US attorney leading Hunter Biden probe is now a special counsel, Garland announces
Attorney General Merrick Garland announced Friday that the Trump-appointed US attorney who is investigating Hunter Biden has been given "special counsel" status.
2023-08-12 00:20
Alabama Senator Tommy Tuberville no longer owns property in the state he represents, report says
Alabama Republican SenatorTommy Tuberville no longer possesses any property in the state he represents, according to a report. The Washington Post reported that the lawmaker has sold the last of his properties in Alabama – Tiger Farms LLC, which sits in Macon and Tallapoosa counties just outside of Auburn – for just over $1m. Property records show that he has owned a $3m home in Santa Rosa Beach, Florida, for around 20 years. He also owns a condo in Washington that he and his wife purchased for $750,000 in 2021. The former Auburn University head coach recently sold one Florida condo for $850,000 and bought another for $825,000, the Post reported. The Independent has reached out to Mr Tuberville’s office for comment. Mr Tuberville’s office maintained to the Post that the senator’s primary residence is a home in Auburn. “Coach has purchased and invested in real estate for decades,” Mr Tuberville’s communications director told the outlet. “Coach has owned the property in Santa Rosa Beach for two decades – he bought it while he was coaching at Auburn. He goes there upon occasion if he has a free weekend. It is within driving distance of Auburn. I’m sure many senators have vacation homes.” The spokesperson said that the senator purchased his current Auburn residence for his son when his son was a student at Auburn. “After his son graduated, he moved out. After Coach retired from coaching, Coach moved into the Auburn house.” Despite this claim, the Tubervilles actually bought the house nine months after his son Tucker graduated from Auburn University in 2016, according to his LinkedIn profile. When Mr Tuberville served as the head coach of University of Cincinnati’s football team from 2013 through 2016, Tucker then worked for his father at the school from May through December 2016 after he graduated. Tuberville’s other son, Troy, did not start at Auburn until 2018 and graduated in 2021. After being presented with these details, Mr Tuberville’s communications director backtracked and told the Post that the house was purchased after Tucker graduated from college: “His son lived at the Auburn house briefly and then Coach moved there afterward.” “The Auburn property is his primary residence — although his job requires him to be in Washington four days a week when the Senate is in session,” the communications director added. Under the US constitution, a senator must live in the state they are elected to serve. “No Person shall be a Senator…who shall not, when elected, be an Inhabitant of that State for which he shall be chosen,” it states. Mr Tuberville isn’t the only member of Congress to face questions around their residency. Arizona Democratic Rep Ruben Gallego was under fire earlier this year after Politico exposed that he claimed both his DC property and his Arizona property as his primary residence. Similarly, Rep Ryan Zinke, the former Trump administration interior secretary, fell under scrutiny when he ran for congress in Montana in 2022 and his wife put her primary residence as California. Read More GOP senator holding up military promotions claims Ukraine ‘can’t win’ in war with Russia Pentagon warns of disruptions as Army, Marines both lack confirmed leaders for first time Manchin, Tuberville introduce college sports bill to standardize NIL rules, regulate collectives Pentagon warns of disruptions as Army, Marines both lack confirmed leaders for first time Who are Trump’s six alleged co-conspirators in the 2020 election probe case? Biden rejects Trump decision to move Space Force from Colorado to Alabama
2023-08-11 23:53
Trump gets a win in 2020 election case protective order battle as judge rules he can share some evidence
Donald Trump notched a win in the fight over a protective order in the 2020 election case as the judge ruled that some of the evidence that will be provided to him in the pre-trial discovery process won’t be restricted from dissemination if it’s not deemed “sensitive” by the government. US District Judge Tanya Chutkan on Friday that the protective order will only apply to sensitive materials such as grand jury transcripts, witness interview records, and other documents that could identify witnesses or be used to poison the pool of potential jurors who will be responsible for deciding the ex-president’s fate when he goes on trial next year. Special Counsel Jack Smith’s office had asked her to impose a more restrictive order which would have applied to any and all materials provided to Mr Trump’s defence team in discovery, while Mr Trump’s attorneys had asked for her to allow the former president leave to talk about non-sensitive materials, citing his ongoing campaign for the Republican nomination in next year’s presidential election. Prosecutors had made the request for a broad protective order with the aim of preventing Mr Trump from poisoning the jury pool ahead of his expected trial next year, citing statements by the ex-president’s legal team which they said indicated a desire to try the case “in the press”. But Judge Chutkan, a former defence attorney and a nine-year veteran of the federal bench who was nominated by then-president Barack Obama and confirmed by a unanimous Senate vote in 2014, rejected the prosecution’s preferred language on the grounds that Mr Trump’s conduct with regard to the non-sensitive discovery is still governed by his release conditions and the rules of the court. More follows...
