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Showing posts from February, 2024

Biden Touts Crime Record as Laken Riley Case Dominates Conservative Media

P resident Biden pushed back Wednesday against Republican claims of a country gripped by a surge in violent crime, pointing to stats that show a decrease in crime since he took office, and claiming his policies have helped to reduce the rates of murder and other crimes that rose during the pandemic. In 2023, rates for murder, battery, assault, burglary, property crime and theft “all dropped sharply,” Biden said, speaking to police chiefs and administration officials gathered in the White House State Dining room for a meeting about crime reduction. “That matters, as President, public safety and crime reduction is a top priority,” Biden said. Biden’s remarks come as the killing of nursing student Laken Riley on the University of Georgia campus last week dominates conservative media. A Venezuelan immigrant who had entered the country illegally faces murder and other charges in the case.  The case has become a flashpoint in the immigration debate as the issue rises this month to the top pr

Trump Voices Strong Support for IVF and Urges Alabama Lawmakers to Safeguard Access

COLUMBIA, S.C. — Former President Donald Trump said Friday that he would “strongly support the availability of IVF" and called on lawmakers in Alabama to preserve access to the procedure. It was his first comments after an Alabama Supreme Court ruling that led some providers to suspend in vitro fertilization treatments and has divided many Republicans nationally over the issue. Trump, in a post on his Truth Social network, said: “Under my leadership, the Republican Party will always support the creation of strong, thriving, Health y American families. We want to make it easier for mothers and fathers to have babies, not harder!” Read More: As Her Clinic Pauses IVF, an Alabama Doctor on What’s Next After the Court’s Embryo Ruling The comments come after a ruling by the all-Republican Alabama Supreme Court that frozen embryos can be considered children under state law. Since then, several clinics in the state have announced pauses on IVF services. As president, Trump nominated thre

The ‘Serious National Security Threat’ Upending Washington: A Russian Space Nuke

R ussia is reportedly planning to put a nuclear weapon in space, according to multiple news outlets Thursday, revealing what the cryptic “serious national security threat” the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee warned about in a statement on Wednesday was in reference to.  Rep. Mike Turner, an Ohio Republican who heads the panel, publicly requested President Joe Biden declassify information about the threat, offering no additional details but writing in a letter to congressional colleagues that the urgent matter is “with regard to a destabilizing foreign Military capability.” By Wednesday afternoon, House members were seen shuffling into a secure meeting space in the basement of the Capitol to review the classified information, while Biden Administration national security adviser Jake Sullivan, said at a White House press briefing that he was “a bit surprised” by Turner’s statement, noting that he had already reached out to top leaders from the House and Senate—known as the

In Fiery Testimony, Willis Hits Back at Misconduct Claims That Threaten Trump Case

(ATLANTA) — Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis took the witness stand Thursday and forcefully pushed back against what she described as “lies” about her romantic relationship with a special prosecutor during an extraordinary hearing over mis conduct allegations that threaten to upend one of four criminal cases against Donald Trump. A visibly upset Willis, who originally fought to stay off the witness stand, agreed to testify after a previous witness said her relationship with special prosecutor Nathan Wade began earlier than they had claimed. The district attorney's testimony grew heated under questioning from a defense attorney who's trying to remove Willis from Trump's 2020 election interference case, with the prosecutor at one point raising papers in front of her and shouting: “It's a lie!” Read More: Salacious Willis Hearing Gives Trump the Ammunition He Seeks “Do you think I’m on trial? These people are on trial for trying to steal an election in 2020. I

How Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Became One of Joe Biden’s Most Valuable Boosters

This article is part of The D.C. Brief, TIME’s Politics newsletter. Sign up here to get stories like this sent to your inbox. When Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez erupted on the national stage back in 2018 in a stunner of a Democratic primary, a lot of Establishment Washington braced for the arrival of a Tea Party-style troublemaker from the Left. Six years later, that assessment wasn’t so much wrong as undercooked. While the former bartender remains a key ally to the Left, AOC’s main job in 2024 may be President Joe Biden’s most valuable pinch-hitter. As mainstream Democrats were tearing their hair out over new questions about the President’s mental acuity, there was Ocasio-Cortez on Tuesday not only reaffirming her backing of Biden, but not-so-subtly slapping down those in her wing of the party screaming for him to step aside. “I know who I'm going to choose. It's going to be one of the most successful Presidents in modern American History ,” she told CNN. The boosterism comes day

Trump Ordered to Pay $364 Million Penalty for Duping Banks and Others By Inflating Wealth

NEW YORK (AP) — A New York judge ruled Friday against Donald Trump, imposing a $364 million penalty over what the judge ruled was a yearslong scheme to dupe banks and others with financial statements that i NFL ated the former president’s wealth. Trump also was barred from serving as an officer or director of any New York corporation for three years. However, the judge backed away from an earlier ruling that would have dissolved the former president’s companies. Trump's lawyers vowed to appeal. Attorney Alina Habba called the verdict “manifest injustice" and “the culmination of a multi-year, politically fueled witch hunt." She and Trump lawyer Christopher Kise said the verdict, if upheld, would damage the business environment. Judge Arthur Engoron issued his decision after a 2½-month trial that saw the Republican presidential front-runner bristling under oath that he was the victim of a rigged legal system. Engoron concluded that Trump and his co-defendants “failed to acc

