Former WWE CEO Vince McMahon has announced his return to the company as the executive chairman of its board. This concludes a six month retirement for the wrestling tycoon that was brought on by the disclosure of hush money receipts and a sexual harassment scandal, allegations which Straight Arrow News covered in a prior profile on McMahon.

After WWE confirmed the comeback of its founder, that same day the company’s stock closed up 17%, hitting its top closing price since reaching an all-time high in April 2019. That increase came as the company also pledged to set a goal of aiming to “maximize value for all WWE shareholders.”

“In connection with the change in the composition of the Board of Directors and in cooperation with Vince McMahon as majority shareholder, the Company intends to undertake a review of its strategic alternatives,” said the organization in a statement.

The Wall Street Journal has reported that this is all part of the sports entertainment giant readying to explore a sale. According to CNBC, WWE has hired JPMorgan to advise the company during the process, and McMahon’s return could help any proposed transaction go much smoother. Despite him stepping down as CEO back in July, McMahon still remains the majority shareholder of WWE, and having him on the board will give prospective buyers confidence he is supportive of a sale.

“My return will allow WWE, as well as any transaction counterparties, to engage in these processes knowing they will have the support of the controlling shareholder,” said McMahon in a statement.

Despite also stating that “WWE has an exceptional management team” and that his return would not “have any impact on their roles, duties, or responsibilities,” McMahon’s renewed presence at the company has already coincided with several leadership changes. His daughter, Stephanie McMahon, announced her resignation as co-CEO of WWE less than one week after her father came out of retirement. Meanwhile, two of the company’s board members have also resigned, as three other members were fired and two former executives were added to the board.

With a list of potential buyers that include big entertainment industry players like Disney, Netflix and Amazon, WWE’s ultimate price tag could exceed $6 billion, per Yahoo Finance’s market cap valuation. Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund was also rumored to have interest in purchasing the company, however, Bleacher Report has reported that such a deal is not imminent.

“There is no deal in place at this precise moment for WWE to be sold to Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund or any entity, sources say,” tweeted combat sports insider Ariel Helwani. “The organization is still exploring all options, I’m told.”

Experts have predicted that if a WWE sale does happen, it will likely come within the next three to six months, before decisions need to be made on renewing the company’s television rights agreements.

Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed Robert Hur as special counsel to investigate whether any laws were broken in the handling of classified information at President Biden’s home and personal office.

“As I’ve said before, I strongly believe that the normal processes of this department can handle all investigations with integrity. But under the regulations, the extraordinary circumstances here require the appointment of a special counsel for this matter,” Garland said. 

Who is Robert Hur? 

He is a prosecutor who joined the Justice Department’s Criminal Division in 2003. He worked on cases involving counterterrorism, corporate fraud and appellate matters. From 2007 to 2014 he served as an assistant U.S. attorney in Maryland where he prosecuted cases involving violent crime and financial fraud.

After that job, Hur left for the private sector. He returned to public service in 2017 and was appointed by former President Donald Trump to serve as the U.S. attorney for Maryland in 2018. While performing that job, he supervised cases regarding national security and public corruption.

The Stanford educated attorney most recently worked in the private sector as a partner for Gibson and Dunn in Washington D.C. He is a member of the Board of Regents for the University System of Maryland.

“I will conduct the assigned investigation with fair, impartial, and dispassionate judgment. I intend to follow the facts swiftly and thoroughly, without fear or favor, and will honor the trust placed in me to perform this service,” Hur said in a statement.

Attorney General Garland said Hur is authorized to investigate whether any person or entity violated the law in connection with the documents.

“Mr. Hur has a long and distinguished career as a prosecutor,” Garland said. “I will ensure that Mr. Hur receives all the resources he needs to conduct his work.”

President Biden admitted Thursday that more documents were found inside his Wilmington home, including those found locked in his garage next to his Corvette.

“People know I take classified documents and classified material seriously. I also said we’re cooperating fully and completely with the Justice Department’s review,” Biden said.

In November, Garland appointed career prosecutor Jack Smith to investigate former President Donald Trump’s handling of classified documents that were found at his Mar-a-Lago home. Smith is also reviewing whether anyone unlawfully interfered in the peaceful transfer of power from the Trump to Biden administration.

Each year tech companies big and small descend on Las Vegas for CES. The cutting-edge products they unveil on the show floor can mold the future of tech or go nowhere at all. Here are some of the most interesting innovations out of CES 2023 in this week’s Five for Friday.

#5: AtmosGear Electric Skates

Over the last five years, the streets of every major city have been inundated with electric skateboarders and scooter riders. Electric skates are about to be added to the mix thanks to French startup AtmosGear. Their skates boast a top speed of 20 mph and a range of 20 miles for $500. One downside is that to keep a small form factor, AtmosGear opted for an external battery pack that straps to the user’s back.