2023-08-11 23:48
Mike Pence is heckled as a ‘traitor’ by Trump supporter at Iowa State Fair
Supporters of former president Donald Trump heckled former vice president Mike Pence as a “traitor” as he visited the Iowa State Fair in Des Moines on Thursday. A video from Iowa Starting Line showed a fellow fairgoer at the former vice president for not being a true Christian. “Pence is a traitor every day,” she said. “Anybody who says they have a higher power, uses those words, he is not a Christian when you say higher power. We don’t buy it as believers, Pence. You are far from a Christian.” Trump supporters have long loathed Mr Pence - who indeed campaigns heavily on his staunch Christian beliefs - for his refusal to overturn the 2020 presidential election results on January 6. During the riot at the US Capitol, some supporters yelled “Hang Mike Pence.” Last week a grand jury handed down an indictment against Mr Trump for his attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential election results. The indictment detailed how Mr Pence took “contemporaneous notes” in the days between the 2020 election and the January 6 riot. The indictment says that Mr Pence repeatedly told Mr Trump that he did not think he had the authority to overturn the election results. On 1 January 2021, Mr Trump reportedly told Mr Pence he was “too honest.” Mr Pence has since been selling merchandise with the words “too honest” and has repeated that he did not have authority to nullify the election results. But he has struggled in his campaign for the 2024 Republican nomination for president. He consistently polls in the single digits and has not raised as much money as either Mr Trump or Florida Gov Ron DeSantis. Mr Pence said that enough people donated to his campaign from enough states for him to participate in the first Republican debate in Wisconsin later this month, Fox News reported. Read More Trump fumes about Jack Smith’s January 2024 date for Jan 6 trial ahead of hearing on protective order – latest Prosecutors seek Jan. 2 trial date for Donald Trump in his 2020 election conspiracy case
2023-08-11 22:16
National security panel reviewing secretive land buys near key Air Force base
The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States is probing a secretive company that has been buying up land around a key Air Force base in California, sources familiar with the matter and a California lawmaker told CNN.
2023-08-11 20:29
'People were horrified': Inside the battle to flip a New York seat key to House GOP majority
When President Joe Biden came to this must-win US House district in New York just a few months ago, he did something that privately enraged members of his own party.
2023-08-11 18:25
Biden administration to invest $1.2 billion in projects to suck carbon out of the air
The Biden administration will announce on Friday its first major investment to kickstart the US carbon removal industry -- something energy experts say is key to getting the country's planet-warming emissions under control.
2023-08-11 17:26
Ukraine backers want Biden to amp up his pitch for the war effort to the American public
Ukraine backers on Capitol Hill are itching for President Joe Biden to step up his case for why the US should send more money to Ukraine in its fight against Russia, as warning bells sound about the American public's support for Kyiv.
2023-08-11 17:19
Judge Chutkan to hold first hearing Friday in already contentious Trump January 6 criminal case
After a week of bitter court filings, federal prosecutors and Donald Trump's defense lawyers are scheduled to appear in Washington, DC, federal court Friday morning for the first hearing before the judge assigned to oversee the special counsel's election subversion case against the former president.
2023-08-11 17:17
A showdown over Trump's trial date reflects an irreconcilable clash between campaign politics and justice
If special counsel Jack Smith has his way, Donald Trump will be spending his weekdays in January in a Washington, DC, courtroom rather than barnstorming ice-bound Iowa and New Hampshire with his closing arguments before the critical first 2024 nominating contests.
2023-08-11 12:21
Civil rights groups file lawsuit over Tennessee's redistricting maps
Several civil and voting rights groups filed a lawsuit Wednesday against Republican Gov. Bill Lee and other state officials over Tennessee's congressional and state Senate maps, which they allege are discriminatory and violate the constitutional rights of voters of color.
2023-08-11 10:28
Here's who has (and hasn't) qualified for the first Republican presidential debate
Some Republican 2024 contenders are still scrambling to qualify for the party's first presidential debate later this month in Milwaukee.
2023-08-11 09:29