The $2 Trillion Company | Facebook Versus QAnon | Airbnb’s IPO

Plus: Trump’s Business Partners Allegedly Involved In Human Trafficking, Money Laundering, Probable Mafia Matters

Know Now

• Accepting VP Nomination, Harris Looks Past Trump And Toward President Biden
MORE: 'Don’t Let Them Take Away Your Democracy': Barack Obama Calls Democrats To Action In DNC Speech

• Russian Opposition Politician, Putin-Critic Alexei Navalny In Coma After Alleged Poisoning

• Reports Of Dismantled USPS Sorting Machines Continue Despite DeJoy Announcing Halt

• Apple Becomes First U.S. Company Worth More Than $2 Trillion

• These 10 Stocks Are All Up More Than 140% Since The Coronavirus Sell-Off

Top Take-Aways

“I don't know much about the movement other than I understand that they like me very much, which I appreciate:" President Trump declined to denounce QAnon conspiracy theorists when asked during his White House briefing.
MORE: Facebook Takes Its Most Sweeping Action Against QAnon Yet

Home-sharing giant Airbnb has filed confidential paperwork for an initial public offering. Airbnb had plans to go public earlier this year, but it was put on hold as the pandemic wreaked havoc on its business, forcing the company to lay off 25% of its staff. CEO Brian Chesky at the time said that 2020 revenue would be less than half of what the company made in 2019.

If you get a tiny surprise payment from the IRS and you’re wondering what it is, it’s probably not a mistake. The IRS is starting to send out interest payments this week to individual taxpayers whose 2019 tax refunds were delayed. Business taxpayers aren’t eligible.

California saw 10,849 lightning strikes in the last 72 hours, sparking wildfires that add to the state’s extreme weather-related problems this week. The fires aren’t the only devastating weather-related event, with an extreme heatwave gripping Western states.

The U.S. Army discontinued testing an extract from the highly toxic Oleander plant being pushed by MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell as a potential coronavirus treatment, an effort that has drawn scrutiny due to Lindell’s direct financial interest in the drug.
MORE: Spain and Italy post new coronavirus records since lockdown.

Meghan Markle is working with Michelle Obama to register women voters. At the centennial of the 19th Amendment, which marked the moment when most U.S. women gained the right to vote, Obama’s nonpartisan When We All Vote aims to reach 300,000 eligible women voters.

Today's Must-Read

Before he joined the race to the White House in 2015, Donald Trump had his eyes on Russia. “Russia is one of the hottest places in the world for investment,” he said in a 2007 deposition, adding, “We will be in Moscow at some point.”

But along the journey to the Russian capital, Trump cultivated ties with a series of men with alleged connections to powerful people as well as criminal organizations, as discussed in a new report from the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence released this week. 

The report offers a damning portrait of the people Trump chose as his partners for potential projects in Russia. They include individuals with alleged connections to the mob, to Vladimir Putin and to human trafficking.

Forbes Senior Editor Dan Alexander and Contributing Editor Richard Behar profile the people connecting Trump to Russia.

“The group would comprise an extraordinary list of associates for any international businessman, let alone for the sitting president of the United States,” they write.

See the full story here.

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