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  • House January 6 committee handing over investigative materials to DOJ | CNN Politics

    House January 6 committee handing over investigative materials to DOJ | CNN Politics

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    CNN
     — 

    The House select committee investigating January 6, 2021, has started handing over evidence and transcripts from its probe to the Department of Justice, according to two sources familiar with the matter.

    Special counsel Jack Smith, who was appointed by Attorney General Merrick Garland to oversee parts of the DOJ’s investigation into the insurrection, sent a letter to the committee earlier this month requesting all of the information from the panel’s investigation, one of the sources told CNN.

    Smith’s investigators will ultimately have all of the evidence the House committee has obtained, the source said.

    The handover comes during a key week for the committee. The panel on Monday held its final public meeting, during which committee members voted to refer former President Donald Trump to the DOJ on at least four criminal charges. The panel is slated to release its full final report on Wednesday.

    A spokesperson for the committee declined to comment. A spokesperson for the special counsel did not immediately respond to CNN’s request for comment.

    The committee has been sending documents and transcripts over the course of the last week, the second source added, with the production focusing specifically on former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and Trump’s former election lawyer John Eastman.

    The panel has also started to share transcripts of witness interviews pertaining to the false slates of electors and the pressure campaign by Trump and his allies on certain states to overturn the 2020 election results.

    The department has also received Meadows’ text messages from the committee.

    Punchbowl News was first to report some of these details.

    California Democratic Rep. Zoe Lofgren, a member of the committee, said on CNN on Monday, “We’ve actually given some transcripts to the Department of Justice during the last month,” adding that the committee would begin making transcripts public on Wednesday.

    The DOJ investigation being led by Smith is examining Trump in its extensive probe into January 6, and it appears that federal investigators are already looking at much of the conduct that the select committee has highlighted.

    During its Monday meeting, the committee laid out the case for both the public and the Justice Department that there’s evidence to pursue criminal charges against Trump on multiple criminal statutes, including obstructing an official proceeding, defrauding the United States, making false statements and assisting or aiding an insurrection.

    But whether the department brings charges will depend on whether the facts and the evidence support a prosecution, Garland, who will make the ultimate call on charging decisions, has said.

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  • After convicting Harvey Weinstein of rape, a Los Angeles jury deadlocks on factors that could have increased his sentence | CNN

    After convicting Harvey Weinstein of rape, a Los Angeles jury deadlocks on factors that could have increased his sentence | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    After convicting former film producer Harvey Weinstein of rape and sexual assault, a Los Angeles jury could not reach a unanimous verdict Tuesday on alleged aggravating factors that could have increased his sentence.

    The three charges Weinstein was convicted of – rape, sexual penetration by foreign object and forcible oral copulation – were all tied to one of his accusers, Jane Doe 1, a model and actress who testified the movie mogul assaulted her in a Beverly Hills hotel room in February 2013.

    Jurors were asked to determine if Jane Doe 1 was harmed and particularly vulnerable, and if Weinstein committed the crimes with planning, professionalism, or sophistication.

    Ten members of the jury found the aggravating factors had been met, but two jurors could not be swayed, one of the jurors told CNN.

    “The jury has said they are not able to reach a unanimous verdict on these issues,” Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Lisa Lench said, according to a pool report. “I am going to declare a mistrial with respect to the allegations.”

    Had the jury found Weinstein guilty of the aggravating factors, a new California law would have then allowed the judge to enact a harsher sentence.

    Jurors had deliberated for several hours Tuesday. After the jury indicated further deliberations would not sway them, neither the prosecution or the defense pushed to have the jurors deliberate further.

    When Lench asked prosecutor Paul Thompson if Weinstein will be retried on the deadlock counts, the pool report said he responded: “We need to consult the victims first and foremost.”

    Weinstein’s sentencing was tentatively set for January 9, with Lench allowing only Jane Doe 1 to offer a victim impact statement. He is expected to serve 18 years.

    The disgraced movie mogul was found guilty Monday of three of seven charges against him in his second sexual assault trial. The jury acquitted Weinstein of one count of sexual battery by restraint against a massage therapist in a hotel room in 2010. They were a hung jury on one count of sexual battery by restraint, one count of forcible oral copulation and one count of rape related to two other women – including Jennifer Siebel Newsom, a filmmaker and first partner to California Governor Gavin Newsom.

    Weinstein had pleaded not guilty to all charges against him. His spokesman said he was “disappointed” with the outcome of the trial but “he is prepared to continue fighting for his innocence.”

    The verdict was reached as jurors entered their third week of deliberations, meeting for a total of 41 hours over a period of 10 days following weeks of oftentimes emotional testimony.

    “Harvey Weinstein forever destroyed a part of me that night in 2013. I will never get that back,” said Jane Doe 1 in a statement released through her attorney. “The criminal trial was brutal. Weinstein’s lawyers put me through hell on the witness stand. But I knew I had to see this through the end, and I did … I hope Harvey Weinstein never sees the outside of a prison cell during his lifetime.”

    Elizabeth Fegan, an attorney representing Siebel Newsom, who was identified in court as Jane Doe 4, said they were disappointed the jury could not reach a unanimous verdict on the charges related to her client.

    “My client, Jane Doe 4, shared her story not with an expectation to testify but to support all the survivors who bravely came forward,” Fegan said in a statement to CNN. “While we are heartened that the jury found Weinstein guilty on some of the counts, we are disappointed that the jury could not reach a unanimous verdict on Jane Doe 4. She will continue to fight for all women and all survivors of abuse against a system that permits the victim to be shamed and re-traumatized in the name of justice.”

    Weinstein is two years into a 23-year sentence for a 2020 New York conviction, which his attorneys have appealed, putting more attention on the outcome of the trial in Los Angeles.

    The weekslong Los Angeles trial saw emotional testimony from Weinstein’s accusers – a model, a dancer, a massage therapist and Siebel Newsom – all of whom were asked to recount the details of their allegations against him, provide details of meetings with the producer from years ago, and explain their reactions to the alleged assaults.

    Additionally, four women testified they were subjected to similar behavior by Weinstein in other jurisdictions.

    Weinstein initially faced 11 charges, but four counts connected to an unnamed woman were dropped without explanation. She did not testify in the trial.

    In closing arguments, Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney Marlene Martinez called Weinstein a “titan” who used his power in Hollywood to prey on and silence women.

    Meanwhile, Weinstein’s attorneys maintained the allegations are either fabricated or occurred consensually as part of a “transactional relationship” with the movie producer, repeatedly saying there is no evidence of assault.

    Defense attorney Alan Jackson called the accusers “fame and fortune seekers.”

    Jane Doe 2, who was identified as Lauren Young, told her attorney Gloria Allred by phone that she was happy Weinstein was convicted on some counts despite there being a mistrial on her count, Allred said in a news conference after the verdict.

    “I am relieved that Harvey Weinstein has been convicted because he deserves to be punished for the crimes that he committed, and he can no longer use his power to intimidate and sexually assault more women,” Young said in a statement read by Allred.

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  • Colorado judge in 2021 case called Club Q shooting suspect ‘a scary person’ | CNN

    Colorado judge in 2021 case called Club Q shooting suspect ‘a scary person’ | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    A year before the deadly Club Q shooting in November, a Colorado judge called the suspect “a scary person” during a hearing about a bomb threat at their grandparents’ home.

    According to a court transcript obtained by CNN, Anderson Aldrich was present in the courtroom for a hearing regarding a 2021 bomb threat by Aldrich that involved their mother when Colorado Fourth Judicial District Court Judge Robin Chittum made the remark.

    During that hearing, the defense argued for a lower bond. “The part that concerns me is… that you clearly have been planning for something else, and it wasn’t something that – I just – it didn’t have to do with your grandma and grandpa,” the judge considered.

    “It was saving all these firearms and trying to make this bomb, and making statements about other people being involved in some sort of shootout and a huge thing. And then that’s kind of what it turned into,” Judge Chittum said, according to the transcript.

    Judge Chittum also voiced concern regarding Aldrich’s state of mental health.

    “Yes, a million dollars is a lot for a bond. And I don’t think it’s appropriate to leave it at that, but I have here a very, very aggravated allegation of the threatening, the kidnapping, and the holding of your grandparents. And then things just went unhinged. And it looks like it could have been worse because you had plans for it to be worse. I need to reflect the fact that you have some plans for mental health coverage; that you have some plans for places to go and things to do to be able to address these issues if you get out, but wow. Just really, really scary,” Chittum said.

    Aldrich promised the judge, “I’m not able to access any firearms, and I won’t make any effort to do so in the future.”

    Even with the concerns, the judge lowered the bond to $100,000 and also modified the protection order in place so that Aldrich could have contact with their mother, Laurel Voepel. If Aldrich could post bond, the judge said that they needed to live with their mom, that they must participate in treatment and continue to take their medications.

    According to the transcript, the Judge Chittum had concerns saying, “If we have a slip-and-fall and mess-up on this one, it’s going to be so bad. So I can’t risk that.”

    CNN previously reported an unsealed case file revealed details about what took place during a 2021 bomb threat incident that led to the arrest of Aldrich.

    Aldrich’s grandmother had told dispatchers that Aldrich was upset about the recent sale of her house and plans to move to Florida with her husband.

    “You guys die today, and I’m taking you with me. I’m loaded and ready. You’re not calling anyone,” Aldrich reportedly told their grandparents while drinking from a bottle of vodka, holding a handgun and loading the magazine, according to the affidavit.

    The grandmother also reportedly told officials that Aldrich told her if they moved to Florida “it would interfere with his plans to conduct a mass shooting and bombing,” the affidavit said.

    When officials responded to the scene Aldrich said that they had an explosive called Tannerite, that they would shoot through the walls, and that they had a gas mask and armor-piercing ammunition, the affidavit said.

    Aldrich was ultimately arrested following the incident, but Judge Chittum dropped all charges against them on July 5, 2022.

