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As Los Angeles is gripped by wildfires that resemble a Hollywood disaster movie, the city’s vast entertainment industry is already counting the costs of yet another drastic setback that its workers can ill-afford.Actors, crew, writers and producers have lost their homes; film and television productions have been temporarily halted; and calls are mounting for Hollywood’s award season to be canceled.It comes with Los Angeles’s entertainment sector — worth $115 billion to the region’s economy — already in dire straits, as some film and TV productions abandon the city over high costs. The Covid-19 pandemic and recent labor upheavals have also taken their toll in recent years.”Hollywood, as everyone, was hit by the pandemic with severe consequences. The strikes, obviously, affected the industry, probably forever,” said Marc Malkin, senior culture and events editor for trade magazine Variety.”Add the fires to that, and Hollywood is just being hit over and over again.”Stars including Anthony Hopkins, Mel Gibson and Billy Crystal have lost their homes to the past week’s blazes.But that is only the tip of the iceberg, with thousands of houses destroyed across a city that is home to 680,000 people employed in the entertainment industry or service jobs directly supporting it.”Grey’s Anatomy,” “NCIS,” “Hacks” and “Fallout” are among more than a dozen Los Angeles-based TV productions that have seen their sets go dark since the fires broke out.Parts of the city where major soundstages are located, including Burbank, were threatened by the fires, but have so far been spared.But Film LA, which handles permissions for outdoor movie and TV shoots, warned producers working in or near evacuation zones to “expect to have your permit canceled,” and advised others that on-set safety supervisors would be in short supply. With dense smoke and soot cloaking the entire region, even productions hoping to film further afield are affected.”If you’re shooting outside in Los Angeles right now, not great. The air quality is that bad,” said Malkin.- ‘Glitz-and-glamor’ -There is no word yet on when productions will resume. Aside from the many logistical issues, the industry must consider the optics of returning to normal while swaths of Los Angeles are aflame.Nowhere is this issue more delicate than with Hollywood’s ongoing award season — an endless series of swanky premieres, galas and prize-giving ceremonies that is currently on hold.Events including the Critics Choice Awards show have been delayed, and Los Angeles premieres for films like Pamela Anderson’s “The Last Showgirl” and the Robbie Williams biopic “Better Man” were scrapped last week.The cancellations even extended to New York, where a premiere for hit Apple TV show “Severance” was aborted.”The studios, the streamers, are having the right response by canceling or postponing glitz-and-glamor events,” said Malkin.”For people to walk the red carpet, all glitzy and glamor-y, while Los Angeles is literally and figuratively burning… it would be a little disconcerting to hear people either talking about their fashion or that ‘silly story from set.'”Even the televised announcement of this year’s Oscars nominees has been delayed.”So many of our members and industry colleagues live and work in the Los Angeles area, and we are thinking of you,” Academy CEO Bill Kramer wrote in a message to members.”Hacks” actress Jean Smart has advocated going a step further, and scrapping the entire season.”With ALL due respect, during Hollywood’s season of celebration, I hope any of the networks televising the upcoming awards will seriously consider NOT televising them and donating the revenue they would have garnered to the victims of the fires and the firefighters,” Smart wrote on Instagram.While few in Tinseltown are in the mood for celebrating, Malkin warned that canceling the entire season would have devastating ripple effects on hair-and-makeup artists, waiters, drivers and security staff.”Yes, the celebrities are going to be okay, financially,” he said.”But when you think about all the people who staff these various award shows, these are gig workers who rely on these paychecks… it would have a devastating effect.”

