Politics
The GuardianJanuary 6 committee subpoenas former Trump counsel Pat Cipollone
In a dramatic escalation, the panel looks to the former White House aide to testify on Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election
Business Insider65 members of Congress have violated a law designed to prevent insider trading and stop conflicts-of-interest
Insider has identified numerous members of Congress who've violated the transparency provision of the STOCK Act, which requires timely reporting of their stock trades.
Associated PressDemocrats energized by tight race in GOP-leaning Nebraska
A special election in Nebraska was supposed to be an easy win for House Republicans. It instead was the tightest race in decades in the GOP-dominated district, boosting confidence among Democrats hoping to energize voters by tapping into public outrage over the U.S. Supreme Court's abortion ruling. Republicans still won the open seat as expected, but the margin surprised even some Democrats who have grown accustomed to lopsided, morale-crushing defeats.
Associated PressNew York governor: State to limit where guns can be carried
New York will ban people from carrying firearms into many places of business unless the owners put up a sign explicitly saying guns are welcome, Gov. Kathy Hochul said Wednesday. The Democrat said she and legislative leaders have agreed on the broad strokes of a gun control bill that is poised to pass as soon as Thursday, just days after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the state's handgun licensing law. Previously, it was hard to get an unrestricted handgun license unless you worked in law enforcement or security.
NBC NewsMark Meadows, Rudy Giuliani deny asking for pardons
Rudy Giuliani, a longtime ally of former President Donald Trump, and former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows are denying allegations that they sought
USA TODAYJustice Breyer says his retirement from Supreme Court effective Thursday as historic term ends
Justice Stephen Breyer announced in a letter to President Joe Biden his retirement from the high court is effective tomorrow.
Yahoo NewsBarr a 'RINO,' Ivanka 'checked out': Trump tries to explain the Jan. 6 testimony against him
Throughout the testimony presented in the Jan. 6 select committee hearings, former President Donald Trump, who may yet face criminal charges stemming from the emerging evidence, has sought to shape public perceptions about the Republican witnesses who have appeared.
The New York TimesA President Untethered
WASHINGTON — He flung his lunch across the room, smashing the plate in a fit of anger as ketchup dripped down the wall. He appeared to endorse supporters who wanted to hang his own vice president. And in a scene laid out by a former aide that seemed more out of a movie than real life, he tried to wrestle away the steering wheel of his presidential vehicle and lunged at his own Secret Service agent. Former President Donald Trump has never been seen as the most stable occupant of the Oval Office b
Associated PressGiuliani's former Ukraine fixer gets 20 months in prison
Lev Parnas, an associate of Rudy Giuliani who was a figure in former President Donald Trump's first impeachment investigation, was sentenced Wednesday to a year and eight months in prison for fraud and campaign finance crimes by a judge who said fraud had become “a way of life” for Parnas. Parnas, 50, had sought leniency on grounds that he’d cooperated with the Congressional probe of Trump and his efforts to get Ukrainian leaders to investigate President Joe Biden’s son. U.S. District Judge J. Paul Oetken didn't give Parnas credit for that assistance, which came only after the Soviet-born businessman was facing criminal charges.
USA TODAYPrimaries recap: Giuliani loses GOP NY gov race; Trump supporter loses in CO secretary of state
Voters in New York, Colorado, Illinois, Utah and Oklahoma cast ballots in primary elections. In NY, Andrew Giuliani lost the GOP governor's race.
Associated PressTakeaways from first primaries since Roe v. Wade overturned
A rare Republican who supports abortion rights found success in Colorado in the first primary elections held since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, while New York's first female governor positioned herself to become a major voice in the post-Roe landscape. In Illinois, Democrats helped boost a Republican gubernatorial candidate loyal to former President Donald Trump in the hopes that he would be the easier candidate to beat in November.
USA TODAYJan. 6 takeaways: An angry Trump pushed to go to Capitol, counsel warned of 'every crime imaginable'
Cassidy Hutchinson gave riveting testimony of Trump's rage and push to go to the Capitol after he whipped his supporters into a frenzy Jan. 6, 2021.
Associated PressPersonal info on California gun owners wrongly made public
The California Department of Justice on Wednesday acknowledged the agency wrongly made public the personal information of perhaps hundreds of thousands of gun owners in up to six state-operated databases, a broader exposure than the agency initially disclosed a day earlier. Rob Bonta, the Democrat who heads the agency and is running for reelection in November, said he was “deeply disturbed and angered” by the failure to protect the information his department is entrusted to keep. “This unauthorized release of personal information is unacceptable and falls far short of my expectations for this department,” he said.
Yahoo NewsFilmmaker who gave footage to Jan. 6 committee: Trump is 'dangerous,' living in 'cloud cuckoo land'
A British documentary filmmaker who recently testified behind closed doors to the House Jan. 6 select committee said that former president Donald Trump is living in “cloud cuckoo land,” and is incapable of ever acknowledging that his claims about voter fraud are “delusional.”
