unspun world withjohn simpson. hello. it s good to see you. we re here in the bbc s central newsroom for another edition of unspun world. in today s programme how is it that russia s economy is doing so well in spite of the ukraine war and western sanctions? a quite extraordinary transformation of the russian economy into a war economy, with massive defence spending, with the reorientation of its industrial base towards its war machine. iran s client groups around the middle east get a hammering from us missiles. but what s the point of having the americans in the region? maintaining counterterrorism efforts against isis, and also, they check iranian influence in syria, in iraq, in lebanon. and, is ethiopia yet again going to be a byword for hunger and despair? this is the moment to try and fix this problem, - not six months down the line l when an awful lot more people have died and it s much harderl to turn the whole thing around. russia invades its neighbour after signin
we re going through a similar dance right now after the president s son pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor tax charges drawing a chorus of conservative criticism for a sweet settlement that includes only probation, but now we come to the irs whistleblowers who have been all but ignored by the press and, of course, we have to be cautious about unproven claims. but the new york times, to its credit, broke with the pack by saying it confirmed independently based on a source that a second unnamed irs official claims david weiss, the u.s. attorney in delaware, asked, the oj for special powers to the doj for special powers to pursue the case outside the state and was turned down. whistleblower gary shapley has said he was not the sole decision maker in the case and that he was constrained in the probe. you convinced looking back at this now that this was an effort to protect president biden and his family? there were definitely hindrances that aye never seen before in my 14
and the issue of abortion is front and center as president biden and his republican rivals pulled doing events. we re getting a new snapshot of the 2024 election landscape one year after the supreme court overturned roe v wade. welcome to our viewers here in the united states and all around the world. wolf blitzer is off today. our top story at this hour, cnn has learned that some key witnesses in the january 6 investigation have been given limited immunity by special counsel jack smith. they are two of the fake electors for donald trump in the state of nevada. our senior legal of failed corresponding, paula reid, has more on her exclusive reporting. paula, what is the significance of the special counsel giving these fake electors this partial immunity? well, it suggests that this part of the january 6 investigation, the focus on these fake slates of electors who tried to overturn the result of the 2020 election, this comes before a friend once again for this particular
is in this battle with marjorie taylor greene. maybe i can be the peacemaker because they will inherit the eart h. we ll see. now we ll also hear from house ways and means cmi chairman jason smith. earlier today, his committee released bombshell testimony from not one but two irs whistleblower. now, based on their serious allegations. get this payons, get close atte. it appears the department of justice, she thought it was corrupt, even more corrupt. thi this is a corrupt organization. they wennizationt to great lengs to protect joe and hunter biden from eved r facing criminalchar charges. despite what is a mountain ogesf damning evidence, according to these whistleblowers, the irs recommends se felony taxns charges against hunter after they uncovereder get this, $8.3 million that he took in that was mysteriously excluden d from hunter biden s tax returns. now, that income cam reture fori entities in ukraine, romania and china. that sraine, romania a only thr. what about russ
marjorie taylor greene. maybe i can be the peacemaker because they will inherit the earth. we will see. we will hear from house ways and means committee chairman jason smith. earlier today his committee released a bombshell testimony from not one but two irs whistleblowers. based on the serious allegations, get this, pay close attention. it appears the department of justice is even more corrupt. this is a corrupt organization. they went to great lengths to protect joe and hunter biden from ever, ever facing criminal charges despite what is a mountain of evidence. according to these whistleblowers the irs recommended felony tax charges against hunter after they uncovered, get this, $8.3 million they took in that was mysteriously excluded from hunter biden s tax returns. that income came from foreign entities in ukraine, romania and china. that is only three countries but what about russia and kazakhstan and mexico and a dozen other countries? in fact, hunter reportedly receive