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January 6 Committee will seek interview with Ginni Thomas, sources say | CNN Politics

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January 6 Committee will seek interview with Ginni Thomas, sources say | CNN Politics



CNN
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The Home Choose Committee investigating January 6 will search an interview with conservative activist Virginia “Ginni” Thomas, spouse of Supreme Court docket Justice Clarence Thomas, in response to a number of sources conversant in the investigation.

Most members of the Home choose committee investigating January 6 – together with chair Bennie Thompson and vice chair Liz Cheney – consider the panel ought to interview her, CNN reported earlier Monday.

The committee has had ongoing discussions about Ginni Thomas, and CNN reported final week that it has in its possession 29 textual content messages that present her pleading with then-White Home chief of workers Mark Meadows to proceed the combat to overturn the 2020 presidential election outcomes.

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Thomas, a conservative activist, lately revealed that she attended the pro-Trump rally that preceded the US Capitol assault on January 6, 2021, however says she “performed no function” in planning the occasions of that day.

A supply with data of the committee’s investigation informed CNN that Thomas is one among many individuals the committee has been taking a look at, and that the committee has been “transferring aggressively on many fronts, conducting depositions, typically a number of depositions, nearly every single day.”

The supply added that whereas the committee understands the general public curiosity in Thomas following the revelation of her textual content messages with Meadows, there are various different related witnesses.

The committee declined to remark Sunday night. CNN has reached out to Ginni Thomas.

Final week, a choose committee spokesperson wouldn’t touch upon Thomas particularly however informed CNN that the panel has not dominated out issuing subpoenas to anybody.

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From the committee’s starting, each Thompson and Cheney have publicly mentioned that the panel is dedicated to following the details wherever they lead.

“Each member of this committee is devoted to conducting a non-partisan, skilled, and thorough investigation of all of the related details relating to January sixth and the menace to our Structure we confronted that day,” Cheney mentioned final 12 months upon accepting the function of vice chair.

Whereas Thomas has at all times maintained that she has been cautious to distance her exercise from her husband, one textual content within the committee’s possession makes a notable reference to “my greatest pal,” one thing she and her husband are identified to publicly name one another.

The reference is a part of an change from November 24, 2020, the place Meadows seems to be reassuring Ginni Thomas:

“This can be a combat of fine versus evil. Evil at all times appears to be like just like the victor till the King of Kings triumphs. Don’t develop weary in properly doing. The combat continues. I’ve staked my profession on it. Effectively at the very least my time in DC on it,” Meadows wrote.

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Then, Thomas replies: “Thanks!! Wanted that! This plus a dialog with my greatest pal simply now… I’ll attempt to preserve holding on. America is price it!”

CNN has not been capable of independently affirm whether or not Thomas was, in truth, referring to her husband on this textual content change.

Each Clarence Thomas and Ginni Thomas declined to reply questions from CNN on Friday.

“No thanks,” mentioned Clarence Thomas, wearing a blue button-down shirt and standing inside his storage when CNN requested to talk with him. Ginni Thomas walked away with out commenting.

The textual content messages between Ginni Thomas and Meadows, each key allies of former President Donald Trump, are elevating questions on a possible battle of curiosity for Clarence Thomas’ work on some Supreme Court docket circumstances.

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“These had been intemperate emails and they’re going to create an issue if these sorts of circumstances come earlier than the court docket,” long-time Republican strategist Karl Rove informed Fox on Sunday, referring to circumstances associated to 2020 election fraud and January 6.

“There’s been no intimation that these had been directed from Clarence Thomas. She got here up with these independently … so she is accountable for the content material,” Rove added. “The query is, how does this bear within the public notion of the court docket if a case comes ahead through which these points are raised.”

Congressional Democrats expressed outrage over the textual content messages, with a number of calling for Clarence Thomas’ ouster from the court docket and others indicating he ought to recuse himself from circumstances involving claims of 2020 election fraud.

“Judges are obligated to recuse themselves when their participation in a case would create even the looks of a battle of curiosity. An individual with an oz. of commonsense might see that bar is met right here,” Sen. Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat, mentioned in a blistering assertion final week.

“Thomas’ conduct on the Supreme Court docket appears to be like more and more corrupt,” he added.

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Thomas nonetheless seems to have robust help from the highest Republicans within the Home and Senate.

“Justice Thomas is a good American and an impressive Justice. I’ve whole confidence in his brilliance and impartiality in each facet of the work of the Court docket,” Senate Minority Chief Mitch McConnell mentioned in an announcement final week when requested if Thomas ought to recuse himself from election and January 6-related circumstances.

Home Minority Chief Kevin McCarthy echoed that sentiment when requested by CNN’s Melanie Zanona whether or not the justice ought to recuse himself from circumstances going ahead.

“No, I feel Justice Thomas could make his choices like he’s made them each different time. It’s his choice based mostly upon legislation,” McCarthy mentioned.

This story and headline have been up to date with extra developments Monday.

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‘Absolutely Ridiculous’: Democrats Seethe at Schumer for Backing G.O.P. Spending Bill

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‘Absolutely Ridiculous’: Democrats Seethe at Schumer for Backing G.O.P. Spending Bill

Many Democratic lawmakers continued to express deep frustration at Senator Chuck Schumer on Sunday for having broken with most of his party to allow a Republican spending bill to pass, as the Democratic base increasingly demands stauncher resistance to President Trump’s far-reaching agenda.

