Special Report: How a former leftie fell into the pro-Trump conspiracy rabbit hole

Friday, July 22, 2022

by Linda Noakes

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Here's what you need to know.

Ukraine and Russia are set to sign a deal to reopen grain export ports, cracks appear in Trump's standing among Republicans, and New Zealand's COVID death rate hits record levels

Today's biggest stories

A never-before-seen video of former President Donald Trump rehearsing a speech is played on a screen during a public hearing of the U.S. House Select Committee to investigate the January 6 Attack on the U.S. Capitol, July 21, 2022. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein

U.S.

Convinced that Donald Trump was cheated in the 2020 election, Vermont barn restorer Harry Anzbock left a series of terrifying anonymous voice messages for election workers. Last fall, Anzbock began threatening two Reuters reporters after they tracked him down. Read our special report on how a former left-winger fell into the pro-Trump conspiracy rabbit hole.

Trump ignored close allies who told him that his claims of widespread election fraud were untrue, and when the followers who believed his false accusations stormed the Capitol, he sat back and watched. That was the narrative the House of Representatives' select committee investigating the attack laid out in eight hearings over six weeks, which wrapped up with a study of the former president's actions during the 187-minute assault on Congress by thousands of his supporters.

Republican views on Trump have darkened somewhat, a Reuters/Ipsos poll showed. Some 40% percent of Republicans now believe Trump is at least partly to blame for the Capitol riot, up from 33% in a poll conducted six weeks ago.

The Supreme Court declined to reinstate President Joe Biden's policy shifting the focus of America's immigration enforcement toward public safety threats, handing a victory to Texas and Louisiana as they challenge a plan they call unlawful.

A man climbed on stage and tried to stab Congressman Lee Zeldin as he gave a speech in his run for New York governor. Zeldin was unhurt and his attacker arrested.

A destoyed car is seen after a Russian military strike in Kharkiv, Ukraine, July 21, 2022. REUTERS/Nacho Doce

WORLD

Russia and Ukraine will sign a deal today to reopen Ukraine's Black Sea ports for grain exports, Turkey said, raising hopes that an international food crisis aggravated by Russia's invasion can be eased. We report from Mariupol, where residents of the captured port city are trying to survive among its ruins. Here's what you need to know about the conflict right now.

China will suffer the return of more heatwaves over the next 10 days from east to west, with some coastal cities already on their highest alert level and inland regions warning of dam failure risks because of melting glaciers. The vast heatwave covering swaths of Europe moved steadily eastwards, forcing countries including Italy, Poland and Slovenia to issue their highest alerts as firefighters battled wildfires across the continent.

Sri Lankan security forces raided a protest camp occupying government grounds in Colombo and cleared out a section of it, fueling fears that President Ranil Wickremesinghe had launched a crackdown a day after being sworn in. Here's how the crisis unfolded in Sri Lanka.

Lawmakers chose India's first president from the country's tribal communities, which could boost the appeal of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's party among marginalized groups ahead of the 2024 general election. Droupadi Murmu, a 64-year-old teacher turned politician, will be the second woman to hold the largely ceremonial role as head of the republic.

New Zealanders are dying from COVID at record rates as the country battles a new wave of the Omicron strain that is particularly affecting the older population. In Japan, new coronavirus cases in Tokyo surged past 30,000 for the first time since the pandemic began, spurring officials to call for more vigilance.

BUSINESS

The global economy looks increasingly likely to be heading into a serious slowdown, just as central banks aggressively reverse ultra-loose monetary policy adopted during the pandemic to support growth, data showed. In the euro zone, business activity contracted this month for the first time in well over a year while in Britain growth was at an 11-month low.

A new European Central Bank tool to shield indebted states from soaring borrowing costs failed to impress investors, with many worried about a lack of detail and conditions that could make it tough for the likes of Italy to use.

Europe's thirst for oil and gas to replace sanctioned Russian supply is reviving interest in African energy projects that were shunned due to costs and climate change concerns. Energy firms are considering projects worth a total of $100 billion on the continent, according to Reuters calculations based on public and private company estimates.

Amazon.com agreed to buy primary care provider One Medical for $3.49 billion, expanding the e-commerce giant's virtual healthcare and adding brick-and-mortar doctors' offices for the first time.

Facebook-owner Meta Platforms, Google-owner Alphabet and other companies that sell online ads lost about $80 billion in combined stock market value after Snap posted poor quarterly results and warned of an uncertain outlook.

Tesla is falling short of CEO Elon Musk's target to make its own next-generation batteries, sparking questions over the top electric car maker's ability to maintain its blistering expansion of auto production next year and beyond.

Quote of the day

"It will be an important reminder to the rest of Europe that this is a winnable campaign by the Ukrainians. Because we are about to go into a pretty tough winter."

MI6 chief Richard Moore

Russia about to run out of steam in Ukraine, British spy chief says

Video of the day

Cosplayers flock to Comic-Con after two-year hiatus

San Diego Comic-Con opened its doors to the public again, with visitors required to show proof of vaccination against COVID or a negative test to enter.

And finally…

Jackson takes 200m gold and closes in on Flo-Jo record

Jamaican Shericka Jackson became the fastest woman alive over 200 meters when she scorched to a dominant world title in 21.45 seconds, a time bettered only by American Florence Griffith-Joyner in 1988.