    In a December press conference Colorado’s Fourth Judicial District Attorney Michael Allen said the charges against Aldrich were ultimately dropped because after roughly a year of court continuances, the family was unwilling to testify against Aldrich.

    “If we are unable to produce a witness, none of those statements would be admissible in a criminal courtroom,” Allen said. “If witnesses cannot be produced at a trial and we are against a speedy trial, it is very common for a court to dismiss the case.”

    Aldrich – whose attorneys say identifies as nonbinary and uses they/them pronouns – faces up to life in prison without parole if convicted on first-degree murder charges stemming from the November 19 Club Q shooting that left five dead and 25 injured at the LGBTQ club.

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  • Former Texas officer sentenced to nearly 12 years in prison for the killing of Atatiana Jefferson in her home | CNN

    Former Texas officer sentenced to nearly 12 years in prison for the killing of Atatiana Jefferson in her home | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    A former Texas police officer was sentenced to nearly 12 years in prison Tuesday following his manslaughter conviction for shooting Atatiana Jefferson in her own home in 2019.

    Aaron Dean, the 38-year-old White former Fort Worth police officer, had faced up to 20 years in prison for killing Jefferson, a 28-year-old Black woman.

    Dean, in a gray suit, stood in court and showed no emotion as the sentence was read. Jefferson’s relatives read impact statements after the term of 11 years, 10 months and 12 days in prison was announced.

    “My sister did not do anything wrong,” said Ashley Carr, Jefferson’s sister. “She was in her home, which should have been the safest place for her to be and yet turned out to be the most dangerous. She was murdered and, as her big sister, I live every day with the pain that I could not do my job and protect her.”

    Carr said she pitied Dean.

    “Not because of the punishment you have received for your crime,” she told Dean in court. “You and I both know that is insufficient. I pity your ignorance… You do not know enough to be ashamed. You’re not self aware enough to understand your responsibility for this evil act.”

    The jury began deliberating on the sentence on Monday after convicting Dean last Thursday.

    Prosecutors asked jurors to sentence Dean to the maximum 20 years in prison, saying anything less was a “travesty of justice.” Dean’s defense asked for a suspended sentence and community supervision, noting that he was acting in his role as a police officer and was not in need of rehabilitation.

    The sentence comes more than three years after the deadly encounter in which Dean and his partner responded to Jefferson’s house around 2:25 a.m. on October 12, 2019. They arrived at her house after a neighbor called a non-emergency police line to report that her doors were open. They did not announce themselves as police at the home, and Dean then fatally shot through a bedroom window at Jefferson, who had been playing video games with her nephew, who was 8.

    Dean resigned from the force days afterward and was arrested and charged with murder. He has been out on bond for the last three years.

    Trial testimony, which touched on race, police violence, gun rights and body-camera footage, began on December 5.

    Dean was charged with murder, but jurors were allowed to convict him on a lesser charge of manslaughter. They had deliberated for more than 13 hours, according to CNN affiliate WFAA, before announcing a guilty verdict Thursday. The manslaughter conviction of a police officer who was on duty is a first in Tarrant County, the station reported.

    At trial, defense attorneys said Dean fired in self-defense, and Dean testified that he fired at Jefferson because she pointed a gun at him. He testified that he believed the home was being burglarized because the doors were open and the place appeared ransacked.

    “The state cannot prove to you beyond a reasonable doubt that this was not self-defense,” defense attorney Bob Gill said. “It’s tragic, but is not an offense under the state of Texas.”

    However, prosecutors argued there was no evidence he saw a gun in the woman’s hand before he fired at her. Further, Jefferson’s 11-year-old nephew, who was with her at the time, testified he did not see her raise a gun to the window. Dean’s police partner, Carol Darch, testified Dean did not mention he had seen a gun in the minutes after the shooting as they ran into the home.

    “If you can’t feel safe in your own home, where can you feel safe?” Tarrant County prosecutor Ashlea Deener told jurors in closing arguments. “When you think about your house, you think about safety. It’s where you go to retreat, to get away from the world.”

    Jefferson graduated from Xavier University of Louisiana in 2014 with a degree in biology and worked in pharmaceutical equipment sales, according to her family’s attorney.

    She had moved to Fort Worth a few months earlier to take care of her ailing mother and her nephews, family attorney S. Lee Merritt said at the time.

    The prosecution’s first witness was Zion Carr, who was 8 years old and in the bedroom with his “Aunt Tay” when she was shot.

    Now 11, the boy testified they had accidentally burned hamburgers earlier in the night, so they opened the doors to air the smoke out of the house.

    He and his aunt were up late playing video games when Jefferson heard a noise outside, and she then went to her purse to get her gun, he testified. He did not see her raise her firearm toward the window, he testified.

    Zion said he did not hear or see anything outside the window, but he saw his aunt fall to the ground and start crying.

    “I was thinking, ‘Is it a dream?’” he testified. “She was crying and just shaking.”

    Prosecutors also called to the stand Dean’s police partner, Darch, who testified she was with Dean when they went to investigate the home.

    She said she believed the home was being burglarized because two doors were open, lights were on inside, cabinets were wide open and things were strewn about the living room and kitchen area.

    She had her back to the window when Dean began to yell out commands for Jefferson to put her hands up, she testified. Darch said she started to turn around, heard a gunshot, then looked over Dean’s shoulder and could see a face in the window with eyes “as big as saucers.”

    She testified she did not see Jefferson holding a gun and didn’t recall Dean ever saying that Jefferson had a gun.

    Dean testified last Monday that he fired at Jefferson because she pointed a gun at him.

    “As I started to get that second phrase out, ‘Show me your hands,’ I saw a silhouette,” the former officer said. “I was looking right down the barrel of a gun, and when I saw the barrel of that gun pointed at me, I fired a single shot from my duty weapon.”

    In cross-examination, however, Dean admitted many of his actions that night were “bad police work,” including firing without seeing her hands or what was behind her, failing to tell his partner he saw a gun and rushing into the home without fully ensuring it was safe.

    “You’ve got another fellow officer from the Fort Worth Police Department entering a home which you have determined to be a burglary in progress with a possible armed assailant, and you didn’t think to tell your partner, ‘Hey there’s a gun inside?’” prosecutor R. Dale Smith asked.

    “No,” Dean said.

    “You didn’t think to tell her, ‘Hey I saw somebody with a gun?’” Smith asked.

    “No,” he said.

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  • Here’s what’s in the $1.7 trillion federal spending bill | CNN Politics

    Here’s what’s in the $1.7 trillion federal spending bill | CNN Politics

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    CNN
     — 

    Senate leaders unveiled a $1.7 trillion year-long federal government funding bill early Tuesday morning.

    The legislation includes $772.5 billion for non-defense discretionary programs and $858 billion in defense funding, according to a bill summary from Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy, chair of the Senate Committee on Appropriations.

    The sweeping package includes roughly $45 billion in emergency assistance to Ukraine and NATO allies, boosts in spending for disaster aid, college access, child care, mental health and food assistance, more support for the military and veterans and additional funds for the US Capitol Police, according to Leahy’s summary and one from Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama, the top Republican on the Senate Appropriations Committee.

    However, the bill, which runs more than 4,000 pages, left out several measures that some lawmakers had fought to include. An expansion of the child tax credit, as well as multiple other corporate and individual tax breaks, did not make it into the final bill. Neither did legislation to allow cannabis companies to bank their cash reserves – known as the Safe Banking Act. Also, there was also no final resolution on where the new FBI headquarters will be located.

    The spending bill is the product of lengthy negotiations between top congressional Democrats and Republicans. Lawmakers reached a “bipartisan, bicameral framework” last week following a dispute between the two parties over how much money should be spent on non-defense domestic priorities. They worked through the weekend to craft the legislation.

    The Senate is expected to vote first to approve the deal this week and then send it to the House for approval before government funding runs out on December 23. The bill would keep the government operating through September, the end of the fiscal year.

    Congress originally passed a continuing resolution on September 30 to temporarily fund the government in fiscal year 2023, which began October 1.

    More aid for Ukraine: The spending bill would provide roughly $45 billion to help support Ukraine’s efforts to defend itself against Russia’s attack.

    About $9 billion of the funding would go to Ukraine’s military to pay for a variety of things including training, weapons, logistics support and salaries. Nearly $12 billion would be used to replenish US stocks of equipment sent to Ukraine through presidential drawdown authority.

    Also, it would provide $13 billion for economic support to the Ukrainian government.

    Other funds would address humanitarian and infrastructure needs, as well as support European Command operations.

    Emergency disaster assistance: The bill would appropriate more than $38 billion in emergency funding to help Americans in the west and southeast affected by recent natural disasters, including tornadoes, hurricanes, flooding and wildfires. It would aid farmers, provide economic development assistance for communities, repair and reconstruct federal facilities and direct money to the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Disaster Relief Fund, among other initiatives.

    Overhaul of the electoral vote counting law: A provision in the legislation aims at making it harder to overturn a certified presidential election, in a direct response to the January 6 attack on the US Capitol.

    The changes would overhaul the 1887 Electoral Count Act, which then-President Donald Trump tried to use to overturn the 2020 election.

    The legislation would clarify the vice president’s role while overseeing the certification of the electoral result to be completely ceremonial. It also would create a set of stipulations designed to make it harder for there to be any confusion over the accurate slate of electors from each state.

    Higher maximum Pell grant awards: The bill would increase the maximum Pell grant award by $500 to $7,395 for the coming school year. This would be the largest boost since the 2009-2010 school year. About 7 million students, many from lower-income families, receive Pell grants every year to help them afford college.

    Increased support for the military and veterans: The package would fund a 4.6% pay raise for troops and a 22.4% increase in support for Veteran Administration medical care, which provides health services for 7.3 million veterans.

    It would include nearly $53 billion to address higher inflation and $2.7 billion – a 25% increase – to support critical services and housing assistance for veterans and their families.

    The bill also would allocate $5 billion for the Cost of War Toxic Exposures Fund, which provides additional funding to implement the landmark PACT Act that expands eligibility for health care services and benefits to veterans with conditions related to toxic exposure during their service.