Lionsgate’s heist film “Den of Thieves 2: Pantera” opened atop the North American box office this weekend with an estimated $15.5 million in ticket sales, industry watchers said Sunday.”This is a good opening for the second episode in a crime thriller series,” said analyst David A. Gross. “These movies are made for audiences, not critics.”Gerald Butler plays Los Angeles sheriff “Big Nick” as he travels to Europe in pursuit of a dangerous gang of thieves. The story was inspired by the $100 million Antwerp heist of 2003, the largest diamond robbery ever.Disney animation “Mufasa: The Lion King” slipped a spot from last weekend, to $13.2 million. Its accumulated ticket sales have passed the half-billion-dollar mark, with $188.7 million domestically and $350 million internationally.Paramount’s action comedy “Sonic the Hedgehog 3” also dropped a spot, to third. The videogame-based film had estimated ticket sales of $11 million for the Friday-through-Sunday period, industry watcher Exhibitor Relations reported.Also down one spot from last weekend was Focus Features’ Dracula-inspired vampire pic “Nosferatu,” at $6.8 million. And slipping from fourth to fifth was Disney blockbuster “Moana 2,” at $6.5 million. Its ticket sales in seven weeks out are nearing the billion-dollar mark, at $434.9 million domestically and $554 million internationally.Gross meantime noted that the 2024 domestic box office, while ending with a strong six-week stretch, finished about three percent below 2023 — and roughly 24 percent below the average of the three pre-pandemic years. Rounding out the top 10 were:”Wicked” ($5 million)”A Complete Unknown” ($5 million)”Babygirl” ($3.1 million)”The Last Showgirl” ($1.5 million)”Gladiator II” ($1.2 million)

Days after an inferno razed Pacific Palisades, Maya Lieberman is desperate to find somewhere to live. But unscrupulous landlords who are jacking up prices are making it hard.”The price gouging is going haywire, it’s obscene,” the 50-year-old stylist told AFP.”I can’t find anywhere for us to go.”Huge fires that have torn through Los Angeles since Tuesday have leveled whole neighborhoods, turning swaths of the city to ash.More than 150,000 people have been ordered to leave their homes as authorities try to keep down a death toll that has already reached 16.One blaze devastated Pacific Palisades, an upmarket enclave that was home to celebrities like Billy Crystal and Kate Beckinsale, which — until this week — was some of the most desirable real estate in the United States.With the area now under a compulsory evacuation order, even those whose homes survived the inferno need to go elsewhere for the foreseeable future.The higher-than-average incomes of people forced to leave homes there appear to have tempted opportunists, who see a chance to make money from others’ misery.”We put in an application at a house… that was listed at $17,000 a month, and they told us if we didn’t pay $30,000, we weren’t going to get it,” Lieberman said.”They told me they have people ready to offer more and pay cash. It’s absolutely insane.”- Illegal -Similar stories of apparent price gouging abound.”I have friends who booked a hotel outside Los Angeles, and when they arrived there, they were asked for a higher price,” said TV producer Alex Smith, who has been forced to leave his home.The sharp practice has drawn the ire of California Attorney General Rob Bonta, who warned Saturday there are laws against it.”Price gouging is illegal. We will not stand for it. We will hold you accountable. We will prosecute,” he told reporters, adding that those found guilty could land themselves a year in jail.Once a state of emergency is declared — as it has been for the out-of-control fires — vendors cannot increase their prices by more than 10 percent.That applies to small businesses as well as to mega-companies whose automated tools use supply and demand to set the cost of everything from hotel stays to concert tickets.”If those algorithms lead to prices higher after the declaration of emergency than before, by more than 10 percent, you’re violating the law,” Bonta said.”You need to figure out how to adjust your prices consistent with the law. And if that means departing from your algorithm, depart from your algorithm.”The protections had been due to expire after 30 to 180 days — but on Sunday, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed an executive order extending them until Jaunary 7, 2026.But for Brian, a retiree who has been sleeping in his car since the evacuation order was raised, the rules protecting against price gouging are almost beside the point.The 69-year-old, who did not want to give his full name, had been living in a rent-controlled studio apartment in Pacific Palisades for two decades.That has now gone, and along with it the guarantee that his rent cannot rise.His pension, he fears, will not stretch far in a city where rents have doubled in the last 10 years — a problem likely to be exacerbated by the sudden rush of people needing somewhere new to live.”I’m back on the market with tens of thousands of people,” he said.”That doesn’t bode well.”

