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☆ Mike Pence must testify before grand jury investigating Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election, judge rules
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-28 | by ( Oma Seddiq | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

A federal judge ruled that Pence must provide testimony in the federal investigation into January 6. A federal grand jury is investigating Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election and his role in January 6. Trump had similarly invoked executive privilege, but a federal judge dismissed his claims. Smith had subpoenaed Pence for testimony and documents related to the probe in February. As vice president, Pence played a mostly ceremonial role overseeing the certification of the 2020 election results as Congress met on January 6.

☆ US lawmakers make new push to bar convicted violent passengers from flights
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-27 | by ( David Shepardson | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

WASHINGTON, March 27 (Reuters) - A bipartisan group of lawmakers on Wednesday will make a new push for legislation to bar passengers fined or convicted of serious physical violence from commercial flights after a series of recent high-profile incidents. Last year, the American Civil Liberties Union opposed creating a no-fly list for unruly passengers, saying the U.S. government "has a terrible record of treating people fairly with regard to the existing no-fly list and other watch lists that are aimed at alleged terrorists." Despite the end of the airplane mask mandate in April 2022, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) investigated 831 unruly passenger incidents in 2022, up from 146 in 2019, but down from 1,099 in 2021, the lawmakers noted. The FAA received 2,456 unruly passenger reports in 2022 and proposed $8.4 million in fines, down from 5,981 reports in 2021, which included 4,290 mask-related incidents. In February 2022, Delta Air Lines (DAL.N) CEO Ed Bastian urged the U.S. government to place passengers convicted of on-board disruptions on a national no-fly list that would bar them from future travel on any commercial airline.

☆ Ex-Trump lawyer appears before grand jury as U.S. probes swirl
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-24 | by ( Sarah N. Lynch | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

Corcoran and his attorney Michael Levy entered the federal courthouse in Washington and went to the third floor, where the grand jury typically meets. Attorneys for Trump did not respond to a request for comment on the court order compelling Meadows and other former aides to testify. At that June meeting, the lawyers handed over a single envelope containing 38 documents with classified markings. Corcoran is one of multiple Trump attorneys who have been summoned to appear before the grand jury. Tim Parlatore, another attorney, voluntarily testified before the same grand jury in December to explain the steps Trump's legal team took to comply with the May 2022 subpoena.

☆ Trump's ex-chief of staff Mark Meadows and other top aides must provide more testimony for January 6 investigation, judge rules
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-24 | by ( Oma Seddiq | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Mark Meadows and other Trump aides were ordered to offer more testimony to a grand jury investigating January 6. A federal judge dismissed Trump's claims of executive privilege in a sealed order last week. Some of them had appeared before the grand jury but declined to answer certain questions about their interactions with Trump, ABC reported. His legal team is expected to appeal Howell's order compelling his aides' testimony, according to ABC. Corcoran was previously ordered to provide more testimony for the investigation after a federal judge rejected his claims of attorney-client privilege.

REUTERS/Marco BelloMarch 23 (Reuters) - An attorney for former U.S. President Donald Trump voluntarily testified before a Washington, D.C., federal grand jury in December 2022 on efforts to find any remaining classified documents at Trump's properties, the lawyer said on Thursday. Attorney Tim Parlatore testified as part of a federal criminal investigation into classified documents retained at Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort. He also alleged he witnessed prosecutorial misconduct as he appeared before the grand jury. A spokesperson for special counsel Jack Smith, who is overseeing the classified documents investigation, did not immediately return a request for comment. FBI agents seized thousands of government records, some marked as highly classified, from Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort during a court-approved search on Aug. 8.

☆ Trump claims Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg is backed by George Soros. Here's why that attack is an antisemitic trope.
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-23 | by ( Haven Orecchio-Egresitz | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Trump said Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg is backed by the billionaire philanthropist George Soros. To be clear, there is no evidence that George Soros has donated to Bragg. "George Soros and Alvin Bragg have never met in person or spoken by telephone, email, Zoom etc.," Vachon told Insider via email. Neither George Soros nor Democracy PAC contributed to Alvin Bragg's campaign for Manhattan District Attorney." To the far right, Soros represents a member of that cabal, said Lorber, an analyst at Political Research Associates.