    Beefing up nutrition assistance: The legislation would establish a permanent nationwide Summer EBT program, starting in the summer of 2024, according to Share Our Strength, an anti-hunger advocacy group. It would provide families whose children are eligible for free or reduced-price school meal with a $40 grocery benefit per child per month, indexed to inflation.

    It would also change the rules governing summer meals programs in rural areas. Children would be able to take home or receive delivery of up to 10 days worth of meals, rather than have to consume the food at a specific site and time.

    The bill would also help families who have had their food stamp benefits stolen since October 1 through what’s known as “SNAP skimming.” It would provide them with retroactive federal reimbursement of the funds, which criminals steal by attaching devices to point-of-sale machines or PIN pads to get card numbers and other information from electronic benefits transfer cards.

    More money for child care: The legislation would provide $8 billion for the Child Care and Development Block Grant, a 30% increase in funding. The grant gives financial assistance to low-income families to afford child care.

    Also, Head Start would receive nearly $12 billion, an 8.6% boost. The program helps young children from low-income families prepare for school.

    Help to pay utility bills: The bill would provide $5 billion for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program. Combined with the $1 billion contained in the earlier continuing resolution, this would be the largest regular appropriation for the program, according to the National Energy Assistance Directors Association. Home heating and cooling costs – and the applications for federal aid in paying the bills – have soared this year.

    Enhance retirement savings: The bill contains new retirement rules that could make it easier for Americans to accumulate retirement savings – and less costly to withdraw them. Among other things, the provisions would allow penalty-free withdrawals for some emergency expenses, let employers offer matching retirement contributions for a worker’s student loan payments and increase how much older workers may save in employer retirement plans.

    More support for the environment: The package would provide an additional $576 million for the Environmental Protection Agency, bringing its funding up to $10.1 billion. It would increase support for enforcement and compliance, as well as clean air, water and toxic chemical programs, after years of flat funding.

    It also would boost funding for the National Park Service by 6.4%, restoring 500 of the 3,000 staff positions lost over the past decade. This would be intended to help the agency handle substantial increases in visitation.

    Plus, the legislation would provide an additional 14% in funding for wildland firefighting.

    Additional funding for the US Capitol Police: The bill would provide an additional $132 million for the Capitol Police for a total of nearly $735 million. It would allow the department to hire up to 137 sworn officers and 123 support and civilian personnel, bringing the force to a projected level of 2,126 sworn officers and 567 civilians.

    It would also give $2 million to provide off-campus security for lawmakers in response to evolving and growing threats.

    Investments in homelessness prevention and affordable housing: The legislation would provide $3.6 billion for homeless assistance grants, a 13% increase. It would serve more than 1 million people experiencing homelessness.

    The package also would funnel nearly $6.4 billion to the Community Development Block Grant formula program and related local economic and community development projects that benefit low- and moderate income areas and people, an increase of almost $1.6 billion.

    Plus, it would provide $1.5 billion for the HOME Investment Partnerships Program, which would lead to the construction of nearly 10,000 new rental and homebuyer units and maintain the record investment from the last fiscal year.

    Increased health care funding: The package would provide more money for National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response. The funds are intended to speed the development of new therapies, diagnostics and preventive measures, beef up public health activities and strengthen the nation’s biosecurity by accelerating development of medical countermeasures for pandemic threats and fortifying stockpiles and supply chains for drugs, masks and other supplies.

    More resources for children’s mental health and for substance abuse: The bill would provide more funds to increase access to mental health services for children and schools. It also would invest more money to address the opioid epidemic and substance use disorder.

    Tiktok ban from federal devices: The legislation would ban TikTok, the Chinese-owned short-form video app, from federal government devices.

    Some lawmakers have raised bipartisan concerns that China’s national security laws could force TikTok – or its parent, ByteDance – to hand over the personal data of its US users. Recently, a wave of states led by Republican governors have introduced state-level restrictions on the use of TikTok on government-owned devices.

    Enhanced child tax credit: A coalition of Democratic lawmakers and consumer advocates pushed hard to extend at least one provision of the enhanced child tax credit, which was in effect last year thanks to the Democrats’ $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan. Their priority was to make the credit more refundable so more of the lowest-income families can qualify. Nearly 19 million kids won’t receive the full $2,000 benefit this year because their parents earn too little, according to a Tax Policy Center estimate.

    New cannabis banking rules: Lawmakers considered including a provision in the spending bill that would make it easier for licensed cannabis businesses to accept credit cards – but it was left out of the legislation. Known as the Safe Banking Act, which previously passed the House, the provision would prohibit federal regulators from taking punitive measures against banks for providing services to legitimate cannabis businesses.

    Even though 47 states have legalized some form of marijuana, cannabis remains illegal on the federal level. That means financial institutions providing banking services to cannabis businesses are subject to criminal prosecution – leaving many legal growers and sellers locked out of the banking system.

    FBI headquarters: There was also no final resolution on where the new FBI headquarters will be located, a major point of contention as lawmakers from Maryland – namely House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer – pushed to bring the law enforcement agency into their state. In a deal worked through by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, the General Services Administration would be required to conduct “separate and detailed consultations” with Maryland and Virginia representatives about potential sites in each of the states, according to a Senate Democratic aide.

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  • Brooklyn pastor who was robbed while preaching charged with wire fraud and lying to FBI in unrelated case | CNN

    Brooklyn pastor who was robbed while preaching charged with wire fraud and lying to FBI in unrelated case | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    The flashy, jewelry-flaunting Brooklyn pastor who reported being robbed while preaching at his church this past summer was arrested on federal charges Monday – unrelated to the July incident – for allegedly defrauding a parishioner, trying to extort a businessman and lying to the FBI, according to a federal indictment.

    Lamor Whitehead, the 45-year-old pastor who goes by “Bishop,” was charged with wire fraud, attempted wire fraud, attempted extortion and making a material false statement, the US Attorney’s Office of the Southern District of New York announced. He faces up to 65 years in prison for his alleged crimes.

    As the pastor of Leaders of Tomorrow International Ministry, Whitehead allegedly defrauded one of his parishioners out of about $90,000 from her retirement savings over the course of at least 14 months beginning around April 2020, according to the indictment. The document said Whitehead told the parishioner he would use her money to help her buy a home and invest the rest of the money, but instead used it “to purchase thousands of dollars of luxury goods and clothing” and “for his own purposes.”

    Whitehead never helped her buy a home, the court document says, and never returned her money despite her request.

    This spring, Whitehead allegedly attempted to convince a businessman to loan him about $500,000 and grant him a stake in real estate transactions in exchange for obtaining “favorable actions by the New York City government” that would make them “millions” – something the pastor knew he could not obtain, the indictment says. Earlier this year, he also allegedly used “threats of force” against that same businessman to extort $5,000 from him.

    Further, Whitehead allegedly told FBI agents who were executing a search warrant that he had only one phone. But the indictment states he had a second phone that he used – including to text a message in which he described it as “my other phone,” the indictment states.

    Whitehead appeared in court Monday and was released on a $500,000 personal recognizance bond, according to Attorney’s Office spokesman Nicholas Biase.

    “As we allege today, Lamor Whitehead abused the trust placed in him by a parishioner, bullied a businessman for $5,000, then tried to defraud him of far more than that, and lied to federal agents,” US Attorney Damian Williams said in a statement. “His campaign of fraud and deceit stops now.”

    Whitehead’s attorney, Dawn Florio, denied the accusations against Whitehead.

    “Bishop Lamor Whitehead is not guilty of these charges,” Florio told CNN. “We are vigorously defending these accusations and we feel he is being targeted and being turned into a villain from a victim.”

    Back in July, Whitehead said he was the victim of a robbery in which at least one masked and armed man entered Whitehead’s church and took jewelry from him and his wife, according to a separate federal indictment. Part of the incident was captured on a livestream video from inside the church that showed Whitehead put his hands up and complied with the gunmen’s demands.

    He reported that the stolen jewelry was worth more than $1 million, raising questions as to how and why the pastor obtained and flaunted such displays of wealth.

    In September, two men were indicted on federal charges for their alleged roles in the armed robbery, while a third defendant remains at large, according to the Department of Justice. Juwan Anderson, 23, and Say-Quan Pollack, 24, pleaded not guilty to the charges, and a trial date is set for July, according to federal court records.

    Whitehead’s verified Instagram account details his extravagant shows of wealth, including Louis Vuitton-emblazoned suits, large jewelry and brightly colored sports cars. In a video posted shortly after the robbery, he pushed back against the media headlines referring to him as “flashy.”

    “It’s not about me being flashy. It’s about me purchasing what I want to purchase,” he said. “It’s my prerogative to purchase what I want to purchase. If I worked hard for it, I can purchase what I want to purchase.”

    According to his bio on the Leaders of Tomorrow website, Whitehead attended the New York Theological Seminary and completed his studies with a certificate in Ministry in Human Services from the Theological Institution of Rising Hope Inc. It touts him as a licensed New York state chaplain and a certified marriage and funeral officiant. In 2013, he founded Leaders of Tomorrow Ministry in Brooklyn, his bio states.

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  • Harvey Weinstein is convicted of 3 of 7 charges, including rape, in his Los Angeles sexual assault trial | CNN

    Harvey Weinstein is convicted of 3 of 7 charges, including rape, in his Los Angeles sexual assault trial | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    Disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein was found guilty Monday of rape and sexual assault against one of four women he was accused of assaulting in Los Angeles – a significant conviction in the second trial of a man at the center of allegations that fueled the global #MeToo movement.

    Weinstein, who prosecutors said used his Hollywood influence to lure women into private meetings and assault them, was found guilty of three of seven charges against him.

    After weeks of emotional testimony and 10 days of deliberations, jurors in Los Angeles also acquitted Weinstein of one count of sexual battery by restraint against a massage therapist in a hotel room in 2010. They were a hung jury on one count of sexual battery by restraint, one count of forcible oral copulation and one count of rape related to two other women – including Jennifer Siebel Newsom, a filmmaker and first partner to California Gov. Gavin Newsom.