US officials warned “dangerous and strong” winds were set to push deadly wildfires further through Los Angeles residential areas Sunday as firefighters struggled to make progress against the flames.At least 16 people have been confirmed dead from blazes that have ripped through the city, reducing whole neighborhoods to ashes and leaving thousands without homes.Despite massive efforts, including precision sorties from aerial crews, the Palisades Fire continued to grow, spreading east towards the priceless collections of the Getty Center art museum and north to the densely populated San Fernando Valley.”The winds are potentially getting dangerous and strong again,” Deanne Criswell, head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), told CNN.”The biggest thing that people need to know is that this is still dangerous.”A brief lull in the wind gave way to gusts that forecasters warned could reach up to 50 miles per hour (80 kilometers per hour) early Sunday, and feed the blazes for days to come.The winds were due to weaken later Sunday before picking up again overnight, the National Weather Service said.- Nowhere to live -The Palisades Fire was 11 percent contained but had grown to 23,600 acres (9,500 hectares), while the Eaton Fire was at 14,000 acres and 15 percent contained.Official figures show more than 12,000 structures burned, though Cal Fire’s Todd Hopkins said not all were houses and the number included outbuildings, trailers and sheds.In some areas, the ferocious fire left streaks of molten metal flowing from burnt-out cars.The sudden rush of evacuated people needing somewhere to live posed a growing problem for the city.”I’m back on the market with tens of thousands of people,” said a man who gave his name as Brian, whose rent-controlled apartment has burned. “That doesn’t bode well.”With incidences of looting and a nighttime curfew in place, police and National Guard mounted checkpoints to prevent people getting into the disaster zones.Two people were arrested near Vice President Kamala Harris’s Brentwood house for violating the curfew order after police received reports of burglary.A handwritten sign with “looters will be shot” was hung on one tree, next to the US flag outside a house in Pacific Palisades.But the security checkpoints have left residents frustrated as they queue for up to 10 hours to try to get back in and see what, if anything, is left of their homes or check on family.Prevented from entering an evacuation zone, Altadena resident Bobby Salman, 42, said: “I have to be there to protect my family, my wife, my kids, my mom and I cannot even go and see them.”The queues left some people fuming about poor management, the latest gripe from a population already angry over hydrants that ran dry in the initial firefight.City officials have put on a united front after reports of a behind-the-scenes row between the mayor and the fire chief.But President-elect Donald Trump accused California officials of incompetence.”This is one of the worst catastrophes in the history of our Country. They just can’t put out the fires. What’s wrong with them?” Trump said on his Truth Social platform.Teams with cadaver dogs were combing through the rubble, with several people known to be missing and fears that the death toll will grow.Among those known to have died in the tragedy was former Australian child star Rory Sykes, who appeared in British TV show “Kiddy Kapers” in the 1990s.- Climate impact -A huge investigation by federal and local authorities was underway to determine what caused the blazes.California Governor Gavin Newsom told Meet the Press he was also launching a “Marshall Plan” for the state as it looks to rebuild.”We already have a team looking at reimagining L.A. 2.0,” he said.He also stressed the immediate problem of weather conditions, saying “the challenge is the winds. We’ve got these winds coming back this evening, Sunday night. We’ve got peak winds on Monday.”While the ignition of a wildfire can be deliberate, they are often natural, and a vital part of an environment’s life cycle.But urban sprawl puts people more frequently in harm’s way, and the changing climate — supercharged by humanity’s unchecked use of fossil fuels — is exacerbating the conditions that give rise to destructive blazes.

Firefighters battled Sunday to get on top of massive wildfires around Los Angeles as winds ramped up, pushing the blazes toward previously untouched neighborhoods.At least 16 people were confirmed dead from fires that have ripped through the city, leaving communities in ruins and testing the mettle of thousands of firefighters — and millions of California residents.Despite heroic efforts, including precision sorties from aerial crews, the Palisades Fire continued to grow, pushing east towards the priceless collections of the Getty Center art museum and north to the densely populated San Fernando Valley.In some areas, the fire had turned houses to ashes and left streaks of molten metal flowing from burnt-out cars.Footage from the Mandeville Canyon area showed one home consumed, with a wall of flame licking up a hillside to menace others.A brief lull in the wind was rapidly giving way to gusts that forecasters warned would feed the blazes for days to come.”Critical fire-weather conditions will unfortunately ramp up again today for southern California and last through at least early next week,” the National Weather Service said.”This may lead to the spread of ongoing fires as well as the development of new ones.”