
Merrick Garland says it would be ‘absurd’ for an attorney general to edit special counsel report
CNN
Attorney General Merrick Garland said Thursday that it would have been “absurd” for someone in his position to edit or redact a special counsel’s final report.
Attorney General Merrick Garland said Thursday that it would have been “absurd” for someone in his position to edit or redact a special counsel’s final report. In response to a question about whether former special counsel Robert Hur’s characterization of President Joe Biden was inappropriate in his final report, Garland said it was his obligation to release a full and unedited report. “The idea that an attorney general would edit or redact or censor the special counsel’s explanation for why the special counsel reached the decision that the special counsel did – that’s absurd,” Garland said during a news conference at the Justice Department to announce an antitrust lawsuit against Apple. While the facts of Hur’s report and the overall process of his investigation into whether Biden mishandled classified information haven’t been challenged, Hur has been criticized by allies of the president over whether his final report went too far by publicly criticizing’s Biden memory or selectively including excerpts of a deposition with the president. Hur did not recommend charges against the president but his report led to plenty of consternation among Democrats about Hur’s description of Biden as a “well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.”

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth risked compromising sensitive military information that could have endangered US troops through his use of Signal to discuss attack plans, a Pentagon watchdog said in an unclassified report released Thursday. It also details how Hegseth declined to cooperate with the probe.

Two top House lawmakers emerged divided along party lines after a private briefing with the military official who oversaw September’s attack on an alleged drug vessel that included a so-called double-tap strike that killed surviving crew members, with a top Democrat calling video of the incident that was shared as part of the briefing “one of the most troubling things” he has seen as a lawmaker.

Authorities in Colombia are dealing with increasingly sophisticated criminals, who use advanced tech to produce and conceal the drugs they hope to export around the world. But police and the military are fighting back, using AI to flag suspicious passengers, cargo and mail - alongside more conventional air and sea patrols. CNN’s Isa Soares gets an inside look at Bogotá’s war on drugs.

As lawmakers demand answers over reports that the US military carried out a follow-up strike that killed survivors during an attacked on an alleged drug boat in the Caribbean, a career Navy SEAL who has spent most of his 30 years of military experience in special operations will be responsible for providing them.









