Georgia special grand jury report shows Graham and others spared from charges, and more new details
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis pursued charges against roughly half of the people recommended to her by a special grand jury tasked with investigating efforts to overturn Georgiaโs 2020 presidential election.
Georgia special grand jury recommended charges against 39 people, including Sen. Lindsey Graham
A special grand jury investigating efforts to overturn Georgiaโs 2020 presidential election results recommended indictments against a much larger group than prosecutors ultimately charged, including one current and two former U.S. senators.
An Ohio election that revolves around abortion rights is fueled by national groups and money
An Associated Press analysis of campaign finance data shows that supporters and opponents of a proposed constitutional amendment change in Ohio are largely funded by out-of-state donors, despite repeated messaging about the need to get such interests out of Ohio politics.
โWhite House Plumbersโ exploits absurdities of Watergate
In May 2017, comedian John Oliver tauntingly coined the phrase โStupid Watergateโ to refer to then-President Donald Trumpโs ever-growing list of scandals at the time, including his reported dealings with Russia, the investigation into Michael Flynn and his firing of former FBI Director James Comey.
Judge says Michael Flynn must testify in Ga. election probe
A Florida judge has ruled that former national security adviser Michael Flynn must testify before a special grand jury in Atlanta thatโs looking into whether then-President Donald Trump and his allies illegally tried to influence the 2020 election in Georgia.
Meadows trying to avoid testifying in Georgia election probe
Mark Meadows, former White House chief of staff, is trying to avoid having to testify before a Georgia special grand jury thatโs investigating whether then-President Donald Trump and his allies illegally tried to influence the stateโs 2020 election.
Lawyers: Arizona GOP chair pleaded Fifth to Jan. 6 panel
An attorney for the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol told a federal judge in Phoenix on Tuesday that Arizona Republican Party Chair Kelli Ward refused to answer the committeeโs questions at a deposition.
Capitol riot hearings raise questions of presidential power
The House Jan. 6 committee's investigation of the aftermath of the 2020 presidential election and the events leading up to the U.S. Capitol insurrection is raising questions about former President Donald Trumpโs role and whether he committed crimes.
Oz's ties to Turkey attacked in Pennsylvania's Senate race
Mehmet Ozโs rivals in Pennsylvaniaโs Republican primary for U.S. Senate are escalating their attacks on the celebrity heart surgeonโs connections to his parentsโ native country of Turkey, raising it as a possible national security issue.
Biden denies Navarro, Flynn privilege claims in 1/6 probe
President Joe Biden has denied executive privilege claims made by former Trump administration officials Peter Navarro and Michael Flynn in response to congressional subpoenas from the House committee investigating the attack on the U.S. Capitol.
How American cash for Canada protests could sway US politics
The Canadians who have disrupted trade with the U.S. and occupied downtown Ottawa for nearly three weeks have been cheered and funded by American right-wing activists and conservative politicians who also oppose vaccine mandates and the countryโs liberal leader.
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Convention circuit of delusion gives forum for election lies
For a few hours last weekend, thousands of Donald Trumpโs loyal supporters came together under the blazing sun in a field in Western Wisconsin to live in an alternate reality where the former president was still in office โ or would soon return.
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Garland vows return to 'normal' Justice Dept. on 1st day
President Joe Biden's pick for attorney general Merrick Garland, addresses staff on his first day at the Department of Justice, Thursday, March 11, 2021, in Washington. Welcome to the new Justice Department, likely a much tamer place to be after four years of blaring headlines under Donald Trump. The former president insisted that his attorney general, and entire department, be loyal to him personally, battering the departmentโs reputation for political independence. โWhen I walked in the door of Main Justice this morning, it really did feel like I was coming home,โ Garland said, referring to Justice Department headquarters. AdAbout 15 minutes later, he took the oath of office, administered by Assistant Attorney General Lee Lofthus.
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Garland says laws must be 'fairly and faithfully enforced'
President Joe Bidens nominee for attorney general will tell Congress the Justice Department must ensure laws are fairly and faithfully enforced," while reaffirming an adherence to policies to protect the departments political independence. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File)WASHINGTON โ President Joe Bidenโs nominee for attorney general says the Justice Department must ensure laws are โfairly and faithfully enforcedโ and the rights of all Americans are protected, while reaffirming an adherence to policies to protect the departmentโs political independence. The Justice Department released a copy of Garlandโs opening statement late Saturday. But Democrats repeatedly accused Barr of acting more like Trump's personal attorney than the attorney general. Garland also addresses domestic terrorism and rising extremist threats, pointing to his prior work in the Justice Department supervising the prosecution following the 1995 bombing in Oklahoma City.