Associated PressArizona attorney general: Pre-1901 abortion ban enforceable
Arizona's Republican attorney general announced Wednesday that a pre-statehood law that bans all abortions is enforceable and that he will soon file for the removal of an injunction that has blocked it for nearly 50 years. Attorney General Mark Brnovich's office said after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned its 1973 decision that said abortion was a constitutional right that he was weighing whether the old law could be be enforced. The governor had said after he signed a new law banning abortions after 15 weeks in March that it took precedence over the law in place since at least 1901, 11 years before Arizona statehood.
USA TODAYNATO formally invites Sweden, Finland; US will expand European military presence: Live Ukraine updates
As NATO formally invited Sweden and Finland to its alliance, President Joe Biden said the U.S. would boost its military presence in eastern Europe.
Associated PressTrump endorses GOP rival to Jan. 6 witness Rusty Bowers
Donald Trump on Wednesday endorsed the Republican running against Arizona House Speaker Rusty Bowers, who last week gave powerful testimony to the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection. Bowers, who is blocked by term limits from seeking another term in the Arizona House, is running for an open seat in the state Senate. Trump praised his GOP primary rival, former Sen. David Farnsworth, for supporting the lie that the 2020 election was marred by fraud.
Associated PressJan. 6 committee subpoenas Pat Cipollone, former WH counsel
The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection issued a subpoena Wednesday to former White House counsel Pat Cipollone, who is said to have stridently warned against former President Donald Trump's efforts to try to overturn his election loss. It's the first public step the committee has taken since receiving the public testimony of Cassidy Hutchinson, the one-time junior aide who accused Trump of knowing his supporters were armed on Jan. 6 and demanding that he be taken to the U.S. Capitol that day. Cipollone, who was Trump’s top White House lawyer, is said to have raised concerns about the former president’s efforts to overturn his 2020 election defeat and at one point threatened to resign.
The Daily BeastIs Conservative Media Breaking Up With Ex-Lover Trump?
Photo Illustration by Thomas Levinson/The Daily Beast/GettyFollowing the bombshell testimony of former Trump White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson at Tuesday’s surprise Jan. 6 hearing, the more “mainstream” wing of conservative media has seemingly begun to turn against former President Donald Trump.Damning allegations that the rage-filled ex-president attempted to orchestrate an armed coup appear to be a near-final straw for some outlets that dutifully stood by Trump for several years. For evidenc
Associated Press1/6 hearings fuel the question: Did Trump commit a crime?
The House Jan. 6 committee has heard dramatic testimony from former White House aides and others about Donald Trump’s relentless efforts to overturn the 2020 election — and his encouragement of supporters who stormed the U.S. Capitol bent on achieving his goal. Cassidy Hutchinson, an aide in Trump’s White House, added fresh urgency to the question Tuesday as she delivered explosive new testimony about Trump’s actions before and during the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection. Trump's aides knew there could be legal consequences.
Business InsiderDemocratic Rep. Vicente Gonzalez of Texas appears to violate a federal conflict-of-interest law with late disclosure of a mining stock sale
Gonzalez is one of 65 members of Congress who have violated the STOCK Act, a federal conflict-of-interest law.
ReutersDonald Trump released from contempt order in New York civil probe
NEW YORK (Reuters) -Donald Trump was formally released on Wednesday from an order finding him in contempt of court for having failed to comply with a subpoena from New York's attorney general, who is investigating the former U.S. president's business practices. Justice Arthur Engoron of a New York state court in Manhattan purged the subpoena after Attorney General Letitia James agreed that Trump's recent submissions from his personal records were sufficient. The judge had found Trump in contempt on April 25 and ordered him to pay $10,000 a day until he complied with James' subpoena, which was issued in December.
Associated PressJackson to be sworn in as Breyer retires from Supreme Court
Nearly three months after she won confirmation to the Supreme Court, Ketanji Brown Jackson is officially becoming a justice. Jackson, 51, will be sworn as the court's 116th justice Thursday, just as the man she is replacing, Justice Stephen Breyer, retires. The judicial pas de deux is set to take place at noon, the moment Breyer said in a letter to President Joe Biden on Wednesday that his retirement will take effect after nearly 28 years on the nation's highest court.
NBC NewsSupreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer to step down Thursday
Justice Stephen Breyer will retire from the Supreme Court at noon Thursday, he said Wednesday in a letter to President Joe Biden.
“Left unchecked, if artificial intelligence reaches cognition … it will be fueled by some of the most inhumane impulses of humanity.”
“Now is the time to stop and think — before our technology outstrips us once again.”
“I don't want to talk about sentient robots, because at all ends of the spectrum there are humans harming other humans.”
“Minds can take different forms … We should avoid reducing questions about AIs to ‘Can AIs think and feel like us?’”
“To identify sentience, or consciousness, or even intelligence, we’re going to have to work out what they are.”