Belgian Prime Minster Alexander De Croo said the next five to 10 winters could be “difficult.”
Europe faces an energy crunch as Russia has been slowing natural-gas flows via a key pipeline.
European household energy bills have surged and could rise further.
Europe could be in for a stretch of long, hard winters as energy prices surge to record highs amid the war in Ukraine.
“The next 5 to 10 winters are going to be difficult,” said Belgian Prime Minster Alexander De Croo at an event in Belgium on Monday, as reported by broadcaster VRT. “In a number of sectors, it is really difficult to deal with those high energy prices. We are monitoring this closely, but we must be transparent: the coming months will be difficult, the coming winters will be difficult.”
De Croo’s comments come as Europe faces an energy crunch exacerbated by Russia’s war in Ukraine. The continent depends on Russia for its natural gas needs, importing about 40% of its fuel from the country. But Russia has slowed gas flows via the key Nord Stream 1 pipeline to 20% of its capacity, citing technical issues. European officials say the move is retaliation against sanctions over the invasion of Ukraine.
Belgium imports just 6.5% of its natural gas needs from Russia, according to The Brussels Times, citing official data. However, energy bills are still going up in Belgium as prices have soared on the global markets. On Monday, benchmark Dutch natural gas futures jumped almost 20% in one day to a fresh record high on news of an unscheduled three-day shutdown of the Nord Stream 1 pipeline from August 31.
Surging energy prices pushed the cost of electricity in Belgium on the wholesale market to a fresh record high on Sunday, per The Brussels Times. This in turn translates to record high energy bills for households.
Other countries in Europe are also expecting energy bills to continue rising. In the UK, household energy bills in early 2023 are expected to be four times higher than they were between 2018 and 2021, per the Financial Times. In Germany, energy bills are likely to double for households as companies pass on rising natural-gas costs, the AFP reported in early August, citing an electricity provider.
James Coddington is scheduled to be executed on August 25.
His killing would be the first of two dozen scheduled to take place in Oklahoma.
Coddington’s case highlights the connection between addiction and the criminal justice system.
“If this ends today with my death sentence, okay,” a condemned inmate told Oklahoma’s Pardon and Parole Board 25 years after a dayslong cocaine bender sent him to death row.
In 1997, Coddington had gone to the home of 73-year-old Albert Hale, his coworker at a Honda shop, to borrow $50 for cocaine. Hale, who refused to give him the money, tried escorting him out of his home before Coddington picked up a nearby hammer and struck him with it repeatedly, according to court filings.
Hours later, Hale was initially found alive by his son but later died, after succumbing to the damage inflicted on his brain and skull, court documents suggest. Coddington was sentenced to die in 2003.
Addiction and abuse as catalysts for his death sentence
This Feb. 5, 2021, photo provided by the Oklahoma Department of Corrections shows James Coddington.
Oklahoma Department of Corrections via AP, File
James Coddington was born to Bill Coddington and Gala Hood on March 22, 1972. He was the second-youngest of their combined nine children and had been subject to a turbulent upbringing, according to court records.
Both of Coddington’s parents experienced addiction, which he would also endure. Starting from the time he was an infant, Coddington’s father and older brothers regularly spiked his baby bottles with alcohol, his siblings confirmed to the court.
Similarly, many of Coddington’s siblings also struggled with drug abuse and several had been in and out of jail for drug-related crimes.
His mother had been in and out of jail while he was young, leaving his father to run the household. Legal filings suggest the Oklahoma City house — where the tub was used as a toilet as pests and roaches ran rampant — was “not even fit for a rat.”
Court filings said Bill Coddington, who had his own run-ins with the law, physically abused James throughout his childhood.
His mother recalled Bill Coddington “whipping [James] hard or slapping him or hitting him or if he got too rowdy, [Bill Coddington would] throw a bottle full of whiskey or beer and just knock him out,” per court documents.
Ngozi Ndulue, deputy director of the Death Penalty Information Center, told Insider that acknowledging James Coddington’s relationship with addiction and the criminal justice system during his upbringing is necessary to understand his journey to death row.