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Riot lawsuit just part of Trump's post-impeachment problems
The former "Apprentice" contestant is trying to get her defamation lawsuit against former President Donald Trump moving again now that he's no longer president. Federal prosecutors in Washington, meanwhile, have charged some 200 Trump supporters with crimes related to the riot, including more serious conspiracy charges. There has been no indication that Trump would be charged in the riot though prosecutors have said they are looking at all angles. The same U.S. attorney's office in Manhattan also appears to have moved on from its investigation of Trumpโs inaugural committee. Recently, her office has won a series of court rulings forcing Trumpโs company and a law firm it hired to turn over troves of records.
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Trump pardons ex-strategist Steve Bannon, dozens of others
Trump is expected to pardon Bannon, Wednesday, Jan. 20, 2021, as part of a flurry of last-minute clemency action that appears to be still in flux in the last hours of his presidency. Trump did not pardon himself, despite speculation that he would, in the face of potential federal investigations. Another was Ken Kurson, a friend of Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner who was charged last October with cyberstalking during a heated divorce. Bannon was charged in August with duping thousands of donors who believed their money would be used to fulfill Trumpโs chief campaign promise to build a wall along the southern border. โSteve Bannon is getting a pardon from Trump after defrauding Trumpโs own supporters into paying for a wall that Trump promised Mexico would pay for,โ Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., said on Twitter.
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Trump wishes new administration luck in farewell video
President Trump is seen on a network monitor after his pre-recorded farewell speech was released, inside the Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House, Tuesday, Jan. 19, 2021, in Washington. โThis week we inaugurate a new administration and pray for its success in keeping America safe and prosperous,โ Trump said in the video โfarewell address,โ released by the White House less than 24 hours before President-elect Joe Bidenโs inauguration. Trump is set to leave Washington early Wednesday morning after a grand farewell event at nearby Joint Base Andrews. He is boycotting not just the ceremony at the Capitol, but also passed on inviting the Bidens to the White House for a get-to-know-you meeting. That threw an already paralyzed White House into even further chaos.
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Lingering questions about how Trump will finish out his term
A U.S. Secret Service guard stands post at the North Portico of the White House, after the U.S. House impeached President Donald Trump in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 13, 2021. Trump did not make a concession phone call or invite Biden to the White House after his victory. But last week the White House invited Biden to spend the night of Jan. 19 at Blair House. Officials do not expect Trump to invite Biden to the White House for the traditional pre-inauguration tea on Wednesday, but they said it is still a remote possibility. With Trump skipping the event, White House officials say Trump has not decided yet how and when he will leave the White House for his residence in Palm Beach, Florida.
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Capitol assault a more sinister attack than first appeared
Trump supporters try to break through a police barrier, Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021, at the Capitol in Washington. Minutes later, Pence was taken from the Senate chamber to a secret location and police announced the lockdown of the Capitol. Even before the mob reached sealed doors of the House chamber, Capitol Police pulled Pelosi away from the podium, she told โ60 Minutes.โโI said, โNo, I want to be here,โโshe said. Back in the House chamber, a woman in the balcony was seen and heard screaming. When they breached the abandoned Senate chamber, they milled around, rummaged through papers, sat at desks and took videos and pictures.
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The unfolding of 'home-grown fascism' in Capitol assault
Minutes later, Pence was taken from the Senate chamber to a secret location and police announced the lockdown of the Capitol. Even before the mob reached sealed doors of the House chamber, Capitol Police pulled Pelosi away from the podium, she told โ60 Minutes.โโI said, โNo, I want to be here,โโshe said. Back in the House chamber, a woman in the balcony was seen and heard screaming. When they breached the abandoned Senate chamber, they milled around, rummaged through papers, sat at desks and took videos and pictures. These domestic terrorists were in the Peopleโs House, desecrating the Peopleโs House, destroying the Peopleโs House.โ___Associated Press writers Dustin Weaver in Washington and Michael Casey in Concord, New Hampshire, contributed to this report.
