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Timeline: Gabbard Lied to Congress About Syria Trip—spent hours alone with Assad
WaPo: … The timeline, which has not been previously reported, said that Gabbard and Bashar al-Assad met at 12:15 p.m. on Jan. 16, 2017, and that her next appointment was with Assad’s wife at 3 p.m.
Gabbard’s deputy chief of staff replied that the Assad meeting seemed “rather long” and asked if any “formalities” could be broken out to “cut down on the time that it appears you two sat and talked.” Her press secretary asked if the Assad meeting could be grouped with encounters with other dignitaries so it would “appear more like” one in a series of “protocol meetings.” The report Gabbard eventually submitted to Congress said that the meeting with Assad lasted 90 minutes, and that the meeting with his wife began at 2 p.m. The actual duration is unclear.
The exchanges were part of a days-long scramble by Gabbard’s team to account for her time in Syria and limit the political fallout of the trip…
… Emails, text messages, Google Doc edit logs and other records reviewed by The Post show that Gabbard’s team had been left largely in the dark about her schedule in Damascus. Her itinerary had changed drastically from a version approved by the Ethics Committee before she left, which listed no meetings with Syrian politicians or officials.
… Four former staffers who were involved in the discussions told The Post they were alarmed to learn only after the fact that Gabbard had met with Assad — twice in three days. The aides, one of whom had advised against such a meeting, said they struggled to get direct answers from Gabbard about who she had met with and for how long. The experience led one staffer to quit and contributed to other staffers’ decisions to later leave….
Interview transcripts show that the congressional investigators took note of the internal scramble to account for Gabbard’s time in Syria.
“I’m just trying to understand, why was everyone so worried?” one investigator asked (SIF member) Kainoa Penaroza, Gabbard’s chief of staff. “I mean, to be frank, it looks like the entire office got together to have to prepare a post-travel itinerary.”
Penaroza replied that the advisers “were in a time crunch” and wanted to ensure the paperwork was accurate. He did not respond to messages seeking comment….
The former staffer who was puzzled at the length of the meeting told The Post: “Looking back, I will go to the grave believing that she lied to us. Her claim is that it just sort of happened. How did you just happen to meet with the leader of [a police state] not once, but twice?”…
About an hour after landing, the report said, the group was at Syria’s embassy in Beirut to obtain visas. The next morning, rather than remain in Beirut for the day of meetings Congress had approved, Gabbard traveled to Damascus. Her first meeting was with Assad.
In the days that followed, the report said, Gabbard met again with Assad and with Syria’s ambassadors to Lebanon and the United Nations, its minister for reconciliation, unnamed government officials for a border security briefing, a member of parliament and — as the invitation had promised — Syria’s foreign minister.
Gabbard had made no public announcement about the trip. But on Jan. 18, Foreign Policy reported that she had secretly traveled to Damascus. Gabbard’s spokeswoman confirmed to the magazine that she had met government officials but declined to say if that included Assad.
Gabbard returned to the United States on Jan. 22. Three days later, she confirmed publicly that she had indeed met with Assad….
The timeline Gabbard sent her team named additional people she said she had met in Syria and Lebanon who had not been on the version seen by Congress. The following morning, Feb. 6, one adviser emailed 15 names to be vetted by someone outside the office, and by early that evening that individual had produced a six-page report labeled “CONFIDENTIAL.” It laid out “key vulnerabilities” of Gabbard’s meeting partners.
Gabbard had met with a Syrian cleric who had threatened to activate a network of suicide bombers in the United States and Europe if Western countries militarily intervened in Syria, the previously unreported document says. She also met with two senior Syrian government officials sanctioned by the United States, it says. All three were included in Gabbard’s final report to Congress.
One person on the vetting list, Najdat Anzour, then the deputy speaker of Syria’s parliament, was said in the document to be “a fervent supporter of the Assad regime.” Edit logs show that, initially, his name was removed from the report that was being prepared for the Ethics Committee, leaving an anonymized description. Then the meeting was removed altogether before the report was submitted.
