Trump expected to issue pardons on last day as president while Senate set to reconvene

CBS News

2021-01-19 20:01:09

• WATCH LIVE: How to address the surge of anti-Asian hate crimes

  In the year since COVID-19 entered the U.S., incidents of racially motivated harassment of Asian Americans have been on the rise. What has contributed to the surge in racism and hate crimes towards Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, and how can the issue be addressed?. Join PBS NewsHour’s Amna Nawaz,...Read Full StoryHate CrimesNew York City SubwayAsian AmericansPoliticsWhite RacismViolent CrimeStop TrumpPacific IslandersPBS NewsHour 'sMalaysian84-year-oldAAPI Progressive ActionWhite HouseDemocratsCongressAmna NawazHelen ZiaAmanda NguyenDonald TrumpJoe BidenNancy PelosiKamala Harris

• Tank Noodle staff gets $700,000 in back pay after Labor Dept. probe

  A North Side Vietnamese restaurant, whose owners faced public ridicule after attending the Jan. 6 rally for then-President Donald Trump that led to the attack on the U.S. Capitol, has been forced to pay workers nearly $700,000 in back wages, the U.S. Labor Department said Wednesday. The agency said it...Read Full StoryU.s. Labor DepartmentJobsPoliticsLabor IssuesU.S. Department Of LaborFederal EmployeesForced LaborPublic EmployeesFederal LawLabor Dept.VietnameseThe U.S. Labor DepartmentThe Labor DepartmentTank Noodle 'sABC7 ChicagoDonald TrumpJoe Biden

• Biden's pick for top Pentagon policy job apologizes for past tweets at confirmation hearing

  (CNN) — President Joe Biden's nominee to become the top policy official at the Pentagon, Colin Kahl, apologized to Republican senators for using 'sometimes disrespectful' language in tweets criticizing several Trump administration defense policy decisions after he was grilled in his confirmation hearing on Thursday. The tweets were brought up...Read Full StoryDefense DepartmentNational DefensePoliticsRepublican SenateRepublican SenatorsObamaCNNThe White HouseRepublicansDemocraticThe Department Of DefenseCongressJCPOAThe PentagonTweetsJoe BidenColin KahlTom CottonDonald TrumpLloyd AustinNeera TandenJoe ManchinJoni ErnstJohn BoltonQasem SoleimaniGeorge W. BushRobert GatesTim Kaine

• Progressives irked by Biden's early deal-making to hold Dems together

  Washington (CNN) — Sitting on an empty stage at the White House Wednesday evening, President Joe Biden stared into a camera and made an appeal to House Democrats who, after passing his massive Covid-19 relief package, are worried it is now being watered down. 'I know you're all making some...Read Full StoryUs HouseProgressive DemocratsPoliticsRepublicansLiberal DemocratsSenate DemocratsHouse DemocratsCNNThe White HouseThe Oval OfficeAmtrakHouse Progressive CaucusTrumpConservative DemsFellow ProgressivesJoe BidenRo KhannaRon KlainBernie SandersElizabeth WarrenJen PsakiMitch McconnellPramila JayapalKamala HarrisAlexandria Ocasio CortezRashida TlaibNancy PelosiKyrsten SinemaJoe Manchin

• Federal investigators are examining communications between US lawmakers and Capitol rioters

  (CNN) — Federal investigators are examining records of communications between members of Congress and the pro-Trump mob that attacked the US Capitol, as the investigation moves closer to exploring whether lawmakers wittingly or unwittingly helped the insurrectionists, according to a US official briefed on the matter. The data gathered so...Read Full StoryUs CapitolFbiMike LeePoliticsFederal OfficialsLawmakersPolice OfficialsGovernment OfficialsSecurity OfficialsCNNCapitol PoliceFBIGeolocator DataDemocratsOath KeepersJosh HawleySheldon WhitehouseDonald Trump

• 'I think she's lovely and I wouldn't mess with her': NY Attorney General Letitia James takes charge of Andrew Cuomo probe

  (CNN) — New York Attorney General Letitia James was only a few months into her second term as New York City's public advocate when, over a few hours during a dinner party with friends, a stunning twist of fate put her on a collision course with the state's most powerful man, Gov. Andrew Cuomo.Read Full StoryState Of New YorkLegislatureNew York City ComptrollerNew York StateCNNThe New YorkerSenateLegal AidWFPCitigroupFifth Avenue CommitteeAOCDemocratic PartyState Attorney GeneralBrooklynLetitia JamesAndrew CuomoEric SchneidermanJamesBill De BlasioDonald TrumpBernie SandersBrad LanderElizabeth Warren