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Parler squeezed as Trump seeks new online megaphone
Though stripped of his Twitter account for inciting rebellion, President Donald Trump does have alternative options of much smaller reach. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)BOSTON โ President Donald Trump has been kicked off of most mainstream social media platforms following his supportersโ siege on the U.S. Capitol. Still, Parler might be attractive to Trump since it's where his sons Eric and Don Jr. are already active. Losing Amazon Web Services will mean Parler needs to scramble to find another web host, in addition to the re-engineering. First, there may be an accelerated splintering of the social media world along ideological lines.
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Squelched by Twitter, Trump seeks new online megaphone
Though stripped of his Twitter account for inciting rebellion, President Donald Trump does have alternative options of much smaller reach. Though deprived of his big online megaphones, Trump does have alternative options of much smaller reach. Twitch and Snapchat also have disabled Trumpโs accounts, while Shopify took down online stores affiliated with the president and Reddit removed a Trump subgroup. Twitter also banned Trump loyalists including former national security advisor Michael Flynn in a sweeping purge of accounts promoting the QAnon conspiracy theory and the Capitol insurrection. And not just individual citizens have free speech rights.
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Twitter bans Trump, citing risk of violent incitement
This Friday, Jan. 8, 2021 image shows the suspended Twitter account of President Donald Trump. On Friday, the social media company permanently suspended Trump from its platform, citing "risk of further incitement of violence." (AP Photo/Tali Arbel)Twitter banned President Donald Trump's account Friday, citing โthe risk of further incitement of violence" following the deadly insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday. On Thursday, Facebook suspended Trump's account through Jan. 20 and possibly indefinitely. Twitter merely suspended Trump's account for 12 hours after he posted a video that repeated false claims about election fraud and praised the rioters who stormed the Capitol.
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Trump rallies supporters at โSave America Marchโ
Scott Applewhite)WASHINGTON โ โWhere are they?โ a Trump supporter demanded in a crowd of dozens roaming the halls of the Capitol, bearing Trump flags and pounding on doors. Trump told his morning crowd at the Ellipse that he would go with them to the Capitol, but he didnโt. Yet Trump, in a video posted 90 minutes after lawmakers were evacuated, told the insurrectionists โWe love you. Under the very risers set up for Bidenโs inauguration, Trump supporters clashed with police who blasted pepper spray in an attempt to hold them back. He said security officers urged lawmakers to put gas masks on and herded them into a corner of the massive room.
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Hundreds of Trump supporters flock to DC ahead of vote
At least two local Black churches had Black Lives Matter banners torn down and set ablaze. Tarrio was accused of burning one of the Black Lives Matter banners in December and was found with two high-capacity firearm magazines, police said. A number of prominent Trump supporters were expected to attend, including Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and longtime Trump ally Roger Stone, the recipient of a pardon by the president. During previous pro-Trump protests, police sealed off Black Lives Matter Plaza itself, but the confrontations spilled out to the surrounding streets. Black Lives Matter Plaza was sealed off Tuesday.
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Trump insists, falsely, that Pence can decertify results
โTellersโ from the House and Senate will record each statesโ electoral votes. โHe can decertify the results or send them back to the states for change and certification," Trump said. People close to the vice president stressed his respect for institutions and said they expect him to act in accordance with the law and hew to the Constitution. In 2017, it fell to Biden to intone, โIt is overโ after votes were tallied for Trump and Pence. The scene appeared animated as the president, Pence and their chiefs of staff met with lawyer John Eastman and others.
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New round of Trump clemency benefits Manafort, other allies
FILE - In this Thursday, June 27, 2019 file photo, Paul Manafort arrives in court in New York. President Trump's former campaign manager is to be arraigned on state mortgage fraud charges. Manafort, who led Trump's campaign during a pivotal period in 2016 before being ousted over his ties to Ukraine, was among the first people charged as part of Muellerโs investigation into ties between the Trump campaign and Russia. Though the charges against Manafort did not concern the central thrust of Mueller's mandate โ whether the Trump campaign and Russia colluded to tip the election โ he was nonetheless a pivotal figure in the investigation. Trump and the elder Kushner knew each other from real estate circles and their children were married in 2009.
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With a video filmed in secret, Trump demands changes to relief bill
President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump walk to board Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House, Wednesday, Dec. 23, 2020, in Washington. The video was released without warning Tuesday night, its recording orchestrated by White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and kept from all but a handful of aides. โThere are mixed signals from the White House leaving more confusion than calm,โ Biden noted on Wednesday. Trump personally played little role in the negotiations, though the White House had initially sent signals that he would sign the bill. Whether Trump is threatening to hold up the relief bill simply to spite Republicans is unclear.