- Row -The Palisades Fire was 11 percent contained Saturday but had grown to 23,600 acres (9,500 hectares), while the Eaton Fire was at 14,000 acres and 15 percent contained.Official figures show more than 12,000 structures burned, but Cal Fire’s Todd Hopkins said not all were homes, and the number would also include outbuildings, recreational vehicles and sheds.The sudden rush of people needing somewhere new to live in the months ahead looked set to make life hard for already-squeezed renters in the city.”I’m back on the market with tens of thousands of people,” said a man who gave his name as Brian, whose rent-controlled apartment has burned. “That doesn’t bode well.”With reports of looting and a nighttime curfew in place, police and National Guard have mounted checkpoints to prevent people getting into the disaster zones.Two people were arrested near Vice President Kamala Harris’s Brentwood house for violating the curfew order after police recieved reports of burglary, local media reported citing police.A handwritten sign with “looters will be shot” was hung on a tree, next to the US flag outside a house in Pacific Palisades.But the security checkpoints have left residents frustrated as they queue for up to 10 hours to try to get back in and see what, if anything, is left of their homes or check on family.Prevented from entering an evacuation zone, Altadena resident Bobby Salman, 42, said: “I have to be there to protect my family, my wife, my kids, my mom and I cannot even go and see them.”The long queues left some people fuming about poor management, the latest gripe from a population already angry over hydrants that ran dry in the initial firefight.City officials put on a united front Saturday after reports of a behind-the-scenes row and suggestions that Mayor Karen Bass had sacked her fire chief.An at-times tense joint press conference came after Chief Kristin Crowley complained her fire department was short of cash.President-elect Donald Trump accused California officials of incompetence over their handling of the fires.”The fires are still raging in L.A. The incompetent pols (politicians) have no idea how to put them out,” Trump said on his Truth Social platform.”This is one of the worst catastrophes in the history of our Country. They just can’t put out the fires. What’s wrong with them?” he wrote.Among those known to have died in the tragedy was former Australian child star Rory Sykes, who appeared in British TV show “Kiddy Kapers” in the 1990s.”It is with great sadness that I have to announce the death of my beautiful son @Rorysykes to the Malibu fires yesterday. I’m totally heart broken,” his mother Shelley Sykes wrote on social media.Teams with cadaver dogs were combing through the rubble, with several people known to be missing and fears that the death toll will grow.- Investigation -A huge investigation was underway to determine what caused the blazes, involving the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), along with local authorities, Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said.”We are not going to leave any rock unturned,” he said.While the ignition of a wildfire can be deliberate, they are often natural, and a vital part of an environment’s life cycle.But urban sprawl puts people more frequently in harm’s way, and the changing climate — supercharged by humanity’s unchecked use of fossil fuels — is exacerbating the conditions that give rise to destructive blazes.

Apple’s board of directors has recommended shareholders vote against a proposal to end the company’s diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs, going against the grain of decisions by other large US corporates.The National Center for Public Policy Research, a conservative think tank, proposed Apple shareholders consider ending the firm’s DEI program to prevent lawsuits following a 2023 Supreme Court’s ruling against affirmative action in universities. But the Apple board has recommended voting against the proposal when it meets late this month.”The proposal is unnecessary as Apple already has a well-established compliance program,” said the board, which includes Tim Cook, the California-based company’s boss. “The proposal also inappropriately attempts to restrict Apple’s ability to manage its own ordinary business operations, people and teams, and business strategies,” it said, accusing the think-tank of trying to “micromanage” the company. The board said the iPhone maker “is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate in recruiting, hiring, training, or promoting on any basis protected by law”. The proposal will be put to a shareholder vote at Apple’s annual general meeting on February 25. Following in the footsteps of McDonald’s, Ford, Walmart and a host of others, Meta became the latest US firm to end its DEI programs. The Friday announcement by Meta which owns Facebook and Instagram, comes amid what it described as “a changing legal and policy landscape”.President-elect Donald Trump who takes office next week, has been a harsh critic of Meta and its owner Mark Zuckerberg for years, accusing the company of bias against him and threatening to retaliate against the tech billionaire once back in office.Zuckerberg has been moving aggressively to reconcile with Trump since his election in November, including donating $1 million to his inauguration fund and hiring a Republican as his public affairs chief.Republicans are also fiercely against DEI programs in corporate America, many of which were established in the aftermath of the Black Lives Matter movement and the nation’s attempt to reckon with longstanding racial disparities.

