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| Presented By Bank of America |
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| Axios AM |
| By Mike Allen · Oct 13, 2022 |
| Happy Thursday. Smart Brevity™ count: 1,379 words ... 5 minutes. Edited by Noah Bressner. |
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| 1 big thing — Scoop: FCC to ban new Huawei sales |
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| Illustration: Rebecca Zisser/Axios |
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| The FCC plans to ban U.S. sales of new devices from Huawei and ZTE — both based in China — for national-security reasons, Axios' Margaret Harding McGill, Bethany Allen-Ebrahimian and Jonathan Swan report. - Why it matters: The move marks the first time the FCC has banned electronic equipment on national-security grounds. It closes a vise that began tightening during the Trump administration.
The ban marks the culmination of years of warnings from security researchers and intelligence agencies that the Chinese government could use Chinese-made telecom equipment to spy on Americans. - The price could come in higher costs for some smaller telecommunications providers that favored the Chinese companies' products thanks to their aggressive pricing.
Behind the scenes: On Oct. 5, FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworcel circulated a draft order among her fellow commissioners. The order — which still needs to be voted on — would effectively ban new equipment sales in the U.S. from firms that pose a threat to national security, two sources with direct knowledge told Axios. - The order would ban telecommunications equipment from Chinese telcos Huawei and ZTE. The FCC previously prohibited companies from using federal funding to purchase equipment from these firms. The new order would extend this ban to all purchases.
- The FCC order also will determine the scope of a ban on sales of video surveillance equipment used for public safety. This would affect the Chinese companies Hytera Communications Corporation, Hikvision and Dahua Technology Company, the sources told Axios.
Reality check: The ban isn't retroactive, so the companies can continue to sell products that the FCC previously approved, one source told Axios. A Hikvision spokesperson told Axios in a statement. "Hikvision presents no security threat to the United States." - Huawei and ZTE didn't respond to requests for comment.
Flashback: The FCC was required to vote on the order within a year of the passage of the Secure Equipment Act, which President Biden signed last November. - That law required the FCC to ban equipment sales by companies that pose an "unacceptable risk to the national security" of the U.S.
FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr in March 2021 called on the agency to close the so-called "Huawei loophole," which allowed companies to use private sector money to buy equipment from the firm because the FCC still authorized sales of its devices. |
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| 2. 🔭 Zoom out: U.S. fights China, Russia |
| In 2020, Huawei had one of the biggest booths at the CES electronics show in Vegas. Photo: David Becker/Getty Images Sharp context for the Axios reporting above on the FCC/Huawei ... Tom Friedman's New York Times column has the arresting headline, "We Are Suddenly Taking On China and Russia at Once": - 🇨🇳 The struggle with China, Friedman writes, "is being fought mostly with transistors," and "will have as big, if not bigger, an impact on the global balance of power as the outcome of the combat between Russia and Ukraine. ... It is a struggle over semiconductors — the foundational technology of the information age."
- 🇷🇺 The struggle with Russia "is indirect, but obvious, escalating and violent," Friedman says. "We are arming the Ukrainians with smart missiles and intelligence to force the Russians to withdraw from Ukraine. ... But how does this war end? No one can tell you."
The bottom line: Henry Kissinger has warned against confronting China and Russia at the same time. Friedman writes that there's a strong case for doing so now: - "But have no doubt: We are in uncharted waters. I just hope that these are not our new 'forever wars.'"
Read the column (subscription). |
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| 3. 🐊 Surveillance camera's eye on Trump aide |
| Inventory of Mar-a-Lago seizures. Photo: Jim Bourg/Reuters Federal investigators believe they've collected key new evidence that former President Trump may have directed the movement of documents at Mar-a-Lago, according to reports from The New York Times and The Washington Post. - Why it matters: The reports suggest Trump moved to keep classified documents after his office received a subpoena from the Justice Department.
A Trump worker told agents that Trump ordered "people to move boxes to his residence at the property" in May — an account that was corroborated by Mar-a-Lago surveillance video, the WashPost writes. - The Times reports separately that Walt Nauta, a former military aide who went to work for Trump after he left office, was caught on tape "moving boxes from a storage room that became a focus of the Justice Department's investigation."
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| A message from Bank of America |
| Health care access: A tool for economic mobility |
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| Increasing access to quality health care lowers unemployment rates and raises incomes. In other words: Better health can lead to a more prosperous life. See how Bank of America is investing $25 million to improve health outcomes in 11 communities of color. |
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| 4. 📈 Rating companies on helping workers |
| Out today: The American Opportunity Index, rating America's 250 largest public companies on how they help their workers get ahead. - The yearlong project, which included economists and data scientists, is a collaboration of The Burning Glass Institute, Harvard Business School's Managing the Future of Work Project and Howard Schultz's Schultz Family Foundation.