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New round of Trump clemency benefits Manafort, other allies
FILE - In this Thursday, June 27, 2019 file photo, Paul Manafort arrives in court in New York. President Trump's former campaign manager is to be arraigned on state mortgage fraud charges. Manafort, who led Trump's campaign during a pivotal period in 2016 before being ousted over his ties to Ukraine, was among the first people charged as part of Muellerโs investigation into ties between the Trump campaign and Russia. Though the charges against Manafort did not concern the central thrust of Mueller's mandate โ whether the Trump campaign and Russia colluded to tip the election โ he was nonetheless a pivotal figure in the investigation. Trump and the elder Kushner knew each other from real estate circles and their children were married in 2009.
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Trump pardons 15, commutes 5 sentences, including GOP allies
He and his allies have discussed a range of other possibilities, including members of Trump's family and his personal attorney Rudy Giuliani. Trump also commuted the sentences of five other people, including former Rep. Steve Stockman of Texas. Trump also announced pardons for two people entangled in special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation. Trump has granted about 2% of requested pardons in his single term in office โ just 27 before Tuesday's announcement. Bush, another one-term president, granted 10% of requests.
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AP sources: Trump floats Sidney Powell as special counsel
(AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)WASHINGTON โ President Donald Trump floated naming lawyer Sidney Powell, who was booted from his campaign's legal team after pushing unfounded conspiracy theories, as a special counsel investigating allegations of voter fraud as he grasps for straws to stay in power. It is unclear whether Trump intends to try to move forward with the effort to install Powell. Trumpโs campaign and his allies have now filed roughly 50 lawsuits alleging widespread voting fraud and almost all have been dismissed or dropped. That includes Giuliani, who during the Friday meeting pushed Trump to seize voting machines in his hunt for evidence of fraud. "She is not a member of the Trump Legal Team.
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Trump asking about special prosecutor for Hunter Biden case
Beyond appointing a special prosecutor to investigate the younger Biden, the sources said Trump is interested in having another special counsel appointed to look into his own baseless claims of election fraud. Trump announced that Barr would be stepping down from his position on Dec. 23, amid lingering tension between the president and the attorney general over the Hunter Biden investigation. Appointing a special counsel could prove to be complicated, requiring consolidating different investigatory angles and bringing in someone new to run the probe and get up to speed. Either way, the probe is complicating Joe Bidenโs pick for attorney general, upon whose shoulders this probe would land. Any nominee for attorney general is likely to face a mountain of questions at a confirmation hearing about how they would oversee the probe.
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Trump asking about special prosecutor for Hunter Biden
Beyond appointing a special prosecutor to investigate the younger Biden, the sources said Trump is interested in having another special counsel appointed to look into his own baseless claims of election fraud. Trump announced that Barr would be stepping down from his position on Dec. 23, amid lingering tension between the president and the attorney general over the Hunter Biden investigation. Trump was angry for days after learning that Barr knew of the Hunter Biden tax investigation before the election but did not disclose it. Appointing a special counsel for the Hunter Biden probe would also signal a more prolonged and complicated investigation than the current inquiry, so far largely centered on his taxes. Either way, the probe is complicating Joe Bidenโs pick for attorney general, upon whose shoulders this probe would land.
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Trump says Barr resigning, will leave before Christmas
FILE - In this Oct. 15, 2020, file photo, Attorney General William Barr speaks during a roundtable discussion on Operation Legend in St. Louis. Barr went Monday to the White House, where Trump said the attorney general submitted his letter of resignation. Trump said Deputy Attorney General Jeff Rosen, whom he labeled โan outstanding person,โ will become acting attorney general. But Democrats have repeatedly accused Barr of acting more like the presidentโs personal attorney than the attorney general, and Barr had proved to be a largely reliable Trump ally and defender of presidential power. Trump was also said to blame Barr for comments from FBI Director Chris Wray on election fraud and mail-in voting that didnโt jibe with the presidentโs alarmist rhetoric.
