Twenty-one former House Republican lawmakers are urging the five current GOP lawmakers subpoenaed by the select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot to comply with the panel’s demands. “We believe our country is at a pivotal moment. In the wake of the January 6th, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol, current Members bear…
Author: Rebecca Beitsch
Jordan demands docs from Jan. 6 panel in face of subpoena
Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), one of five Republican members subpoenaed by the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, is asking the panel to turn over the bulk of the information it has collected on him as he weighs how to respond to the compulsory request for his testimony. In a six-page…
DOJ orders its officers to intervene to prevent excessive use of force
The Justice Department is ordering its federal officers to take on a greater role in fighting police brutality, ordering them to intervene if they see colleagues using excessive force. The order comes in the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) first update to its use-of-force policy in 18 years. The memo, signed Friday but not publicly released…
Ethics law offers possible path for Trump prosecution
As federal investigators weigh the potential criminality of former President Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election, legal experts say a decades-old ethics law — one routinely violated by members of Trump’s inner circle — could provide them a glide path to prosecution. The Hatch Act prohibits electioneering by executive branch officials, including the promotion…
Republicans demand docs from paused DHS disinformation board
Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) and four Senate GOP colleagues are demanding documents from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) related to its now paused disinformation board. DHS last week froze the work of its controversial Disinformation Governance Board, and its leader has resigned. But the letter indicates Republicans plan to continue their oversight of a…
Active shooter incidents rose 53 percent last year, FBI says
Active shooter incidents rose more than 50 percent over 2021, according to new data released by the FBI. There were 61 active shooter situations in 2021, a jump of 53 percent from 2020, with a similar rise in the number of casualties. The report lands just more than a week after a racially motivated shooter…
GOP threatens to release Jan. 5 footage — but obtaining it will cost them
House Republicans are threatening to release Capitol Police video taken on Jan. 5 in order to clear the name of a colleague accused of leading tours the day before the deadly riot – but they do not yet have the footage. The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol last week asked…
Supreme Court won’t take case on security reviews of government tell-all books
The Supreme Court on Monday refused to take the case of several former national security officials arguing the government’s prepublication review requirements for their books violates their First Amendment rights. The move upholds a 4th Circuit Court of Appeals decision from last year that sided with the government in maintaining their right to review the…
Tensions rise between DOJ, Jan. 6 panel
After weeks of airing concerns the Justice Department may not be moving aggressively enough to prosecute former President Trump and others in his orbit, lawmakers on the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack met the department’s request for assistance with an interesting response: Not so fast. The Justice Department has asked the committee to…
DOJ asks Jan. 6 committee for its transcripts: report
The Department of Justice (DOJ) has asked the Jan. 6 House committee to turn over some transcripts of depositions it has conducted as part of its investigation into the attack on the Capitol, according to Tuesday reporting from The New York Times. According to the Times, Kenneth Polite Jr., the assistant attorney general for the…