“WASHINGTON — The Justice Department’s independent inspector general opened an investigation on Friday into the decision by federal prosecutors to secretly seize the data of House Democrats and reporters as investigators hunted down who was leaking classified information early in the Trump administration.
At the same time, top Senate Democrats demanded that the former attorneys general Jeff Sessions and William P. Barr testify publicly before Congress about the leak investigations, including about subpoenas issued to tech companies in 2017 and 2018 for the records of at least a dozen people tied to the House Intelligence Committee. The senators vowed to ‘vigorously investigate’ and called on Republicansto join them.
Apple, which complied with a subpoena for information related to more than 100 email addresses and phone numbers in February 2018, said on Friday that it did not realize that the records belonged to Representative Adam B. Schiff of California, the top Democrat on the Intelligence Committee, and his associates. Microsoft said it was also subpoenaed by a grand jury as early as November 2017 for data related to an email account for an aide to the panel.
Democrats and privacy advocates denounced the exceedingly unusual seizures related to Congress, reported on Thursday by The New York Times, as an abuse of power. Some called on lawmakers to pursue legal changes to crack down on the kind of gag orders used for years to keep companies from disclosing the subpoenas. Others urged the Justice Department to punish investigators who sought the records.” Read more at New York Times
Attorney General Merrick Garland’s announcement on Friday comes after four years of near abdication of voting rights enforcement by the Justice Department under the Trump administration.Credit...Tom Brenner for The New York Times
“WASHINGTON — Attorney General Merrick B. Garland laid out an expansive plan on Friday for protecting voting rights, announcing that the Justice Department would double enforcement staff on the issue, scrutinize new state laws that seek to curb voter access and take action if it sees a violation of federal law.
In his first public speech on an issue that has provoked intense partisan conflict in statehouses and in Washington, Mr. Garland served notice to Republicans pushing a raft of restrictive voting laws that he was determined to ensure the right to vote for all Americans.
Mr. Garland did not outline any investigations or specific actions the department might take against states. Nevertheless, his pledge is an about-face from the department’s near abdication of voting rights enforcement under the Trump administration. Over the past four years, the department did not file any new cases under the Voting Rights Act until May of last year, a rare period of silence for one of the most consequential arms for protecting voting rights in the country.” Read more at New York Times
“The Food and Drug Administration has decided at least 60 million doses of Johnson & Johnson’s coronavirus vaccine made at the problem-plagued Emergent BioSolutions plant must be discarded, according to an individual familiar with the situation.
The agency, after an extensive safety review, also is releasing 10 million doses for use, according to the individual and a statement released by the agency on Friday. The statement said ‘several other batches are not suitable for use, but additional batches are still under review.’
The 60 million doses that must be discarded are in addition to the 15 million already thrown out that were contaminated by the AstraZeneca vaccine at the plant earlier this year, according to the knowledgeable person who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the individual was not authorized to discuss details. The person said the 60 million doses were made before and after the 15 million previously discarded and that the agency could not determine whether they were safe to use.” Read more at Washington Post
The Tongass National Forest, in southeastern Alaska, is home to more than 400 species of wildlife, including nesting bald eagles, moose and bears. Credit...Ron Niebrugge/Alamy
“The Biden administration plans to restore environmental protections to Tongass National Forest in Alaska, one of the world’s largest intact temperate rain forests, that had been stripped away by former President Donald J. Trump.
The administration intends to ‘repeal or replace’ a Trump-era rule which opened about nine million acres, or more than half of the forest, to logging and road construction, according to a White House document published on Friday.
The Tongass, in southeastern Alaska, is home to more than 400 species of wildlife, fish and shellfish, including nesting bald eagles, moose and the world’s highest concentration of black bears. Among its snowy peaks, fjords and rushing rivers are stands of red and yellow cedar and Western hemlock as well as Sitka spruce trees at least 800 years old.” Read more at New York Times
“Evangelical Christians were a regular presence in the Trump White House. They laid hands on the president as they prayed for him, stood at his shoulder as he signed executive orders, and saw vindication for their support in his antiabortion policies and conservative judicial appointments.