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Vandals hit Black churches during weekend pro-Trump rallies
(AP Photo/Luis M. Alvarez)WASHINGTON โ Vandals tore down a Black Lives Matter banner and sign from two historic Black churches in downtown Washington and set the banner ablaze as nighttime clashes Saturday between pro-Donald Trump supporters and counterdemonstrators erupted into violence and arrests. โThis weekend, we saw forces of hate seeking to use destruction and intimidation to tear us apart,โ District of Columbia Mayor Muriel Bowser said Sunday. Leaders of the Black Lives Matter organization decried the attacks on the churches, partly faulting police for allowing white supremacists to โrun rampant." A pro-Trump demonstration last month, which drew 10,000 to 15,000 people to the capital, also ended late on a Saturday evening with scattered clashes between Trump's allies and local activists near Black Lives Matter Plaza near the White House. On Saturday, police took more steps to keep the two sides apart, closing a wide swath of downtown to traffic and sealing off Black Lives Matter Plaza.
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Tempers flare as Trump supporters rally in Washington
Supporters of President Donald Trump who are wearing attire associated with the Proud Boys attend a rally at Freedom Plaza, Saturday, Dec. 12, 2020, in Washington. (AP Photo/Luis M. Alvarez)WASHINGTON โ Thousands of supporters of President Donald Trump returned to Washington on Saturday for rallies to back his desperate efforts to subvert the election that he lost to Joe Biden. At a pro-Trump demonstration in Washington a month ago, Trump thrilled supporters when he passed by in his motorcade en route to his Virginia golf club. One Proud Boy yelled out, โYou cops canโt be everywhere!โ The Proud Boys later dispersed. The Supreme Court, where three of the nine justices were appointed by Trump, โwas just afraid of a political backlash,โ she said.
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Sidney Powell unrelenting in legal battle on Trump's behalf
ATLANTA โ Conservative attorney Sidney Powell has been unrelenting in her battle on behalf of President Donald Trump and the Americans who have pledged their faith in him, regardless of the facts of the 2020 election โ namely, that Joe Biden won. โIโm going to release the Kraken,โ Powell said in a Fox Business interview in mid-November, an apparent reference to the film โClash of the Titansโ in which Zeus gives the order to release the mythical sea monster. Powell did not immediately respond to a voicemail left Thursday at her Dallas law firm. Despite being tossed off the presidentโs legal team, Powell has continued to push his claim that the election was stolen. As they were filed, lawyers across the country reacted on social media, some puzzling about her strategy and others outright mocking her in paragraph-by-paragraph analysis.
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Judge dismisses Flynn case following pardon from Trump
President Donald Trump has pardoned Michael Flynn, taking direct aim in the final days of his administration at a Russia investigation that he has long insisted was motivated by political bias. Trump announced the pardon on Wednesday, Nov. 25, 2020 calling it his Great Honor. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)WASHINGTON โ A federal judge on Tuesday dismissed the criminal case against former Trump administration national security adviser Michael Flynn but pointedly noted that a pardon Flynn received from the president last month does not mean that he is innocent. The order from U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan was expected in light of the pardon from President Donald Trump that wiped away Flynn's conviction for lying to the FBI during the Russia investigation. "Because the law recognizes the Presidentโs political power to pardon, the appropriate course is to dismiss this case as moot."
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Trump expected to flex pardon powers on way out door
WASHINGTON โ Advocates and lawyers anticipate a flurry of clemency action from President Donald Trump in the coming weeks that could test the limits of presidential pardon power. No, Mr. President, that would be a gross abuse of the presidential pardon authority,โ Schumer said. Trump then featured Johnson's story in a Super Bowl ad and pardoned her during this year's Republican National Convention. He has participated in several meetings at the White House during Trump's term as officials brainstormed potential changes to the formal clemency process. โFor those people that should be free," he said, Trump's friends-and-family approach to pardons is "a deep and real tragedy."
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US probing potential bribery, lobbying scheme for pardon
Most of the information in the 18-page court order is redacted, including the identity of the people whom prosecutors are investigating and whom the proposed pardon might be intended for. President Donald Trump tweeted Tuesday night: โPardon investigation is Fake News!โThe existence of the investigation, first reported by CNN, was revealed in a court order from U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell, the chief judge of Washington's federal court. The investigative team will be able to use that material to confront any subject or target of the investigation, the judge wrote. As part of the investigation, more than 50 devices, including laptops and iPads, have been seized, according to the document. Pardons are common at the end of a president's tenure and are occasionally politically fraught affairs as some convicted felons look to leverage connections inside the White House to secure clemency.