A case would be a historic first as no current or former U.S. president has ever been criminally charged. Officials are meeting at New York Police Department headquarters to plan for the indictment, according to an unnamed person involved in the planning, Politico reported. "We’ll be discussing how we bring Trump in," the person involved in the planning was quoted as saying. Trump has denied the affair happened and called the investigation by Bragg, a Democrat, a witch hunt. The New York probe is one of several legal inquiries Trump faces.

Trump did not say he had been formally notified of forthcoming charges and provided no evidence of leaks from the district attorney's office. A Trump spokesperson said in a statement to reporters that, “There has been no notification," beyond leaks to the media. Bragg's office earlier this month invited Trump to testify before the grand jury probing the payment, which legal experts said was a sign that an indictment was close. Cohen, who served time in prison after pleading guilty, testified before the grand jury this week. Grand jury proceedings are not public.

☆ Democratic lawmakers urge US to probe Goldman's role in SVB collapse
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-17 | by ( Kanishka Singh | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

"(We) wish to raise our concerns over the role of Goldman Sachs Group in advising SVB and in the purchase of its bond portfolio," the letter said. Californian regulators shuttered Silicon Valley Bank last Friday and appointed FDIC as receiver. U.S. prosecutors are investigating the SVB collapse, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters this week. Goldman Sachs did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the letter by lawmakers. Financial stocks have lost over billions of dollars in value since Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank (SBNY.O) collapsed last week.

☆ After SVB's collapse, Biden calls on Congress to hold bank executives accountable for failures: 'No one is above the law'
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-17 | by ( Juliana Kaplan | Ayelet Sheffey | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

After the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, President Joe Biden wants harsher penalties for executives at failed banks. On Friday, Biden released a statement calling on Congress to "impose tougher penalties for senior bank executives whose mismanagement contributed to their institutions failing." The banking industry has fallen under intense scrutiny over the past week after federal regulators shut down Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) and crypto-friendly Signature Bank. Lawmakers — and now the president — want bank executives to be held accountable for actions that jeopardize taxpayer dollars. Warren, along with Sen. Richard Blumenthal, have also stressed the importance of holding bank executives accountable for failures.

The chief judge has sole discretion over sealed federal grand jury proceedings. As chief judge, Boasberg is poised to rule on certain legal arguments raised in the grand jury probes, including efforts to restrict witnesses from testifying. Grand jury proceedings are kept from public view. Another special counsel, Robert Hur, was named by Garland in January to look into classified records found at Biden's home in Delaware and former office in Washington. During her tenure as chief judge, Howell regularly heard legal arguments in special counsel investigations.

☆ Top Senate Democrats press DOJ, SEC to investigate whether Silicon Valley Bank executives broke any laws
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-15 | by ( Chelsey Cox | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

California bank regulators shuttered SVB on Friday and the FDIC set up an intermediary bank to take over the bank's insured deposits. By Sunday, New York state bank regulators and the FDIC did the same to Signature Bank, which was a major source of lending for the cryptocurrency industry. The letter came on the heels of a joint announcement by the Justice Department and the SEC about the pending investigation into the SVB failure. Bank officials also lobbied Congress for exemptions to federal oversight regulations. "I am not prejudging this matter, and am not in position to do so," the lawmakers wrote to Gensler and Garland.

☆ Regulators need to report SVB executives' potential 'outrageous and indefensible' behavior to Congress to avoid mistakes made after the 2008 financial crisis, 2 top Democrats say
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-15 | by ( Juliana Kaplan | Ayelet Sheffey | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Elizabeth Warren and Richard Blumenthal are calling on the SEC and DOJ to look into the collapse. "The nation's bank regulators cannot make the same mistake twice," they continued. Warren and Blumenthal wrote in their letter that "SVB officials showed a pattern of risky and questionable decision making" that may have contributed to the bank's collapse. They also noted the lack of stress tests that would have helped regulators determine whether the bank could respond to rising interest rates. But Warren has been persistent in her message, already introducing legislation alongside Rep. Katie Porter to roll back the 2018 changes.