    The three charges Weinstein was convicted of – rape, sexual penetration by foreign object and forcible oral copulation – were all tied to one of his accusers, a model and actress who testified the movie mogul assaulted her in a Beverly Hills hotel room in February 2013.

    The woman, identified as Jane Doe 1 in court, was the first to testify in the trial.

    “Harvey Weinstein forever destroyed a part of me that night in 2013. I will never get that back. The criminal trial was brutal. Weinstein’s lawyers put me through hell on the witness stand. But I knew I had to see this through the end, and I did… I hope Harvey Weinstein never sees the outside of a prison cell during his lifetime,” Jane Doe 1 said in a statement released through her attorney.

    Weinstein had pleaded not guilty to all seven charges against him.

    “Harvey is obviously disappointed, however hopefully because with this particular accuser there are good ground to appeal based on time and location of alleged events,” Weinstein’s spokesperson Juda Engelmayer said in a statement. “He is grateful the jury took their time to deliberate on the other counts and he is prepared to continue fighting for his innocence.”

    Weinstein faces a possible sentence of 24 years in prison for the Los Angeles conviction, according to the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office. The once-powerful film producer is already serving a 23-year sentence for a 2020 New York rape conviction.

    Jurors will return to court Tuesday to consider aggravating factors to help determine the outcome of Weinstein’s sentencing hearing, according to the DA’s office.

    The District Attorney’s office will meet to determine whether to retry the counts on which the jury could not agree, officials said.

    Elizabeth Fegan, an attorney representing Siebel Newsom, who was identified in court as Jane Doe 4, said they were disappointed the jury could not reach a unanimous verdict on the charges related to her client.

    “Harvey Weinstein will never be able to rape another woman. He will spend the rest of his life behind bars where he belongs. Harvey Weinstein is a serial predator and what he did was rape,” Siebel Newsom said in a statement. “Throughout the trial, Weinstein’s lawyers used sexism, misogyny, and bullying tactics to intimidate, demean, and ridicule us survivors. This trial was a stark reminder that we as a society have work to do. To all survivors out there – I see you, I hear you, and I stand with you.”

    Gov. Newsom also released a statement, saying, “I am so incredibly proud of my wife and all the brave women who came forward to share their truth and uplift countless survivors who cannot. Their strength, courage and conviction is a powerful example and inspiration to all of us. We must keep fighting to ensure that survivors are supported and that their voices are heard.”

    The Los Angeles jury reached its verdict after deliberating for a total of 41 hours – longer than the New York jury in Weinstein’s first criminal trial, in which he was convicted of criminal sex act and third-degree rape after 26 hours of deliberations. His attorneys have appealed that conviction, which put more attention on the outcome of the trial in Los Angeles.

    Jane Doe 2, who was identified as Lauren Young, told her attorney Gloria Allred by phone she was happy Weinstein was convicted on some counts despite there being a mistrial on her count, Allred said in a news conference after the verdict.

    “I am relieved that Harvey Weinstein has been convicted because he deserves to be punished for the crimes that he committed, and he can no longer use his power to intimidate and sexually assault more women,” Young said in a statement read by Allred.

    The weekslong trial saw emotional testimony from Weinstein’s accusers – a model, a dancer, a massage therapist and Siebel Newsom – all of whom were asked to recount the details of their allegations against him, provide details of meetings with the producer from years ago, and explain their reactions to the alleged assaults.

    Weinstein initially faced 11 charges, but four counts connected to an unnamed woman were dropped without explanation. She did not testify in the trial.

    In closing arguments, Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney Marlene Martinez called Weinstein a “titan” who used his power in Hollywood to prey on and silence women.

    “Rapists rape. You can look at the pattern,” fellow prosecutor Paul Thompson told jurors.

    Meanwhile, Weinstein’s attorneys maintained the allegations were either fabricated or occurred consensually as part of a “transactional relationship” with the movie producer, repeatedly saying there is no evidence of assault.

    Defense attorney Alan Jackson called the accusers “fame and fortune seekers.”

    The trial in Los Angeles also included testimony from other witnesses, including experts, law enforcement, friends of accusers and former aides to Weinstein.

    Additionally, four women testified they were subjected to similar behavior by Weinstein in other jurisdictions.

    Each morning at trial, Weinstein was brought from a correctional facility and wheeled into the Los Angeles courtroom wearing a suit and tie and holding a composition notebook.

    His accusers all began their oftentimes emotional testimonies by identifying him in the courtroom as he looked on.

    “He’s wearing a suit, and a blue tie and he’s staring at me,” Siebel Newsom said last month, before what was one of the most emotional moments of the trial. She testified Weinstein raped her in a hotel room in 2005.

    During the trial, defense attorney Jackson asked jurors if they could “accept what (the Jane Does) say as gospel,” arguing what they said was a lack of forensic evidence supporting their claim.

    “Five words that sum up the entirety of the prosecution’s case: ‘Take my word for it,’” Jackson said. “‘Take my word for it that he showed up at my hotel room unannounced. Take my word for it that I showed up at his hotel room. Take my word for it that I didn’t consent. Take my word for it, that I said no.’ “

    Siebel Newsom described an hourslong “cat-and-mouse period,” which preceded her alleged assault. She, like other accusers, described feeling “frozen” that day.

    Attorneys for Weinstein do not deny the incident occurred, but said he believed it was consensual.

    Jackson called the incident “consensual, transactional sex,” adding: “Regret is not the same thing as rape. And it’s important we make that distinction in this courtroom.”

    In her closing arguments, Martinez highlighted the women who testified chose to do so despite knowing they would face tough conditions in court.

    “The truth is that, as you sit here, we know the despicable behavior the defendant engaged in. He thought he was so powerful that people would … excuse his behavior,” Martinez said. “That’s just Harvey being Harvey. That’s just Hollywood. And for so long that’s what everyone did. Everyone just turned their heads.”

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  • Lawmakers to push through first legislative response to January 6 Capitol attack by week’s end | CNN Politics

    Lawmakers to push through first legislative response to January 6 Capitol attack by week’s end | CNN Politics

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    CNN
     — 

    Lawmakers reached an agreement to include in must-pass legislation a measure aimed at making it harder to overturn a certified presidential election, marking the first legislative response to the US Capitol insurrection and then-President Donald Trump’s relentless pressure campaign to stay in power despite his 2020 loss.

    Several congressional sources told CNN that the legislation – to overhaul the 1887 Electoral Count Act – will be added to a bill to fund the federal government before Friday’s deadline to avoid a shutdown. If it becomes law, as is expected, the vice president’s role would be clarified to be completely ceremonial while overseeing the certification of the electoral result. It also would raise the threshold in Congress to make it harder for lawmakers to force votes attempting to overturn a state’s certified result and prevent efforts to pass along fake electors to Congress. The House select committee investigating the US Capitol attack on January 6, 2021, called for the bill’s passage in a summary of its report released Monday.

    The bill is a result of intense bipartisan negotiations over several months that won over the support of top Republicans, including Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, but has drawn pushback from House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy. With Republicans set to take control of the House within days, lawmakers pressed to send the bill to President Joe Biden’s desk knowing its fate is likely doomed in the next Congress.

    One part of the legislation is focused on modernizing and overhauling the Electoral Count Act, an 1887 law that Trump had sought to exploit and create confusion over how Congress counts Electoral College votes from each state. As part of that proposal, senators are attempting to clarify that the vice president only has a ceremonial role in overseeing the certification of the electoral results.

    The bill includes a number of changes aimed at making sure that Congress can clearly “identify a single, conclusive slate of electors from each state,” the fact sheet says.

    This comes as revelations surfaced about an effort by Trump allies to subvert the Electoral College process and install fake GOP electors in seven key states.

    The legislation creates a set of stipulations designed to make it harder for there to be any confusion over the accurate electors. For example, it states that each state’s governor would be responsible for submission of a certificate that identifies electors. Congress would not be able to accept a slate of electors submitted by any other official. “This reform would address the potential for multiple state officials to send Congress competing slates,” the fact sheet states.

    While constitutional experts say the vice president currently can’t disregard a state-certified electoral result, Trump pushed then-Vice President Mike Pence to obstruct the Electoral College certification in Congress as part of his pressure campaign. But Pence refused to do so and, as a result, became a target of the former President and his mob of supporters who stormed the Capitol on January 6.

    The proposal “raises the threshold to lodge an objection to electors to at least one-fifth of the duly chosen and sworn members of both the House of Representatives and the Senate.” Currently, only one member of each body is required to make an objection.

    Final legislative text of the sweeping government funding bill has not yet been formally unveiled but is expected to be released imminently as lawmakers race the clock to avert a shutdown at the end of the week.

    The expectation on Capitol Hill is that Congress will be able to avoid a shutdown, but pressure is on for lawmakers as congressional leaders have little room for error given the tight timeline they are facing. Government funding is currently set to expire on Friday at midnight.

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  • A Central Park entrance named for the exonerated ‘Central Park Five’ is unveiled | CNN

    A Central Park entrance named for the exonerated ‘Central Park Five’ is unveiled | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    New York City unveiled the “Gate of the Exonerated” in Central Park Monday to honor the group of Black and Hispanic teens known as the “Central Park Five” who were wrongfully convicted of beating and raping a White female jogger in the park more than 30 years ago.

    Korey Wise, Antron McCray, Raymond Santana, Kevin Richardson and Yusef Salaam – individuals from the group, also known as the “Exonerated Five” – each served several years in prison before being exonerated in 2002.

    Robert M. Morgenthau was the Manhattan district attorney when Matias Reyes, a serial rapist and murderer confessed to the crime and said he had acted alone.

    DNA analysis later determined that Reyes did rape the jogger and that hair evidence used in the boys’ trials did not match.

    Morgenthau ordered a new investigation and, on his recommendation, a judge vacated the convictions.