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Biden seeks unity as Trump stokes fading embers of campaign
โWe have to turn the election over,โ Trump said from the Oval Office, where he joined the meeting by speakerphone. โWe won it by a lot.โ In fact, the election gave Biden a clear mandate, and no systemic fraud has been uncovered. Judge after judge has dismissed the Trump campaignโs accusations as baseless, and the transition to Bidenโs presidency is fully underway. Biden is expected to stay through the weekend in Rehoboth before returning to Wilmington for further work on the transition. Trump will forgo his usual plans to celebrate Thanksgiving at his private club in Florida and will instead remain at the White House.
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President Trump pardons Flynn despite guilty plea
President Donald Trump pardoned former national security adviser Michael Flynn on Wednesday, taking direct aim in the final days of his administration at a Russia investigation that he has long insisted was motivated by political bias. โIt is my Great Honor to announce that General Michael T. Flynn has been granted a Full Pardon,โ Trump tweeted. Trump commuted the sentence of longtime confidant Roger Stone just days before he was to report to prison. In addition, White House officials were stating publicly that Flynn and Kislyak had not discussed sanctions. It cited internal FBI notes showing that agents had planned to close out their investigation into Flynn weeks earlier.
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Trump pardons Flynn despite guilty plea in Russia probe
โIt is my Great Honor to announce that General Michael T. Flynn has been granted a Full Pardon," Trump tweeted. A Justice Department official said the department was not consulted on the pardon and learned Wednesday of the plan. But the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations, noted that the president has the legal power to pardon Flynn. โAmericans soundly rejected this nonsense when they voted out President Trump. But last May, after years of defending the prosecution, the Justice Department abruptly reversed its position.
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Analysis: Biden prioritizes experience with Cabinet picks
President-elect Joe Bidens first wave of Cabinet picks and choices for his White House staff have prized staying power over star power, with a premium placed on government experience and proficiency as he looks to rebuild a depleted and demoralized federal bureaucracy. President-elect Joe Biden has prized staying power over star power when making his first wave of Cabinet picks and choices for White House staff, with a premium placed on government experience and proficiency as he looks to rebuild a depleted and demoralized federal bureaucracy. โCollectively, this team has secured some of the most defining national security and diplomatic achievements in recent memory โ made possible through decades of experience working with our partners,โ Biden said Tuesday as he unveiled his national security team. His choice for national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, was the deputy to that post under President Barack Obama. ___EDITOR'S NOTE โ Jonathan Lemire has covered the White House and national politics for The Associated Press since 2013.
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Trump campaign legal team distances itself from Powell
She is not a member of the Trump Legal Team. She is also not a lawyer for the President in his personal capacity," Giuliani and another lawyer for Trump, Jenna Ellis, said in a statement. There was no immediate clarification from the campaign and Powell did not immediately return an email seeking comment. The statement hints at further tumult for a legal team that has lost case after case in contested states as it works to overturn the results of the Nov. 3 election. Fox News host Tucker Carlson said on his show last week that his team had asked Powell for evidence to support her claims, but that Powell had provided none.
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Trump team making false argument about his 2016 transition
President Barack Obama shakes hands with President-elect Donald Trump in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, Thursday, Nov. 10, 2016. President Trump and his allies are harking back to his own transition four years ago to make a false argument that his own presidency was denied a fair chance for a clean launch. Press secretary Kayleigh McEnany laid out the case from the White House podium last week. That's a far cry from the description issued by McEnany as pressure mounts for Trump to concede and for his administration to begin cooperating with Biden's transition team. But Trump's team largely ignored advice from Obama staffers, leaving briefing books unopened and ignoring special iPads loaded with materials.
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GOP presses ahead after election with Russia probe review
Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., questions former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Nov. 10, 2020, on a probe of the FBI's Russia investigation. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, Pool)WASHINGTON โ President Donald Trump may have lost his bid for reelection, but that hasnโt stopped Senate Republicans from pressing forward with their politically charged probe of the FBIโs Russia investigation. โThis is a last ditch, desperate undertaking to deal with President Trumpโs grievances about that election,โ Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois said of the hearing. Most of the criticism of the Russia investigation has centered on flaws in applications to surveil former Trump campaign aide Carter Page. Even so, a Justice Department inspector general report from last year concluded that the Russia investigation was opened for a valid and legitimate purpose.
