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☆ Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg defiant after House GOP demands answers over a possible Trump indictment: 'We will not be intimidated'
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-21 | by ( Rebecca Cohen | Oma Seddiq | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Alvin Bragg's office responded to House GOP demands that he testify about his investigation of Trump. The DA is investigating Trump's role in a hush-money payment made during his 2016 campaign. The lawmakers, who chair the powerful House judiciary, oversight and administration committees, said a possible indictment of Trump by Bragg would be "an unprecedented abuse of prosecutorial authority." Trump has denied the affair with Daniels and any wrongdoing related to the payment. Legal experts say it's unlikely that Bragg would appear before House lawmakers to testify about the investigation, largely because it remains ongoing.

☆ US House Republicans launch investigation of Manhattan DA in Trump probe
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-20 | by ( David Morgan | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

His fellow Republicans including House Speaker Kevin McCarthy have accused Bragg, a Democrat, of abuse of power and using his office to pursue a political agenda. McCarthy had also said he would direct House committees to determine whether federal funds have been used in the district attorney's probe. The letter was signed by House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer and House Administration Committee Chairman Bryan Steil. "Congress has no jurisdiction to investigate the Manhattan DA, which receives no federal funding nor has any other federal nexus," added Goldman, who was lead counsel in a 2019 House impeachment of Trump. Trump, who is seeking the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, has said he would continue campaigning even if charged with a crime.

☆ House Republicans are rallying to Trump's defense, but they're unlikely to be able to stop a possible indictment
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-20 | by ( Sonam Sheth | Oma Seddiq | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

House Republicans are demanding documents and testimony from Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg. It's the latest major step the GOP-led House has taken to defend Trump as he faces a possible criminal indictment. And without the backing of the Justice Department, it's unclear what consequences, if any, Congress can impose on Bragg's office. Yet while the lawmakers may have made valid criticisms, former Trump White House attorney Ty Cobb said, the letter is "bad form." Monday's letter also comes after House Speaker Kevin McCarthy pledged to subject Bragg's office to congressional investigations in anticipation of a possible Trump indictment.

☆ Republicans to View Hunter Biden’s Financial Records
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-14 | by ( Andrew Duehren | C. Ryan Barber | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

President Biden has long denied playing any role in business deals pursued by his son Hunter Biden. WASHINGTON—House Republicans will review government reports of suspicious financial transactions related to President Biden’s family members, resolving an early rift with the administration as Republicans mount an aggressive inquiry into the president’s son Hunter Biden . Rep. James Comer (R., Ky.), chairman of the House Oversight Committee, and the Treasury Department have for weeks negotiated the timing and terms of lawmakers’ access to the so-called suspicious-activity reports, in which banks flag transactions that bear signs of money laundering or other potential criminal activity. The Treasury Department will make the reports available for an in camera review, meaning the panel can inspect them in person but not retain copies, Mr. Comer said.

☆ 'Shark Tank' star Kevin O'Leary is blaming Silicon Valley Bank's implosion on a 'negligent board of directors' with 'idiot management'
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-14 | by ( Cheryl Teh | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Kevin O'Leary has blamed Silicon Valley Bank's management for the bank's implosion. Silicon Valley Bank collapsed after a bank run, and there are differing opinions on why that happened. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation took control of Silicon Valley Bank on Friday after a catastrophic bank run. There has been mud-slinging in all directions over the factors that may have contributed to Silicon Valley Bank's failure. Representatives for Silicon Valley Bank did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment outside regular business hours.

☆ GOP House Oversight chairman James Comer criticizes Silicon Valley Bank as 'one of the most woke banks'
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-13 | by ( Cheryl Teh | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

James Comer attributed Silicon Valley Bank's failure to its "woke" ESG investments. "This could be a trend and there are consequences for bad Democrat policy," Comer said on Sunday. Silicon Valley Bank's clients started running for the exits after the bank's management sold $21 billion worth of bonds at a $1.8 billion loss. It has become the biggest bank failure in the US since the 2008 financial crisis. Representatives for Comer and Silicon Valley Bank did not immediately respond to Insider's requests for comment sent outside regular business hours.

