Fed Agency Scrutinizes Jack Smith, Berkshire Earnings, More

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

(00:23):
named special counsel to investigate Trump by the 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, a federal law that banned certain public
officials from engaging in political activity. Smith prosecuted two federal
cases against Republican candidate Trump and the lead up to

(00:44):
the November twenty twenty four presidential election. Smith ultimately dropped
the cases. 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 that its insurers formance was mixed. This according
to Bloomberg's Alex Roschbahan Dhari.

Speaker 2 (01:04):
Operating earnings have decreased a little bit from last year.
This seems to be driven by lower underwriting earnings from
the insurance unit, and and lists I've been speaking with
before the earnings were mentioning that there was a pressure
on pricing across the sector, so that's not really surprising.
It seemed, however, that Geico, the unit that ensures individual

(01:29):
car 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 (01:38):
Meantime, craft Hines is also weighing on results, with Warren
Buffett'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. All PECK members have apparently agreed in principle
on another oil production increased, this one for September. We

(01:59):
get more from Bloomberg.

Speaker 3 (02:00):
Denise Pellegrini, a delegate, tells US Saudi Arabia and its
partners planned 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

(02:20):
of global crude markets, and it also accounts for an
extra allowance being phased in for the UAE. Analysts, though
are awarding the market phases a mounting crude surplus later
this year as supplies increase and slowing global growth ways
on demand. Denise Pellegriney Bloomberg Radio.

Speaker 1 (02:36):
Steve Whitcoff, President Trump's special envoy told Israeli hostage family
Saturday that the United States has a plan to bring
home all the remaining captives held by Hamas and a
sweeping deal, and that an end of 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

(02:56):
Tel Aviv after Hamas released a video late Friday of
a twenty four year old hostage Evitar David, with David
describing a lack of food while in captivity in Gaza
and urging Prime Minister of Benjamin NETANYAHUO to end the war.
Israeli force has opened fire near two aid distribution sites
run by the Israeli back Gaza Humanitarian Foundation as crowds

(03:16):
of Palestinians against soft food, killing at least ten people.
This was a day after US officials visited a GHF
side and the US ambassador called the troubled system an
incredible feat. Smoke from Canadian wildfires hovered over several Midwestern
state Saturday, bringing warnings of unhealthy air for at least
the third day. Air quality alerts were in effect in Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin,

(03:38):
and Michigan, as well as eastern Nebraska and parts of
Indiana and Illinois. Forecasters said the smoky skies would remain
for much of the day. Doctor Justin Fiala is from
Northwestern Medicine.

Speaker 4 (03:49):
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 in ninety five kN ninety
five masks which are made to filter out ninety five
percent of these really small particles.

Speaker 1 (04:06):
Cheyenne, Wyoming, will host a massive AI data center that
uses more electricity than all the homes of the state
of Wyoming combined. Bloomberg Saine Mean Morris reports.

Speaker 5 (04:16):
Chyenne mayor Patrick Collins calls it a game changer. The
center is a joint effort by Tall Grass and Crusoe.
It will start at one point eight gigawatts and could
expand to ten gigawats. Wyoming is a top energy producer
and exports most of its electricity. The center would have
dedicated energy produced by renewables and by burning natural gas.

(04:36):
Although OpenAI is searching for data center sites, a CRUSO
spokesperson declined to confirm if this project might be part
of the OpenAI stargate effort. Amy Morris Bloomberg Radio.

Speaker 1 (04:47):
That's news when you want it with Bloomberg News. Now
I made Kaleggi. This is Bloomberg