“I just don’t want to lose track of the fact that his life, from a very early age, was affected by the criminal legal system, and then also by people with substance use disorders really shaping the childhood that he had and making it much more likely that he would end up in that cycle of drug use,” Ndulue said.
A medical examination completed by an Oklahoma psychiatrist the same year found that Coddington’s “drug-induced psychosis” led to his “impulsive” killing of Hale. Further, a psychiatric evaluation of Coddington conducted in 1998 showed that he suffered from “mild neuropsychological impairment.”
During the trial, the judge barred a psychiatrist from testifying about Coddington’s inability to form “the required intent for first-degree murder due to his intoxication,” prompting a retrial in 2008. But he was once again sentenced to die, according to court filings.
“I think thinking about this one moment where he commits this crime that he was deeply remorseful for, without taking it into the broader context of how the system actually shaped him and affected where he ended up at that time, I think is shortsighted,” Ndulue added.
Seeking redemption
Prior to Hale’s death, Coddington’s life was marred by poverty, addiction, and abuse, but the 50-year-old inmate has since turned his life around as best as possible behind bars, Emma Rolls, Coddington’s attorney, told Insider.
“I’m clean, I know God, I’m not … I’m not a vicious murderer,” Coddington said at a parole hearing seeking clemency.
Rolls said killing Hale marked a turning point for Coddington as demonstrated by his “exemplary behavioral record” and involvement in the prison: “It made him not want to live out any more moments in vain.”
During his time in the Oklahoma prison, Coddington received his GED and became a man of faith, legal filings said.
At the prison, he’d also taken on the role of unit orderly — helping with staff needs throughout the prison — and the role of run man — in which he gave other inmates their meal trays.
Coddington was even selected as one of four death row inmates to participate in a pilot communal yard time project where inmates were placed in separated outdoor yards.
In court documents, Rolls wrote: “James has lived his transformation on death row. His sobriety, service, and compliance with rules of the society in which he lives are documented. The man the jury convicted and sentenced to death no longer exists.”
Oklahoma’s Pardon and Parole Board recommended that Coddington’s death sentence be commuted to life without the possibility of parole on August 3, but it’s up to the governor to actually reduce his sentence.
“I took a life. It changed me. It changed me in a way that I can’t explain, but it changed me. It took a fire out of my stomach that I had my entire life and it made me calm. I don’t know why he had to die to do that, but it did. It calmed me. And I can’t apologize enough for what I did,” Coddington told the board during his clemency hearing.
“He lives the life of compassion, of peace, of service and atonement. And I think that’s the real testament of his belief. He is not a person who’s going to without humility, discuss his beliefs. But every day he lives out the principles of redemption,” Rolls told Insider.
“This is the purest case that the governor will likely see that involves these concepts,” Rolls added.
Luis Miguel, a candidate for Florida’s House, was removed from several social media platforms Friday.
Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook suspended Miguel after he posted about violence against federal agents.
Miguel said that under his plan Floridians could shoot FBI, IRS and ATF agents “on sight.”
Luis Miguel, a GOP candidate for Florida’s House of Representatives, was banned from several social media platforms on Friday after calling to legalize shooting federal agents “on sight.”
On Wednesday, Miguel, who is running in Florida House District 20, posted across his Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Parler accounts the same message, signed with his name: “Under my plan, all Floridians will have permission to shoot FBI, IRS, ATF and all other feds ON SIGHT! Let freedom ring!”
The post, which is still visible on his Parler account — a platform associated with supporters of former President Donald Trump — prompted Facebook, Instagram and Twitter to suspend him.
A Twitter spokesperson confirmed to Insider Miguel was permanently suspended from the platform for violating its hateful conduct policy, which states users may not make violent threats.
A Facebook spokesperson told Insider that one of Miguel’s Facebook accounts and his Instagram account were both removed, but did not respond to questions about whether the suspension was permanent.