☆ House GOP adds January 6 investigation to its oversight blitz, vowing to avoid any 'particular political narrative'
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-08 | by ( Warren Rojas | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

House Republicans have launched their first January 6-centric investigation of the 118th Congress. Republican Rep. Barry Loudermilk is spearheading the latest oversight project. Loudermilk said he's interested in "following the facts, not a particular political narrative." Two years after the devastating attack on Congress, Republicans have been swept back into January 6-related news cycles by converging House priorities. House Administration staff did not immediately respond to requests for comment on how many submissions have come in so far.

☆ Investigation-wary CPAC attendees urge House Republicans to avoid getting wrapped up in settling old political scores: 'Today's not the day to go back and cry about it'
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-04 | by ( Warren Rojas | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Insider asked Conservative Political Action Conference attendees about House GOP investigations. House Republicans created a new "weaponization" panel designed to explore their "deep state" conspiracy theories, while other standing committees are jumping all over Trump-era grievances like the southern border to try and orchestrate viral moments. CPAC attendees who told Insider they supported the House GOP's oversight crusade were all over the place in terms of their preferred targets. "I didn't send you to impeach the president," Yadeta said of his frustration, adding that Raskin should have tackled local issues like homelessness and job creation. "I hope we don't just get bogged down with a bunch of investigations where nothing comes out," he told Insider.

☆ Pete Buttigieg's presidential hopes make him an easy target for Republicans — and his slow response in Ohio gave them plenty of ammo
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-01 | by ( Nicole Gaudiano | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg hasn't ruled out running for the White House again. He's in the spotlight and the hot seat far more than most other transportation secretaries before him. The search-engine test shows Buttigieg has become a high-profile target who finds himself in the spotlight far more than most other transportation secretaries before him. However, no transportation secretary has likely entered the job with more star power. After he strode onto the stage of The Late Show last fall, host Stephen Colbert noted that not many transportation secretaries have been guests on late night talk shows.

Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, on Sunday called for "extensive public hearings" if the U.S. intelligence community conclusively determines that Covid-19 leaked from a Chinese laboratory. The committee is "reviewing the classified information provided," the spokesperson said. "There is a variety of views in the intelligence community. Some elements of the intelligence community have reached conclusions on one side, some on the other. "But right now, there is not a definitive answer that has emerged from the intelligence community on this question."

☆ Merrick Garland's stonewalling about multiple investigations is annoying lawmakers on both sides of aisle ahead of his Capitol Hill visit
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-23 | by ( Warren Rojas | Mattathias Schwartz | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle want Merrick Garland to debrief them about DOJ investigations. Garland is scheduled to join the Senate Judiciary Committee on March 1 for a general oversight hearing — his first of the 118th Congress. In early February, both Durbin and his Republican counterparts leading the House Judiciary Committee requested briefings about McGonigal. The Senate letter requested information from Garland and FBI Director Christopher Wray; the House letter was addressed to Wray but not Garland. "Everything is on the table," a staff member from House Judiciary told Insider.

☆ House Republicans request documents on the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-17 | by ( Amanda Macias | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

WASHINGTON — House Republicans on Friday called on the Biden administration to release information about the chaotic U.S. departure from Afghanistan. The departure effectively ended a two-decade conflict that began shortly after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Biden ordered the full withdrawal of approximately 3,000 U.S. troops from Afghanistan in April 2021. At the time, he asked all American servicemembers to leave the war-weary country by Sept. 11 of that year. The U.S. launched its war in Afghanistan in October 2001, weeks after the Sept. 11 attacks.

☆ 12 million student-loan borrowers could benefit from Biden's debt cancellation in the districts of the House Republicans who urged the Supreme Court to strike the relief down
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-17 | by ( Ayelet Sheffey | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

128 House Republicans filed an amicus brief to the Supreme Court opposing student-debt relief. New data found that nearly 12 million borrowers in their districts would benefit from the relief. On Friday, the department unveiled data showing the breakdown of student-loan borrowers who applied, and were deemed eligible, for President Joe Biden's up to $20,000 in debt relief by congressional district. Over the past few weeks, 128 House Republican lawmakers filed an amicus curiae brief to the Supreme Court ahead of oral arguments on February 28 urging it to strike down Biden's debt relief. As the Education Department has previously said, over 40 million borrowers in total would qualify for Biden's debt relief, and of the 26 million borrowers who applied for the relief before the online application closed in October, 16 million of them had been fully approved.

