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US Monthly Headline News March 2022 - Page 1
Biden told Americans there's "no firm answer" for when gas prices will go down.
By Justin Gomez and Libby Cathey

Attempting to combat what's he's labeled "Putin's price hike," President Joe Biden announced a plan on Thursday to release roughly 1 million barrels of oil per day from the nation's strategic petroleum reserve over the next six months to reduce energy and gas prices. Biden told Americans "there is no firm answer" as to when gas prices will go down, but predicted they will go down "fairly significantly." "Today I want to talk about one aspect of Putin's war that affects and has real effects on the American people: Putin's price hike that Americans and our allies are feeling at the pump. I know how much it hurts," Biden began. "As you've heard me say I grew up in a family, like many of you, where the price of gasoline was discussed at the kitchen table. None of it should hinge on whether a dictator declares war."
The government is assembling information about an Arizona man who wasn't charged in the attack on the Capitol but interacted with some who were.
By Josh Gerstein and Kyle Cheney

The Justice Department is compiling information to share with defendants about Ray Epps, an Arizona man who has been the focus of Jan. 6 conspiracy theories pushed by former President Donald Trump, his allies in Congress and right-wing media figures. Assistant U.S. Attorney Karen Rochlin said in court on Tuesday that she intended to provide a “disclosure” about Epps, a former Oath Keeper, in response to requests by Jan. 6 defendants accused of leading the breach of police lines — including Ryan Samsel, who briefly huddled with Epps before charging the barricades. Epps, who was seen on video on Jan. 5, 2021, urging Trump supporters to go “into the Capitol” — adding that they should be “peaceful” — became the focus of conspiracy theories pushed by right-wing media outlets.
Federal prosecutors have been seeking documents and testimony about the fake electors scheme and the planning for the rally just before the storming of the Capitol.
By Alan Feuer, Katie Benner and Maggie Haberman

Federal prosecutors have substantially widened their Jan. 6 investigation to examine the possible culpability of a broad range of figures involved in former President Donald J. Trump’s efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election, people familiar with the inquiry said on Wednesday. The investigation now encompasses the possible involvement of other government officials in Mr. Trump’s attempts to obstruct the certification of President Biden’s Electoral College victory and the push by some Trump allies to promote slates of fake electors, they said. Prosecutors are also asking about planning for the rallies that preceded the assault on the Capitol, including the rally on the Ellipse on Jan. 6 of last year, just before a pro-Trump mob stormed the Capitol.
Claudia Grisales, Deirdre Walsh

Former President Trump senior adviser Jared Kushner provided "helpful" information to the Democratic-led House panel investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, a member of the panel said. Kushner, married to Trump's daughter Ivanka Trump, who was also a senior adviser, is the most high profile member of Trump's inner circle known to have appeared before the committee. He voluntarily appeared for a remote interview that started at 10 a.m. and lasted at least into the early afternoon hours, several sources familiar with the committee's work said. Kushner's meeting came two months after the panel asked Ivanka Trump to voluntarily appear before the committee. Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., said Ivanka Trump and the committee are engaged in conversations, but no final plan has been reached on her appearance.
by Laura Clawson, Daily Kos Staff

If you pay attention to Manchin, you might know that he gets around $500,000 a year in income from his own personal coal company. Maybe you know that Manchin’s coal company has one customer to which it provides waste coal—coal that burns extra dirty—that customer being the only power plant left in West Virginia burning the waste coal at an expensive loss. But it gets worse. The Times investigation reveals that, in 1987, when Manchin was a state senator, he started helping the Grant Town power plant get up and running just outside his district. In 1988, while he was helping the power plant with the permits it needed, he set up his own business to provide that power plant with waste coal—garbage of bituminous, or gob. In 1989, the power plant got its permits and became the one customer of Manchin’s waste coal business.
Federal Election Commission had investigated alleged misreporting of expenditure by campaign during 2016 election
Associated Press

Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign and the Democratic National Committee have agreed to pay $113,000 to settle a Federal Election Commission investigation into whether they violated campaign finance law by misreporting spending on research that eventually became the infamous Steele dossier. That is according to documents sent on Tuesday to the Coolidge Reagan Foundation, which had filed an administrative complaint in 2018 accusing the Democrats of misreporting payments made to a law firm during the 2016 campaign to obscure the spending.
By Meg James, Amy Kaufman

