
US prosecutors charge Russian-American political pundit of violating sanctions
CNN
The Justice Department unsealed criminal charges against Russian-American political pundit Dimitri Simes on Thursday, alleging he was paid more than $1 million from a Russian news outlet in violation of US sanctions.
The Justice Department unsealed criminal charges against Russian-American political pundit Dimitri Simes on Thursday, alleging he was paid more than $1 million from a Russian news outlet in violation of US sanctions. According to the indictment, Simes coordinated and communicated with the Russian government, including President Vladimir Putin, while hosting a show for RT, the Russian state media network. Simes would work with the Russian government over what the show would cover and how, the indictment says, highlighting coverage over the war with Ukraine that was favorable to Russia. Simes was a prominent part of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into election interference in the 2016 presidential election. Mueller’s team found that Simes had contacts with several members of Trump’s campaign, including Jared Kushner, over the campaign’s positions on Russia. The special counsel did not uncover any evidence that Simes passed any information from Russia to the Trump campaign and, when Simes brought up Russian contacts to Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law told him it would be “bad optics for the Campaign to develop hidden Russian contacts,” according to the report.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth risked compromising sensitive military information that could have endangered US troops through his use of Signal to discuss attack plans, a Pentagon watchdog said in an unclassified report released Thursday. It also details how Hegseth declined to cooperate with the probe.

Two top House lawmakers emerged divided along party lines after a private briefing with the military official who oversaw September’s attack on an alleged drug vessel that included a so-called double-tap strike that killed surviving crew members, with a top Democrat calling video of the incident that was shared as part of the briefing “one of the most troubling things” he has seen as a lawmaker.

Authorities in Colombia are dealing with increasingly sophisticated criminals, who use advanced tech to produce and conceal the drugs they hope to export around the world. But police and the military are fighting back, using AI to flag suspicious passengers, cargo and mail - alongside more conventional air and sea patrols. CNN’s Isa Soares gets an inside look at Bogotá’s war on drugs.

As lawmakers demand answers over reports that the US military carried out a follow-up strike that killed survivors during an attacked on an alleged drug boat in the Caribbean, a career Navy SEAL who has spent most of his 30 years of military experience in special operations will be responsible for providing them.