#4: Glüxkind Ella

Canada’s Glüxkind showed off its Ella artificial-intelligence-powered smart stroller at CES this year. The Ella can assist with uphill walks, can brake when going downhill and has a hands-free mode for when the child isn’t in the mood to be in the stroller and you need a little help pushing while holding onto the little one. If the child is having trouble resting, it offers a built-in white noise machine and rock-my-baby mode. It monitors the stroller’s surroundings too while you are focused on your bundle of joy. All of the features come at a premium with the Ella’s price tag hitting $3,300. Baby tech has been making waves at CES recently with the introduction of the smart diaper.

#3: Withings U-Scan

It seems like every new product has the term “smart” attached to it these days. Withings U-Scan is a smart toilet sensor that attaches inside the bowl. Withings says the U-Scan can check PH levels, track ovulation cycles and detect early signs of health issues. As with any other smart device, it has an accompanying app to track the data. It can even tell the difference between users based on distance and speed of flow.

#2: Aska A5

Flying vehicles have become a huge trend at CES in recent years. In 2023 Aska showed off its functional A5 eVTOL (electric vertical takeoff and landing) vehicle. The flying car is electric as the name suggests but also has a small gas reserve just in case. Beating the traffic in the big city is one thing, but the A5 can be parked in a normal sized space. That said, it needs an area the size of a helipad for take off and landing. The A5 is still awaiting regulatory approval and when it does, it’s going to cost early adopters $789,000. But for those not willing to spend that kind of money, the company hopes to start a ride hailing service by 2026.

#1: BMW i Vision Dee

CES is not the No. 1 place for revealing concept cars, but with tech like the BMW i Vision Dee, it’s the perfect place. BMW calls it the ultimate companion that can “speak, listen and understand your wishes.” Using electronic ink technology, it can change color on a whim and its front grill creates a digital display that can mimic eyes showing real personality. BMW pulled out all the stops with this concept, bringing in Arnold Schwarzenegger, David Hasselhoff and KITT from Knight Righters for their “Dee Movie” announcement video.

21 states and the District of Columbia filed an amicus brief with the Supreme Court, expressing their support for President Biden’s student loan forgiveness plan. The attorneys general argued the Department of Education is properly exercising its authority under the Heroes Act to provide financial relief to those impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. 

“This one-time program targets borrowers most impacted by the pandemic – in keeping with federal authority to make changes to student loan payments in response to national emergencies. I applaud the Supreme Court for its swift consideration of this matter, and I urge it to allow the Department of Education to begin providing this sorely needed measure of relief,” California Attorney General Rob Bonta said in a statement. 

The attorneys general wrote this will prevent financial hardship and defaults once payments resume. The state’s amicus brief was one of many filed during a coordinated effort to say President Biden’s plan to forgive 10 to 20 thousand dollars in debt for 40 million Americans is legal. 

“Student loan borrowers from all walks of life suffered profound financial harms during the pandemic and their continued recovery and successful repayment hinges on the Biden administration’s student debt relief plan,” Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said in a statement about the briefs. 

The lawyers for Myra Brown, who is challenging the forgiveness plan, argue the Heroes Act was designed to give relief to soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan while they were deployed, not forgive $500 billion in loans for tens of millions of borrowers. Brown doesn’t qualify for forgiveness because her loans are held by a private company, not the federal government.

Supreme Court justices will hear oral arguments Feb. 28 and their decision will be released by the summer. Regardless, regular monthly payments will restart by the end of August at the latest, but it could be sooner depending on the court’s actions.

On Tuesday, the Biden administration released a proposal to overhaul the repayment system. That includes capping monthly payments at 5% of the borrowers income and ending the accumulation of unpaid interest for those who are on a regular payment schedule.

Don’t expect the Federal Reserve to wade into the climate change fray. Fed Chair Jerome Powell made clear Tuesday that the banking system does not have a significant role in the space.

“We are not, and will not be, a ‘climate policymaker,’” Powell said. “We should ‘stick to our knitting’ and not wander off to pursue perceived social benefits that are not tightly linked to our statutory goals and authorities.”

The Federal Reserve has a dual mandate from Congress: Maximum employment and stable prices. Managing climate change risk isn’t on that list. But in the increasingly politicized climate of banking, where global institutions consider how climate change could threaten the financial system, the Fed finds itself between a rock and a hard place.

Republicans on the Senate Banking Committee have previously expressed concern that the Fed may, “use financial regulation and supervision to further environmental policy objectives. That would be beyond the scope of the Federal Reserve’s mission.”

Meanwhile, Democratic Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse and Jeff Merkley opposed Powell’s nomination to Fed Chair in 2021, saying he didn’t share, “the Administration’s view that fighting climate change is the responsibility of every policymaker.”