Just days before Bruce Willis was scheduled to turn up on the set of one of his latest action films, the director of the project sent out an urgent request: Make the movie star’s part smaller. “It looks like we need to knock down Bruce’s page count by about 5 pages,” Mike Burns, the director of “Out of Death,” wrote in a June 2020 email to the film’s screenwriter. “We also need to abbreviate his dialogue a bit so that there are no monologues, etc.”
They're considering dismantling the quasi-governmental district that surrounds Walt Disney World
James Call
Capital Bureau | USA TODAY NETWORK – FLORIDA

Some GOP lawmakers are steeling for a fight against the Mouse that eventually roared over the "Don’t Say Gay" bill. Specifically, Republican House members have taken issue with the Walt Disney Company’s criticism and calls for repeal of what's officially called the "Parental Rights in Education" (HB 1557), passed this year and signed into law this week by Gov. Ron DeSantis.
Mark Niquette

(Bloomberg) -- Donald Trump is seeking to temper his characterization of Vladimir Putin as a “genius” shortly before the invasion of Ukraine while the Biden White House sharply criticized the former president over his comments this week about the Russian leader.
Andrew Feinberg

Attorneys for former president Donald Trump used the term “burner phones” — a slang term used to describe an untraceable mobile phone which he has denied knowing — in a September 2021 civil lawsuit, according to court documents. On Tuesday, The Washington Post and CBS News reported that White House records turned over to the House January 6th select committee by the National Archives and Records Administration do not include any calls made or received by Mr Trump between the hours of 11.17am and 6.54pm on the day a mob of his supporters stormed the US Capitol in hopes of stopping certification of President Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory.
By Mychael Schnell

A lawsuit that sought to block construction of the Obama Presidential Center in Chicago has been tossed by a federal judge. Protect Our Parks and other individuals filed a second lawsuit in 2021 against the city of Chicago, Chicago Park District, the Obama Foundation and other individuals, contending that there were faults in federal reviews of the impact the center would have on the environment. They also also claimed that federal regulators refused to consider other locations for the facility, including places that they said would have been “much less harmful to protected resources.” U.S. District Judge Robert Blakey, however, dismissed the lawsuit on Tuesday, writing in a ruling that the city of Chicago did not abdicate control or ownership of the [Obama Presidential Center] site to the Obama Foundation,” adding that the Museums Act, which guides museums, “manifests clear legislative intent for the [Obama Presidential Center].”
Democrats are failing to speak to the realities of the economic moment—and it could cost them in the midterms.
By John Nichols

President Biden and his fellow Democrats need to learn to talk about inflation if they hope to maintain congressional majorities in this year’s midterm elections. They can’t deny that costs for consumers are rising at a jarring rate—up 7.5 percent compared to a year ago, according to the latest figures. But they can, and must, make the connection between surging prices and surging corporate profits. The US Department of Commerce reported at the end of December that corporate profit margins had hit the highest level in 70 years. You’ll hear a lot of complex, and often conflicting, explanations for why this is happening now. But recent news stories speak for themselves.
By BOB CHRISTIE and JONATHAN J. COOPER

PHOENIX (AP) — Arizona’s Republican governor signed a series of bills Wednesday targeting abortion and transgender rights, joining a growing list of GOP-led states pursuing a conservative social agenda. The measures signed by Gov. Doug Ducey will outlaw abortion after 15 weeks if the U.S. Supreme Court allows it, prohibit gender confirmation surgery for minors and ban transgender girls from playing on girls and women’s sports teams. Bills targeting abortion and transgender rights have been popular with the conservative base in states where Republicans dominate but could be politically risky in a battleground state where Democrats have made significant inroads. Ducey also signed the first of what is expected to be a host of election laws sent to him by majority Republican lawmakers in the name of election security.
By Edmund H. Mahony | Hartford Courant