☆ US Senators Menendez, Warren urge regulators to support new gun sale code
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-15 | by ( Ross Kerber | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Senators Bob Menendez and Elizabeth Warren on Wednesday called on federal regulators to issue guidance to speed the adoption of a new merchant category code (MCC) by payment networks to identify firearms sellers. The Republicans say the codes could be used to improperly track gun purchases. The letter noted reports that mass shooters had used credit or debit cards to buy the guns and ammunition they used. There are more than 40,000 U.S. gun deaths per year, and regulations around guns are again emerging as a major political issue. On Tuesday, U.S. President Joe Biden issued an executive order that reinforced background checks for gun buyers.

Companies Rite Aid Corp FollowWASHINGTON, March 13 (Reuters) - The U.S. government on Monday sued Rite Aid Corp (RAD.N), accusing the pharmacy chain of missing red flags as it illegally filled hundreds of thousands of prescriptions for controlled substances, including opioids. Rite Aid pharmacists were accused of filling prescriptions for controlled substances despite clear signs it was wrong. The Justice Department also said Rite Aid intentionally deleted some pharmacists' internal warnings about suspicious prescribers, such as "cash only pill mill??? Rite Aid is one of the country's largest pharmacy chains, with more than 2,330 stores in 17 U.S. states. The case is U.S. ex rel White et al v Rite Aid Corp et al, U.S. District Court, Northern District of Ohio, No.

☆ Hate crimes in US surged 11.6% in 2021, fueled by race, ethnic bias
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-13 | by ( Sarah N. Lynch | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

WASHINGTON, March 13 (Reuters) - Hate crimes in the United States surged 11.6% in 2021 from 2020, with the most frequent ones fueled by racial, ethnic and ancestral bias, the FBI said on Monday. The FBI in a new report said reported hate crime incidents rose to 9,065 in 2021 from 8,120 in 2020. Attorney General Merrick Garland has made enforcement against hate crimes a top priority for the Justice Department. "Hate crimes and the devastation they cause communities have no place in this country. Officials said the top five hate crime categories reported for 2021 were anti-Black, anti-white, anti-gay male, anti-Jewish and anti-Asian.

☆ New York bike path attacker spared death penalty after jury deadlocks
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-13 | by ( Luc Cohen | Thomson Reuters | Reports On The New York Federal Courts. Previously Worked As A Correspondent In Venezuela | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

REUTERS/Jane RosenbergNEW YORK, March 13 (Reuters) - Sayfullo Saipov, the man convicted of killing eight people in an attack on a Manhattan bike path in 2017, was spared the death penalty on Monday after a federal jury deadlocked on whether he should be executed. Saipov's case is the first federal death penalty trial since President Joe Biden, a Democrat, took office in 2021 after pledging during his campaign to abolish capital punishment. Jurors agreed that other aggravating factors weighed in favor of the death penalty, including that Saipov planned his attack in advance and carried it out to support Islamic State. Patton said in his closing argument that the death penalty was "not necessary to do justice." Prosecutors sought the death penalty despite U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland's July 2021 moratorium on federal executions so the Department of Justice could review its use of the punishment.

☆ Ron Klain credits Rep. Jim Clyburn for pushing Biden to put the first Black woman on the Supreme Court
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-09 | by ( Nicole Gaudiano | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Ron Klain gave credit to Rep. Jim Clyburn for the appointment of Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court. Clyburn urged Biden in 2020 to promise voters he would put the first Black woman justice on the court. That promise was important to Clyburn, whose endorsement played a big role in Biden becoming president. But he defended Jackson during confirmation battles, urged "strong bipartisan support" for her, and said she "will make an extraordinary Supreme Court Justice" when she was sworn in. She was a finalist when President Barack Obama selected now-Attorney General Merrick Garland for a Supreme Court nomination, he said.

☆ Supreme Court requests $12 million more for justices' security after threats in the wake of abortion ruling
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-09 | by ( Oma Seddiq | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The Supreme Court requested millions more from Congress in security funding. "On-going threat assessments show evolving risks that require continuous protection," the budget request read. "Additional funding would provide for contract positions, eventually transitioning to full-time employees, that will augment capabilities of the Supreme Court police force and allow it to accomplish its protective mission." It's the court's first budget request following heightened concerns about the justices' safety. Additional fencing had also been erected outside of the Supreme Court building, though was later taken down as protests dwindled near the end of August.