    The city settled a lawsuit in 2014 with the five men, who were youths at the time of the crime and coerced amid a public uproar over race into confessing to the attack.

    The identity of the jogger, Trish Meili, was kept hidden for more than a decade until she wrote a book about her experience.

    Three of the wrongfully accused who were at the unveiling spoke of their collective struggle through injustices, the breaking of “generational curses” and continuing the fight for social justice.

    “We are here because we persevered … because what was written for us was hidden from the enemies that looked at the color of our skin and not the content of our character,” Salaam said.

    “They didn’t know who they had,” he added. “The system is alive and sick, and we are to ensure that the future is alive and well.”

    Santana said Monday’s unveiling was the first time he had returned to the park, bringing with him – also for the first time – his 18-year-old daughter. He said the men had been mere teens at the time.

    “We’re babies, that had no dealing with the law, never knew what Miranda was, but we’re here now,” he said. “Over 300 articles written about us in the first three weeks of this case, dissecting the lives of 14- and 15-year-old kids. The labels: ‘urban terrorist,’ ‘wolfpack,’” he recalled.

    New York Mayor Eric Adam’s reflected on the historic moment and presented a key to the city to the exonerated five.

    “History has an opportunity to rewrite the lines,” he said.

    Adams, a police officer at the time, said it “was a challenging time to be in that department with 100 Blacks in Law Enforcement Who Care, and standing up and fighting on behalf of these brothers.”

    “We knew what had happened to them was wrong and we refuse to remain silent,” he added.

    “The exonerated five is the American black boy-man story,” he said, adding, “They stood firm, they stood tall.”

    Another of the five, Richardson, said he recalled the public information campaign of hate against the accused, saying there had been “ads that said four of us should be horse whipped, while the elder, Korey Wise should be hung from a tree.”

    “That’s slave talk right there,” he said.

    Mayor Adams said the DOE should implement school trips to talk about what happened.

    “I think all of our young men and boys, the Board of Education. Chancellor Banks, we should be having school trips to talk about this story because as time moves forward, we believe that there were not real struggles to get us where we are right now and we lose the historical moments that took place,” the mayor said. “That’s why this is so significant.”

    The gate was unveiled near Central Park North, between 5th Avenue and Malcolm X Boulevard.

    The entrance, at 110th Street, now has “Gate of the Exonerated” inscribed on the perimeter wall. It features a historical sign with background information about the entrance’s name and a QR code linking to online resources.

    Earlier this year, the New York City Public Design Commission unanimously approved the project .

    The unanimous vote was the fruit of years of work “with the Harlem community and Manhattan Community Board 10 to commemorate the Exonerated Five and all those wrongfully convicted of crimes,” a spokesperson for the Central Park Conservancy said in a statement earlier this year.

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  • Jury deliberating on sentence for former police officer convicted of killing Atatiana Jefferson | CNN

    Jury deliberating on sentence for former police officer convicted of killing Atatiana Jefferson | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    A jury began deliberations Monday on a sentence for the former Texas police officer who was convicted of manslaughter last week for shooting Atatiana Jefferson in her own home in 2019.

    Aaron Dean, the 38-year-old White former Fort Worth police officer, faces up to 20 years in prison for killing Jefferson, a 28-year-old Black woman.

    Prosecutors asked the jury to sentence Dean to the maximum 20 years in prison, saying anything less was a “travesty of justice.” Dean’s defense asked jurors to sentence him to a suspended sentence and community supervision that would keep him out of prison, noting that he was acting in his role as a police officer and was not in need of rehabilitation.

    The sentencing comes shortly after a brief trial fraught with issues of race, police violence and gun rights. Much of the trial testimony also focused on police body-camera footage of the shooting and a close examination of Dean’s actions before, during and after the single shot was fired.

    The case dates back to about 2:25 a.m. on October 12, 2019 when Dean and his police partner responded to Jefferson’s house after a neighbor called a non-emergency police line to report that her doors were open. Dean and his police partner, Carol Darch, did not announce themselves as police at the home, and Dean then fatally shot through a bedroom window at Jefferson, who had been up late playing video games with her young nephew.

    Dean resigned from the force days afterward and was arrested and charged with murder in her killing. He has been out on bond for the last three years.

    At trial, defense attorneys said Dean fired in self-defense, and Dean testified that he fired at Jefferson because she pointed a gun at him. He testified that he believed the home was being burglarized because the doors were open and the place appeared ransacked.

    “The state cannot prove to you beyond a reasonable doubt that this was not self-defense,” defense attorney Bob Gill said. “It’s tragic, but is not an offense under the state of Texas.”

    However, prosecutors argued there was no evidence he saw a gun in the woman’s hand before he fired at her. Further, Jefferson’s 11-year-old nephew, who was with her at the time, testified he did not see her raise a gun to the window. His police partner, Carol Darch, testified Dean did not mention he had seen a gun in the minutes after the shooting as they ran into the home.

    “If you can’t feel safe in your own home, where can you feel safe?” Tarrant County prosecutor Ashlea Deener told jurors in closing arguments. “When you think about your house, you think about safety. It’s where you go to retreat, to get away from the world.”

    Though Dean was charged with murder, jurors were also allowed to convict him on a lesser charge of manslaughter. The jury deliberated for more than 13 hours, according to CNN affiliate WFAA, before announcing a guilty verdict on Thursday. The manslaughter conviction of a police officer who was on duty is a first in Tarrant County, the station reported.

    Body cam footage released by the Fort Worth Police department. Must Mention the video is heavily edited and released by police when using.

    Woman shot and killed by police officer in her own home

    On Friday, in the sentencing phase of the trial, jurors heard from various witnesses, including a psychologist who evaluated Dean before he was hired by the Fort Worth Police Department and members of Jefferson’s and Dean’s families.

    The clinical and forensic psychologist, Dr. Kyle Clayton, described Dean as narcissistic and testified that he was “not psychologically suitable to serve as a police officer.” He said Dean exhibited signs of grandiosity.

    Defense witness Tim Foster, who attended the same church as Dean, described him as “dependable, upright, noble.”

    Dean’s mother, Donna, told jurors that he is the second born of her six children. She said he told the family he decided to become a police officer because “he wanted to make a difference in people’s lives and to help people.”

    Dean’s younger brother, Adam, called him “a man of integrity” who “cares about honor and wanting to do the right thing.” A younger sister who is a police officer, Alyssa, testified that he is “hardworking, humble, caring.”

    Jefferson’s older brother, Adarius Carr, told jurors his sister was diagnosed with diabetes at a young age and had aspired to become a doctor. Carr said Jefferson was his best friend and testified that he could not believe it when he heard she had been killed.

    Jefferson graduated from Xavier University of Louisiana in 2014 with a degree in biology and worked in pharmaceutical equipment sales, according to her family’s attorney.

    She had moved to Fort Worth a few months earlier to take care of her ailing mother and her nephews, family attorney S. Lee Merritt said at the time.

    Aaron Dean arrives at court for closing arguments on Wednesday.

    The prosecution’s first witness was Zion Carr, who was 8 years old and in the bedroom with his “Aunt Tay” when she was shot.

    Now 11, the boy testified they had accidentally burned hamburgers earlier in the night, so they opened the doors to air the smoke out of the house.

    He and his aunt were up late playing video games when Jefferson heard a noise outside, and she then went to her purse to get her gun, he testified. He did not see her raise her firearm toward the window, he testified.

    Zion said he did not hear or see anything outside the window, but he saw his aunt fall to the ground and start crying.

    “I was thinking, ‘Is it a dream?’” he testified. “She was crying and just shaking.”

    Prosecutors also called to the stand Dean’s police partner, Darch, who testified she was with Dean when they went to investigate the home.

    She said she believed the home was being burglarized because two doors were open, lights were on inside, cabinets were wide open and things were strewn about the living room and kitchen area.

    She had her back to the window when Dean began to yell out commands for Jefferson to put her hands up, she testified. Darch said she started to turn around, heard a gunshot, then looked over Dean’s shoulder and could see a face in the window with eyes “as big as saucers.”

    She testified she did not see Jefferson holding a gun and didn’t recall Dean ever saying that Jefferson had a gun.

    Dean testified last Monday that he fired at Jefferson because she pointed a gun at him.

    “As I started to get that second phrase out, ‘Show me your hands,’ I saw a silhouette,” the former officer said. “I was looking right down the barrel of a gun, and when I saw the barrel of that gun pointed at me, I fired a single shot from my duty weapon.”

    In cross-examination, however, Dean admitted many of his actions that night were “bad police work,” including firing without seeing her hands or what was behind her, failing to tell his partner he saw a gun and rushing into the home without fully ensuring it was safe.

    “You’ve got another fellow officer from the Fort Worth Police Department entering a home which you have determined to be a burglary in progress with a possible armed assailant, and you didn’t think to tell your partner, ‘Hey there’s a gun inside?’” prosecutor R. Dale Smith asked.

    “No,” Dean said.

    “You didn’t think to tell her, ‘Hey I saw somebody with a gun?’” Smith asked.

    “No,” he said.

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  • 5 things to know for December 19: Jan. 6, Twitter, World Cup, Immigration, Turbulence | CNN

    5 things to know for December 19: Jan. 6, Twitter, World Cup, Immigration, Turbulence | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    When you make a purchase at a coffee shop or casual eatery, an employee usually spins around a touch screen to show you suggested tip amounts – typically between 10% and 25%. Then, there’s an awkward moment as the worker (directly across from you) waits to see how much you tip while customers behind you peer over your shoulder. You then choose the highest option, reluctantly. It’s a familiar scenario that many people grapple with nowadays, and more shoppers are saying they feel stressed that a generous tip has become an etiquette norm instead of a low-pressure decision. Here’s what else you need to know to Get Up to Speed and On with Your Day.

    (You can get “5 Things You Need to Know Today” delivered to your inbox daily. Sign up here.)