A Superior Court judge on Wednesday found conspiracy theorist and Infowars host Alex Jones in contempt of court and imposed a fine of up to $50,000 a day for what she called his “willful” violation of her orders that he submit to questioning at a deposition by families of victims of the Sandy Hook School killings. After a series of delays, Jones failed to comply last week with repeated orders by Barbara Bellis that he appear for a deposition on March 23 and 24 in Austin, Texas, where his internet broadcasting company is located. Relatives of the children murdered in the 2012 school shooting in Newtown have been trying for years to question him in connection with their suit filed in response to his broadcast assertions that the shootings were a hoax.
wrojas@insider.com (Warren Rojas)

On Tuesday, former President Donald Trump alerted the nation that there were "100,000 brand new, sparkling copies" of his picture book available for sale from a publishing house co-founded by his eldest son, Donald Trump Jr. During the past week, Trump has also blasted out emails touting Trump-owned golf clubs in Miami, Los Angeles, and West Palm Beach, Florida. Trump's relentless marketing was not, however, issued by his business empire, the Trump Organization. Instead, it came from a federal government-funded office provided to him by the Former Presidents Act. The constant plugs for family business ventures Trump weaves into the email blasts from his taxpayer-subsidized, post-presidential office are "unsavory" but not unexpected, an ethics professional said, given that he's flouted ethics rules since entering political life.
Sarah Whitten

Chris Rock has yet to publicly address being slapped by Will Smith during the 94th annual Academy Awards ceremony on Sunday. Fans are banking on the chance that could change Wednesday night. Rock is set to perform two back-to-back shows at the Wilbur Theatre in Boston, and the anticipation has sent second-market ticket sales soaring, according to social media posts and resell websites. StubHub, a ticket exchange and resale company, said it saw 25x the daily sales for Rock’s shows in the days following the Oscar incident, exceeding cumulative sales for the comedian’s tour during the entire month of March.
Tom Porter

Donald Trump has once again provoked controversy with remarks about Russian President Vladimir Putin. In an interview with the conservative journalist John Solomon on Tuesday on Solomon's streaming service, Real America's Voice, Trump addressed the war in Ukraine and called on the Russian president to provide information about Hunter Biden, Joe Biden's son, who is the target of a renewed GOP and Russian propaganda campaign. In seeking to exploit the war in Ukraine to attack the Bidens, Trump is stirring a complex brew of rumors and conspiracy theories about the Bidens that he and his allies have been promoting for years.
FBI raids home over threats made to judge, attorneys and potential witness in Michigan Gov. Whitmer kidnap plot trial
By Lauren del Valle, CNN

(CNN) FBI agents raided a residence on the outskirts of Detroit last Friday in connection to threats made to the judge, two defense attorneys and at least one potential witness in the ongoing federal trial of four men accused of plotting to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. District Judge Robert Jonker and the attorneys for defendants Adam Fox and Barry Croft received threats in connection to the trial, Detroit FBI Special Agent Mara Schneider confirmed to CNN. The nature of the threats has not been disclosed to the public. No arrests have been made in connection to the threats, according to Schneider.
Melissa Block

It's a bill that's drawn nationwide controversy, dubbed by opponents as the "Don't Say Gay" bill. President Biden called it "hateful." It was ridiculed by the hosts of this year's Academy Awards. On Monday, it became Florida law, when Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the Parental Rights in Education bill. Now, Florida teachers are wondering how the new law will affect them and their students.
Ewan Palmer

Donald Trump has been widely criticized for calling on Vladimir Putin to release any information he has about Hunter Biden's alleged business dealings in Russia while the Russian president is carrying out attacks on Ukraine. In an interview on Real America's Voice show Just the News, Trump pushed unsubstantiated claims regarding President Joe Biden's son, and his dealings in Russia. The former president repeated an accusation that Hunter Biden's company received $3.5 million from Elena Baturina, the widow of former mayor of Moscow Yuri Luzhkov, a claim he often made during the 2020 election campaign.
In a new interview published Tuesday, former President Donald Trump called on Russian President Vladimir Putin to release any damaging information he has about the Biden family, in a brazen request for domestic political assistance from America's top adversary.
By Kate Sullivan and Maegan Vazquez, CNN

