
Biden's agenda hinges on new Senate push for bipartisan deals amid distrust between the parties
CNN
Major items on President Joe Biden's domestic agenda hang in the balance this month, hinging on Republicans' willingness to cut deals and whether Democrats agree to pare back their ambitions at the risk of causing a backlash on the left.
April is turning out to be a crucial month to fulfill Biden's campaign pledge to work on a bipartisan basis in Washington, with groups of senators holding both informal and formal talks on a range of issues -- infrastructure, gun violence, a crackdown on China, police reform, the minimum wage and immigration policy. But finding a delicate compromise -- that could muster 60 votes in the Senate and win backing in the narrowly divided House -- remains a far more complicated question, with distrust between the two parties running high and lawmakers often dug in on their ideological positions. And Republicans are still smarting from the White House's handling of Covid relief talks, arguing Biden jammed through a partisan $1.9 trillion proposal and used short-lived discussions with Republicans to create an appearance that he and Democrats actively sought bipartisan support.
Former election clerk Tina Peters’ prison sentence has long been a rallying cry for President Donald Trump and other 2020 election deniers. Now, her lawyers are heading back to court to appeal her conviction as Colorado’s Democratic governor has signaled a new openness to letting her out of prison early.

The Trump administration’s sweeping legal effort to obtain Americans’ sensitive data from states’ voter rolls is now almost entirely reliant upon a Jim Crow-era civil rights law passed to protect Black voters from disenfranchisement – a notable shift in how the administration is pressing its demands.

White House officials are heaping blame on DC US Attorney Jeanine Pirro over her office’s criminal investigation into Fed Chair Jerome Powell, faulting her for blindsiding them with an inquiry that has forced the administration into a dayslong damage control campaign, four people familiar with the matter told CNN.

The aircraft used in the US military’s first strike on an alleged drug boat in the Caribbean, a strike which has drawn intense scrutiny and resulted in numerous Congressional briefings, was painted as a civilian aircraft and was part of a closely guarded classified program, sources familiar with the program told CNN. Its use “immediately drew scrutiny and real concerns” from lawmakers, one of the sources familiar said, and legislators began asking questions about the aircraft during briefings in September.

DOJ pleads with lawyers to get through ‘grind’ of Epstein files as criticism of redactions continues
“It is a grind,” the head of the Justice Department’s criminal division said in an email. “While we certainly encourage aggressive overachievers, we need reviewers to hit the 1,000-page mark each day.”

A new classified legal opinion produced by the Justice Department argues that President Donald Trump was not limited by domestic law when approving the US operation to capture Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro because of his constitutional authority as commander-in-chief and that he is not constrained by international law when it comes to carrying out law enforcement operations overseas, according to sources who have read the memo.