Gabbard’s timeline said that on her first evening in Damascus, she attended a “dinner with Syrian professors, academics, authors, business leaders.” Edit logs showed that the dinner was said to have been hosted by Bouthani Shaaban, a misspelled reference to Bouthaina Shaaban, a political and media adviser to Assad who was under U.S. sanctions. Shaaban was not named in the paperwork submitted to the committee ….
read … Files detail bid to contain fallout from Tulsi Gabbard meetings with Assad
Boozy Senators Vote to Keep Drinking on the Job
CB: … the Senate’s top-ranking Republican (OK, there are only three in the chamber) had the temerity to introduce his own resolution calling for a ban on senators and their staff drinking alcohol at the Capitol, it was rejected in a voice vote.
For the record, a search for “alcohol” turns up nothing in the new House rules, either, which might be surprising after reports surfaced of a raucous, after-hours party involving House Democrats in 2023….
read … The Sunshine Blog: Green Tells Us What He's Done But Not What He'll Do - Honolulu Civil Beat
Hawaiʻi Should Adopt New IRS Tool To Save Time And Money
CB: … The Internal Revenue Service piloted a tax prep tool last year in 12 states called Direct File, which allows taxpayers to avoid the fees charged by tax prep software or agencies and file their taxes online directly with the IRS for free.
Last year, more than 140,000 households opted to use the system, with 90% giving it an “excellent” or “above average” rating.
For the 2025 tax season, Direct File will be available in 24 states — but Hawaiʻi won’t be one of them.
However, it could join in time for the 2026 season, and there are a number of reasons it should….
read … Hawaiʻi Should Adopt New IRS Tool To Save Time And Money
Geothermal Bills Introduced in Hawai`i State Legislature
IM: … Two legislative bills have been introduced for slim hole drilling technology, a low-cost alternative for conventional and wide-diameter exploration wells.
Senate Bill 1068 was introduced by Jarett Keohokalole, Chair of the Senate Committee on Commerce and Consumer Protection. House Bill 349 was introduced by Representative Nicole Lowen, Chair of the House Committee on Energy & Environmental Protection, and coauthored by Representatives Cory Chun, Lisa Marten, and David Tarnas.
"The Hawaii state energy office shall conduct a statewide environmental assessment for a slim-hole resource characterization program that identifies the location and characteristics of underground geothermal and carbon sequestration resources across the State. In accordance with the statewide environmental assessment, the Hawaii state energy office shall administer the slim-hole resource characterization program."
"Before and during the environmental assessment and slim-hole resource characterization program, the Hawaii state energy office shall engage with the counties and nearby communities, including individuals and civic organizations, in order to understand community needs, priorities, and concerns with regard to the program."
HB349: Text, Status
SB1068: Text, Status
LINK: Other Geothermal Bills
read … Geothermal Bills Introduced in Hawai`i State Legislature | Ililani Media
DNA Testing Leads to Arrest in 1977 Murder/Rape of McKinley HS Girl
KITV: …The suspect in a 1977 case, Giddeon Castro, was arrested for sexually assaulting and strangling 16-year-old Dawn Momohara at McKinley High School.
The Honolulu Police Department (HPD) held a press conference this afternoon to provide more details about the cold case. On March 21, 1977, the young victim, Momohara, was found dead on the second floor of a building at McKinley High School. 66-year-old Castro was arrested at a nursing home in Utah after DNA results were matched to him.
Momohara was reportedly sexually harassed and strangled. An autopsy revealed that the cause of death was asphyxiation leading this case to be considered a homicide….
KHON: In 2019, evidence was sent to the HPD forensics lab in a renewed bid to solve the case
read … Development in 1977 McKinley cold case: Suspect arrested for homicide of a 16-year-old girl
Fireworks Injuries, Deaths Reached 14-Year High On New Year's
CB: … Injuries and deaths due to fireworks over the New Year’s holiday in Hawaiʻi surged to a 14-year high — and that’s before adding in the catastrophic explosion in Honolulu’s Salt Lake neighborhood.