• How the QAnon conspiracy threatens U.S. democracy

  Two months after the deadly attacks on the nation's capital, top intelligence officials issued a warning saying pro-Trump militia groups could be plotting to breach the halls of Congress on Thursday, one of several dates important to the QAnon conspiracy movement. CBS News tech reporter Dan Patterson discusses the danger conspiracy theory followers present to the country and why the fringe movement will continue.Read Full StoryU.s.QanonConspiracy TheoryDemocracyFringeCongressU.S.CBS NewsCountryAttacksPro-Trump Militia GroupsDan Patterson

• Harry Dunn: Boris Johnson pledges to do 'whatever we can' for justice

  Boris Johnson has said the government would do 'whatever we can to get justice' for Harry Dunn, but would not commit to meet the teenager's parents. Mr Dunn, 19, died when his motorbike was in a crash with a car near RAF Croughton, Northamptonshire, in 2019. The suspect, Anne Sacoolas,...Read Full StoryExtraditionPledgesElectionPoliticsUkSecretaryJusticeEnglandHome OfficeState DepartmentBBC NewsInstagramTwitterRAF CroughtonNorthamptonshireHarry DunnBoris JohnsonDonald TrumpMike PompeoRishi SunakTony BlinkenDominic RaabJoe Biden

• 'The EU cannot defend Europe': NATO chief

  NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said in an interview with AFP that he welcomes EU efforts to boost its defence industry /AFP NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg warned Thursday that Europe's defence depends on close transatlantic bonds and not on a quest for the continent's strategic autonomy. Most EU member states are also NATO member states, and their citizens' safety relies on an alliance that far outspends their own capitals on security, he argued. In an interview with AFP, after an address at the College of Europe in Belgium, Stoltenberg said he welcomed Brussels' efforts to boost spending and streamline its defence industry. But he was dubious about calls for the continent to develop "strategic autonomy" of the kind championed by France's President Emmanuel Macron. The European Union doesn't have an army of its own, but the European Commission is seeking what it calls a more "geopolitical role", with its own foreign and defence industry policy. Fellow Brussels-based institution NATO, by contrast, bills itself as the most successful military alliance in the world -- in large part thanks to American military spending. "I support EU efforts on defence, because more defence spending, new military capabilities and addressing the fragmentation of the European defence industry -- all of that will be good for European security, for transatlantic security, for all of us," he told AFP. "So all these efforts -- as long as they complement NATO -- we welcome them, but the EU cannot defend Europe." - Still 'pertinent'? - "More than 90 percent of the people in the European Union, they live in a NATO country. But only 20 percent of NATO's defence spending comes from NATO EU members," Stoltenberg said. Under the previous US president, Donald Trump, transatlantic ties frayed. Trump repeatedly accused the European allies of not pulling their weight, and Macron in turn accused NATO of failing to adapt to Europe's security priorities-- famously branding its strategy as "brain dead". There have also been tensions between European capitals and NATO ally Turkey, which is accused of breaking a UN arms embargo on Libya and violating Greek waters in a search for gas reserves. During this period Britain, a major NATO member, left the European Union, further tipping the balance of spending between EU and non-EU allies in the latter's favour. This has fuelled calls from some in Europe for the continent to chart its own strategic course. Macron told the Financial Times last month: "I am a defender of European sovereignty, of strategic autonomy, not because I'm against NATO or because I doubt our American friends, but because I am lucid on the state of the world. "Nobody can tell me that today's NATO is a structure that, in its foundations, is still pertinent. It was founded to face down the Warsaw Pact. There is no more a Warsaw Pact," he said. The Warsaw Pact was signed in 1955 to form a Soviet bloc counterpart to NATO, which was created six years earlier. But Stoltenberg says NATO still faces many other foes. He cited Russia's encroachment on its neighbours, international terrorism, cyberattacks, the security impacts of climate change, and the need to maintain an advantage over rising China. Stoltenberg, the 61-year-old former prime minister of non-EU NATO member Norway, prefers the term "strategic solidarity" to "strategic autonomy". "I don't believe in Europe alone. I don't believe in North America alone. I believe in North America and Europe together in strategic solidarity in NATO," he said. "Because I don't believe that any country or any continent alone can manage the security challenges we face today." - Weaken the link - In geographic terms, he points out, the European Union's flanks are defended in the north Atlantic from Russian encroachment by non-EU members the US, Canada and the UK. In the southeast, non-EU member Turkey -- often criticised as a threat to stability by Paris and Athens -- sits on the borders with Syria and Iraq and is "extremely important in the fight against Daesh (the Islamic State group), international terrorism." US President Joe Biden, expected to attend a NATO alliance leaders' summit later this year, is seen as wanting to keep pushing European members to meet their defence spending commitments -- as Trump did. "But most importantly, this is about politics," Stoltenberg said. "Because any attempt to weaken the link, to divide Europe and North America, will not only weaken NATO, it will divide Europe." NatoUnPoliticsSyriaThe College Of EuropeThe European CommissionAmericanUNGreekThe Financial TimesThe Warsaw PactSovietThe European Union 'sRussianAFP NATOJens StoltenbergEmmanuel MacronDonald TrumpJoe Biden