    The January 6 committee investigating the 2021 insurrection at the US Capitol is set to make announcements today about criminal referrals to the Justice Department. The panel has weighed criminal referrals for former President Donald Trump and several members of his inner circle. A referral is a recommendation that the Justice Department investigate whether to charge the people in question, but the move is largely symbolic because it doesn’t obligate federal prosecutors to bring such a case. Whether the Justice Department brings charges will depend on whether the facts and the evidence support a prosecution, Attorney General Merrick Garland has said. Garland will make the ultimate call on any charging decisions.

    Elon Musk says he will step down as Twitter’s CEO if he’s voted out by a poll he tweeted Sunday. According to the poll, the option “yes” won by a margin of 57% to 43% – and Musk has said he would abide by the results. In several follow-up tweets, Musk suggested he was serious about leaving and made a vague threat about Twitter’s future if he is voted out. “As the saying goes, be careful what you wish, as you might get it,” Musk tweeted. Since buying Twitter for $44 billion and taking over as CEO in late October, Musk has been embroiled in numerous controversies for causing abrupt changes to platform and its workforce. The most recent change came over the weekend when Twitter banned links to certain other social media platforms, including Facebook and Instagram. The controversial policy was removed less than 24 hours after its initial introduction.

    Hear how Musk responded to journalists before he hung up mid-question

    Argentina won the 2022 World Cup on Sunday, beating France via a penalty shootout in one of the most thrilling finals in tournament history. Argentine soccer legend Lionel Messi dazzled in his last World Cup match, scoring twice, making tournament history and finally hoisting the trophy. The streets of Buenos Aires were awash with blue and white as people poured out to celebrate. While the match in Qatar ended in glory for Messi as a fitting culmination of his extraordinary career, it was a sad outcome for France’s superstar Kylian Mbappé. France made a stunning comeback to force the final to extra time, but was unable to secure the win, falling short of becoming the first team to win back-to-back World Cup titles in 60 years. Now the countdown begins to the next men’s World Cup in 2026. It will be held in the US, Mexico and Canada.

    stefano pozzebon argentina world cup

    Fans in Argentina douse reporter while celebrating World Cup win

    As border authorities try to prepare for the scheduled lifting of Title 42 on Wednesday, officials in the Rio Grande Valley say they have encountered between 900 and 1,200 migrants daily during the past two weeks. These numbers are reminiscent of the 2019 surge, when agents at the border encountered at least 1,000 migrants a day, according to a federal law enforcement source. The termination of the Title 42 policy is expected to lead to an increase in border crossings since authorities will no longer be able to quickly expel migrants as has been done since March 2020. Meanwhile, two buses carrying migrants arrived in New York City on Sunday and up to 15 more are expected in the next few days. The city’s shelter system is already at capacity and should expect more than 1,000 additional asylum-seekers to arrive every week, Mayor Eric Adams said. Denver, Colorado, is also struggling to provide shelter for a growing number of migrants.

    At least 36 people on a Hawaiian Airlines flight were injured after their plane encountered “severe turbulence” on a flight from Phoenix to Honolulu on Sunday, authorities said. The turbulence occurred 15 to 30 minutes before the plane landed in Honolulu, carrying 278 passengers and 10 crew. Twenty passengers were taken to emergency rooms, and 11 patients were in serious condition, Honolulu Emergency Medical Services said in a statement Sunday. Among those transported to the hospital was a 14-month-old child. The patients’ injuries included a serious head injury, lacerations, bruising and loss of consciousness, Honolulu EMS said. One passenger, a college student on her way home for winter break, told CNN the turbulence escalated suddenly and “felt like free-falling.”

    Thai warship sinks in severe weather, leaving 31 crew missing

    A Royal Thai Navy warship sank in severe weather early today, leaving 31 of its crew of 106 sailors missing in stormy seas in the Gulf of Thailand, Thai authorities said. Search and rescue operations are underway for the missing crew. The 252-foot long vessel was built in the US and commissioned into the Thai Royal Navy in 1987. A retired US Navy captain said the Thai crew faced a difficult situation on such an old ship.

    ‘Avatar: Way of Water’ has earned $435 million at the global box office

    The highly anticipated “Avatar” sequel is packing theaters – but needs to make another $2 billion to break even with its expensive production cost.

    Rihanna shares first images of baby boy

    The wait is over. The musician and entrepreneur posted this cute video of her son “hacking” her phone.

    Why we can’t get enough of the ‘Wednesday’ dance

    Hello, my dear storm clouds. Glad to know I’m not the only one still dying over Wednesday Addams and this iconic scene from the Netflix series.

    Cecily Strong bids farewell to ‘Saturday Night Live’

    The actress’ departure is another gut-punch to the show’s lineup. Watch some of the emotional moments from her farewell here.

    Pope Francis orders Vatican to return Parthenon sculptures to Greece

    These 2,500-year-old sculptures have been held in the Vatican for more than a century. The pope is now giving them to the Greek Orthodox Church.

    1,500

    That’s how many exotic fish spilled into a Berlin hotel lobby after a giant aquarium burst into shards, injuring at least two people. None of the fish survived, officials said, adding that the cause of the incident is being investigated. The aquarium was 46 feet high and on display in the foyer of a Radisson Collection Hotel. 

    “Together, we must stand up against the disturbing rise in antisemitism. And together, we must stand up against bigotry in any of its forms. Our democracy depends on it.”

    – US Attorney General Merrick Garland, speaking out against antisemitism at the National Menorah lighting Sunday night in New York City. The world’s largest menorah was lit to mark the start of Hanukkah, the Jewish festival of lights. Jewish families around the world will light a candle in a menorah every night for eight nights to commemorate the victory of the Maccabees over the Syrians and the re-dedication of the Second Temple of Jerusalem around 165 BC.

    rain and snow

    Severe storm and tornado threat continues for South as North sees more snow


    03:07

    – Source:
    CNN

    Check your local forecast here>>>

    The reason why your doughnut box is pink

    What do you prefer in the morning: bagels or doughnuts? Even if you’re firmly “Team Bagel,” you may make a switch after learning about the sweet history of pink doughnut boxes. (Click here to view) 

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  • 5 people killed in a ‘horrendous’ condo shooting in Canada, police say | CNN

    5 people killed in a ‘horrendous’ condo shooting in Canada, police say | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    Five people were killed in a shooting at a condominium in a Toronto suburb Sunday night, police said.

    At around 7:20 p.m., officers responded to an active shooting call at the building in Vaughan, a city just north of Toronto, York Regional Police Chief Jim MacSween said in a news conference.

    Police found a “horrendous scene where numerous victims were deceased,” MacSween said. A surviving victim who was shot was taken to a hospital in serious condition, police said in a release.

    The male gunman was shot by an officer during a confrontation and died, the chief said. Police have not released the shooter’s name.

    Police will not publicly name the victims until their families are notified of their deaths, MacSween said.

    Constable Laura Nicolle told CNN the incident was the “most terrible call I’ve seen in my entire career.”

    Nicolle said in an earlier news conference it appears the victims were from more than one condo unit.

    Residents were evacuated from the building while emergency response personnel worked to clear the building and ensure there were no more victims. The residents waited for hours as police cleared the building floor-by-floor, finally returning to their homes after midnight.

    The suspect’s motive has not been released and police did not share what led up to the shooting. Authorities believe there is no longer any threat to the community.

    “We offer our sincere condolences to the victims and their families,” MacSween said.

    The York Regional Police’s homicide unit will continue investigating the shooting, MacSween said. Police will be on the scene as the investigation continues, according to the release.

    Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit, which investigates when officers discharge their firearm at a person, has been notified of the officer shooting the suspect and will look into the incident, he said.

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  • January 6 committee considering how to handle uncooperative GOP lawmakers, Schiff says | CNN Politics

    January 6 committee considering how to handle uncooperative GOP lawmakers, Schiff says | CNN Politics

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    Washington
    CNN
     — 

    Rep. Adam Schiff, a member of the House select committee investigating the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol, said Sunday the panel is considering how to hold accountable the GOP lawmakers who defied their subpoenas.

    “We will also be considering what’s the appropriate remedy for members of Congress who ignore a congressional subpoena, as well as the evidence that was so pertinent to our investigation and why we wanted to bring them in,” the California Democrat told CNN’s Jake Tapper on “State of the Union.”

    “That will be something we will be considering tomorrow,” Schiff added, noting that the panel has weighed whether it is better to criminally refer members of Congress to other parts of the federal government or if Congress should “police its own.” Such congressional mechanisms could include censure and referrals to the House Ethics Committee.

    Five House Republicans have been subpoenaed by the January 6 panel: GOP leader Kevin McCarthy and Reps. Jim Jordan of Ohio, Mo Brooks of Alabama, Andy Biggs of Arizona and Scott Perry of Pennsylvania.

    The select committee is set to hold its final public hearing on Monday and release its full report on Wednesday.

    The panel is expected to announce it will refer at least three criminal charges against former President Donald Trump to the Justice Department, including insurrection, obstruction of an official proceeding and conspiracy to defraud the federal government, according to a source familiar with the matter.

    The impact House referrals could have remains unclear because the Department of Justice special counsel investigation is already examining Trump in its extensive probe into January 6.

    But in addition to criminal referrals, January 6 committee Chairman Bennie Thompson told reporters that the panel could issue five to six other categories of referrals, such as ethics referrals to the House Ethics Committee, bar discipline referrals and campaign finance referrals.

    “Censure was something that we have considered. Ethics referrals is something we have considered,” Schiff said Sunday, noting that the committee will disclose its decision Monday.

    CNN previously reported that the panel has also weighed criminal referrals for a number of Trump’s closest allies, including former Trump attorney John Eastman, former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, former DOJ official Jeffrey Clark and former Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani, according to multiple sources.

    Schiff reiterated Sunday that he believes there is evidence that Trump committed criminal offenses related to his efforts to overturn the 2020 election.

    “Viewing it as a former prosecutor, I think there’s sufficient evidence to charge the president,” he said. “The evidence seems pretty plain to me.”