Emergency rooms and hospitals in Hawaiʻi treated 110 individuals between Dec. 31, 2024, and Jan. 1, 2025, including five fatalities, the highest since 2010, when there were 112 injuries. …
The 18 years of data show that injuries plunged immediately after a statewide ban on aerial fireworks was expanded on Oʻahu in 2011 to include virtually all consumer fireworks. …
read … Data Dive: Fireworks Injuries, Deaths Reached 14-Year High On New Year's - Honolulu Civil Beat
Cost Of 450 Temporary Homes For Maui Wildfire Victims: $411,000 Each
CB: … he project’s price tag has swelled to $185 million from $115 million, penciling out to $411,000 per home, not including the cost of the land, which is owned by the state. And there’s a catch: the homes are temporary….
The largest cost involves not the dwellings, Carvalho said, but roads, a water system and other infrastructure. These “horizontal costs” amount to $106.6 million of the $185 million total budget. …
While Ka La’i Ola will shut down in 2029, the infrastructure will remain — and be passed on to DHHL. This will help speed up the development of the second phase of DHHL’s nearby Villages of Leiali‘i project — expected to include 181 new homes — by 17 years, Carvalho said.
But it’s not all infrastructure. Ka La’i Olaʻs budget includes $10.6 million for development and soft costs, including $187,000 for community relations. HomeAid, which recently brought on a team of four to bring its staff to 11, is taking $1.5 million to serve as development manager….
The homes themselves pencil out to an average of $122,000 per dwelling, not counting infrastructure, installation or common areas like barbecues. They range in types and sizes and costs, from approximately $53,000 to about $218,000.
The construction consulting firm Rider Levett Bucknall, which provides data on construction costs in the U.S., estimates the typical range for construction of a new, single-family home on Maui is approximately $350-$500 per square foot as of this month.
So a permanent, 586-square foot, three-bedroom home the size of the Vierra’s $91,000 Nano Nest would cost between $205,100 and $293,000. …
Micah Kane, chief executive of the Hawaiʻi Community Foundation, considers his organization’s $40 million contribution to Ka La’i Ola a good investment.
“We continue to offer our strong support for Ka La’i Ola and the many short-, mid-, and long-term benefits it will bring to West Maui,” he said in a statement. “While the initial infrastructure investment contributing to higher upfront costs is significant, it will pave the way for hundreds of homes for local Maui families in the years ahead.” …
read … Cost Of 450 Temporary Homes For Maui Wildfire Victims: $411,000 Each
Hawaii wildfire risks lead to demand for more sheep
HNN: … You can’t see them from any public road, but there are more than a hundred sheep living under the solar panels of the AES solar farm in Makakilo.
The sheep are owned by Griffith Livestock, which also has cattle on the large property above the H-1 Freeway and the University of Hawaii-West Oahu campus….
Using sheep or cattle to create firebreaks is already happening in California. Hawaiian Electric is promoting the concept in social media, and it has the support of lawmakers….
MN: Fire buffer zone planned for Maui Meadows | News, Sports, Jobs - Maui News
read … Hawaii wildfire risks lead to demand for more sheep
78% of Waikiki Homeless 'Newly Arrived Individuals’
CB: … Blangiardi said the Waikīkī Business Improvement District reported last week that 78% of all the homeless cases it accepted through its Aloha Ambassadors program are “newly arrived individuals.”
Waikīkī and Chinatown “look completely different than they did before, but with this influx of new arrivals, it’s posing a real challenge for us, and you need to be aware of that,” Blangiardi told members of the Senate Ways and Means and the House Finance committees….
read … The Sunshine Blog: Green Tells Us What He's Done But Not What He'll Do - Honolulu Civil Beat
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