☆ GOP Lawmaker’s Two Jobs: Investigating Bidens, Managing Firebrands
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-12 | by ( Natalie Andrews | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

WASHINGTON—The Republican leading several investigations related to President Biden and his administration faces the dual challenges of keeping the politically charged probes on track while also managing hard-line conservatives eager to put their own stamp on the proceedings. As part of these probes, Rep. James Comer (R., Ky.) is requesting information and planning hearings to dig into whether the president’s son, Hunter Biden , improperly used his family ties to gain wealth or influence. The chairman of the House Oversight and Accountability Committee says the examination is long overdue, after years of Republicans’ demands for scrutiny of the family. Democrats criticize the effort as a politically motivated sideshow.

☆ James Comer’s Two Jobs: Probe Bidens, Manage GOP Firebrands
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-12 | by ( Natalie Andrews | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

☆ Kevin McCarthy is working tirelessly and spending a lot of his political capital to win fights that don't actually matter.
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-12 | by ( John L. Dorman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Kevin McCarthy rallied GOP lawmakers to oust Ilhan Omar from the House Foreign Affairs Committee. But taking Omar off the Foreign Affairs panel took a good deal more effort on his part. The Omar vote was seen as a huge victory for the party, especially coming off McCarthy's protracted 15 rounds of balloting to secure the House speakership. Republicans led a successful effort to remove Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota from the House Foreign Affairs Committee. While Republican leaders were pleased with the outcome, the behind-the-scenes work to push through a successful vote against Omar took up a lot of political oxygen.

☆ Debt talks can include everything but cuts to Social Security and Medicare, Republicans say
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-12 | by ( Katharine Jackson | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

WASHINGTON, Feb 12 (Reuters) - Republicans say they would not cut Social Security and Medicare programs but "everything else is on the table" in talks over raising U.S. government borrowing limits, House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer said on Sunday. But at the end of the day, those programs are going to be off the table with respect to cuts, but everything else is on the table," Comer said in an interview on ABC's "This Week with George Stephanopoulos." But as that deadline looms, Republican lawmakers and President Joe Biden are locked in a disagreement over the path to raising the borrowing limit. Biden says he would not negotiate over raising it, while Republicans say they would not agree to raise it without spending concessions. Reporting by Katharine Jackson; Editing by Chizu NomiyamaOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

WASHINGTON, Feb 9 (Reuters) - U.S. House Republicans on Thursday stepped up their probes of Democratic President Joe Biden's family and what they allege is partisan bias in federal law enforcement, in moves that the White House dismissed as politically motivated attacks. The Republican chairman of the House Oversight and Accountability Committee, James Comer, on Thursday asked Biden's son and brother for documents related to the family's international business dealings. The White House in a memo distributed to allies and seen by Reuters dismissed the hearing as a "political stunt." "Instead of working with President Biden to address the top priorities of the American people - fighting inflation and lowering costs, creating jobs, boosting manufacturing and infrastructure, and protecting and expanding people's health care and rights – this is what House Republicans are focused on," wrote Ian Sims, the White House spokesman on oversight. Reporting by David Morgan and Gram Slattery; Editing by Scott Malone and Cynthia OstermanOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ D.C. Crime Code Overhaul, Noncitizen Voting Spark Clash With Congress
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-09 | by ( Eric Bazail-Eimil | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser had vetoed the crime bill, but the D.C. Council overturned her veto. WASHINGTON—The House passed two bills Thursday that aim to overturn recent changes to the District of Columbia’s criminal code and voter eligibility laws, using a provision in federal law that allows Congress to reject measures passed by the city’s local government. The first resolution, introduced by Rep. James Comer (R., Ky.) and other Republican lawmakers, would block the Local Resident Voting Rights Amendment Act of 2022, which expands voting rights in local elections to residents who aren’t citizens. The bill passed 260-162, with 42 Democrats joining Republicans.

