Republicans pull back from the Covid brink -- for now
CNN
Sanity prevailed Thursday night when the Senate overcame an effort by a handful of conservative Republican senators who had threatened to force a government shutdown unless they got a vote on an amendment to defund President Joe Biden's Covid-19 vaccine mandates.
The vote on blocking the use of federal money to enforce Biden's vaccine requirements narrowly failed, 48-50, but the brinksmanship that could have thrown the government into chaos on Friday ahead of a midnight funding deadline was another example of how the power of a few has so often seemed to threaten the will of the many in this never-ending pandemic. It showed the lengths to which some Republicans will go to cater to the desires of the less than 30% of American adults who are not fully vaccinated.
Despite strenuous objections to a shutdown from many of their GOP colleagues, who pointed out that Biden's vaccine mandates are already tied up in the courts, Republican Sens. Mike Lee of Utah and Roger Marshall of Kansas argued that they were taking a critical stand for unvaccinated workers in their states who might lose their jobs over their vaccine objections.
Around 1,000 additional US Customs and Border Protection agents are expected to deploy to Minneapolis, Minnesota, according to two federal law enforcement sources. Follow for live updates.
President Donald Trump’s efforts to leverage the Justice Department for political purposes and to exact retribution against his perceived foes haven’t suffered from a series of setbacks.
Minnesota and Illinois separately filed lawsuits Monday against the Trump administration, arguing the president’s immigration crackdown is terrorizing their communities and violating the Constitution.
Former Navy sailor sentenced to 16 years for selling information about ships to Chinese intelligence
A former US Navy sailor convicted of selling technical and operating manuals for ships and operating systems to an intelligence officer working for China was sentenced Monday to more than 16 years in prison, prosecutors said.
The Defense Department has spent more than a year testing a device purchased in an undercover operation that some investigators think could be the cause of a series of mysterious ailments impacting spies, diplomats and troops that are colloquially known as Havana Syndrome, according to four sources briefed on the matter.
Jack Smith, the former special counsel who led two failed prosecutions of President Donald Trump, will testify publicly before the House Judiciary Committee on January 22, the panel announced Monday.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has told people that he is unhappy with the decision to criminally investigate Fed Chair Jerome Powell, a source with knowledge of the matter told CNN.
Venezuela’s promise last week to release “a significant number” of political prisoners is progressing far slower than many had hoped, as hundreds of families continue to wait in agony for their loved ones to be freed.
President Donald Trump billed strikes on Venezuela earlier this month as being about drugs, gangs invading the United States and law enforcement – i.e. arresting indicted leader Nicolás Maduro. But of late, he seems conspicuously preoccupied with the country’s oil wealth.
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — Florida Lt. Gov. Jay Collins announced Monday that he’s running for governor in 2026, hoping to take over for term-limited Gov. Ron DeSantis.
The top career prosecutor in the Justice Department’s Eastern District of Virginia office has been fired, according to three people familiar with the development Monday.
Lawyers for Sen. Mark Kelly filed a lawsuit Monday seeking to block Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s move to cut Kelly’s retirement pay and reduce his rank in response to Kelly’s urging of US service members to refuse illegal orders. The lawsuit argues punishing Kelly violates the First Amendment and will have a chilling effect on legislative oversight.
Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren is calling on her party to “read the room” and begin appealing to a wider swath of the working-class public by keeping a stringent focus on the economy.