Now, the Southern Baptist Convention, the country’s largest and most influential evangelical denomination, is at war over what direction it will take after the Trump presidency.
One faction argues the SBC should step back from its role in electoral politics in order to broaden its reach and reverse a 15-year decline in membership. Another faction says the denomination has been drifting to the left, and the way to retain and attract members is to recommit to its conservative roots and stay politically engaged. Each side accuses the other of straying from the SBC’s core mission.
The internal fissures exploded into public view when Russell Moore, the SBC’s top lobbyist in Washington and a frequent critic of Donald Trump, unexpectedly announced his resignation in May. Last week, letters he wrote criticizing other high-ranking SBC officials over their handling of sex-abuse allegations and attitudes about race became public.
Mr. Moore’s sudden departure comes as the group’s president, J.D. Greear, ends his term this month, leaving two of the denomination’s most prominent jobs, which help define evangelicalism, open at once.
Mr. Moore’s board of trustees will appoint his successor. The election to replace Mr. Greear—Southern Baptists will vote at their annual meeting in Nashville, beginning Sunday—has turned into a battle for the future of the denomination and of evangelicalism more broadly.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
Representative Mike Nearman left the House of Representatives after the vote to expel him at the Oregon State Capitol on Thursday.BRIAN HAYES / STATESMAN JOURNAL/ASSOCIATED PRESS
“SALEM, Ore. — Republican lawmakers voted with majority Democrats in the Oregon House of Representatives to take the historic step of expelling a Republican member who let violent, far-right protesters into the state Capitol on Dec. 21.
Legislators said on the House floor that this could be the most important vote they ever cast. They then proceeded Thursday night to expel an unapologetic Representative Mike Nearman with a 59-1 vote, marking the first time a member has been expelled by the House in its 160-year history. The only vote against the resolution for expulsion was Nearman’s own.” Read more at Boston Globe
“Pulitzer Prizes were awarded on Friday to news organizations that provided in-depth coverage of the dramatic turns of 2020, a year dominated by a pandemic that left millions dead and a national conversation on race after the murder of George Floyd.
The prize for public service, considered the most prestigious of the Pulitzers, went to The New York Times for its data-heavy coverage of the coronavirus pandemic, an award shared by many departments at the newspaper. The board called The Times’s coverage ‘courageous, prescient and sweeping.’
The Pulitzer board also recognized journalism that examined law enforcement practices during a year of worldwide street protests inspired, in part, by the murder of Mr. Floyd, a Black man, by a police officer in Minneapolis.
The award for national reporting recognized an investigative series on police dogs used as weapons, often against innocent citizens, a collaborative venture by four news organizations: The Marshall Project, a nonprofit outlet focused on criminal justice; AL.com, an Alabama news site; IndyStar, of Indianapolis; and the Invisible Institute, a journalism company based on the South Side of Chicago.” Read more at New York Times
“MEXICO CITY (AP) — A US tourist was wounded in a shooting attack Friday that killed two men at a beach in Mexico’s Caribbean coast resort of Cancún.
The prosecutor’s office in the state of Quintana Roo, where Cancún is located, said the two men apparently died of bullet wounds at the scene, and added that ‘a foreign woman’ had been wounded and was taken for treatment to a local hospital.
The US Embassy did not immediately respond to questions about the woman’s nationality, but a local official confirmed that she was an American. Video from the scene showed a woman with a bloodied shoulder being wheeled to an ambulance and asking for water in an American accent.” Read more at Boston Globe
“Germany on Friday moved to ensure that women are represented in the upper echelons of some of Europe’s largest publicly traded companies, advancing a measure in Parliament that would set a quota for women on management boards.
Under the proposal approved by the Parliament, public companies in Germany with four or more board members would be required to have one female board member, and government-controlled firms with boards of three or more members would also be required to have one woman.
The measure is expected to receive final passage by Germany’s upper house this summer. Companies will face financial penalties for failing to meet the new law.
‘Highly qualified women still come up against glass ceilings far too often,’ said the minister for justice and family affairs, Christine Lambrecht. ‘This is a milestone for women in Germany and at the same time offers a great opportunity for both society and companies.’” Read more at New York Times
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