    “This is someone who, in multiple ways, tried to pressure state officials to find votes that didn’t exist. This is someone who tried to interfere with a joint session, even inciting a mob to attack the Capitol. If that’s not criminal, then I don’t know what is,” he added.

    Schiff declined to comment on the specific charges the committee is planning to refer to the Justice Department as it relates to the former president, but he made clear he thinks Trump violated multiple criminal statutes, including one for insurrection.

    “If you look at Donald Trump’s acts and you match them up against the statute, it’s a pretty good match,” Schiff told Tapper when asked specifically about a charge of insurrection.

    “I think the president has violated multiple criminal laws. And I think you have to be treated like any other American who breaks the law, and that is, you have to be prosecuted,” he said.

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  • Atlanta shootings have left 4 children dead in a 3-week span. Mayor says this is an unacceptable trend | CNN

    Atlanta shootings have left 4 children dead in a 3-week span. Mayor says this is an unacceptable trend | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    In the span of three weeks, shootings in Atlanta have killed four children between the ages of 11 and 16, and Mayor Andre Dickens said Sunday the recent trend is unacceptable.

    “A week before Christmas, families should be preparing to celebrate,” Dickens wrote in a statement. “Instead, we have parents in Atlanta doing what no parent should ever have to do: laying their children to rest.”

    Dickens wrote these last few weeks “have shown all too clearly that Atlanta is not immune from this unacceptable trend.”

    The most recent shooting took place Saturday evening at an apartment complex when two teens were killed and three others were injured, according to Deputy Chief Charles Hampton Jr. with the city’s police department.

    Hampton said the shooting appeared to start as some sort of dispute on social media that escalated into gunfire between two groups. One group of individuals came to the apartment complex with guns. However, it was the second group at that location who opened fire on the first group of individuals, according to Hampton.

    The victims in this shooting were identified as two boys – ages 14 and 16 – who were dead when police arrived on scene, Hampton said. The injured victims included an 11-year-old boy, a 15-year-old girl and a 15-year-old boy, who were all taken to a local hospital.

    Police are currently interviewing several individuals to see what their involvement was in the shooting.

    “This should be a time where we all should be getting ready for the holidays, but we have at least two families that will be planning funerals,” Hampton said.

    This follows the shooting at Atlantic Station, a popular shopping district, on November 26 that left two boys dead. Those victims were identified as Zyion Charles, 12, and Cameron Jackson, 15.

    Police said that shooting occurred after a “group of juveniles” were escorted off Atlantic Station property for “unruly behavior” and violating the retail district’s curfew. The group then moved to 17th Street, where the dispute occurred and gunfire erupted. Zyion died at the scene. But it was Cameron, who succumbed to his injuries several days later, who was the intended target of the shooting, police said.

    Two boys, ages 15 and 16, were arrested in connection with this shooting. Each of them face two murder charges along with charges of aggravated assault and criminal gang activity, Hampton said.

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  • Arkansas police arrested a man and woman after the body of her 6-year-old son was found buried under a home | CNN

    Arkansas police arrested a man and woman after the body of her 6-year-old son was found buried under a home | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    A man and woman in Arkansas have been arrested and face capital murder charges after the body of the woman’s 6-year-old son was discovered beneath the floor of a home Friday night, according to the Arkansas State Police.

    The mother, 28-year-old Ashley Roland, and Nathan Bridges, 33, are being held at the Lee County Jail, state police said in a news release. In addition to capital murder, both face charges of abuse of a corpse, tampering with physical evidence and endangering the welfare of a minor.

    It was not immediately clear Sunday morning if Roland or Bridges had attorneys who could comment on their behalf.

    Special agents with the Arkansas State Police Criminal Investigation Division were called by Lee County Sheriff’s deputies to the home in Moro, a small community about 70 miles west of Memphis, Tennessee, on Friday night, around 10:45 p.m., state police said. It’s unclear what initially led authorities to the home.

    Based on initial findings, authorities said they believe the boy died from injuries he may have sustained in the home three months ago, the news release said, adding the state medical examiner would be responsible for determining the manner and cause of death.

    In addition, authorities continue to investigate what they believe are burn injuries on the scalp of a 6-year-old girl who also lived in the home. Roland, according to police, was also said to be the mother of that girl, who was taken to a hospital in Memphis where she is in stable condition.

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  • Trump calls on his supporters to stand down on McCarthy opposition | CNN Politics

    Trump calls on his supporters to stand down on McCarthy opposition | CNN Politics

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    CNN
     — 

    Donald Trump has weighed in on the contentious battle confronting GOP leader Kevin McCarthy in his bid to be the chamber’s next speaker, with the former president calling on his supporters in Congress to halt their opposition tactics against McCarthy and stop “playing a very dangerous game.”

    “Look, I think this: Kevin has worked very hard. I think he deserves the shot,” Trump said Friday in an interview with Breitbart News. “Hopefully he’s going to be very strong and going to be very good and he’s going to do what everybody wants.”

    The former president cited the scenario from 2015, when then-House Speaker John Boehner resigned after clashes with conservative GOP hard-liners and was then replaced by Paul Ryan.

    “It’s a very dangerous game. Some bad things could happen. Look, we had Boehner and he was a strange person but we ended up with Paul Ryan who was ten times worse,” Trump told Breitbart. “Paul Ryan was an incompetent speaker. I think he goes down as the worst speaker in history.”

    McCarthy is in a fight for the speakership with five hardline Republicans opposing him. With House Republicans holding 222 seats in the next Congress, such opposition would deny him the 218 votes he’d need to be elected speaker.

    McCarthy has negotiated behind closed doors over chamber rules that his detractors want to weaken the speakership, including allowing an individual member to call for a vote to oust the speaker. That’s something the California Republican has resisted so far.

    McCarthy and Trump had a brief falling out following the January 6, 2021, insurrection, with McCarthy even suggesting on a private phone call that was recorded that Trump should resign. But the two quickly made amends with McCarthy traveling to meet Trump at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida just a few weeks later.

    In his interview with Breitbart, Trump didn’t name those lawmakers who oppose McCarthy’s speakership bid but said he is “friendly” with many of them and they are supporters of his.

    “I’m friendly with a lot of those people who are against Kevin. I think almost every one of them are very much inclined toward Trump, and me toward them. But I have to tell them, and I have told them, you’re playing a very dangerous game,” Trump said. “You could end up with some very bad situations. I use the Boehner to Paul Ryan example. You understand what I’m saying? It could be a doomsday scenario.”

    McCarthy said Friday that the five conservative holdouts – Reps. Matt Gaetz of Florida, Andy Biggs of Arizona, Ralph Norman of South Carolina, Bob Good of Virginia and Matt Rosendale of Montana – have not budged in their opposition to him and offered dire warnings that House Republicans’ hard-fought narrow majority could be derailed if they don’t bend.

    “We’re still continuing to talk, but they have not moved,” McCarthy told conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt, taking to the airwaves to argue that the detractors threaten to put the entire House Republican agenda in peril and that basic decisions on legislating and investigating will be “all in jeopardy.”

    McCarthy’s comments represent a sharp escalation in his public pressure campaign against critics, including Biggs, who last week announced his own bid for the speaker’s gavel.

    And Trump isn’t the only one signaling to House Republicans to get in order. The conservative-leaning editorial board of The Wall Street Journal wrote Saturday that those looking to take down McCarthy “don’t seem to have any constructive reason to oppose Mr. McCarthy beyond a desire to grab the media spotlight or blow everything up.”

    Delving into “GOP dysfunction since Election Day,” the editorial board said, “Republicans are the gang that couldn’t shoot straight – except at one another.”

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  • Georgia grand jury investigating Trump election interference is winding down and has begun writing final report | CNN Politics

    Georgia grand jury investigating Trump election interference is winding down and has begun writing final report | CNN Politics

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    CNN
     — 

    A special grand jury investigating efforts by former President Donald Trump and his allies to overturn the 2020 election in Georgia is winding down its work, according to sources familiar with the matter.

    The Atlanta-area special grand jury has largely finished hearing witness testimony and has already begun writing its final report, the sources said, an indication that prosecutors will soon be deciding whether to seek criminal charges and against whom.

    In Georgia, special grand juries are not authorized to issue indictments. The final report serves as a mechanism for the panel to recommend whether Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis should pursue indictments in her election interference investigation. Willis could then go to a regularly empaneled grand jury to seek indictments.

    “It’s a significant step, it’s the culmination of work by prosecutors and the special grand jury. But it shouldn’t be taken as any kind of guarantee of a conviction down the road,” said Michael J. Moore, former US attorney for the Middle District of Georgia. “It’s just the beginning.”

    Prosecutors had hoped to move ahead with indictments as early as December, sources previously told CNN. But court fights for testimony from high-profile witnesses, such as South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn and former Trump White House chief of staff Mark Meadows – all of whom were ordered to testify before the special grand jury – have likely shifted indictments to 2023, according to a person familiar with the situation.

    Willis has already informed Rudy Giuliani and 16 Republicans who served as pro-Trump fake electors in the state that they are targets of her investigation. She has also been scrutinizing Trump and other top lieutenants, including Meadows.

    The next phase in the Georgia investigation comes at a politically and legally perilous time for Trump. His nascent 2024 presidential campaign is off to a sputtering start, and he is under Justice Department scrutiny both for his handling of classified government documents after leaving the White House and for his activities surrounding the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol and efforts to upend the 2020 election results. Federal investigators are also scrutinizing several Trump associates who were involved in the unsuccessful effort to overturn the presidential election.

    Some outside legal experts have cautioned, though, that any case against Trump would be far from a slam dunk.

    When there’s a public case, “the games begin. It will be fought in the court of law and the court of public opinion,” Moore said.

    If prosecutors hope to bring a successful case against Trump or his allies, they will have to prove that their activities extended well beyond the usual efforts to win an election and veered into criminal territory.

    “I just think when you’re taking on a political figure like this, it’s a tougher case,” Moore said. “Every candidate wants to win, every candidate does everything they can to win, and they explore every option.”