(CNN) President Joe Biden signed a bill into law on Tuesday that makes lynching a federal hate crime, acknowledging how racial violence has left a lasting scar on the nation and asserting that these crimes are not a relic of a bygone era. At a White House Rose Garden signing ceremony, the President didn't hold back in describing the history of racial violence experienced by Black Americans and its continued impact. He said, "Lynching was pure terror to enforce the lie that not everyone ... belongs in America, not everyone is created equal. Terror, to systematically undermine hard-fought civil rights. Terror, not just in the dark of the night but in broad daylight. Innocent men, women and children hung by nooses in trees, bodies burned and drowned and castrated." "Their crimes? Trying to vote. Trying to go to school. Trying to own a business or preach the gospel. False accusations of murder, arson and robbery. Simply being Black," he continued
Eugene Kiely

In promoting his plan to “rescue America,” Sen. Rick Scott went too far in claiming that Medicare will go “bankrupt” in four years and Social Security in 12 years. Government trustees project that certain Medicare and Social Security trust funds would become depleted by then, but payments would continue, albeit at a reduced rate. Scott made his remarks March 27 on “Fox News Sunday” when host John Roberts asked the Florida Republican about “An 11-Point Plan to Rescue America” — which is Scott’s blueprint for a Republican-controlled Congress after the 2022 elections. Scott, chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, discusses Medicare and Social Security in the plan under “Point Six: Government Reform/Debt.”
Meaghan Ellis

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) was recently slammed on Twitter when he attempted to attack President Joe Biden after taking his remarks out of context. The latest ordeal stems from Biden's speech at an emergency summit of North American Treaty Organization (NATO) leaders who are working toward resolutions for Russia's invasion of Ukraine. At one point during the speech, Biden noted that he was inspired to run for president after hearing former President Donald Trump's divisive "both sides" comment following the chaotic "Unite the Right" rally that was held in Charlottesville, Va., back in 2017. Apparently, Biden's words ruffled the Republican lawmaker's feathers.
By Alexander Bolton

Centrist Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) said the way Republican senators treated Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson at last week’s hearings was “disgraceful” and “embarrassing” after they repeatedly brought up her record of sentencing child pornography offenders. Manchin said the behavior of GOP colleagues who repeatedly cut off Jackson while she tried to answer their questions about her sentencing decision crossed the line to become inappropriate.  “It was disgraceful, it really was, what I saw. And I met with her and I read all the transcripts. I listened to basically the hearings and it just was embarrassing,” he told reporters Tuesday morning.
Bob Brigham

Former President Donald Trump continues to be praised on Russian state television almost as much as he's regaled on Fox News, with state media now calling for regime change in the United States. Daily Beast columnist Julia Davis has been monitoring Russian state TV to report on how the invasion is being portrayed by the Kremlin. "Putin’s invasion of Ukraine pitted Russia against most of the world, leaving Kremlin propagandists yearning for any tidbits of pro-Russian sentiment in the United States. These days, state television draws on a bounty of translated quotes almost exclusively from two Western voices: Tucker Carlson of Fox News and former U.S. President Donald J. Trump," Davis reported Tuesday.
Bob Brigham

Former President Donald Trump's well-established habit of calling for wrongdoing and then claiming he was joking has become such a trope that CNN's Jim Acosta came close to giving a preemptive fact-check of an assumed future lie on Tuesday. Acosta's analysis came after Trump called upon Vladimir Putin to release dirt on President Joe Biden. The former president's comments came the same day a Russian state TV host called for regime change in America to "help our partner Trump." CNN's Acosta expected Trump to eventually lie about his request for a foreign government to interfere in American domestic politics. "Don’t be surprised if Trump later lies and says he was joking about asking Putin for dirt on Biden. He’s lied that he was joking when he asked Russia for Hillary Clinton’s emails," Acosta noted.
Robert Reich

Putin’s lies, and the lies coming from America’s extreme right, are mutually supporting. There’s a reason for that. In a speech delivered last Friday from his office in the Kremlin, Putin criticized the west’s “cancel culture”, which, he charged, is “canceling” Russia – “an entire thousand-year-old country, our people”. It was the third time in recent months Putin has blasted the so-called “cancel culture”. Which is exactly what Trump, Tucker Carlson, and the Republican party have blasted for several years. “The goal of cancel culture is to make decent Americans live in fear of being fired, expelled, shamed, humiliated and driven from society as we know it,” Trump said as he accepted his party’s nomination at the Republican National Convention in 2020. Tucker Carlson, one of Fox News’s most prominent personalities, has charged that liberals have been trying to cancel everything from Space Jam to the Fourth of July.
State TV pundits are delighted that crazed Russian propaganda about Hunter Biden’s supposed funding of bioweapons in Ukraine has “served up a beneficial deck of cards for Trump.”
Julia Davis

