Obama office: Trump's ‘bizarre' claims ‘weak attempt at distraction'
'These bizarre allegations are ridiculous and a weak attempt at distraction,' Patrick Rodenbush, a spokesperson for Obama, said in a statement sent to NewsNation, The Hill's sister company.
'Nothing in the document issued last week undercuts the widely accepted conclusion that Russia worked to influence the 2016 presidential election but did not successfully manipulate any votes. These findings were affirmed in a 2020 report by the bipartisan Senate Intelligence Committee, led by then-Chairman Marco Rubio,' he added.
Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Tulsi Gabbard issued a report last Friday detailing the alleged election fraud and said officials involved were engaged in a 'treasonous conspiracy.'
Gabbard also said her office was turning over evidence to the Justice Department for possible criminal referrals with the support of President Trump.
'He's guilty, it's not a question,' Trump told reporters referring to Obama. 'This was treason, this was every word you can think of.'
The president said then-Vice President Biden, former FBI director James Comey, former DNI director James Clapper and former CIA director John Brennan could face criminal charges for the controversy.
The report follows Trump's March memo ordering the declassification of 'all files related to Crossfire Hurricane,' the name given to the FBI's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.
Trump has long denied that Russia influenced his successful White House bid in 2016 against Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton.
The Democratic National Committee (DNC) and Clinton's campaign team spent more than $1 million on an investigation into Trump's ties to Russia. The Perkins Coie law firm led the probe using resources from the research company Fusion GPS, which later hired retired British spy Christopher Steele to discover information on foreign involvement in the U.S. election.
The DNC was ultimately fined $105,000 and the Clinton campaign was fined $8,000 by the Federal Election Commission for not disclosing the amount spent on the investigation, according to a letter sent by the agency following inquiry.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
15 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Europe Welcomes US Trade Fight Pause Despite Critic Warnings
(Bloomberg) -- European capitals defended the trade deal struck with President Donald Trump, which will see the European Union accept a 15% tariff on most of its exports to the US while reducing levies on some American products to zero. The High Costs of Trump's 'Big Beautiful' New Car Loan Deduction Can This Bridge Ease the Troubled US-Canadian Relationship? Budapest's Most Historic Site Gets a Controversial Rebuild Trump Administration Sues NYC Over Sanctuary City Policy European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who met with Trump in his golf club in Turnberry, Scotland, on Sunday, hailed the agreement for the stability and predictability it will offer businesses and consumers. The EU knew that the deal would favor the US, but von der Leyen urged reporters to 'not forget where we came from,' referencing tariff rates Trump threatened that were as high as 50%. Subscribe to the Bloomberg Daybreak Podcast on Apple, Spotify and other Podcast Platforms. The lower rate came as a relief to member states that are dependent on exports, especially Germany, which exported $34.9 billion of new cars and auto parts to the US in 2024. 'The agreement has succeeded in averting a trade conflict that would have hit the export-oriented German economy hard,' German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said in a statement late Sunday. 'This has enabled us to safeguard our core interests, even if I would have liked to have seen further easing in transatlantic trade.' Without a deal, Bloomberg Economics estimated that the total US average effective tariff rate would rise to nearly 18% on Aug. 1 from 13.5% under current policies. The new deal brings that number down to 16%. Prior to Trump's latest trade fight, the EU estimated the average tariff rate to be about 1% on both sides. The pact removes a major risk for markets and the global economy, given the transatlantic partners did €1.7 trillion ($2 trillion) worth of cross-border commerce in 2024. European stocks and US equity futures climbed on Monday with the Stoxx 600 index gaining 0.7%. Industry officials in Germany, however, warned that the deal leaves the auto industry exposed and will make companies in Europe less competitive. 'The agreement is an inadequate compromise and sends a disastrous signal to the closely intertwined economies on both sides of the Atlantic,' said Wolfgang Niedermark, a member of the executive board of Germany's BDI industry federation. 'The EU is accepting painful tariffs. Even a 15% tariff will have immense negative consequences for Germany's export-oriented industry.' France, which took a more hawkish approach to the negotiations, highlighted the stability the agreement would bring, but also recommended triggering the EU's anti-coercion instrument, which would initiate a massive retaliation against the US, hitting American technology companies and blocking US firms from public procurement projects in Europe. 'Let's be clear: the current situation is not satisfactory and cannot be sustainable,' French Minister for European Affairs Benjamin Haddad said in a social media post. 'The free trade that has brought shared prosperity to both sides of the Atlantic since the end of the Second World War is now rejected by the United States, which is choosing economic coercion and complete disregard for WTO rules.' Dutch Minister for Foreign Trade Hanneke Boerma said the deal was 'not ideal' and called on the commission to continue negotiations with the US. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who has long been a thorn in the sides of the Brussels' institutions, took an even tougher line, in part criticizing von der Leyen while praising the American president. 'What's clear is that this isn't a deal Donald Trump struck with Ursula von der Leyen,' Orban said in an online interview with a pro-government influencer on Monday. 'Donald Trump ate Ursula von der Leyen for breakfast. The American president is a heavyweight negotiator, Madam President is featherweight.' Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, who typically joins Orban in criticizing the EU, said that 15% is 'a good negotiation result,' though he warned that the devil is 'hidden in the details.' Slovakia's car industry accounts for about 10% of the country's GDP and is home to plants owned by VW, Stellantis, Kia and Jaguar Land Rover, plus an extensive network of suppliers. Trade accords typically require years of negotiations and can run thousands of pages long. The deal reached between the EU and US was thin on details and so far hasn't produced any written details. 'The focus will now turn to interpretation and implementation risk, posing a mix of political and technical questions,' Carsten Nickel, deputy director of research at Teneo, wrote in a note. 'Given the nature of the deal, major uncertainties are likely to persist.' The EU agreed to purchase $750 billion in American energy products, invest $600 billion in the US on top of existing expenditures, open up countries' markets to trade with the US at zero tariffs and purchase 'vast amounts' of military equipment, Trump said. Key to getting the 15% rate to apply to pharmaceuticals and semiconductors was the bloc's promise to make US investments, according to people familiar with the matter. Clemens Fuest, president of Germany's Ifo Institute for Economic Research, called the deal a 'humiliation' that reflects the imbalance of power between the EU and US. 'The Europeans need to wake up, focus more on economic strength and reduce their military and technological dependence on the US,' Fuest said on social media. 'Then they can renegotiate.' French Prime Minister Francois Bayrou had even stronger words when discussing the new deal. 'It's a dark day when an alliance of free peoples, united to affirm their values and defend their interests, opts for submission,' he wrote on social media. --With assistance from Kamil Kowalcze, Alberto Brambilla, Zoltan Simon, Daniel Hornak, Sarah Jacob, James Regan and William Wilkes. (Updates with industry comment in the ninth paragraph.) Burning Man Is Burning Through Cash It's Not Just Tokyo and Kyoto: Tourists Descend on Rural Japan Elon Musk's Empire Is Creaking Under the Strain of Elon Musk Confessions of a Laptop Farmer: How an American Helped North Korea's Wild Remote Worker Scheme Scottish Wind Farms Show How to Counter Nimby Opposition ©2025 Bloomberg L.P. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
15 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Analysis-US tariffs will be test of luxury brands' pricing power
By Mimosa Spencer and Sami Marshak PARIS/NEW YORK (Reuters) -Luxury goods companies were spared their worst case scenario in Sunday's EU-U.S. trade deal but they face a delicate balancing act as already weak consumer demand tests their ability to raise prices further. Big labels like Chanel and LVMH's Louis Vuitton and Dior have relied on dramatic price increases in recent years to drive a chunk of their profit growth. Jacques Roizen, managing director, China, at Digital Luxury Group, said the deal struck by U.S. President Donald Trump and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Sunday, imposing a 15% tariff on EU goods, brings much needed certainty to luxury's key U.S. market. Yet, "brands are treading carefully with further price hikes to avoid alienating younger and occasional shoppers," he said. Although baseline duties are below a hefty 30% levy that Trump had threatened just a couple of weeks ago, they are a far cry from the zero-for-zero tariff deal Brussels was hoping to clinch. Fresh tariffs also come as the luxury goods industry is counting on the U.S. as former growth engine China sputters and sales globally are in decline. 'Tariffs are definitely going to affect my buying behaviour, depending on the rate of the tariff. I would think twice before I just pick things up,' said Abida Taher, a 53-year-old physician who was out shopping at Saks Fifth Avenue in New York City last week and likes Valentino among other Italian and French brands. Bernard Arnault, chairman and CEO of French luxury giant LVMH, embarked on an intense lobbying campaign with EU leaders to ease tensions with the Trump administration and last week announced plans for a new Louis Vuitton factory in Texas. Such a move, however, would be too complicated and costly for most European brands - involving the transfer of local skills that take years to build up, industry experts caution. Some high end labels say they will be able to draw on pricing power to offset the cost of tariffs, but analysts and industry practitioners warn some players have limited wiggle room after a series of outsized price tag hikes. Big luxury companies profited from a rebound of consumer demand after the pandemic, hiking prices by 33% on average between 2019 and 2023, according to RBC estimates. The price tag of Chanel's classic quilted flap bag more than tripled between 2015 and 2024, while the Lady Dior bag and Louis Vuitton Keepall travel bag more than doubled, according to UBS analysts. LUXURY DISCONNECT Half of the luxury industry's sales growth came from price hikes in the four years from 2019, compared to a