President Biden’s legal team on Thursday blasted parts of a report by Special Counsel Robert Hur, accusing him of "investigative excess" that resulted in "'trashing' the subject of an investigation." Bob Bauer, Biden’s personal counsel, said in a statement shortly after the report's release that the public findings violate “well-established Department norms and that it...
Missouri senators voted Wednesday against amendments that would have allowed abortions in the cases of rape and incest in the state. Missouri senators debated a bill that would make it illegal for public funds to go toward abortion providers, such as Planned Parenthood. During the debate, Missouri state Sen. Tracy McCreery (D) introduced amendments that would allow exceptions...
Military leaders must do more to fix the failing state of troop housing and infrastructure, Rep. Michael Waltz (R-Fla.) said Wednesday during a House Armed Services subcommittee hearing. Waltz started the Subcommittee on Readiness meeting by showing photos from the Government Accountability Office's (GAO) September 2023 review of military barracks. The images show restrooms covered...
Story at a glance Americans spend billions of dollars celebrating Valentine’s Day every year, but inflation is forcing many to rethink how they honor the holiday this year. Nearly half— 46 percent — of Americans say inflation is impacting their Valentine’s Day plans, according to a new WalletHub survey. Findings from the 200-person...
House and Senate Republicans this month mounted a third effort to ban transgender women and girls from female sports teams, this time by attempting to bar trans women from competing on U.S. Olympic teams ahead of this year’s Summer Games in Paris. Under a bill filed Feb 1. by Rep. Greg Steube (R-Fla.) and Sen....
Escalating conflict in the Middle East and attacks by Iranian-backed groups from Iraq and Syria are creating an opening for the Islamic State to reemerge, the top military commander for U.S.-allied Kurdish forces in Syria warned Thursday. Mazloum Abdi, the general commander of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), gave a briefing over Zoom to journalists in Washington, laying...
Julian Assange’s lawyer submitted a new registration this week with the Justice Department’s Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) division for his ongoing work on behalf of the embattled Australian WikiLeaks founder. The U.S. is trying to extradite Assange from London to face criminal charges for allegedly conspiring with former Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning to...
A special counsel investigating President Biden’s handling of classified materials concluded his case, determining that Biden "willfully" retained classified documents but stopping short of bringing charges against the president. Special counsel Robert Hur released his findings in a 388-page report after a roughly yearlong investigation into how classified documents from Biden’s time as vice president ended up...
Former President Trump is expected to win all delegates in Thursday's GOP caucuses in Nevada. The Silver State has sown confusion by holding both a state-run presidential preference primary, in which former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley ran and came in second Tuesday to "none of the above candidates," and state GOP-run caucuses Thursday. Only the...
Rep. Adam Schiff’s (D-Calif.) campaign for Senate released a video Thursday featuring narration by actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt. The video notes different parts of Schiff’s life and career, from his youth in the town of Danville, Calif., to his stint as an impeachment manager in former President Trump’s first impeachment trial in 2020. “He prosecuted polluters,”...
Former chief White House medical adviser Anthony Fauci plans to release a memoir in June, reflecting on his long career as an infectious disease expert who served in multiple administrations. Book publisher Viking announced Thursday the release of “On Call: A Doctor’s Journey in Public Service.” The 496-page book will be published June 18. Fauci...
Attention is increasingly focused on seven key states: Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) banned the use of artificial intelligence (AI) generated voices in robocalls on Thursday just weeks after a message imitating President Biden went out to New Hampshire residents ahead of the state's primary election. The agency unanimously adopted a ruling recognizing AI-generated voices as “artificial” under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act,...
A public health alert from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) was issued this week after concerns were raised about the contents of a Trader Joe's frozen chicken pilaf product. USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) announced Wednesday that it received multiple complaints that the frozen ready-to-eat chicken, lentil and caramelized product from Trader...
House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) is in “complete remission” after treatment for blood cancer and will return to Washington for votes next week after an extended absence, his office announced Thursday. “Leader Scalise has successfully completed his autologous stem cell treatment and has been medically cleared to resume travel,” Scalise’s office said in a...
Leading artificial intelligence (AI) companies joined a new safety consortium to play a part in supporting the safe development of generative AI, the Biden administration announced on Thursday. Microsoft, Alphabet's Google, Apple, Facebook-parent Meta Platforms, OpenAI and others have joined the AI Safety Institute Consortium (AISIC), a coalition focusing on the safe development and deployment...
The White House counsel has concluded its review of a special counsel report on President Biden's handling of classified documents from his time as vice president and will not assert privilege over any parts of the final result. The White House notified the Justice Department on Thursday morning that it concluded its privileged review of...
Two JetBlue planes clipped each other early Thursday morning at Boston Logan International Airport. JetBlue said in a statement an aircraft entering a deicing pad lane at the Boston airport came into contact with another plane on a nearby lane. The airline explained the incident caused damage to one of the plane’s winglets and damage...
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) is reversing his plans to endorse Rep. Matt Rosendale in the Montana Republican’s widely expected campaign for Senate, according to one GOP lawmaker. Punchbowl News reported Thursday morning that Johnson was planning to endorse Rosendale in his long-anticipated Senate bid. Rosendale, a member of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, has not yet...
In our last two episodes, The Switch Up talked about the maternal mortality crisis — how it disproportionately affects Black and brown Americans, the struggle of incarcerated pregnant people and the activists and political leaders who are trying to end the crisis. Today, we’re delving into this crisis just a little bit more — and...
Early in the 2000s, many employers began adding degree requirements to job descriptions — whether they needed them or not — using the degree as a proxy for job preparedness.
An attorney for more than 20 passengers who were on board the Alaska Airlines flight that suffered a midair blowout last month said the plane was "essentially a time bomb" following the National Transportation Safety Board's (NTSB) preliminary report that found bolts were missing from the jet. "A plane was delivered by Boeing to Alaska...
President Biden will host King Abdullah II of Jordan at the White House on Monday for talks about an end to the Israel-Hamas war, the White House announced Thursday. The president and first lady Jill Biden will welcome Abdullah and Queen Rania Al Abdulla to mark 75 years of diplomatic relations between the United States...
Former Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) is poised to join the upper chamber again, at least on the small screen — Franken is playing a senator in a forthcoming Netflix series. The “Saturday Night Live” alum turned lawmaker will play a fictional senior senator from Washington state named Aaron Filkins in Netflix’s “The Residence.” The Shonda...
The percentage of Americans who say they are “very” satisfied with their personal lives has neared a record low, according to a new poll. A Gallup survey released Thursday found that 47 percent of Americans consider themselves "very satisfied" with their lives — only the third time since 2002 that less than half of Americans...