• A Beachfront Mansion Owned by the Trump Family is for Sale for $49M — See Photos

  The Trump family has all but declared Florida their official home state, now that multiple members have decided to leave Manhattan and Washington D.C. behind, post-Donald Trump’s presidency, and relocate to the Sunshine State. Well, if you’re in the market for a beachfront mansion just across the street from where the Trumps currently reside in Mar-a-Lago and have a cool $49 million to spare — we have the perfect home for you. Previously purchased by Donald Trump’s sister Maryanne Trump Barry in 2004 for $11.5 million; the home was sold 14 years later — for $18.5 million — to an LLC managed by Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, per the Palm Beach Daily News. (See all of the Realtor.com photos!)Read Full StoryBeachfrontManhattanPoliticsTrump HomeRenovationsFloridaThe Trump FamilyLLCThe Palm Beach Daily NewsRealtor.comMar-a-LagoSaleWet BarWashington D.C.Donald TrumpMaryanne Trump BarryDonald Trump Jr.Eric Trump

• Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett delivers 1st opinion

  WASHINGTON (AP) — Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett delivered her first opinion Thursday, ruling against an environmental group that had sought access to government records. President Donald Trump’s third nominee wrote for a 7-2 court that certain draft documents do not have to be disclosed under the federal Freedom of Information Act. The case was the first one Barrett heard after joining the court in late October, and it took four months for the 11-page opinion to be released. Two liberal justices, Stephen Breyer and Sonia Sotomayor, dissented.It is something of a tradition for new justices to be assigned a case in which the court is unanimous for their first opinion, but it doesn’t always happen. Both of Trump’s other nominees, Justice Neil Gorsuch and Justice Brett Kavanaugh, wrote unanimous first opinions. Sotomayor also got a unanimous opinion for her first assignment, but President Barack Obama’s other nominee, Justice Elena Kagan, was assigned a first opinion where the court divided 8-1.The opinion Barrett wrote involved the environmental group the Sierra Club, which sued seeking access to federal government documents involving certain structures used to cool industrial equipment and their potential harm to endangered wildlife. Barrett began by explaining that FOIA makes “records available to the public upon request, unless those records fall within one of nine exemptions.” Those exemptions include “documents generated during an agency’s deliberations about a policy, as opposed to documents that embody or explain a policy that the agency adopts.”Barrett said the documents the Sierra Club was seeking were draft documents that did not need to be disclosed. And she dismissed concerns the group had raised that ruling against it would encourage officials to “stamp every document ‘draft’” to avoid disclosing them. Barrett said that if “evidence establishes that an agency has hidden a functionally final decision in draft form” then it won’t be protected from disclosure requirements.Barrett’s predecessor on the court, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, liked to recount that she was assigned a “miserable” case involving a federal law about pensions for her first opinion, a case on which the court had divided 6-3. She said that though she and the court’s first female justice, Sandra Day O’Connor, were on different sides of the case, when she announced the opinion in court, O’Connor passed her a note that said: “This is your first opinion for the Court, it is a fine one, I look forward to many more.”Because of the coronavirus pandemic, the justices are not currently announcing their decisions in the courtroom but only posting them online.Supreme Court JusticesJustice KavanaughJustice SotomayorPoliticsFederal CourtPublic OpinionAPThe Sierra ClubFOIAWASHINGTONRequestLiberalOctoberFreedom Of InformationNomineesAmy Coney BarrettDonald TrumpStephen BreyerSonia SotomayorNeil GorsuchBrett KavanaughBarack ObamaElena KaganRuth Bader GinsburgSandra Day O'connor