, likely we support the development of the infrastructure, and we look for a great development partner that helps us realize our vision for housing and jobs and recreation. What people don’t often mention, and I’m reading all the press coverage today about this site, is it’s on the banks of the Anacostia River, and right now, our residents don’t have great connections. This legislation also requires us, and we’re very happy to comply, with having 30% of the parcel be park space. So we’re going to get a lot of recreation space. I’ve already committed that the District would support our own indoor sports complex for our kids to have indoor track and other activities. And you know, we have a lot of space to meet the goals of our communities.
Michelle Basch: Anything else you want our listeners to know this morning (on) such big news?
Muriel Bowser: Huge news. And I just want to say it’s just a win, win, we think, for the region, and it’s going to allow us to create jobs and attract the types of events to our region that we haven’t been able to attract. Imagine if we were able to have a Super Bowl here, the World Cup, Taylor Swift concerts. All of those things that have passed by our 4 million plus person region can be served at the RFK campus.
John Aaron: All right, that is some big thinking. Thank you. Mayor Bowser, we appreciate it.
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© 2024 WTOP. All Rights Reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.
Washington, D.C
Man says Donald Trump will be arrested on December 20, urges people to storm Washington D.C. if that fails: Watch
![Man says Donald Trump will be arrested on December 20, urges people to storm Washington D.C. if that fails: Watch Man says Donald Trump will be arrested on December 20, urges people to storm Washington D.C. if that fails: Watch](https://www.hindustantimes.com/ht-img/img/2024/12/18/1600x900/Untitled_1734508054895_1734508055093.jpg)
USAF veteran and vocal leftist Jerry Doran claimed that Donald Trump will never make it to the White House because millions of Americans will storm Washington DC on January 20, 2025. Doran, a nurse and substitute teacher, claimed the president-elect will be arrested on December 20 under Executive Order 13848.
Doran also appeared to urge a mass storming of Washington, D.C., on Inauguration Day if his prophecy does not come to pass. According to Doran’s social media rant, Executive Order 13848, which Trump signed in 2018, will be weaponized to arrest the president-elect for conspiring with foreign actors to rig the election.
Jerry Doran’s online rant
“Don’t forget, it’s We the People, okay? Executive Order 13848 is coming out. It’s been out, and Donald Trump helped create it. It’s going to come back to bite him because it says how we have to proceed when there’s outside interference in our elections. There definitely has been. They’re going to reveal it on December 20th because 45 days from November 6th brings us to December 20th—six days from today, Friday,” Doran said in his social media rant.
Doran further said that if the Executive Order 13848 is not implemented next week, then by January 20 “We the People are going to have to show up in Washington and have this guy step down.” He further said, “The 3% rule states that if 3% of a group’s population gathers in mass, they can change everything. We have 330 million Americans. Ten percent of that is 33 million. And what’s a third of that? Eleven million. Eleven million of us need to show up in Washington, D.C., on January 20th and have this guy step down. He’ll see 11 million people—talk about a crowd. He’ll have a coronary and step down. We’ve got to do it. For those of us in New Jersey, New York, Massachusetts, Long Island, Connecticut—everybody—we’ve got to converge on Washington. Black, white, trans, LGBTQ2, drag queens—peacefully and coincidentally—we’re going to meet and have this guy step down. That’s our fail-safe.”
Trump’s inauguration as the 47th president of the US is set to take place on January 20 next year on the West Front of the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C. He is expected to deliver an inaugural address. Joe Biden has confirmed that he will be in attendance, and has ensured apeaceful transfer of power.
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