When wildfires roared to life around Los Angeles, Janell Gruss had to leave immediately. But as the manager of a stable with 25 horses and other animals, she knew it was going to be complicated.While some people just got in their cars and drove out of the danger zone, Gruss had to wrangle more than two dozen frightened horses, as embers swirled in 100-mile (160-kilometer) -an-hour winds.”The last horse we had to get out of the barn… it was pretty bad,” Gruss told AFP at the Los Angeles Equestrian Center, where hundreds of animals have been brought this week.”It was very smoky. It was dark. I couldn’t see where I was,” she recalled. “Both the horse and I were tripping over things, branches, whatever was on the ground.”Gruss said coralling the animals was so challenging, she feared at one point she might not make it out alive.”I thought I might have been one of those casualties,” she said, as tears rolled down her face.”You hear about the person that goes in to get the last horse and doesn’t come out.”More than 150,000 people have been forced from their homes by the huge blazes tearing through the city in a tragedy that has killed at least 16 people and changed the face of Los Angeles forever.With so many people ordered to get out of the way of the advancing wildfires and needing to take their animals with them, capacity is strained. “We’ve never seen anything like this,” said Jennie Nevin, director of communications for the Los Angeles Equestrian Center. “The first night was very busy and chaotic. Lots of people coming from all over.”- ‘A whirlwind’ -Dozens of people milled around the barns Saturday at the equestrian center, where donkeys, pigs and ponies have also found shelter.Tarah Paige, a professional stuntwoman, had brought her three-year-old daughter to visit their pony Truffles and her miniature cow Cuddles — a TV star in her own right who has appeared on several programs.”It’s been a whirlwind,” said Paige, for whom the equestrian center has been an oasis in the midst of an unimaginable catastrophe.Nevin says there has been an outpouring of support and people offering their services to help care for the menagerie.”It really takes a village,” she said. “It takes the community.”Across the Los Angeles sprawl there are activists, veterinarians and volunteers working to rescue and care for animals made homeless in the tragedy, including some that were injured.The Pasadena Humane Society received about 400 animals from Altadena, where the flames have already consumed more than 14,000 acres (5,600 hectares). One of their patients is a five-day-old puppy that was found in the ruins of a building, its ears burned.Annie Harvilicz, founder of the Animal Wellness Center, says she has hardly slept a wink all week.As the fire spread through the upmarket Pacific Palisades, Harvilicz posted on Facebook that she was happy to take in animals.The post “exploded,” she said, and dogs, cats and even a rabbit began arriving. With flames still raging out of control, the calls for help have not stopped.But, she thinks, even when the firefighters have quelled the blaze, the slow-motion tragedy will roll on.”There’s gonna be more pets found, more pets injured, with smoke inhalation and burns that we’re gonna start to discover as some of the fire recedes,” she said.”This is just the beginning.”

With its focus on innovative products and cutting-edge technology, the annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES) has not historically paid much attention to energy companies.But there were signs of a shift at this year’s Las Vegas event, as the tech sector begins to confront its substantial energy needs, which are certain to grow as cloud computing and artificial intelligence advance.”If you’d asked me to do CES five years ago, I wouldn’t necessarily have seen the point,” said Sebastien Fiedorow, chief executive of the French start-up Aerleum, which manufactures synthetic fuel from carbon dioxide (C02).”But we are in a very different CES than five years ago,” he told AFP, adding that even if energy companies remain “on the fringes” of CES, “we’re here.”  “It’s a good first opportunity,” he added.Data centers accounted for 4.4 percent of US electricity needs in 2023, a figure that is likely to rise to 12 percent by 2028, according to the US Department of Energy.  Gary Shapiro, chief executive of the Consumer Technology Association, which organizes CES, said energy transition was intended to be “a big focus” of this year’s show. “It’s something we’ve talked about for awhile,” he added, stressing that the tech sector needs “innovative solutions” to ensure it has the power it requires moving forward. – ‘Not the most sexy’ -Among the companies pitching such innovation at CES, which wrapped up on Friday, was the Dutch firm LV Energy, which generates electricity from sound and vibrations. General director Satish Jawalapersad said the company’s presence at the show was noteworthy. “The fact that we’re here with the CES does say something, definitely,” he told AFP. But LV Energy didn’t mention artificial intelligence in its presentation, which he said likely suppressed interest, with AI being “the magic word,” at CES. “Maybe we’re not the most sexy… because we don’t say those words,” he told AFP.Other energy firms also acknowledged a struggle to break through. DataGreen, another French company, aims to build smaller, greener data centers that run on renewable power, saving tech companies money by reducing data