From Powell’s statements, his point of view is that the Fed’s climate role is very narrow, limited to making sure banks understand and manage all material risk, including financial risks of climate change.

“But without explicit congressional legislation, it would be inappropriate for us to use our monetary policy or supervisory tools, for example, to promote a greener economy or to achieve other climate-based goals,” he said, adding that any attempt to do so would harm the Fed’s independence.

At least one Fed governor disagrees with Powell in the Fed having even a narrow scope to climate change.

“Climate change is real, but I disagree with the premise that it poses a serious risk to the safety and soundness of large bans and the financial stability of the United States,” Fed Governor Christopher Waller said in December. “The Federal Reserve conducts regular stress tests on large banks that impose extremely severe macroeconomic shocks and they show that the banks are resilient.”

The Russian Defense Ministry released video of a frigate conducting drills in the Norwegian Sea while carrying hypersonic cruise missiles. Hypersonic missiles travel low in the atmosphere and can maneuver mid-air.

The Russian Zircon is a hypersonic cruise missile, which means it launches and propels itself using an air-breathing engine called a scramjet. This technology is newly employed in the world of weaponry.

Russia used another type of hypersonic missile against Ukraine last year, becoming the first to do so in conflict. However, those were hypersonic glide missiles, which cannot launch on their own.

In 2021, after China tested its own hypersonic missile, Straight Arrow News interviewed experts from the RAND corporation about the different types of technology. 

At that time, the U.S. Department of Defense said it was watching China’s development of this technology. Now, it seems Russia is taking the lead, and U.S. defense officials say they’re watching closely.

In October 2022, the Department of Defense released its National Defense Strategy report, which said “the Department must seek new technologies and hedge against continuing adversary missile developments and emerging capabilities such as hypersonic weapons.”

House Republicans voted Monday night to strip the Internal Revenue Service of $72 billion in funds secured by the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., characterized one of his first legislative moves as a “promise kept.”

“I guess I question why they made the promise in the first place,” said Marc Goldwein, senior vice president and senior policy director at the nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. “The first action the House is taking would increase the deficit; encourage more tax cheating; increase waste, fraud and abuse; and undermine something that President Trump had pushed for, which was more, better tax enforcement.”

Using Congressional Budget Office data, the committee estimates taking away IRS funding would actually cost the country $114 billion over the next decade. That’s because while the U.S. would save the $72 billion expense, it would lose out on $186 billion in revenue generated by the expanded funding.

“This is one of those rare circumstances that something that the federal government does would actually pay for itself and then some,” Goldwein said. “So that’s why it’s such a no brainer in the first place to fund the IRS because they are so underfunded that giving them more money actually reduces the deficit.”

Goldwein said every president since Ronald Reagan has supported increased IRS funding, an agency he said is “hemorrhaging staff.” A Treasury Department report from 2021 said half of IRS employees are currently eligible to retire and systems at the agency are outdated.

Republicans have argued that the IRS funding would result in 87,000 new agents to “go after” the American people. While the same Treasury report said the funding could support nearly 87,000 full-time employees by 2031, the IRS maintains many of those employees would not be agents. In addition, the Biden administration has given guidance to the Treasury Department and IRS to only increase audit rates on those making more than $400,000.

“Over the last decade, what we’ve seen is that audit rates have gone way down, so far down that a lot of people don’t think they need to be honest on their taxes in the first place,” Goldwein said.

Goldwein told Straight Arrow News bolstering the IRS will bring more people in compliance and more money to bring down the deficit.

“The good news is that the Senate is not going to pass this decision and if they did, the president wouldn’t sign it,” he said. “So the IRS will have that money. The bad news is we’re focusing on rescinding money instead of focusing on actual improvements to the IRS.”

He said Congress should instead be focusing on making sure the IRS spends the money the way it says it will. Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, introduced the IRS Funding Accountability Act in November, which would give Congress oversight on the total $80 billion in IRS funds, but the bill never advanced. Grassley’s office told Straight Arrow News that the senator intends to reintroduce the bill again this session.

Story has been updated to reflect response from Sen. Grassley’s office.

House Republicans are forming two committees to investigate two of their big priorities: government overreach and China. The select committees were approved Tuesday afternoon.

The Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government

This panel will investigate how executive branch agencies, like the FBI, collect information on American citizens and how they take action against them. The committee is charged with determining whether anything the agencies do is illegal, unconstitutional or unethical.

Part of the investigation will focus on how the federal government works with private sector companies like Twitter. The “Twitter Files” revealed the company censored information at the behest of the FBI and other federal agencies.

The committee will also have the power to look into ongoing criminal investigations, which could lead to an impasse with the Justice Department that ultimately ends up in court. The Justice Department does not discuss, nor share information about ongoing matters.

The panel will be able to issue subpoenas through the House Judiciary Committee.

The Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party

This group will work to submit policy recommendations and investigate China’s economic, technological and security advancements. The committee also seeks to understand how that will impact competition with the United States.

“It would look at all aspects, from economics to COVID, and when we fell into COVID, not knowing whether we could have medical supplies because China controlled so much. We’ve since learned how they’re buying farmland and stealing our intellectual property,” House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif, said during a speech before the vote.

McCarthy publicly pleaded for Democrats to join the effort and make the committee as bipartisan as possible. If the 365-65 vote to approve it is any indication, the committee will be strongly bipartisan.

“I’ve heard my colleagues on both sides say that the threat posed by Communist China is serious. I fully agree. This is an issue that transcends political parties. And creating the Select Committee on China is our best avenue for addressing it,” McCarthy said.

Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., hopes the committee will help hold China accountable for its human rights abuses. He said China has gotten away with wrongdoing for years while simultaneously becoming more powerful through its trade agreements with the United States.

“We have stood by as the Chinese embassy and the Ministry of State Security officials have harassed people of Chinese heritage and nationality living lawfully in the United States.  We have not done all we can do for the people of Hong Kong, Tibet and the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region,” Smith said during a speech on the House floor.

The group has to submit policy proposals by the end of the year.

Neither of these committees will last forever, they will automatically shut down with the end of this Congress in two years.

Opening statements began this week for Sayfullo Saipov — the man accused of driving a pickup truck into pedestrians on a New York City bike path on Halloween in 2017. Eight people died that day and more than a dozen were injured. 

Saipov, a 34-year-old immigrant from Uzbekistan, faces 28 counts of murder, attempted murder and other terrorism charges. He has pleaded not guilty. 

According to a criminal complaint, Saipov knowingly provided material support or resources “to a foreign terrorist organization, namely the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (‘ISIS’).” The complaint also said his cell phone contained “approximately 90 videos, many of which appear to be ISIS-related propaganda.”

The attack on the bike path that day is considered the deadliest terror attack in New York since 9/11. When it happened, former President Trump tweeted “SHOULD GET DEATH PENALTY!” and his attorney general ordered prosecutors to seek capital punishment in the case.

With a new president and attorney general, Saipov’s representation pushed back on the directive. But President Biden’s Attorney General, Merrick Garland, is continuing to pursue the death penalty for this case despite his moratorium of federal executions in 2021. 

During his acceptance speech Saturday, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said, “now the hard work begins.” But before the House of Representatives can get to work, it needs to approve a rules package. This resolution will govern how the chamber operates for the next two years. Negotiations over what’s in it are a big reason why it took 15 votes for Speaker McCarthy to secure the gavel. 

Here are the top highlights:

Motion to vacate

It allows a single member to force a vote on removing the speaker from office. So if any of McCarthy’s opponents don’t like the job he’s doing, they can bring their grievance straight to the floor.

“So I’m not going to say there won’t be one person who tries to abuse that motion, but I’m confident that McCarthy’s going to be able to be given the green light to govern and to lead this conference,” Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., said on Meet the Press when asked if McCarthy can last two years without a challenge. 

Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic

It creates a 12 member panel that will investigate the pandemic’s origins and look into the U.S. government’s response. The plan is to have 7 Republicans and 5 Democrats, but the speaker will have the final say.

The committee will also try to make a final determination as to whether gain of function research, which is when a virus is artificially strengthened, played a role. According to the National Institutes of Health, that research is done to help virologists understand a virus’ genetic makeup and how it interacts with a host.

On the budget

The rules package replaces what’s called “pay-as-you-go” with “cut-as-you-go.” That will require any spending increases to be offset by equal or greater decreases in other areas. “Pay-as-you-go” allows spending increases to coincide with projected revenue increases. This will have a big impact on government funding negotiations.

There will also be a 72-hour period between when a bill is introduced and when it receives a vote. This is in response to complaints that some massive bills are released and voted on almost immediately without enough time to review what’s in it. That includes the 4,100 page omnibus spending package in December, that was released at 2 a.m. on a Tuesday and voted on Thursday.

Getting the rules approved

Republicans will need to be almost entirely inline with each other to get this package approved. But some members are expressing doubts. They believe McCarthy may have conceded too much to the most conservative lawmakers in order to become speaker. 

“I like the rules package. It is the most, open, fair and fiscally conservative package we have had in 30 years. I support it. But what I don’t support is a small number of people trying to get a deal done or deals done for themselves in private, in secret to get a vote or a vote present,” Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., said on CBS’s Face the Nation.

I am a NO on the house rules package. Welcome to the 118th Congress.

— Tony Gonzales (@TonyGonzales4TX) January 7, 2023

Those private deals include getting more conservatives in key committee positions. Some Republicans say because of that, they are either voting no, or are considering voting no.