NEWS WRAP

Disgraced Congressman has links to family of sanctioned oligarch

• George Santos linked to cousin of sanctioned Russian oligarch | A Washington Post investigation found that Andrew Intrater - cousin of Russian billionaire Viktor Vekselberg - and Intrater's wife, each gave US$5,800 to freshman Congressman George Santos’s main campaign committee, and tens of thousands more to committees linked to him. Viktor Vekselberg was sanctioned for his role in the Russia's energy sector. READ MORE HERE
   
• Biden criticises Republicans in speech commemorating Martin Luther King Jr. | President Biden delivered a sermon on Sunday at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, becoming the first sitting president to do so from the historic church where civil rights leader Rev. Dr Martin Luther King Jr served as pastor until his 1968 assassination. READ MORE HERE
   
• Ukrainians arrive in the United States for weapons training | Ukrainians are being trained on American Patriot air defence systems, which will provide Ukraine with cutting edge air defence capabilities against incoming Russian missiles. It comes as Russia continues to fire missiles at Ukrainian cities, with a recent Russian missile attack killing dozens of Ukrainian civilians in the city of Dnipro. READ MORE HERE 
   
• State of the Union address to come on February 7 | President Biden will make his State of the Union speech amid an increasingly unstable global order, with the conflict in Ukraine and serious economic challenges brought about by high levels of inflation. READ MORE HERE
   
• Special counsel appointed to investigate handling of classified documents | Robert Hur, a prosecutor who served in the Trump administration, will act as special counsel to look into President Joe Biden's handling of classified documents. It came as the White House confirmed there were no visitor logs at Biden's home where some of the classified documents had been found. READ MORE HERE

ANALYSIS

Could Trump get a surprise bump from an indictment? 

Bruce Wolpe, Non-Resident Senior Fellow, United States Studies Centre 

United States Studies Centre’s Bruce Wolpe says former president Trump could use any potential future indictment to "decry, denounce, discredit and defame" the Democrats. 

Trump has used controversies in the past to great effect.  

Even after the FBI raided his home in Mar-a-Lago, Trump's appeal was not dented and his support actually grew, Bruce Wolpe notes.

"Trump will once again rail against the witch-hunt by the radical left Democrats and the deep state enemies that are arrayed against him," Bruce Wolpe says.

As Wolpe notes, the attorney-general, when all this evidence is assessed by the grand jury, will face a judgment on whether to indict Trump.

That decision could have significant consequences and potentially provide a bully pulpit for Trump to amplify his own political ambitions for 2024. 

This article was first published in The Sydney Morning Herald on 11 January 2023.

BY THE NUMBERS

Our trust in political leaders at an all time low

A 2023 report found 46 per cent of citizens from 28 countries, including Australia and the United States, felt that government was a source of false or misleading information. People polled from the United States showed a greater trust gap when it came to government than people polled in Australia.

Though in both countries, citizens felt they could trust business more than their political leaders. 

In the United States, 55 per cent of people polled trusted business while only 42 per cent trusted government, a gap of 13 per cent.

While in Australia, trust in government was higher with 45 per cent, though trust in business was also high at 54 per cent, creating a gap of 9 per cent. Overall, the levels are very comparative between Australia and the United States.

The Edelman Trust Barometer, which interviewed more than 32,000 people, assesses the general state of faith people have in a range of institutions including the media, government, business and NGOs.

THE WEEK IN TWEETS

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