*By Conor White*
FBI Director Christopher Wray on Wednesday contradicted claims by President Trump, the man who appointed him to the position, that Russia is no longer targeting the United States with cyberattacks.
At the Aspen Security Forum Wray remarked, "The intelligence community’s assessment has not changed, my view has not changedーwhich is that Russia attempted to interfere with the last election and continues to engage in malign influence operations to this day."
For Reason.com reporter Eric Boehm, Trump's repeated denial of Russia's activities can only mean one thing.
"The President clearly has personal interests, or some sort of interests, that are separate from what the U.S. intelligence community has when it comes to Russia," he told Cheddar on Thursday.
During a briefing this week, Trump denied that Russia poses any threat to Americans, simply responding "no" when asked about the danger.
Boehm explained that Trump may have reason to doubt American intelligence agenciesーbut that still doesn't explain his unwavering defense of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
"It's possible to believe that well, maybe we should trust everything that the head of the \[Office of the Director of National Intelligence\] or the director of the CIA or the head of the FBI tells us," he said. "At the same time Trump's behavior still doesn't really make sense."
For the full segment, [click here.]( https://cheddar.com/videos/trump-contradicts-fbi-director-on-russian-meddling)
Claudia Rosenbaum, freelance reporter for Vanity Fair, joins Cheddar Politics to discuss the race for Los Angeles mayor.
Rick Caruso, a billionaire real estate developer, forced a runoff with the longtime Democratic Rep. Karen Bass, who had been the favorite in the race until an ad blitz from Caruso leaning on the city's issues with crime and homelessness.
Survivors of Larry Nassar, including Olympian Simone Biles, are seeking $1 billion in damages from the FBI due to its failure to investigate the former gymnastics team doctor convicted of committing years of serial sexual abuse of minors. Jack Queen, a senior reporter at Law360, joined Cheddar News to break down the legal grounds of this case. "This is one of the biggest black eyes that the Bureau has faced in generations, quite frankly, and the FBI has taken full responsibility and admitted that it completely botched this investigation," he said. "So, there's a lot of pressure to settle."
The House has passed some of the most aggressive gun-control measures in years, including raising the minimum age to buy semi-automatic rifles from 18 to 21 and banning high-capacity magazines. Daniel Webster, Co-Director of the Center for Gun Violence Solutions, explains why this legislation has little chance to pass in the Senate, and what else can be done to curb gun violence in this country.
We are already starting to feel the effects of summer. Heat waves in Texas and California are already sending temperatures soaring. That could spell trouble for the nation's power supply. there are new concerns about outages in many areas of the country. Cheddar's Shannon Lanier explains the two main causes of blackouts, and what states are doing to keep the lights on and the air conditioning running.
If you have been on the road this past year, you've probably seen more accidents on the road than you ever have. You're not wrong. Traffic fatalities are not only increasing they are hitting historic highs. Almost 43,000 people died in motor vehicle accidents in 2021. Cheddar's Shannon Lanier investigates - and finds out why.
U.S. stocks close Tuesday at session highs after a subpar start to the trading day. Tim Chubb, Chief Investment Officer at the wealth advisory firm, Girard, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss. 'We're starting to see the moderation of three core things -- we've seen the moderation of prices, we've seen the moderation of wage growth we've seen in the labor market, and we've also seen a moderation of job openings,' he says.
Catching you up on the stories you need to know this morning, mass shooting victims testify on Capitol Hill, the White House outlines its plan to vaccinate kids younger than five years old, and we break down how to protect yourself from monkeypox.
A lot has changed since the pandemic began back in march 2020. COVID-19 caused a huge disruption in the U.S. labor force that is just beginning to normalize. As of last month, about 96% of jobs lost in the pandemic have returned. Still, where people work now looks very different from two years ago. Cheddar's Shannon Lanier looks at where the jobs are now and where they aren't.