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How a probe of Trump-Russia ties turned into a GOP rally cry
Yet in the 2020 campaign, Democrats are largely ignoring the Russia probe. While some of the revelations from the steady drip of newly declassified documents are serious, they do not undercut the reasons the Russia probe was launched or its principal findings. Meanwhile, Attorney General William Barr has appointed a prosecutor to investigate the origins of the Russia probe. Meanwhile, attacking the Russia probe is a core part of Trump's campaign. Those attacks on the Russia probe may not win over many undecided voters.
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Lawyer for Flynn says she updated Trump on status of case
WASHINGTON โ A lawyer for former Trump administration national security adviser Michael Flynn told a judge Tuesday that she recently updated President Donald Trump on the case and asked him not to issue a pardon for her client. Attorney General William Barr, who appointed a U.S. attorney from Missouri to investigate the handling of the case, moved in May to dismiss the case despite Flynn's own guilty plea in the Russia investigation. At the time, the FBI was investigating whether the Trump campaign had coordinated with Russia to tip the election in Trump's favor. Lawyers for the federal government revived their efforts to persuade Sullivan that dismissing the Flynn case was in the interests of justice. In recent weeks, as part of the review of the Flynn case being conducted by U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Jensen of St. Louis, the Justice Department has identified correspondence that it regards as possibly favorable to Flynn and supportive of the decision to drop the case.
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Prosecutor looking into the origins of Russia probe resigns
WASHINGTON โ A federal prosecutor who was helping lead the investigation into the origins of the Trump-Russia probe has resigned from the Justice Department, a spokesman said. It leaves the investigative team without one of its veteran prosecutors as key decisions presumably await before the probe wraps up. In the year and a half since, he has questioned former law enforcement and intelligence officials โ former CIA Director John Brennan among them โ about decisions made during the course of the Russia probe. It's also not clear that Durham's work would be permitted to continue if Trump loses in November and Democratic leadership assumes control at the Justice Department. The court ruled that U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan did not have to dismiss the case just because the Justice Department wanted him to.
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Ex-FBI agent: Attacks from Trump 'outrageous' and 'cruel'
Strzok, a former FBI agent who was fired because of derogatory text messages about Donald Trump, writes in a new book that he believes the president has been compromised by Russia. Strzok, for his part, expresses measured regret for the texts in Compromised: Counterintelligence and the Threat of Donald J. Trump, due out Tuesday. Special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation revealed significant contacts between the Trump campaign and Russia but found insufficient evidence of a criminal conspiracy. By his own count, Strzok says, Trump has attacked him since then more than 100 times in tweets. After Trump accused Strzok of treason, he appealed to the FBI for a statement condemning the remarks, but got none.
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Ex-FBI lawyer to plead guilty in Durham's Trump-Russia probe
WASHINGTON A former FBI lawyer will plead guilty to making a false statement in the first criminal case arising from U.S. Attorney John Durham's investigation into the probe of ties between Russia and the 2016 Trump campaign. The investigation has proceeded alongside a parallel effort by Senate Republicans to discredit the Russia probe and as Attorney General William Barr has escalated his own criticism of the FBI's probe. Clinesmith was referred for potential prosecution by the department's inspector general's office, which conducted its own review of the Russia investigation. Former Attorney General Eric Holder selected him during the Obama administration to investigate the CIA's harsh interrogation techniques of terror suspects and the destruction of videotapes documenting that interrogation. Barr signaled his skepticism with the Russia investigation right away, concluding that Trump had not obstructed justice even though Mueller had pointedly left that question unresolved.
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Appeals court seems wary of ordering dismissal of Flynn case
WASHINGTON A federal appeals court in Washington appeared inclined Tuesday to let a judge decide on his own whether to grant the Justice Department's request to dismiss the criminal case against former Trump administration national security adviser Michael Flynn. A ruling against Flynn would not undo his guilty plea or end the case but simply return it to Sullivan for a hearing on the government's request to dismiss. The entire court took up the matter after a three-judge panel, in a 2-1 ruling, ordered Sullivan to dismiss the case. Those concerns prompted alarm within the FBI because White House officials had stating publicly that Flynn and the ambassador had not discussed sanctions. Flynn was awaiting sentencing when the Justice Department announced in May that it was abandoning the case following an internal review.
