
In stimulus push, Biden calls on Republicans to heed their constituents
CNN
As Joe Biden presses his case for Republicans to set partisanship aside and support his Covid-19 relief bill in Congress this week, the President reminded Americans of his own history working across the aisle with his visit Saturday evening to his ailing friend Bob Dole.
The friendship between Biden and Dole, the former Senate Republican leader who recently revealed that he has been diagnosed with stage four lung cancer, was forged over the many years that the two men served together in the Senate. Biden often speaks with nostalgia about his working relationships with GOP leaders during that less polarizing time when negotiation was the rule rather than the exception. The new President's desire to create more consensus in Washington will clearly be on his mind as he tries to steer his $1.9 trillion stimulus package through the US House this week and prepares for the legislation's more difficult path through the US Senate. The Senate will also take up more of his nominees this week as he looks to fill out his Cabinet. But not all of them have full Democratic support. He'll need GOP votes, for example, to get Office of Management and Budget director nominee Neera Tanden confirmed.
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.