☆ Fact Check-Claim DOJ launched investigation into anti-Biden chant stems from satire website
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-08 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

The U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland has not launched a Department of Justice (DOJ) investigation into people who chant a slogan insulting U.S. President Joe Biden. The claim stems from a satirical website, although some social media users have taken the headline seriously. Reuters did not find any reports from credible media outlets indicating that the DOJ had launched any such investigation (archive.is/wip/PUgiw). The DOJ has not launched an investigation into people who chant an anti-Biden slogan. The claim stems from a satirical website.

Companies Us Justice Department FollowWASHINGTON, March 8 (Reuters) - The Louisville, Kentucky, police force routinely discriminates against Black residents, uses excessive force and conducts illegal searches, the U.S. Justice Department said on Wednesday, following a probe prompted by Breonna Taylor's death in 2020. Some Louisville police officers even filmed themselves insulting people with disabilities and describing Black people as "monkeys," the Justice Department said. Louisville Mayor Craig Greenburg told reporters the Justice Department's report brought back "painful memories" and vowed to implement reforms. Under Garland's leadership, the Justice Department has sought to reinvigorate its civil rights enforcement program, an area civil rights advocates say was left in tatters by the former administration of former U.S. President Donald Trump. The Justice department has since restored their use, and launched multiple civil rights investigations into police departments, local jails and prisons across the country.

Companies Us Justice Department FollowWASHINGTON, March 8 (Reuters) - The Louisville, Kentucky police department whose officers fatally shot Breonna Taylor in 2020 routinely discriminates against Black residents, uses excessive force and conducts illegal searches, the U.S. Justice Department said on Wednesday. At a news conference, Garland said the department had reached a "consent decree" with the Louisville police, which will require the use of an independent monitor to oversee policing reforms. Garland said some Louisville police officers had demonstrated disrespect to the people they are sworn to protect, with some insulting people with disabilities and describing Black people as "monkeys." Taylor, a 26-year-old emergency medical technician, was asleep in bed with her boyfriend on March 13, 2020, when Louisville police executing a no-knock warrant burst into her apartment. In 2022, former Louisville detective Kelly Goodlett pleaded guilty to federal criminal charges that she helped falsify the search warrant that led to Taylor's death.

☆ Justice sues to block JetBlue purchase of Spirit Airlines
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-07 | by ( Chris Isidore | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

The Justice Department is suing to prevent that from happening,” said Garland. “Companies in every industry should understand by now that this Justice Department will not hesitate to enforce antitrust laws and protect American consumers.”But over the last 22 years, the Justice Department has allowed a series of five airline mergers without a suit like the one announced Tuesday. “The combination of JetBlue and Spirit plus the rapid growth of ultra low cost carriers will assure increased competition and low fares,” said a statement from JetBlue. But it has been fighting a separate lawsuit from the Justice Department challenging an alliance it has with American Airlines for nearly 18 months. The Justice Department filed this case in federal court in Boston.

☆ Ukraine, Neighbors Sign Pact on Prosecuting the Crime of Aggression
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-05 | by ( Ian Lovett | Oksana Grytsenko | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

International prosecutors including U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland, third from left center, met to discuss the international response to aggression against Ukraine. LVIV, Ukraine—Representatives from seven countries agreed Saturday to establish an international center for prosecuting the crime of aggression, which they hope will be a first step toward going after the top Russian officials responsible for invading Ukraine. At a summit in Lviv that brought together leaders from across the Western world, officials from Ukraine, the Baltic states, Poland, Romania and Slovakia signed the agreement to create the new center in The Hague.

☆ US attorney general makes unannounced trip to Ukraine, US official says
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-03 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

[1/2] U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland testifies during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on “Oversight of the Department of Justice,” on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., U.S., March 1, 2023. REUTERS/Sarah SilbigerWASHINGTON, March 3 (Reuters) - U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland made an unannounced visit to Lviv, Ukraine, on Friday at the invitation of the Ukrainian prosecutor general, a Justice Department official said. "The attorney general held several meetings and reaffirmed our determination to hold Russia accountable for crimes committed in its unjust and unprovoked invasion against its sovereign neighbor," the official said. Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch; writing by Rami Ayyub; editing by Tim AhmannOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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