Miguel told Florida Politics the suspension “doesn’t affect (him) at all.” The local news outlet reported he stands by the proposal, which he said is justified because the IRS has been “weaponized by dissident forces.”
The Miguel campaign did not immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment.
Miguel is running against incumbent Republican Rep. Bobby Payne in Tuesday’s primary election.
David Laufman said there would be evidence if Trump declassified the Mar-a-Lago documents.
Laufman, a former DOJ official, investigated Hillary Clinton’s handling of classified records.
Trump said he had a “standing order” to declassify, but ex-officials have pushed back on the claim.
A former Department of Justice official has pushed back on Trump’s claim that he had broadly declassified all the documents held at Mar-a-Lago, saying if that were the case there would be evidence to back it up.
Trump made the claim after the FBI raided his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida last week. The search was part of a Justice Department investigation into potential violations of three laws related to the handling of government records. Court documents showed 11 sets of classified materials were seized during the search.
Trump has denied any wrongdoing and claimed he had a standing order to declassify documents that were removed from the Oval Office and taken to his residence. Presidential records, classified or not, are public property and by law are managed by the National Archives when a president leaves office.
David Laufman, the former chief of the Justice Department’s counterintelligence division, dismissed the idea of the standing order or broad declassification.
“It can’t just be an idea in his head,” Laufman, who led the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s emails and handling of classified documents, told CNN. “Programs and officials would have been notified. There is no evidence they were.”
Presidents have broad authority to declassify documents, but former Trump administration officials told CNN there is a process that is followed. The process typically involves documenting the declassification and notifying agencies, such as the CIA, NSA, or Defense Department, among others.
Laufman had previously said the documents Trump was holding at Mar-a-Lago were particularly “stunning” and “egregious” due to their level of classification. According to court records, one set of documents was labeled “Sensitive Compartmented Information,” the highest level of sensitivity a classified document can be designated.
Former Trump White House officials also pushed back on Trump’s claim that he had a “standing order” to declassify documents when they were transported. Two of Trump’s former chiefs of staff, John Kelly and Mick Mulvaney, told CNN they’d never heard of such an order.
“Nothing approaching an order that foolish was ever given,” Kelly, who was chief of staff for nearly a year and a half from 2017 to 2019, said. “And I can’t imagine anyone that worked at the White House after me that would have simply shrugged their shoulders and allowed that order to go forward without dying in the ditch trying to stop it.”
CNN spoke with a total of 18 former Trump administration officials, some unnamed, who all said they had never heard of such an order, with several laughing at the idea and suggesting Trump had made it up.
A newly-revealed email shows how Fulton County DA Fani Willis blasted Governor Brian Kemp’s lawyer.
The lawyer had repeatedly called Willis’ election probe “politically motivated” in emails to her staff.
Willis slammed the lawyer’s comments as “offensive and beneath an officer of the court.”
A newly-revealed email shows how Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis excoriated the lawyer of Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp for accusing her office of undermining Kemp’s re-election chances by calling up the governor for testimony.
The email was part of a conversation attached to a court filing on Wednesday in which Kemp’s lawyer, Brian McEvoy, sought to dismiss a subpoena of Kemp for the investigation into former President Donald Trump’s attempt to overturn the 2020 election in Georgia. It reveals the frustration of Willis’ office in trying to secure testimony from Kemp, and how the governor has responded to the probe’s requests.
In the attached conversation, McEvoy and counsels from Willis’ office discussed Kemp’s possible testimony, up until McEvoy called Willis’ probe “politically motivated” on July 20 and repeatedly cited concerns of “leaks” that could lead the public to learn that the governor had been called to testify.
That was when the district attorney stepped in, personally reprimanding McEvoy and challenging his claims.
“The email you sent is offensive and beneath an officer of the court. You are both wrong and confused,” Willis’ email read.
“Let’s discuss the ways you are wrong: This is NOT a politically motivated investigation. It is a criminal investigation and often at the end of criminal investigations people are cleared and often they go to prison,” she continued.
