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But even Democrats acknowledge the issue will give the new GOP-controlled House a fresh line of attack against the White House and may help Trump neutralize or counteract one of the most potent charges against him. And of course, the FBI investigation into classified documents on former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s private email server may have sunk her 2016 presidential campaign. Recent polls show most Americans have little interest in Congress investigating Biden and are more likely to trust him over Trump or the new Congress. “I think House Republicans have tied themselves into knots already,” Petkanas added, noting GOP lawmakers have downplayed Trump’s documents. James Comer said Trump’s documents are not 'a priority.’ So how can they with a straight face say that the Biden documents have legs but Trump’s do not?”

Congress' failure to pass any meaningful immigration reform stretched to more than two decades in the last session, which ended last month. Here's a timeline of Congress' failure on immigration since President Bill Clinton left office. The bill passed the House, and the Senate passed the Comprehensive Reform Act of 2006, which was backed by the Bush White House. 2013 — With President Barack Obama in the White House, a bipartisan group of senators, nicknamed the Gang of 8, negotiated an immigration reform bill that was approved in the Senate. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., speaks about immigration reform legislation on Capitol Hill on April 18, 2013.

The chaos unfolding in the new Republican-controlled House shows that analysis, if it was ever true, certainly doesn’t hold today. Since the new Congress began Tuesday, every time Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., has called a vote to be elected speaker, he has gotten no closer to the gavel. Though there is no shortage of backroom deal-making going on among House Republicans, either, the public nature of the leadership fight means many of the concessions McCarthy is offering have been announced by his opponents. Back in 1995, Newt Gingrich nudged aside longtime House Republican leader Bob Michel of Illinois to become the first Republican speaker of the House in 40 years after President George H.W. That helped oust House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, in 2015 and then his successor, Paul Ryan, R-Wis., once a conservative darling.

☆ A mysterious 'Doe 183' is trying to keep Jeffrey Epstein documents under seal. Could it be Les Wexner?
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-06 | by ( Jacob Shamsian | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +12 min

"In the court's view, there's no reason to redact Doe 183 from the documents." And when Insider asked that lawyer about his work for Doe 183, a representative for Wexner responded, declining to comment. But if Doe 183 wins their fight to keep the documents redacted, their name and the context surrounding it would remain behind those blacked-out lines. While he never identified himself verbally, the transcript's cover sheet identifies him as an attorney representing Doe 183. Of those 21 documents, there are seven docket entries where Doe 183 is the sole Doe mentioned.

☆ Final farewell: From Sidney Poitier to Pope Emeritus Benedict a look back at the influential figures who died in 2022
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-01 | by ( Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +55 min

Other world leaders who died in 2022 include former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, who died in August. The final days of 2022 saw the loss of some exceptionally notable figures, including Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI. Here is a roll call of some influential figures who died in 2022 (cause of death cited for younger people, if available):___JANUARY___Dan Reeves, 77. A Cuban-born artist whose radiant color palette and geometric paintings were overlooked for decades before the art world took notice. A prolific character actor best known for playing villains and tough guys in “The Manchurian Candidate,” “Ocean’s Eleven” and other films.

WASHINGTON — Patrick Leahy was swept into the Senate nearly a half-century ago in the wake of the Watergate scandal and President Richard Nixon’s resignation and pardon. Ron Frehm / APSen. Leahy take photos on the inaugural stand during Barack Obama's presidential inauguration at the Capitol on Jan. 21, 2013. Let’s stay here and vote where we can be seen.”Sen. Leahy, D-Vt., walks to the Senate Chamber on Jan. 6, 2021. Ira Schwarz / APSupreme Court nominee Judge Sonia Sotomayor is sworn in by committee chairman Sen. Leahy, D-Vt., during her confirmation hearing in 2009 in Washington. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., and Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., in the Senate subway.

☆ The ultimate insider's guide to the dramatic downfall of Sam Bankman-Fried, Caroline Ellison, and FTX
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-01 | by ( Sindhu Sundar | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +11 min

Sam Bankman-Fried is facing criminal charges and is expected to enter a plea on Jan. 3. Read Insider's coverage of Bankman-Fried:FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried gets by on 4 hours' sleep and multitasks on 6 screens. Now hit with 7 criminal charges, Ellison has pleaded guilty and expressed contrition before the New York federal court presiding over the criminal cases involving Bankman-Fried. Sam Bankman-Fried is in jail, but legal watchers are wondering: Where's ex-girlfriend Caroline Ellison? Sam Bankman-Fried hit with 8 criminal charges, including fraud and conspiracy for allegedly 'misappropriating' FTX customer fundsThe SEC has charged Sam Bankman-Fried and accused him of 'orchestrating a massive, years-long fraud'The criminal charges against Sam Bankman-Fried carry big penalties and jail time if proven, legal experts sayRead the CFTC complaint against FTX's Sam Bankman-Fried and his associates Caroline Ellison and Gary WangThe charges against Caroline Ellison, SBF, and FTX cofounder Gary Wang — in 60 seconds