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Full appeals court agrees to wade into Michael Flynn case
WASHINGTON The entire Washington-based federal appeals court is stepping into the legal dispute over former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn as it weighs whether a judge can be forced to dismiss a case that the Justice Department no longer wants to pursue. The action Thursday by the full U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit vacates a decision from a three-judge panel last month that ordered the case dropped. A Justice Department spokeswoman declined to comment. That prosecutor, Jeff Jensen of Missouri, recommended that the department dismiss the case. Flynns lawyers asked the appeals court to step in and order Sullivan to grant the departments request.
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Barr to condemn rioting at much-anticipated House hearing
FILE - In this March 23, 2020, file photo Attorney General William Barr speaks about the coronavirus in the James Brady Briefing Room in Washington. Barr is scheduled to appear for the first time before the House Judiciary Committeeon Tuesday, July 28. Massive but peaceful demonstrations had followed Floyd's death in May. But he will also condemn Americans who he says have responded inappropriately to Floyd's death through what he said was rioting and anarchy. Barr also pushed for a more lenient sentence for another Trump ally, Roger Stone, prompting the entire trial team's departure.
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Barr to condemn rioting at much-anticipated House hearing
Barr is scheduled to appear for the first time before the House Judiciary Committeeon Tuesday, July 28. Massive but peaceful demonstrations had followed Floyd's death in May. But he will also condemn Americans who he says have responded inappropriately to Floyd's death through what he said was rioting and anarchy. Barr also pushed for a more lenient sentence for another Trump ally, Roger Stone, prompting the entire trial team's departure. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Monday on MSNBC that Democrats want to question Barr about how Trump is undermining the Constitution of the United States. Barr previously rebuffed the House committee and Pelosi said that we hope that he will show up."
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Ex-FBI agent Strzok due out with book about Trump, Russia
This cover image released by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Books & Media shows "Compromised Counterintelligence and the Threat of Donald J. Trump" by Peter Strzok. The book will offer an insiders view on some of the most sensational and politically freighted investigations in modern American history, including into whether the 2016 Trump campaign coordinated with Russia to sway the presidential election. Strzok briefly served on special counsel Robert Mueller's team but was removed from his role after the Justice Department inspector general flagged derogatory and pejorative text messages about Trump that Strzok sent and received during the 2016 campaign. In a statement announcing the book, the publishing company said the Trump administration used his private expression of political opinions to force him out." Andrew Weissmann, a former Justice Department prosecutor who served on Mueller's team, is due out with a book in September.
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Barr able to put his stamp on executive power as Trump's AG
They ask Attorney General William Barr about elder fraud. Democrats have suggested he should be impeached and are holding hearings into what they say is the politicization of the Justice Department under his watch. Then, when Bush was elected, Barr joined the Justice Department first as assistant attorney general of the Office of Legal Counsel, then as deputy attorney general, and finally as attorney general. The actions have resulted in open letters signed by thousands of Justice Department alumni who have demanded Barrs resignation. He points to the Justice Department inspector generals report that found flaws in how the FBIs Russia investigation was conducted.
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Judge seeks more details on Trump's clemency for Roger Stone
WASHINGTON A federal judge on Monday demanded more information about President Donald Trump's decision to commute the prison sentence of longtime ally Roger Stone. U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson ordered that the parties provide her by Tuesday with a copy of the executive order that commuted Stone's sentence. She also asked for clarity about the scope of the clemency, including whether it covers just his prison sentence or also the two-year period of supervised release that was part of his sentence. Trump commuted Stone's 40-month prison sentence on Friday evening, just days before he was to report to prison. Democrats lambasted Trump's decision as having undermined the rule of law, and Mueller himself defended the Stone prosecution in a Washington Post opinion piece in which he said Stone remains a convicted felon, and rightly so."
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Trump's defiant help for Stone adds to tumult in Washington
FILE - In this Feb. 20, 2020, file photo, Roger Stone arrives for his sentencing at federal court in Washington. Roger Stone was targeted by an illegal Witch Hunt that never should have taken place, Trump tweeted. Sen. Lindsey Graham, a Trump confidant, said Stone was convicted of a nonviolent, first-time offense and the president was justified in commuting the sentence. By commuting Stone's sentence, Trump evoked other controversial acts of clemency by his predecessors, though his was done in the height of an election year. Stone, a former Nixon aide, told the AP he expressed his gratitude to Trump in a phone call.