☆ Former Twitter execs tell Republicans they erred on Hunter Biden laptop story
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-08 | by ( David Morgan | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

WASHINGTON, Feb 8 (Reuters) - Former Twitter executives told a Republican-led U.S. House committee on Wednesday that they made a mistake by blocking tweets about a laptop said to belong to President Joe Biden's son Hunter but said government officials were not involved. The committee's witnesses, three former Twitter executives, said in subpoenaed testimony that they mistakenly believed the Post article contained hacked material and reversed their decision to limit its circulation on the social media platform within 24 hours. "America witnessed a coordinated campaign by social media companies, mainstream news and the intelligence community to suppress and de-legitimize the existence of Hunter Biden's laptop and its contents," committee Chairman James Comer said at the outset of the proceedings. Hunter Biden's attorney Abbe Lowell has denied in a statement any connection between his client and what he called the "so-called laptop," including contents that Republicans "allege to be Mr. Biden's personal data." The Twitter executives also said company policy sought to mitigate content that could lead to political violence, such as what later occurred in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol by Trump's supporters.

☆ Republicans held a hearing to prove Twitter’s bias against them. It backfired in spectacular fashion
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-08 | by ( Oliver Darcy | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

Despite no real evidence to support this weighty and consequential claim, Republicans were unrelenting in peddling it to the American public. Republicans showed, once again, that they are married to pushing claims that Silicon Valley is intentionally and unjustly censoring conservative views, even when the facts do not contort with their narrative. Ironically, the hearing appeared to reveal that Twitter had acquiesced to Trump and changed its policies after it concluded that he had violated its rules. And the hearing hinted that the Trump White House attempted to censor the speech of at least one American: Chrissy Teigen. Strangely enough, Republicans showed no interest in drilling down on this allegation of censorship.

☆ Trump's White House asked Twitter to remove Chrissy Teigen's expletive-filled tweet insulting the former president, ex-employee testifies
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-08 | by ( Oma Seddiq | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

An ex-Twitter employee said Trump's White House asked the company to take down a tweet. Navaroli confirmed on Wednesday that Teigen's expletive-filled tweet was what the White House asked to be removed, though Twitter declined the request. Conservatives have long claimed that social media platforms like Twitter are biased against them, censor their speech and favor liberals. Yet the GOP's push to discuss alleged social media bias against conservatives seemingly backfired during Navaroli's testimony about the Trump White House seeking to remove Teigen's tweet. Three of the four former Twitter officials also testified they had no evidence that Biden's White House had ever asked the company to remove content.

☆ Republican-led U.S. House panel probes Twitter block of Hunter Biden story
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-08 | by ( David Morgan | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Even before the proceedings began, the White House denounced the hearing as "a bizarre political stunt" motivated by denial of Biden's 2020 election victory over Republican former President Donald Trump. "America witnessed a coordinated campaign by social media companies, mainstream news, and the intelligence community to suppress and de-legitimize the existence of Hunter Biden's laptop and its contents," Comer said. The former Twitter executives acknowledged that blocking the New York Post tweets was an error and said they reversed the decision within 24 hours. We applied this policy to the New York Post's tweets and blocked links to articles," Gadde said. The social platform has since been purchased by billionaire Elon Musk, who many Republicans view as a champion of free speech.

☆ U.S. lawmakers ask for documents on Russian hackers targeting nuclear labs
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-02 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/3] Russian hacking underground newsletter is seen in this illustration taken, December 19, 2022 REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/IllustrationWASHINGTON, Feb 2 (Reuters) - U.S. lawmakers are calling for the Department of Energy to release documents detailing the targeting of American nuclear laboratories by Russian hackers last year. The Department of Energy - which is responsible for America's nuclear labs - said it had "not found any evidence of information being compromised." Moscow has previously criticized the Reuters report, calling it anti-Russian propaganda. Cold River, the Russian hacking group blamed for the intrusion efforts, has drawn increasing attention amid the conflict in Ukraine. Reporting by Raphael Satter in Washington; Additional reporting by James Pearson in London; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Jonathan OatisOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Elon Musk scheduled meetings with many Republicans but no Democrats on his visit to US Capitol, report says
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-02 | by ( Kate Duffy | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Elon Musk missed Democrats off his meeting agenda when visiting the US Capitol, per Politico. Musk said he met with the Dem House leader but reports say this wasn't a scheduled meeting. Rep. Jan Schakowsky told Politico it was "seriously a mistake" and he should go back to explain why. Following Musk's visit, McCarthy told reporters: "He came to wish me a happy birthday," Bloomberg reported at the time. Democrats told Politico they were unimpressed at Musk arranging meetings only with conservatives.

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