☆ Meet a man with $47,000 in student debt who's been trapped in a student-loan repayment 'bureaucracy nightmare' for nearly 3 decades without the debt cancellation he was promised
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-01 | by ( Ayelet Sheffey | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

He was promised loan forgiveness after 25 years, but he's still repaying the debt with nearly a decade to go. "We are literally crushed by this debt," Harmon, 53, told Insider. NPR obtained internal documents indicating that three student-loan companies — PHEAA, CornerStone, and MOHELA — weren't tracking payments borrowers made over the past two decades for their income-driven repayment plans. 'The government is not fulfilling its obligation'US lawmakers are aware of failures with income-driven repayment plans. It found that the department had approved just 157 loans for full forgiveness under income-driven repayment plans, with 7,700 more loans "potentially eligible" for forgiveness.

☆ Pioneering U.S. television journalist Barbara Walters dead at 93
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-31 | by ( Bill Trott | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

[1/2] Television personality Barbara Walters arrives for the premiere of the film "Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps" in New York September 20, 2010. "I asked Yeltsin if he drank too much, and I asked Putin if he killed anybody," Walters told the New York Times in 2013. "These two men were really quite brutal to me and it was not pleasant," Walters told the San Francisco Examiner. The New York Times called her "arguably America's best-known television personality" but also observed that "what we remember most about a Barbara Walters interview is Barbara Walters." Walters' three marriages - to businessman Robert Katz, theatrical producer Lee Guber and television executive Merv Adelson - ended in divorce.

Dec 27 (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday left in place for now a pandemic-era policy allowing U.S. officials to rapidly expel migrants caught at the U.S.-Mexico border. The court said it would hear arguments on whether the states could intervene to defend Title 42 in its February session. Enrique Lucero, director of migration affairs in Tijuana, said it was "absurd" that Title 42 remained in place, noting the city had a large backlog of U.S. asylum seekers. It also failed to weigh the harm asylum seekers would face from Title 42, he said. When a federal appeals court on Dec. 16 declined to allow them to intervene and put Sullivan's order on hold, they took the matter to the Supreme Court.

The Title 42 order was first implemented in March 2020 under Republican former President Donald Trump at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Close to half of those arrested were rapidly expelled under the Title 42 policy. In that case, U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan in Washington, D.C., sided with the migrants on Nov. 15 and ruled Title 42 was unlawful. He said the government also failed to weigh the harm asylum seekers would face from the Title 42 order. When a federal appeals court on Dec. 16 declined to allow them to intervene and put Sullivan's order on hold, they took the matter to the Supreme Court.

☆ Trials, pardons, prison time: How Trump's legal woes could play out and what it means for 2024
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-26 | by ( Sonam Sheth | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +15 min

The warrant also indicated that the Justice Department was investigating whether Trump violated three federal laws, including the Espionage Act, related to the handling of national security information. Here are some possibilities:The investigations conclude with no charges filedIn the US's 250-year history, no ex-commander in chief has ever faced criminal charges. In all, the former president, if convicted, would be facing up to 33 years of incarceration, according to legal experts. That begs the question: If Trump is charged, convicted, and winds up in prison, can he still run for president in 2024? He made headlines during his presidency for wondering why he couldn't have "my guys" at the "Trump Justice Department" do his bidding.

☆ Six battleground states will hold the key to the White House in 2024
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-24 | by ( John L. Dorman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +12 min

AP Photo/Andrew HarnikGeorgia2012 margin: Romney +7.8%2016 margin: Trump +5.1%2020 margin: Biden +0.2%For decades, Republicans could easily depend on the Peach State's electoral votes falling into their column. Two years later, Biden won the state by roughly 12,000 votes over Trump, followed by the dual 2021 runoff victories of Sens. AP Photo/Matt RourkePennsylvania2012 margin: Obama +5.4%2016 margin: Trump +0.7%2020 margin: Biden +1.2%Biden's hometown of Scranton is dear to his heart so Pennsylvania was always going to be a key state for the party in 2024. AP Photo/Andy Manis, FileWisconsin2012 margin: Obama +6.9%2016 margin: Trump +0.8%2020 margin: Biden +0.6%Wisconsin is one of the most politically-divided states in the country. But Trump flipped Wisconsin to the GOP in 2016, the first time it had supported a Republican presidential nominee since 1984.