    Willis has already spent more than a year digging into Trump and his associates, kicking off her investigation in early 2021, soon after a January call became public in which Trump pressured Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to “find” the votes necessary for Trump to win the Peach State in the presidential election.

    Trump lost to Joe Biden in Georgia by nearly 12,000 votes in 2020. The former president has insisted that there was nothing problematic about his activities contesting the 2020 election in Georgia and has referred to his call with Raffensperger as a “perfect” phone call.

    Willis’ investigation has long since expanded beyond the call to encompass false election fraud claims made to state lawmakers; the fake elector scheme; efforts by unauthorized individuals to access voting machines in one Georgia county; and threats and harassment against election workers.

    The special grand jury – made up of 23 jurors and three alternates – was seated in May 2022, with the power to subpoena witnesses and documents and otherwise investigate the effort to subvert Georgia’s presidential election results. The panel is authorized to continue its work until May 2023, but Willis has signaled for months that she hoped to conclude the grand jury’s investigative work well before then.

    A spokesman for the district attorney’s office declined to comment. A Trump spokesman did not respond to a request for comment.

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  • Former Atlanta police officer indicted in the 2019 shooting death of Jimmy Atchison | CNN

    Former Atlanta police officer indicted in the 2019 shooting death of Jimmy Atchison | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    For more than three years, Jimmy Hill has kept a weekly vigil outside the offices of the Fulton County district attorney in Atlanta, distributing fliers about his son’s death at the hands of police and demanding justice.

    This week, former Atlanta police officer Sung Kim was indicted on charges of felony murder, involuntary manslaughter and violation of oath by public officer in connection with the shooting death of 21-year-old Jimmy Atchison in January 2019, according to Jeff DiSantis, a spokesman for the DA’s office.

    It’s not clear if Kim, who retired from the Atlanta Police Department, has an attorney.

    “Oh man, it hasn’t hit me yet,” Hill said over the phone Friday night.

    The case had languished amidst a backlog of thousands of cases in Fulton County caused in part by the Covid-19 pandemic, CNN previously reported.

    “It’ll hit me in a minute,” Hill said. “I’m relieved but we still have a lot more to fight.”

    Hill, 60, said he learned of the grand jury indictment from his attorney earlier Friday. His family expects to hold a news conference with the members of the NAACP and their attorney on Monday.

    Atchison was shot and killed on January 22, 2019, by the Atlanta police officer. Atchison was unarmed when he was shot in the face after a foot chase.

    An investigation by the previous administration at the Fulton County DA’s office found the shooting to be unjustified and recommended the officer who killed Atchison be charged with felony murder.

    The officer has said he believed Atchison was armed but investigators later confirmed he was not, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution previously reported.

    Officers were pursuing Atchison at an apartment complex while trying to arrest him on a warrant.

    Jimmy Hill hands out fliers in downtown Atlanta.

    Georgia NAACP Chapter President Gerald Griggs said he received a letter from the DA’s office in April stating there was a backlog of 11,000 cases – attributable in part to the pandemic – plus an estimated 55,000 cases that were not properly closed by the previous administration, CNN has reported.

    In recent years other families whose children have been killed by police have joined Hill at the weekly demonstrations, holding posters with photos and information about the cases.

    “Some of these families are barely holding on to their sanity,” Hill told CNN in October. “People don’t understand what police brutality does to the family and the community. It challenges your mental health.”

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  • The real revelation from the ‘Twitter Files’: Content moderation is messy | CNN Business

    The real revelation from the ‘Twitter Files’: Content moderation is messy | CNN Business

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    New York
    CNN
     — 

    Before then-President Donald Trump was banned from Twitter after the Capitol riot last January, there was a debate among some employees about what to do with the company’s most prominent and controversial user.

    Some employees questioned whether Trump’s final tweets on the platform actually violated the company’s policies, according to internal documents. Others asked if the tweets could be considered veiled (or “coded”) efforts to dodge Twitter’s rules and requested research to better understand how users might interpret them.

    The high-stakes debate among several employees, including several top execs, was revealed earlier this week in the latest edition of the “Twitter Files,” a tranche of internal company documents provided to and tweeted out by several journalists unaffiliated with major news organizations. The releases so far have focused on some of the social media company’s most high-profile, and controversial, content moderation decisions.

    The Twitter Files reports appear aimed at calling into question the integrity of Twitter’s former leadership and riling up the right-leaning user base that new owner Elon Musk has increasingly courted. The latest release, for example, appeared to imply that Twitter executives had sidestepped the platform’s rules when deciding to ban Trump and instead sought a justification to support a partisan decision they’d already made. That interpretation, while not fully supported by the documents, was echoed by Musk, who has cheered and seemingly sanctioned the release of the documents. But outside of Musk’s core base, reaction to the Twitter Files, which provide little new insight into the company’s policy and decision-making, has been largely muted.

    Strip away the spectacle and partisan discord and what the Twitter Files show is something that is arguably both far less explosive but nonetheless should give all users pause, regardless of where they sit on the political spectrum. In the absence of meaningful coordination or government oversight, a select few powerful tech platforms are left to make incredibly impactful and difficult decisions around content moderation — and, even when well intentioned, the people at these companies often struggle with how messy that process can be.

    In moments of crisis, platforms are generally on their own to determine how to weigh sometimes competing priorities — protecting speech versus protecting users — and often under immense public scrutiny and with pressure to act quickly. These companies have created extensive platform guidelines, set up content moderation councils, partnered with fact-checkers and invested heavily in artificial intelligence, but at the end of the day, it can still just be a group of employees trying to sort through unprecedented decisions such as whether or not to ban a sitting US president.

    “There’s no decision that’s cost free,” said Matt Perault, tech policy consultant and professor at University of North Carolina’s School of Information and Library Science. “The challenge is that any decision [social media companies] make, including the decision not to act, will have consequences and they need to figure out which consequences they’re comfortable with … I do think it is much harder than most people seem to think it would be.”

    The process doesn’t necessarily always yield the right result. Former Twitter head of trust and safety Yoel Roth has acknowledged the company may not have made the right call in how to handle the 2020 New York Post story about Hunter Biden’s laptop. And Twitter founder and former CEO Jack Dorsey reiterated in an online post Tuesday that he believes the company acted wrongly in removing Trump’s account.

    “We did the right thing for the public company business at the time, but the wrong thing for the internet and society,” Dorsey wrote, although he added, “I continue to believe there was no ill intent or hidden agendas, and everyone acted according to the best information we had at the time. Of course mistakes were made.”

    Monday’s Twitter Files released from journalist Bari Weiss appeared to present screenshots showing Twitter employees debating how to handle Trump’s tweets in the wake of the January 6, 2021, Capitol attack as proof that the company’s leadership wanted to sidestep its rules to ban Trump. But the screenshots could also be interpreted as showing a group of employees challenging each other to find the best possible way to apply the company’s rules during a critical moment that no one could have perfectly prepared for.

    The process of involving multiple staffers and teams and relying on research for high-profile decisions does not appear out of line with how Twitter and other social platforms make content moderation decisions, especially in crisis situations.

    “This is how the whole process went … this is not really out of the ordinary,” one former Twitter executive told CNN, noting that the various teams involved in content decisions would push each other to consider context and information they might not have thought of as they worked through how to handle difficult issues. “I think these conversations look like people were trying to be really thoughtful and careful,” the former executive said.

    It’s not just Twitter that wrestles with tough decisions, including around Trump. Meta also had a monthslong back-and-forth with its internal team and its external oversight board about its own decision to suspend Trump on Facebook and Instagram.

    The Files also point to several instances in which Twitter leaders changed, or considered changing, the company’s policies as evidence that they had ulterior motives. For example, there was a screenshot of a Slack message from an unnamed employee the day after Trump’s ban discussing a desire to address medical misinformation and “getting to a place of improved maturity in how our policies are actualized.” But examining emergent concerns and considering whether they might require new or updated policies seems to be precisely the job of social media trust and safety teams.

    The “Twitter Files” threads appear to have been written “with a very clear agenda,” the former executive said. “What they seem to have missed … is just how much power and influence was sitting on the shoulders of a very small number of people.”

    Even Dorsey in his Tuesday night post called for a radical overhaul of how social media works that would involve taking away the power of big social media platforms, including the one he co-founded. “I generally think companies have become far too powerful,” Dorsey said. He added that he is pushing for the growth of decentralized social media that is not controlled by any one corporation or individual, and where users can choose their own forms of content moderation.

    Still, the Twitter Files reports show just how many of the company’s employees and teams were involved in the deliberations over difficult content decisions. According to the former Twitter executive, that was by design. “Twitter’s process was designed to make sure that the decision doesn’t come down to just one person,” they said. “The alternative is that you wait until Jack Dorsey decides he doesn’t like somebody and you take it down.”

    And despite the often-charged rhetoric about the people making content decisions at social media companies, “the people who do this work are thoughtful, are skilled,” Perault said. “They’re deeply connected to the technology, to the products, to the social implications of their products.”

    The process under Musk now appears to be much different — the new Twitter owner has fired many of the employees that had been responsible for safety on the platform, he’s used easily-manipulated Twitter polls to justify major content rulings, he’s done away with Twitter’s council of outside trust and safety experts and he’s based at least one decision on who to allow on the platform on his personal feelings.

    It’s hard to argue that process isn’t messy, too.

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  • Memphis shooting leaves five people in critical condition | CNN

    Memphis shooting leaves five people in critical condition | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    Five people were in critical condition after a “domestic situation” in Memphis Friday night ended in a shooting, police say.

    Officers responding to a report of a shooting in a north Memphis neighborhood shortly before 8 p.m. discovered two men and three women had been shot, according to the Memphis Police Department.

    The shooting victims were in critical condition at Regional Medical Center, police said.

    The unidentified suspect is known by the victims, and the shooting was the result of a domestic situation, police spokeswoman Theresa Carlson said via email.

    The suspect got away in a white Infiniti, police said.

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