Willis wrote that McEvoy’s repeated references to the so-called “politically motivated investigation” did not make it the truth. “In fact, you repeating it so many times only proves you have become very comfortable being dishonest,” she added.
In the email, Willis also wrote that McEvoy’s reasoning that her office’s probe was driven by a separate agenda because it took place during an election cycle was “without merit as you have purposely delayed to get us to our current date.”
Gov. Brian Kemp is seeking a second term in office this year.
Joe Raedle/Getty Images
Willis’ investigation focuses on whether Trump and his allies violated Georgia’s election fraud and racketeering laws while he tried to pressure state officials to overturn the state’s 2020 election results. The 18-month probe has deployed a special grand jury with the power to subpoena potential witnesses and has ordered some of Trump’s closest advisers, including his personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani and Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, to appear for testimony.
Kemp has been called as a witness because he was one of the officials Trump phoned in December for help with overturning the results. The governor had tweeted at the time that he was advocating for a signature audit of the votes.
As part of the investigation, Willis’ office had arranged for Kemp to submit a recorded video testimony by July 25 about Trump’s request when McEvoy made his claims about the probe being a risk to Kemp’s re-election.
In her response, Willis said her office had never leaked anything about the investigation and that it was the attorneys of witnesses, such as Kemp and Giuliani, who often reveal to the public that their clients are the targets of a probe.
The district attorney said she had already told her staff to “bend over backwards” to accommodate Kemp out of respect for his position.
“We have been working with you in good faith for months. You have been rude and even disparaging to my staff. You have been less than honest about conversations that have taken place,” she wrote.
“You have taken my kindness as weakness and you have continually treated this investigation with disdain,” Willis added. She also demanded that her staff be treated with the same respect that they had shown to McEvoy.
“Your client is a mere witness that needs to come and tell the truth. That is all we have ever asked of the Governor,” Willis wrote.
So far, Kemp has not submitted the requested video testimony and was on August 4 issued with another subpoena on Thursday.
In Kemp’s challenge to the subpoena submitted on Wednesday, McEvoy repeated the same claims he made about Willis’ probe, saying the district attorney had “engineered the Governor’s interaction with the investigation to reach a crescendo in the middle of an election cycle.”
Kemp is set to face off against Democrat Stacey Abrams in a rematch of 2018’s midterm elections, in which he beat her by a slim margin.
Trump has repeatedly attacked Kemp for refusing to back his baseless election fraud claims and for resisting pressure not to certify President Joe Biden’s win in the state. However, earlier this month, Insider reported that Trump has not ruled out endorsing Kemp in the state’s upcoming gubernatorial race.
Joe Biden handed Joe Manchin the pen used to sign the Inflation Reduction Act.
The friendly gesture followed months of tension over whether Manchin would back Biden’s legislation.
Manchin helped move the Act through the Senate after gutting Biden’s “Build Back Better” bill.
President Joe Biden on Tuesday was seen handing the pen he used to sign the Inflation Reduction Act to Sen. Joe Manchin — a friendly gesture following months of tension surrounding the piece of legislation’s fate.
Fox News host Laura Ingraham expressed doubt over whether voters are ready to back Trump in 2024.
A vocal Trump supporter, Ingraham said voters are “exhausted” by the “constant battle” in politics.
She said Americans may instead turn to a GOP candidate who follows Trump’s style of policy.
Fox News host Laura Ingraham said on Monday that American voters are “exhausted” from political conflict and might believe it’s “time to turn the page” on former President Donald Trump if he runs for the White House in 2024.
While Ingraham still spoke in favor of Trump’s policies and defended his decisions, the longtime vocal supporter of the former president signaled some doubt about whether Republican voters would choose Trump in favor of another strong GOP candidate.
“People conflate Trump with people’s overall sense of happiness in the country. Donald Trump’s been a friend of mine for 25 years, and I’m always very open about this on my show,” Ingraham said on a podcast hosted by Lisa Boothe, a Fox News contributor.
