August 2, 2025: Fed Agency Scrutinizes Jack Smith, OPEC+ Agrees to Increase, More

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Speaker 1 (00:00):
News when you want it with Bloomberg News Now I
mad Kalegy. Federal officials have opened an investigation into Jack Smith,
the former Special Council who investigated then candidate Donald Trump
before his reelection, for alleged illegal political activity. The Office
of Special Council and Independent Federal Agency Saturday confirmed the
investigation after reporting by other news organizations. Smith was named

(00:25):
special counsel to investigate Trump by then Attorney General Merrick
Garland in November twenty twenty two. Trump and his Republican allies,
including Senator Tom Cotton, accused Smith of violating the Hatch
Act of federal law that banned certain public officials from
engaging in political activity. Smith prosecuted two federal cases against
Republican candidate Trump in the lead up to the November

(00:47):
twenty twenty four presidential election. Smith ultimately dropped the cases.
OPEC members have apparently agreed in principle on another oil
production increase, this one four September, we get more from
bloom Berg's Denise Pellegrini.

Speaker 2 (01:01):
A delegate tells US Saudi Arabia and its partners plan
to ratify the additional five hundred and forty eight thousand
barrels a day for next month when they hold a
video conference tomorrow, and this increase would complete the reversal
of a two point two million barrel cutback made by
eight members of the group back in twenty twenty three
as OPAK plus moves to reclaim its share of global
crude markets, and it also accounts for an extra allowance

(01:24):
being phased in for the UAE. Analysts, though are awarding the
market faces a mounting crude surplus later this year as
supplies increase and slowing global growth ways on demand. Denise
Pellegrine Bloomberg Radio.

Speaker 1 (01:36):
Berkshire Hathaway is reporting a three point eight percent drop
in second quarter operating profit from a year ago and
blaming part of that on a decline in underwriting earnings
and its insurers, where performance was mixed. This according to
Bloomberg's Alex Rajbahandari.

Speaker 3 (01:50):
Operating inarning to have decreased a little bit from last year.
This seems to be driven by lower underwriting earnings from
the insurance unit, and and list I've been speaking with
before the earnings were mentioning that there was a pressure
on pricing across the section, so that's not really surprising
It seemed, however, that Geico, the unit that ensures individual

(02:15):
guard owners, he's doing better and is spending more to
get more clients after losing some in recent years. So
this unit is a bright spot in the insurance unit.

Speaker 1 (02:25):
Meantime, craft Hines is also weighing on results, with Warren
Puppet's conglomerate marking down the carrying value on its stake
by three point eight billion dollars to eight point four billion,
as for Berkshire's cash pile that fell slightly from previous
record highs. Steve Woodcock, President Trump's special envoid, told Israeli
hostage family Saturday that the US has a plan to
bring home all the remaining captives held by Hamas in

(02:47):
a sweeping deal and that an end to the war
was near. This according to a recording of the meeting
published by Israeli Channel twelve television. Whitcoff met the families
in Tel Aviv after attending an impromptu protest that was
held in Tel Aviv after Hamas released a video Friday
of a gone twenty four year old hostage Aviatar and David,
with David describing a lack of food while in captivity

(03:09):
in Gaza and urging Prime Minister of Benjamin Natanyahu to
end the war. The New York Times reports the fire
in Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona has grown to
more than one hundred and fourteen thousand acres amid dry
weather in a week monsoon season. The wildfire has burned
for nearly a month and exceptionally dry hot weather, growing
into the largest wildfire of the year so far in

(03:30):
the continental United States. The Dragon Bravo fire, which has
closed the park's north rim, Its size is expected to
increase incoming days because of dry, warm weather in The
fire was eleven percent contained as of Saturday. That's according
to insuweb, a government site that tracts wildfires. Smoke from
Canadian wildfires hovered over several Midwestern states Saturday, bringing warnings

(03:53):
of unhealthy air for at least the third day. Air
quality alerts were an effect in Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan,
as well eastern Nebraska and parts of Indiana and Illinois.
Doctor Justin Fiala is from Northwestern Medicine.

Speaker 4 (04:06):
What we would recommend to people ultimately is that they're
trying to limit the amount of time that they're outdoors
or if they're going to be outdoors for longer periods
of time, consider things like ninety five or kN ninety
five masks, which are made to filter out ninety five
percent of these really small particles.

Speaker 1 (04:22):
Canadian environmental officials set smoke from forest fires that was
causing reduced visibility and poor quality would persist into Sunday
for some areas. Crypto investors and seven figure dinners help
President Trump hall in an unprecedented amount of campaign cash
for a second term president. Bloomberg's Nathan Hager reports from Washington.

Speaker 5 (04:41):
The president's political operation raked in two hundred and thirty
six million dollars in the first six months of this year.
Most of that one hundred and seventy seven million went
to the president's super pack, MAGA, Inc. Giving him a
huge war chest to deploy for House and Senate races
in the midterms at a time when the party in
power tends to lose seats. That a massive Hall outpaced

(05:01):
the Democratic National Committee more than threefold. The DNC raised
sixty nine million dollars in the first half In Washington.
I'm Nathan Hager Bloomberg Radio.

Speaker 1 (05:11):
That's news when you want it With Bloomberg News Now
I made Kleggi. This is Bloomberg