Putin’s invasion of Ukraine pitted Russia against most of the world, leaving Kremlin propagandists yearning for any tidbits of pro-Russian sentiment in the United States. These days, state television draws on a bounty of translated quotes almost exclusively from two Western voices: Tucker Carlson of Fox News and former U.S. President Donald J. Trump. They have a plan to reward them both: Carlson with a highly coveted interview with Russian President Vladimir Putin, and Trump with a freebie PR campaign designed to light his path back to the White House. Last Thursday, Russia’s Defense Ministry released a colorful diagram, purporting to demonstrate that President Joe Biden’s son Hunter, is secretly bankrolling the Pentagon’s biolabs in Ukraine, allegedly developing biological weapons to target Russia. The allegation was preposterous and was squeamishly avoided by the responsible mainstream media, but Tucker Carlson immediately latched on to it. Talking about the accusation later the same day, Carlson did his best to pre-empt any doubts about his motivation. He said: “What are the outlines of that story? We’re not sure. We know it’s legitimate to ask what it means, why wouldn’t it be? You’re not a Russian agent repeating discredited Putin talking points if you ask. You’re a good citizen.”
Putin is a pariah. Trump still sees him as a political asset.
By Aaron Blake

When presidential candidate Donald Trump asked Russia to find his 2016 opponent’s emails — i.e., “Russia, if you’re listening” — Republicans hinted that maybe this was a bad idea. So Trump claimed it was a joke. And Republicans moved on and stood by him. When Trump in 2020 used the presidency to leverage Ukraine for an investigation into his next opponent, a number of Republicans admitted it was unseemly, but said it wasn’t impeachable. They moved on and stood by him. One of them even ventured that Trump had learned a “pretty big lesson” about asking a foreign country to investigate a political rival, and predicted he would “be much more cautious in the future.” Trump wasn’t joking. He will not be more cautious in the future. And if anything, the big lesson he learned seems to have been that he has so effectively demolished this norm that it no longer encumbers him whatsoever.
The former president is once again asking for Russia to help boost his political prospects
By Ryan Bort

Donald Trump famously called on Russia to find Hillary Clinton’s emails ahead of the 2016 election. He’s now calling on Vladimir Putin to dig up dirt on President Biden’s family. The ask came during an interview with Just the News on Real America’s Voice, with the former president citing a Senate report that found a Russian oligarch once gave $3.5 million to a company he claims was founded by Biden’s son, Hunter. “Why did the mayor of Moscow’s wife give the Bidens, both of them, $3.5 million? That’s a lot of money,” Trump said. “She gave him $3.5 million so I would think Putin would know the answer to that,” Trump said. “I think he should release it. I think we should know that answer.” The Senate report to which Trump is referring is a partisan report Republicans released in 2020. The report found that Yelena Baturina gave $3.5 million to a firm called Rosemont Seneca Thornton in 2014. Hunter Biden was the co-founder of a firm called Rosemont Seneca Advisors. Biden’s lawyer told CNN that this is not the same firm that received the “consultancy agreement” payment from Baturina. There is no evidence the payment was corrupt or that Hunter Biden had anything to do with it.
By Marshall Cohen, CNN

Washington (CNN) In a new interview published Tuesday, former President Donald Trump called on Russian President Vladimir Putin to release any damaging information he has about the Biden family, in a brazen request for domestic political assistance from America's top adversary. It's the latest example of Trump's willingness to solicit and embrace domestic political help from foreign powers -- even from Putin, who is currently overseeing a bloody war against Ukraine. In an interview with JustTheNews, Trump pushed an unproven claim about Hunter Biden's business dealings in Russia, and asked Putin to release any information that he might have about the situation. It's not clear that any material exists, or if the Kremlin has access to it. "I would think Putin would know the answer to that," Trump said, referring to Hunter Biden's potential dealings in Russia. "I think he should release it. I think we should know that answer."
By ERIC TUCKER