“But, you know, we’ll see whether that’s what the country wants,” Ingraham continued. “The country, I think, is so exhausted — they’re exhausted by the battle, the constant battle — that they may believe that, well, maybe it’s time to turn the page if we can get someone who has all of Trump’s policies, who’s not Trump.”
Ingraham said that Trump’s political views — not the man himself — were at the heart of his political opponents’ stance.
“The other problem is that it’s really not about Trump, right? This is about the views that Trump now brought to the floor for the Republican Party,” Ingraham said.
The Fox News host accused left-wing proponents of thinking that “the American way of life is immoral,” which is in line with the typcial right-wing and pro-Trump rhetoric that many traditional customs and values in the US are under attack by liberals.
“It really doesn’t matter in the end, whether it’s Trump making a populist conservative point or whether it’s DeSantis or someone like him, they’re going to come full bore against any Republican,” Ingraham said, referring to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
Ingraham has continually voiced her support for Trump’s policies, which she has often praised for being “pro-America.” However, she’s stopped short of declaring that she would back Trump should he run for president in 2024.
“I’m not saying I’m there for him yet,” she said in January when asked if she would support Trump, who has hinted at but not declared that he will be entering the race.
DeSantis, whom Ingraham mentioned in her podcast appearance, has also declined to confirm if he would run for president in 2024 amid speculation that he would emerge as one of the GOP’s frontrunners.
The FBI and DHS have reported a spike in threats against federal agents after the Mar-a-Lago raid.
They also warned in a joint bulletin of an increase in calls for “civil war” and “armed rebellion.”
It also said domestic extremists may use the 2022 midterms as a “flashpoint” for more threats.
The FBI and Department of Homeland Security warned on Friday of a rise in violent threats to federal agents and their families — including calls for “civil war” and “armed rebellion” — following the August 8 raid on former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate.
In a joint bulletin, first reported by ABC News’ Aaron Katersky, both agencies referenced a recent spike in violent threats against federal law enforcement officials and even the federal judge who issued the warrant for the search.
It added that domestic extremists might use the 2022 midterm election as an “additional flashpoint” to escalate threats against law enforcement and their “perceived ideological opponents,” per CBS.
The bulletin said that perpetrators have also been posting the home addresses of agents and the identities of their family members and relatives online, according to the outlet.
In similar incidents over the weekend, right-wing media outlet Breitbart News and a former Trump aide were separately accused of doxxing two FBI agents who were involved in the Mar-a-Lago search.
The online threats are mainly coming from social media, video-sharing sites, web forums, and image boards, the bulletin said, per CBS.
The bulletin also mentioned an Ohio gunman who tried to forcibly enter an FBI field office in Cincinnati on Thursday with an AR-15 rifle and a nail gun. He was shot dead by police following a standoff.
The agencies said they issued the notice to “ensure that law enforcement, court, and government personnel are aware of the range of threats and criminal and violent incidents,” CBS reported.
The FBI and DHS did not immediately respond to Insider’s requests for comment.
Salman Rushdie has been removed from a ventilator and is able to speak after being stabbed Friday.
Michael Hill, the president of the Chautauqua Institution where the attack occurred, tweeted the news.
Rushdie was stabbed roughly 10 times as he took the stage to deliver a lecture
Salman Rushdie is able to speak and has been removed from a ventilator after being stabbed roughly 10 times Friday as he was preparing to deliver a lecture.
Michael Hill, president of the Chautauqua Institution where the attack occurred, tweeted the news. BBC reported Rushdie’s agent, Andrew Wylie, confirmed the 75-year-old author’s condition.
Previously, Wylie told The New York Times: “The news is not good. Salman will likely lose one eye; the nerves in his arm were severed; and his liver was stabbed and damaged.”
Rushdie, whose magical realism novel “The Satanic Verses” prompted Iranian cleric Ayatollah Khomeini to issue a fatwa calling for his assassination in 1989, was attacked Friday at the Chautauqua Institution as he took the stage to deliver a lecture.
