Former Trump White House chief of staff sues January 6 committee

Donald Trump's former chief of staff filed a lawsuit on Wednesday against the congressional committee pursuing him for criminal contempt over his refusal to give evidence in their probe of the deadly US Capitol assault.

Mark Meadows specifically names Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic leader of the House of Representatives, who launched the investigation, as well as the members of the panel preparing a report on the January 6 insurrection, during which thousands of Mr Trump's supporters stormed the US Capitol.

The lawsuit, filed a day after the panel told Mr Meadows it was taking action over his defiance of a subpoena to appear for a deposition on Wednesday, challenges the legality of the “unduly burdensome” summons and asks the Washington district court to strike it down.

Mr Meadows, who initially failed to appear before the congressional panel last month, is seen as a key witness to Mr Trump's role in efforts to overturn the election by subverting the democratic process.

He initially snubbed a subpoena to give evidence before the committee but later reached an agreement on appearing in person — before reversing course again.

Reacting to his latest about-turn, the panel wrote to Mr Meadows late on Tuesday saying it would have “no choice” but to advance criminal contempt proceedings against him.

The letter, released by the committee, added to the public record information from a trove of thousands of items of correspondence and other documents Mr Meadows had already voluntarily turned over.

They included a November 6, 2020, text exchange with a member of Congress in which Mr Meadows reportedly said “I love it” in a discussion about a plan to disenfranchise millions of voters in a bid to overturn Joe Biden's presidential election win.

If the House panel goes ahead with its threat, it will likely meet in the coming days to vote on adopting a contempt report setting out the case against Mr Meadows.

The Democratic-controlled House of Representatives would then vote to refer him to the Justice Department to consider charges.

A timetable for that decision has yet to be revealed. If convicted, Mr Meadows would face up to 12 months in prison, but more likely a fine.

Steve Bannon, another senior aide in the Trump administration and a long-time ally of the defeated former president, is due to be tried for contempt in July after defying his own subpoena.

The thousands of Trump supporters, many associated with ultranationalist and white supremacist groups, stormed the Capitol 12 months ago, reportedly egged on by Mr Trump, whose fiery speech earlier that day falsely claiming election fraud was the culmination of months of baseless statements about the election.

A comfortable majority of 57 senators — including seven from his own party — voted to convict Mr Trump after he was impeached by the House for inciting the riot, although this fell short of the two-thirds majority required under Senate rules to unseat a president.

Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”