☆ Democrats fret as Biden tries to bolster re-election case touting legislative wins
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-22 | by ( Peter Nicholas | Https | Media-Cldnry.S-Nbcnews.Com Image Upload Newscms Carol-Lee-Circle-Byline-Template.Jpg | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +8 min

WASHINGTON — As 2022 draws to a close, President Joe Biden plans to give an upbeat national address Thursday afternoon with a unifying message. Biden would be traveling the country touting reduced insulin prices and new road projects, while House Republicans hold hearings into obscure conspiracy theories. The first is Biden runs and loses, perhaps to a younger Republican opponent who eclipses Trump as the new GOP favorite. His top aides have been meeting privately with left-leaning interest groups urging them to go out and showcase Biden’s record. “President Biden became the first president since FDR in 1934 to not lose a single incumbent United States Senate seat” in the midterms, Donilon wrote.

☆ Hunter Biden hires attorney Abbe Lowell to beef up legal team
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-21 | by ( Sarah Fitzpatrick | Sarah Fitzpatrick Is A Senior Investigative Producer | Story Editor For Nbc News. She Previously Worked For Cbs News | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +2 min

Hunter Biden has added a high-powered attorney to his legal team amid an ongoing federal probe and plans by Republicans to make him a key focus of investigations when they take control of the House next month. Abbe Lowell, of the firm Winston and Strawn, will be primarily responsible for coordinating Hunter Biden’s response to anticipated congressional oversight investigations, as well advising on other legal issues and overall strategy, an attorney for Hunter Biden told NBC News on Wednesday. "Hunter Biden has retained Abbe Lowell to help advise him and be part of his legal team to address the challenges he is facing,” the attorney, Kevin Morris, said. "Lowell is a well-known Washington based attorney has represented numerous public officials and high profile people in DOJ investigations and trials as well as Congressional Investigations. Mr. Lowell will handle congressional investigations and general strategic advice."

Known in the legal world as the “death penalty” of child welfare, it can happen in a matter of months. One in 100 U.S. children — disproportionately Black and Native American — experience termination through the child welfare system before they turn 18, the study found. Still, longer timelines can also reflect a stronger focus on family reunification and a willingness to devote greater resources to meet that goal, child welfare experts say. And some child welfare advocates have criticized the law’s focus on narrow initiatives like parenting classes, which they say fail to address poverty and the other root causes of neglect that prompt most child welfare cases. Snodgrass said she never imagined when her child welfare case started that she could lose her rights to her children.

☆ Warnock says voter suppression remains an issue in Georgia even though he won, tells critic Brad Raffensperger 'we can do better'
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-19 | by ( Kimberly Leonard | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Sen. Raphael Warnock told CBS This Morning that voter suppression was still an issue in Georgia. He also addressed a WSJ opinion piece from Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger that called him an "election denier." Raffensperger in his piece was referring to Warnock's victory speech, in which he said voter suppression occurred in the state. Georgia voters reelected Raffensperger in November over a Trump-backed challenger. While voters elected Republicans to other statewide offices in Georgia during the midterms, Democratic voters had strong turnout during early voting.

☆ What could GOP control of the House mean for U.S.-China tensions?
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-18 | by ( Megan Lebowitz | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +10 min

McCarthy also says he plans to create a House select committee on China, the first since the late 1990s. House Republicans will also investigate the origins of the coronavirus and “the CCP’s role in the spread,” the blog post said, although it is unclear whether that investigation would be part of the select committee. Tensions were further inflamed in August by Pelosi’s Taiwan visit, the first by a sitting U.S. House speaker since 1997. The most volatile issue in U.S.-China relations is the status of Taiwan, which Beijing has not ruled out seizing by force. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi speaks with Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen in Taipei, Taiwan on Aug. 3, 2022.

Joe Biden beat Donald Trump once, and Democrats are crafting a strategy to try to beat him again in 2024 — even if his name isn’t on the ballot. But Democrats interviewed about the emerging 2024 strategy said they plan to make sure this particular comment isn’t soon forgotten. (Trump issued another statement on his Truth Social platform insisting he hadn’t said he wanted to “terminate” the Constitution.) A Trump ally, former Republican House Speaker Newt Gingrich, said he doesn’t believe Trump will suffer a backlash over his comment about the Constitution. Trump’s comment “is very serious,” said longtime Biden confidant Ted Kaufman, a former U.S. senator from Delaware.