third between 2016 and 2023, UBS analysts said. Yet the sector lost 50 million customers last year, according to consultancy Bain, as economic pressures and price fatigue dampened appetite for designer clothing and handbags. Brands that got the pricing balance wrong are the ones struggling more today, said Flavio Cereda, who manages GAM's Luxury Brands investment strategy. "The significant deceleration in momentum, uneven as it was, is a natural consequence of a period of excess," said Cereda. Hermes, which notably held back on large price increases during the post pandemic boom, has outpaced rivals and analysts forecast a 10% rise in second quarter sales when it reports on Wednesday. UBS estimates that a 15% tariff on exports to the United States will require luxury brands on average to raise prices by around 2% in the United States, or around 1% globally if they want to avoid widening regional price gaps – or face an impact of around 3% on earnings before interest and tax. Such hikes may prove challenging while the latest round of luxury players' earnings shows little sign of a rebound. LVMH's second quarter sales missed expectations, weighed down by weakening sales at flagship brands Louis Vuitton and Dior, while outerwear specialist Moncler's sales contracted by 1% and Kering-owned Gucci is expected to continue to struggle. Caroline Reyl, head of premium brands at Pictet Asset Management, said there has been a "disconnect" between the prices of certain luxury items and their perceived quality and creativity in the past four years. Precious Buckner, a 37-year old clinical therapist from North Carolina, was looking at a Chanel classic flap bag at Saks Fifth Avenue in Manhattan last week but said if it goes up in price because of tariffs it would no longer be worth it. 'I'm going to these stores to see the size, the fit, how I like it, so I can get it on resale," Buckner said, noting she would be willing to pay $8,000 for a bag on a resale platform like The RealReal or Fashionphile rather than pay $12,000 in a department store. Bain forecasts worldwide luxury goods sales will fall by between 2% and 5% in 2025 after a 1% decline last year, the biggest contraction in 15 years excluding COVID. To counter the downtrend, the industry has embarked on a recruitment drive, with new designers at Chanel, Gucci, LVMH labels Dior, Celine, Givenchy and Loewe, and Versace. Yet, renewing styles to find a better alignment between prices and product value will take time. "You can't snap your fingers and do it in a couple of weeks," said Reyl.
Yahoo
15 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Data breach at Allianz Life Insurance affects 1.4 million customers
Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America has announced a significant data breach impacting the personal information of a large portion of its 1.4 million customers. The Minneapolis-based company, a subsidiary of Allianz SE based in Munich, reported that the breach occurred on 16 July via a third-party cloud service. In a statement, Allianz Life indicated that a 'malicious threat actor' gained access to the external platform through social engineering, a method whereby attackers deceive individuals into revealing sensitive information or access credentials. 'The threat actor was able to obtain personally identifiable data related to the majority of Allianz Life's customers, financial professionals and select Allianz Life employees,' the statement noted. While the specifics of the compromised data have not been detailed, such breaches typically involve personal details such as names, contact information, social security numbers and financial data. Notably, Allianz Life clarified that its internal systems were not affected. 'This incident was limited to a third-party cloud platform. Our systems remain secure,' a spokesperson for the company stated. In response to the incident, Allianz Life reported that it took immediate measures to contain the breach and has informed the FBI. The incident has also been reported to various authorities including the Office of the Maine Attorney General, as companies are mandated to disclose data breaches that impact residents of the state. According to a filing with the Maine Attorney General's office, Allianz became aware of the breach the day after it occurred and is providing affected individuals with 24 months of complementary credit monitoring and identity theft protection services. The breach is limited to Allianz Life's operations in the US and does not extend to other Allianz corporate entities worldwide. The company has informed the FBI about the incident and indicated that its ongoing investigation has found no evidence that its internal network or other systems including the policy administration system were compromised. In May this year, Allianz reported a net income of €2.42bn ($2.82bn) for the first quarter of 2025 (Q1 2025), a 2.1% decrease from €2.47bn in Q1 2024. However, the German insurer's operating profit increased by 6.3% to €4.2bn, up from €3.9bn the previous year. The property-casualty segment contributed €2.1bn with a 5% rise in operating profit, while the life/health segment saw a 7.5% increase to €1.4bn. "Data breach at Allianz Life Insurance affects 1.4 million customers" was originally created and published by Life Insurance International, a GlobalData owned brand. The information on this site has been included in good faith for general informational purposes only. It is not intended to amount to advice on which you should rely, and we give no representation, warranty or guarantee, whether express or implied as to its accuracy or completeness. You must obtain professional or specialist advice before taking, or refraining from, any action on the basis of the content on our site.