The writer’s injuries included three stab wounds to his neck and four to his stomach, puncture wounds to his right eye and chest, as well as a laceration on his right thigh, CNN reported Chautauqua County District Attorney Jason Schmidt said during the arraignment of Hadi Matar, the 24-year-old accused of stabbing Rushdie.
Matar pled not guilty to charges of attempted murder and assault with a weapon during his arraignment on Saturday.
The Mar-a-Lago raid was part of an investigation into Trump’s handling of government records.
Federal officials seized 11 boxes of classified information, though Trump has denied wrongdoing.
Hillary Clinton and Richard Nixon are among the officials who have also been accused of mishandling records.
Federal agents conducted an unprecedented raid on former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence on Monday, but the potential issues being investigated are not new territory for the Justice Department.
The agency is investigating if Trump broke three federal laws related to the handling of national security information. One of the potential violations falls under the Espionage Act and concerns the removal of information that pertains to national defense. The others involve concealing or destroying government records.
It’s relatively rare, but not unheard of, for the Department of Justice to investigate and even bring charges against federal officials accused of mishandling government records, including some that are considered classified or top secret.
From former President Richard Nixon to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, here are some examples that include documents, emails, and audio tapes.
President Richard Nixon
Nixon is in part responsible for the creation of the Presidential Records Act, a law passed in 1978 that mandates the preservation of records created or received by the president and vice president during their time in office. It also established that presidential records belong to the US and are to be maintained by the National Archives and Records Administration at the end of a president’s time in office.
The law was part of a series of measures passed to address potential corruption after Watergate, when Nixon sought to destroy millions of pages of documents and hundreds of hours of tape recordings from his time in the White House.
Following Nixon’s resignation, Congress passed a law in 1974 that would require him to turn over the documents. Nixon challenged it, but the Supreme Court ultimately ruled it was within the legislative body’s rights to request them.
The Presidential Records Act was passed four years later, solidifying presidential records as public, rather than private, documents.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
Clinton’s emails are perhaps the most well-known example of a federal official being accused of mishandling government documents. While serving as President Barack Obama’s secretary of state from 2009 to 2013, Clinton used a personal email address and server to conduct official business, rather than a more secure government email server.
After The New York Times first reported in 2015 on her use of a private email and potential violation of federal requirements, it became one of the major stories of the 2016 election cycle, when Clinton was the Democratic nominee for president against Trump.
A State Department inspector general report released in May 2016 found she had violated government policy but that it did not constitute criminal conduct. In July 2016, FBI Director James Comey said their separate investigation found there was “evidence of potential” criminal violations concerning the handling of classified information but that there wasn’t sufficient reason to bring charges.
Another State Department investigation that lasted for three years and ended in 2019 found Clinton’s use of a private email server put classified information at risk but that there was “no persuasive evidence of systemic, deliberate mishandling of classified information.” No charges were ever brought against her.
Sandy Berger, national security adviser to President Bill Clinton
Sandy Berger, who served as a national security adviser to President Bill Clinton from 1997 to 2001, pleaded guilty in 2005 to the unauthorized removal and destruction of classified documents from the National Archives.
After leaving his White House post, Berger testified before Congress’s 9/11 commission, which was examining the government’s response to the September 11, 2001, terror attacks. Berger said he made multiple visits to the National Archives to revisit relevant materials.
But a National Archives employee said they saw Berger leaving with documents wrapped around his socks and under his pant leg, prompting a criminal investigation by the Justice Department. Berger was found to have smuggled out highly classified documents, destroying some, and lying about possessing them.
He agreed to plead guilty and was fined $50,000, sentenced to two years of probation and 100 hours of community service, and stripped of his security clearance for three years.
Lower-profile federal officials are more commonly charged
In addition to former presidents and top White House officials, lower-profile federal agents are more commonly charged with mishandling government documents.
The FBI and the Justice Department have conducted at least 11 investigations into such crimes since 2005, Voice of America reported.
The outlet compiled a list of notable cases that included former members of the military and Defense Department employees or contractors; NSA and CIA contractors; and former CIA, FBI, and NSA employees. The sentences included thousands of dollars in fines and several years of probation.
