
Brazil’s Bolsonaro frustrated after court blocks attendance at Trump’s inauguration
CNN
Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro accused the country’s supreme court of persecuting him on Saturday after his appeal against a travel ban was rejected.
Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro accused the country’s supreme court of persecuting him on Saturday after his appeal against a travel ban was rejected. Speaking at the airport in Brasilia, Bolsonaro, who had called on the Supreme Court to reconsider a previous decision barring him from traveling to the United States to attend the inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump, said he was facing “huge political persecution by one person.” Bolsonaro’s lawyers had filed an appeal late on Thursday claiming the right-wing politician had fully complied with and respected the precautionary measures imposed on him by the Supreme Court, and also rejected any possibility of him fleeing. But Justice Alexandre de Moraes hours later upheld an earlier ruling rejecting the former president’s request to have his passport returned, a document seen by Reuters showed. Bolsonaro was at the airport to bid farewell to his wife Michelle who will attend Trump’s inauguration. Bolsonaro, who has been barred from running for office until 2030 and faces criminal charges for allegedly plotting a coup after his 2022 election defeat, had his passport taken in February 2024 on the order of Brazil’s top court.

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.