WASHINGTON (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin authorized influence operations to help Donald Trump in last November’s presidential election, according to a declassified intelligence assessment that found broad efforts by the Kremlin and Iran to shape the outcome of the race but ultimately no evidence that any foreign actor changed votes or otherwise disrupted the voting process. The report released Tuesday from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence represents the most detailed assessment of the array of foreign threats to the 2020 election. These included efforts by Iran to undermine confidence in the vote and harm Trump’s reelection prospects as well as Moscow operations that relied on Trump’s allies to smear Joe Biden, the eventual winner.
Greg Myre

A new report by the U.S. intelligence community on Tuesday says Russia sought to help former President Donald Trump in last year's presidential election. But the document also emphasized there was no indication Russia or any other country attempted to alter actual votes. Russian President Vladimir Putin authorized "influence operations aimed at denigrating President Biden's candidacy and the Democratic Party, supporting Trump, undermining public confidence in the electoral process and exacerbating socio-political divisions in the U.S," says the report by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. The unclassified document is the most comprehensive look the intelligence community has released regarding foreign efforts to meddle in the 2020 election.
ssheth@businessinsider.com (Sonam Sheth)

Federal prosecutors are zeroing in on a December 2020 tweet from then President Donald Trump that may have been a call for far-right actors to converge on the Capitol on January 6, 2021, The New York Times reported. "Big protest in D.C. on January 6th," Trump tweeted on December 19. It was the first time he announced the "Save America" rally, which took place at the Ellipse in Washington, DC, less than two miles from the US Capitol. "Be there, will be wild!" the tweet said. Prosecutors believe far-right and extremist groups immediately interpreted Trump's message as a call to action for them to head to the Capitol and stop Congress from certifying Joe Biden's victory in the 2020 election that day, The Times said. According to court filings and interview records compiled by the House Select Committee investigating the Capitol riot, multiple people associated with far-right groups like the Oath Keepers and the Proud Boys started communicating with each other on messaging apps and gathering arms and protective gear.
Trump's gap makes Nixon's infamous 18 minutes "look like nothing in comparison," says law professor Laurence Tribe
By Igor Derysh

White House phone logs turned over to House investigators show a mysterious gap in then-President's Donald Trump's calls of nearly eight hours on Jan. 6, 2021, including during the invasion of the Capitol, according to documents obtained by The Washington Post and CBS News. Call logs turned over by the National Archives to the House committee investigating the Capitol riot show no calls placed to or by Trump for seven hours and 37 minutes, between 11:17 am and 6:54 pm, according to the joint report from Robert Costa and Bob Woodward. The gap in the records, which were turned over by the archives earlier this year after Trump failed to block the release, means that investigators have no record of Trump's phone conversations during the Capitol attack itself. Trump supporters overwhelmed police at the Capitol at around 1:30 p.m. that day, and then stormed through the halls of Congress, hunting lawmakers and committing acts of vandalism, until police cleared the Capitol around 6 p.m.
Sarah K. Burris

The Republican Party is drawing criticism after its "research" Twitter account posted a video of President Joe Biden reaffirming that Vladimir Putin has no business being in power. It prompted many to ask if they were posting it as a criticism because the GOP believes Putin should stay in power. It recalls the 2016 decision by the Republican Party to change the platform saying that they will not give weapons to Ukraine in a fight against Russia or rebel forces. Those in the national security committee platform meeting were on the other side of the issue. A Washington Post report at the time cited platform committee member Diana Denma saying that most wanted to see the GOP support greater sanctions against Russia. It took just a few years for the GOP to flip to support Putin's attempt to takeover northeastern Ukraine, claiming the people there wanted to be in Russia.
Susan Rinkunas

Long before he was a menace to airport workers, Texas Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) clerked for federal appeals court judge, Michael Luttig, and developed a strong relationship with him. The New York Times wrote in 2016 that Cruz had described Luttig—a President George H.W. Bush appointee—as “like a father to me.” Luttig is now retired, and he used some of his free time to talk to The Washington Post for its investigation of Cruz’ involvement in efforts to overturn the 2020 election and keep former President Donald Trump in power. The Post reports that the Cruz work directly with Trump to challenge the election and that his efforts are “of interest” to the House of Representatives January 6th Select committee. Here’s a top-level summary of Cruz’s plan:
"Gays are recruiting kids" and "being transgender is contagious" have become mainstream GOP talking points.
By Hayes Brown