storage costs. Cloud computing giants have so far shown no interest, said DataGreen’s head of AI, Julien Choukroun. “For now, they don’t see the point (in partnering with DataGreen) but we’re trying to convince them,” Choukroun said. The company won an innovation award at CES this year, its first appearance at the show, and Choukroun argued its services are essential. “We can’t continue to increase the hangar space (of data centers),” he said, stressing the land available to house sprawling storage sites “is not infinite.”He voiced confidence that once Big Tech realizes DataGreen offers cost savings, that will “be more persuasive than the ‘green'” aspect. – Changing mindsets -Jordan Huyghe, product manager at the French company Otrera, which designs small nuclear reactors, said a major change in the relationship between tech and the energy sector will require investment from giants like Amazon, Google and Microsoft. Amazon is already the world’s largest purchaser of renewable energy.In September, Microsoft signed a deal with Constellation Energy to reopen the Three Mile Island power plant in the US state of Pennsylvania, the scene of a devastating nuclear meltdown in 1979.Energy from the plant will power Microsoft data centers. Solutions, Huyghe said, can come from companies big enough to fund them.”To move forward on projects like these, you need to raise money,” he said. While interest remains muted for smaller players, Jawalapersad of LV Energy said his company has “numerous leads” in the United States. Fiedorow of Aerleum said there was no doubt the tech sector’s focus on energy is growing. “We produce fuel and work on a technology that is pretty far removed from the focus of the Consumer Electronics Show,” he said. Aerleum’s presence in Las Vegas “shows that the mindset is changing.”

Health bosses warned people living in Los Angeles on Saturday to stay indoors because of dangerous wildfire smoke wreathing the area.Monster blazes tearing through America’s second largest city are pumping toxic clouds into the air, blanketing a vast region with choking fumes.”We are all experiencing this wildfire smoke, which is a mix of small particles, gasses and water vapors,” Anish Mahajan of the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health told a press conference.”It’s those small particles that get into our noses and throats and cause those sore throats and headaches.”Everyone in the areas where there’s visible smoke or the smell of smoke, and even where you don’t see that, we know that the air quality is poor, so you should limit outdoor exposure as much as possible.”Mahajan said even healthy individuals should stay inside as much as possible, using some kind of air filtration system.People who have to work outside should wear an N95 mask, which filters out small particles to stop them entering the body.But the young, the old and the sick should be especially careful at this time.”Those who are at higher risk for bad health effects… children, the elderly, those with respiratory and heart conditions, and people with immunocompromised states, they may have worse symptoms like shortness of breath, wheezing, cough and chest pain,” he said.Multiple fires that have erupted around Los Angeles have laid waste to vast areas, reducing homes, businesses, cars and vegetation to ash.That means plastics, chemicals, fuel and building materials all went up in smoke, and now hang in the air across a densely populated region.On Friday, Los Angeles County declared a public health emergency because of the smoke, and banned the use of machines like leaf blowers that can whip up dangerous ashes.

Jack Smith, the special counsel appointed to investigate Donald Trump for his alleged effort to overturn results of the 2020 election, has left the US Department of Justice, prosecutors said Saturday in a court filing.”The Special Counsel completed his work and submitted his final confidential report on January 7, 2025, and separated from the Department on January 10,” officials said in the document submitted to US District Judge Aileen Cannon, urging her to not extend her order last week blocking the release of Smith’s final report.The statement on Smith was a footnote in the filing to Cannon as she mulls whether to maintain a hold on the special counsel’s report on two cases: Trump’s role in the January 6, 2020 insurrection at the US Capitol aimed at halting certification of Joe Biden’s victory, and the case of Trump’s withholding of classified documents after he left the White House.With the hold set to expire in the coming days, and Cannon considering an extension, the protracted legal fight over the report on Trump-related cases is coming down to the week or so before he is inaugurated as America’s 47th president on January 20. Smith had accused Trump of conspiracy to defraud the United States and conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, the session of Congress called to certify Biden’s election win but which was violently attacked on January 6 by a mob of the Republican leader’s supporters.Smith dropped the cases against Trump after he won November’s presidential election.On January 7, the special counsel finalized his confidential report to US Attorney General Merrick Garland, and the Justice Department said this week that Garland plans to publicly release the findings.Department officials have argued that Cannon does not have the power to block the attorney general from releasing Smith’s report.