☆ 10 years after Sandy Hook, Biden says Americans should have 'societal guilt' for gun violence
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-14 | by ( Https | Media-Cldnry.S-Nbcnews.Com Image Upload Newscms Rebecca-Shabad-Circle-Byline-Template.Jpg | Rebecca Shabad | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +2 min

WASHINGTON — Marking a decade since the Sandy Hook school shooting, President Joe Biden said Wednesday the U.S. must do more to tackle the nation's gun violence epidemic and that people should have "societal guilt" for taking too long to address it. "I am determined to ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines like those used at Sandy Hook and countless other mass shootings in America." He reiterated his call on Congress to pass a ban after the mass shooting last month at an LGBTQ nightclub in Colorado Springs. Biden was vice president when the Sandy Hook shooting occurred, and then-President Barack Obama tasked Biden with leading the effort to reduce gun violence. Before this year, the closest Congress had come to passing significant legislation to address gun violence was in the months after the Sandy Hook massacre.

Bankman-Fried and unnamed co-conspirators made "tens of millions of dollars in illegal campaign contributions" to both Democratic and Republican candidates and campaign committees, Damian Williams, the U.S. attorney for Southern New York, said at a news conference unveiling the eight-count criminal indictment, which included a campaign finance violation charge. "And all of this dirty money," Williams said, was used to "buy bipartisan influence and impact the direction of public policy in Washington." FTX boss Sam Bankman-Fried is escorted by police officers as he leaves court in Nassau, Bahamas on Dec. 13, 2022. The indictment alleges he also made illegal contributions through a corporation, which it does not name. Once believed to be a financial wunderkind, Bankman-Fried also faces a host of other charges.

☆ Trump faces yet another reckoning in Georgia
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-06 | by ( Stephen Collinson | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

CNN —Donald Trump is 0-for-an awful lot in Georgia since 2016. The Georgia Senate runoff represents Trump’s final opportunity to recast a painful midterm season in which his election-denying candidates flopped in swing states, casting a shadow over his nascent 2024 presidential bid. Georgia is the epicenter of American politicsThe Senate runoff in Georgia caps an extraordinary two years in which the state has emerged, somewhat unexpectedly, as the most competitive battleground in the nation. In a call on January 2, 2021, Trump asked Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to “find” sufficient votes to overturn Biden’s victory. On the eve of the Senate runoffs in January 2021, Trump returned to Georgia to campaign for then-Sens.

☆ Live Results: Democrat Raphael Warnock and Republican Herschel Walker face off in the Georgia Senate runoff
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-06 | by ( John L. Dorman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Raphael Warnock and Herschel Walker are fighting to the finish in Georgia's Senate runoff. Warnock is seeking a full 6-year term, while Walker hopes to knock off the incumbent Democrat. Both parties see the Senate runoff as a proving ground in advance of the 2024 presidential election. Before Warnock and Ossoff won their races last year, a Democrat hadn't won a US Senate seat in Georgia since Zell Miller in 2000. Walker has raised $58.3 million, spent $48.5 million, and has $9.8 million left to spend, as of November 16.

☆ Gladys Knight, George Clooney, Amy Grant feted at Kennedy Center Honors
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-05 | by ( The Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +6 min

WASHINGTON — A heartfelt Patti LaBelle praised her lifelong friend Gladys Knight. Matt Damon playfully teased his friend George Clooney — a lot — while Sheryl Crow gave thanks and a heartfelt rendition of “Baby Baby” to her fellow singer Amy Grant during Sunday’s Kennedy Center Honors. Every year the Kennedy Center honors a select group of people for their artistic influences on American culture. 2022 Kennedy Center Honorees, front row from left, Amy Grant, Gladys Knight, George Clooney, Tania León, join, back row from left, Adam Clayton, Larry Mullen Jr., The Edge, and Bono for a group photo at the State Department following the Kennedy Center Honors gala dinner, Saturday, Dec. 3, 2022, in Washington. León said during an interview when the honorees were announced that she wasn’t expecting “anything spectacular” when the Kennedy Center initially reached out to her.

When I first started investigating China’s top spy agency in 2020 for my book, “Spies and Lies: How China’s Greatest Covert Operations Fooled the World,” I thought espionage was its main game. In October, the Justice Department charged 13 people with plotting to covertly advance China’s interests in the United States. Several of those charged are allegedly officers of China’s Ministry of State Security. I soon realized that the Ministry of State Security’s covert influence operations have been at the forefront of its work to shape the world. Many countries, including the United States, are working to combat espionage but lack laws suited to tackling covert influence operations.

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