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Monday signed what’s become known as the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, thus codifying in state law a prohibition that doesn’t promote the well-being of Florida’s children but instead drags dangerous, homophobic lies back into the mainstream. DeSantis and his fellow Republicans insist that the Parental Rights in Education bill, as it is officially known, is all about protecting children from “age inappropriate” material. That includes an explicit ban on teaching about sexual orientation or gender identity to kids in kindergarten through third grade and a softer ban for older students on materials that are “not age appropriate or developmentally appropriate for students in accordance with state standards.”
The official in charge of Covid relief tells NBC News' Lester Holt that programs like PPP were structured in ways that were "an invitation" to fraudsters.

WASHINGTON — They bought Lamborghinis, Ferraris and Bentleys. And Teslas, of course. Lots of Teslas. Many who participated in what prosecutors are calling the largest fraud in U.S. history — the theft of hundreds of billions of dollars in taxpayer money intended to help those harmed by the coronavirus pandemic — couldn’t resist purchasing luxury automobiles. Also mansions, private jet flights and swanky vacations. They came into their riches by participating in what experts say is the theft of as much as $80 billion — or about 10 percent — of the $800 billion handed out in a Covid relief plan known as the Paycheck Protection Program, or PPP. That’s on top of the $90 billion to $400 billion believed to have been stolen from the $900 billion Covid unemployment relief program — at least half taken by international fraudsters — as NBC News reported last year. And another $80 billion potentially pilfered from a separate Covid disaster relief program. The prevalence of Covid relief fraud has been known for some time, but the enormous scope and its disturbing implications are only now becoming clear.
By Barbara Starr, Ellie Kaufman and Jeremy Herb, CNN

(CNN) The top US general in Europe said Tuesday there "could be" a gap in US intelligence gathering that caused the US to overestimate Russia's capability and underestimate Ukraine's defensive abilities before Russia attacked Ukraine. When Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine last month, US intelligence assessed that the country-wide assault could lead to Kyiv falling into Russian hands within days. But Russia's military has been bogged down around the capital as the war has entered its second month, beleaguered by sustainability and logistics problems, along with an unexpected stiff resistance from Ukrainian fighters. Testifying at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing Tuesday, US European Command chief Gen. Tod Wolters was asked by Sen. Roger Wicker, a Mississippi Republican, if there was an intelligence gap that caused the US to overestimate Russia's strength and underestimate the Ukrainian defenses.
Tom Boggioni

In an interview with CNN's Kasie Hunt, Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) claimed that NATO allies have indicated to him that they will likely "re-think" their own security situations should Donald Trump be re-elected in 2024. The Utah lawmaker -- one of the few Republicans who voted to impeach the former president over the Jan 6th insurrection -- claimed the NATO alliance could be endangered by Trump's return. "Do you think that the former president, Donald Trump, permanently damaged NATO?" Hunt asked. "I think what happened with NATO is they have said can we rely on the U.S.? And is this America First idea, which is the president saying to everybody, 'hey, go off and do your own thing,' that approach is one that frightens other members of NATO and they wonder are we committed to NATO and our mutual defense, or are we going to go off on our own? And so they wonder."
Brad Reed

Rep. Elaine Luria (D-VA), a member of the House Select Committee investigating the January 6th Capitol riots, on Monday delivered what she described as a "blunt" message for Attorney General Merrick Garland. While voting in favor of holding Trump allies Peter Navarro and Dan Scavino in criminal contempt of Congress, she urged Garland to act to follow through on the committee's recommendation of criminal charges. "The Department of Justice must act swiftly," she said. "I will echo what my colleagues have already said, but more bluntly: Attorney General Garland, do your job so that we can do ours." The DOJ did move to indict Trump ally Steve Bannon for being in criminal contempt of Congress, although it has not yet done so for former Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows, despite the fact that the House of Representatives voted in favor of a criminal contempt citation against him months ago.
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