🧠 How it works: The economic-mobility index rates the companies "on real-world outcomes of their employees in roles open to non-college graduates — not merely their statements on corporate policy." - The scorecard draws on "a new source of insight: big-data analysis of career histories, job postings, and salary sources of more than 3 million workers at those firms."
The top 5: - AT&T
- American Express
- Cisco
- PG&E
- Microsoft
See the top 50 ... Explore the index. |
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| 5. Pilots offer abortion aid |
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| Illustration: Maura Losch/Axios |
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| A new nonprofit is connecting pilots of small airplanes with people seeking access to abortion and gender-affirming care, Axios' Alex Fitzpatrick writes for Axios What's Next. - Why it matters: As states — including Texas, Indiana and West Virginia — pass new laws restricting abortion access, residents are traveling elsewhere.
What's happening: Car, bus or commercial air travel can be expensive, time-consuming and risky for some. Enter: general aviation. - Flying in a single-engine Cessna or Piper is typically far more discreet than using commercial aviation.
- Small planes are also better able to make use of the thousands of small airports dotting the country, meaning people can avoid trekking to busy urban hubs.
✈️ How it works: The group, Elevated Access, launched in April of this year and says 900 pilots have expressed interest in taking part. - Passengers are referred by health-care providers and advocacy groups.
Pilots donate their time, and cover operational costs like fuel. - They essentially function as Uber drivers — they're told where a person needs to go but not the specific reason for the trip.
🥊 Reality check: The group's pilots could be exposing themselves to legal risk. Some new state laws have "vigilante clauses," allowing private citizens to sue people for allegedly helping facilitate abortions. - The group tries to protect pilots by keeping their info as anonymous as possible.
Share this story. |
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| 6. Robert Draper: Trump worked refs |
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| Cover: Penguin Press |
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| Scoopage from long-form artist Robert Draper's "Weapons of Mass Delusion: When the Republican Party Lost Its Mind," out Tuesday — about high-profile, far-right House Republicans who, "far from moving on from Trump, have taken the politics of hysteria to even greater extremes." - In the early months of a Senate Intelligence Committee's probe of President Trump and Russia, Draper writes, Chairman Richard Burr (R-N.C.) received dozens of unsolicited phone calls from President Trump.
"These were not check-in calls," said someone with knowledge of the conversations, but instead Trump seeking to work the ref. His constant refrain to Burr was, "I did nothing wrong." Draper reports that Trump also frequently called Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell "to complain about Burr, whose only offense was that he had not instantly declared Trump's innocence and immediately shutter the inquiry." |
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| 7. ⚖️ Alex Jones fundraises off $1B verdict |
Francine and David Wheeler — whose 6-year-old son, Ben, was killed in the Sandy Hook school shooting — listen as their lawyers address the media at the courthouse in Waterbury, Conn., after yesterday's jury award. Photo: Michelle McLoughlin/Reuters Broadcasting the end of the massive Sandy Hook defamation trial on his show, conspiracy theorist Alex Jones taunted the families of victims and hawked products to pay for lengthy legal appeals: - "Do these people actually think they're getting any money?" he said as a court clerk announced the Connecticut jury's decision yesterday.
Jones and his company were ordered to pay the families of eight victims of the 2012 school shooting and an FBI agent $965 million, Axios' Jacob Knutson reports. - That's on top of the nearly $50 million a separate Texas jury ordered Jones to pay in August.
🔮 What's next: The nearly $1 billion total represents compensatory damages. Jones could also be ordered to pay punitive damages. |
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| 8. 🎥 1 film thing: Eddie Murphy sneak |
| Photo: Bellocqimages/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images Eddie Murphy, 61, and Taylour Paige, 32, are seen filming "Beverly Hills Cop: Axel Foley" yesterday in L.A. Photo: Bellocqimages/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images Above: What the actors see. - The film, coming from Netflix in 2023 or beyond, is the fourth installment in the action-comedy franchise.
Read the Netflix announcement. |
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| A message from Bank of America |
| Advancing health care in communities of color |
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| Bank of America's new $25 million initiative will improve health outcomes in underserved communities of color. The strategy: This new health collaboration will provide health education, preventive services and community outreach. Learn more. |
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