Alabama Supreme Court Rules Frozen Embryos Are ‘Children’ Under State Law

MONTGOMERY, Ala. — The Alabama Supreme Court has ruled that frozen embryos created during fertility treatments can be considered children under state law. The decision, issued in a pair of wrongful death cases brought by couples who had frozen embryos destroyed in an accident at a fertility clinic, brought a rush of warnings from advocates who said it would have sweeping implications for fertility treatments. Justices, citing anti-abortion language in the Alabama Constitution, ruled Friday that an 1872 state law allowing parents to sue over the death of a minor child “applies to all unborn children, regardless of their location.” Read More: Column: What Nine Months Means to a Pregnant Person “Unborn children are ‘children’ under the Act, without exception based on developmental stage, physical location, or any other ancillary characteristics,” Justice Jay Mitchell wrote in the majority ruling. Mitchell said the court had previously ruled that fetuses killed while a woman is pregnant a

Bennie Thompson’s Plan to Make Sure Voters Remember Jan. 6

W hen Rep. Bennie Thompson goes home to Mississippi on weekends, he tries to get time in the woods for a hunt. A lot of his hunting partners and neighbors are conservatives, yet Thompson, the state's only Democrat in Washington, knows how to find common ground. More recently, he says, his 18-month stint as head of the Jan. 6 Committee has offered a point of connection. He often hears how much they appreciate the decorum he brought in his role running the committee’s highly watched hearings about Donald Trump’s effort to overturn the 2020 election. “The other thing I hear is, people say, ‘I really didn’t know how close we came to losing everything’,” says Thompson. While the House January 6 Select Committee disbanded over a year ago, Thompson says his work around it is continuing into this year’s elections. He intends to Travel the country between now and Election Day campaigning for Joe Biden and reminding voters about the violence at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and how his commi

How Putin Co-Opted the Republican Party

This article is part of The D.C. Brief, TIME’s Politics newsletter. Sign up here to get stories like this sent to your inbox. In the mythologies of the modern conservative movement, no figure stands taller than Ronald Reagan. But his shadow is shrinking faster than a lot of Republicans realize. Reagan was the voice that placed Barry Goldwater’s name forward for the presidential nomination in 1964. He inaugurated what was then known as the Conservative Political Action Conference—which is now known as CPAC and starts today—with a landmark speech in 1974 that employed the “city on a hill” rhetoric that would pepper so many of his remarks over the next 15 years. Once he was in the White House, Reagan was perhaps the most effective American Cold Warrior, helping guide almost a half century of antipathy between democratic Washington and communist Moscow to an end. Reagan’s agenda benefited from a sincere friendship with his Soviet counterpart, Mikhail Gorbachev, whom he ordered in Berlin

‘There’s No Question This Is Dead’: Biden Impeachment Inquiry Falls Apart

H ouse Republicans reached a critical point this week in their bid to impeach Joe Biden: a closed-door interview with the President’s younger brother James. But the coveted testimony was dramatically overshadowed by another development: The Justice Department indicting one of the impeachment inquiry’s lead informants for lying to the FBI about the Biden family with dirt from Russian intelligence. The revelation was the latest in a series of embarrassing setbacks for the House GOP’s impeachment effort. In July, one of its whistleblowers was arrested for acting as a Chinese agent. In August, Hunter Biden’s longtime associate Devon Archer—who House Oversight Chair James Comer said could become a “hero” of the probe—testified that President Biden had no involvement in his son’s Business dealings. At the inquiry’s first public hearing in September, Comer’s star witness, conservative lawyer Jonathan Turley, said there wasn’t enough evidence to impeach Biden. And on Tuesday, federal prosecut

Nikki Haley Vows to Stay in Presidential Race: ‘I Refuse to Quit’

W ith just four days until the South Carolina primary, Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley on Tuesday pushed back against those calling on her to suspend her campaign and pledged to stay in the race regardless of the outcome in her home state. "South Carolina will vote on Saturday, but on Sunday I'll still be running for President," Haley said during a campaign speech in Greenville, S.C. "I'm not going anywhere." "Dropping out would be the easy route," she added. "I'm not taking the easy route." Haley's remarks come as polls show her trailing former President Donald Trump by a large margin in South Carolina, adding pressure to her campaign after key losses in Iowa and New Hampshire. A USA Today/Suffolk University poll released Tuesday showed Haley trailing Trump in the state by 28 points, while a Winthrop University survey showed her trailing by 36 points. In her speech, Haley, the former South Carolina governor and U.N.

Jim Clyburn Left House Leadership to Step Up Role in Biden Campaign

R ep. Jim Clyburn stepped down Wednesday from his position in House leadership in part to spend more time working on Biden’s reelection campaign, according to two people familiar with his decision. The 83-year-old Democratic icon announced on Wednesday that he had informed House Speaker Hakeem Jeffries that he was stepping down from his position as Assistant Democratic Leader of the House Democratic Caucus, but that he would still run for re-election in his South Carolina House district. Clyburn, who remains a political force in his home state, was instrumental in helping Biden secure the Democratic nomination in South Carolina four years ago. While he had already been working as a Biden surrogate, Clyburn is expected to play a more active role in the President's reelection campaign, as a voice with deep experience understanding Biden’s coalition and how to reach Black voters, said the person familiar with the decision. Clyburn is also likely to Travel to key states to talk to vot

Trump’s First Criminal Trial Set to Begin on March 25 in New York

A New York judge has cleared the way for Donald Trump to stand trial in late March for allegations he violated election laws by covering up hush money payments to improve his chances in the 2016 election. Judge Juan Merchan set jury selection to start on March 25, setting up the first criminal trial of a former President in U.S. History and another moment in which Trump will test the limits of the American judicial system. If convicted, Trump could face up to four years in prison. Merchan rejected motions from Trump's defense team that the case should be thrown out for allegedly being politically motivated and based on faulty legal grounds. The judge also rebuffed efforts by Trump's team to delay the proceedings because of the workload demands of other criminal charges Trump faces and Trump's campaign schedule. “We are pleased that the Court denied the defense’s motion to dismiss. We look forward to presenting our case in court,” said Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Brag