Mr. Schumer, a New York Democrat and the Senate minority leader, joined nine other Democrats in allowing the bill to come to a vote, which averted a government shutdown. It was an abrupt reversal from Wednesday, when he said he would oppose the bill.

Explaining his sudden shift in position, Mr. Schumer argued that a shutdown would empower Mr. Trump and Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency. “A shutdown would shut down all government agencies, and it would solely be up to Trump and DOGE and Musk what to open again, because they could determine what was essential,” he told The New York Times in an interview. “So their goal of decimating the whole federal government, of cutting agency after agency after agency, would occur under a shutdown.”

But to critics within his own party, he had squandered the leverage provided by the standoff to negotiate a bipartisan spending bill that would reclaim some of Congress’s power.

“He is absolutely wrong,” Representative Jasmine Crockett, Democrat of Texas, told CNN on Sunday. “The idea that Chuck Schumer is the only one that’s got a brain in the room and the only one that can think through all of the pros and cons is absolutely ridiculous.”

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The stream of criticism that Mr. Schumer has faced since his vote comes as the Democratic Party is divided on how best to oppose Mr. Trump’s agenda while facing dismal polling numbers. An NBC poll released on Sunday showed that just 27 percent of voters had positive views of the party, while a majority of its base expressed disappointment at the Democrats’ fractured response.

Ms. Crockett has called on her Senate colleagues to consider ousting Mr. Schumer as minority leader, suggesting that “a younger, fresher leadership” is what “many Americans may be looking for.”

Representative James E. Clyburn, Democrat of South Carolina, told MSNBC that the House minority leader, Representative Hakeem Jeffries of New York, “got blindsided” by Mr. Schumer. House Democrats — all but one opposed the bill — had voted against giving Mr. Trump “a blank check,” Mr. Clyburn said. On Friday, Mr. Jeffries dodged repeated questions on whether he still supported Mr. Schumer as the leader of Senate Democrats.

Another House Democrat, Representative Debbie Dingell of Michigan, was a little more understanding, saying that Mr. Schumer had “sent out mixed signals.” But she stressed that even the American Federation of Government Employees, the largest labor union representing federal workers, whose members would be furloughed during a government shutdown, opposed the stopgap bill.

“People are scared, and they want us to do something,” Ms. Dingell said on CBS. “They want to see Democrats fighting back.”

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Senator Chris Murphy, Democrat of Connecticut, did not denounce Mr. Schumer but pleaded for a change in tactics and for a more steadfast resistance against the Trump administration.

“The way the president is acting using law enforcement to target dissidents, harassing TV stations and radio stations that criticize him, endorsing political violence, puts our democracy at immediate risk,” Mr. Murphy said on NBC. Over the past few weeks, Mr. Trump has revoked security clearances of lawyers who argued against him, dismantled congressionally funded news agencies and pardoned those convicted of attacking the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

Mr. Murphy added, “If you are a Democrat in the Senate or in the House you have to start acting with urgency.”

Prominent House Democrats, including Representative Nancy Pelosi, had pressed their Senate colleagues to block the bill. But more than a handful of Democratic senators joined Mr. Schumer in helping Republicans bring the bill to a vote: Dick Durbin of Illinois, Brian Schatz of Hawaii, Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada, John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, Kirsten Gillibrand of New York and Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire, as well as two who have announced plans to retire, Gary Peters of Michigan and Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire. Senator Angus King, the Maine independent who caucuses with Democrats, also voted yes.

Some Democrats, including Representatives Jake Auchincloss of Massachusetts and Haley Stevens of Michigan, refrained from openly criticizing Mr. Schumer’s shift. They said Democratic infighting after the bill’s passage would only emphasize the divisions within the party. They warned that it would also draw voters’ attention away from Trump trade policies that have dampened the stock market and imbued uncertainty into the broader economy — developments that Democrats said could play to their advantage.

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Ashley Etienne, a former communications director for Vice President Kamala Harris, told CNN that Democrats should not save Mr. Trump and Republicans from themselves. “Get out of the way,” she said. “Donald Trump said he was better for the economy. Let him prove it.”

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US says Trump and Putin to speak in next few days on Russia-Ukraine war

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US says Trump and Putin to speak in next few days on Russia-Ukraine war

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Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin are set to hold a call about the Russia-Ukraine war in the coming week, a US official said, as Washington seeks to broker a ceasefire deal.

Trump envoy Steve Witkoff on Sunday told CNN he had a “positive” meeting with Putin and that the Russian and Ukrainian parties “are today a lot closer” in negotiations.

“I expect that there’ll be a call with both presidents this week and we’re also continuing to engage and have conversation with the Ukrainians,” he said. 

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The comments come after the US and its G7 partners on Friday warned Moscow that they could expand sanctions and use frozen Russian assets to support Ukraine, as Trump seeks to win over Putin to his ceasefire proposal. The joint statement followed a week in which Kyiv signed up to the 30-day truce but Moscow signalled reluctance to do so immediately.

Witkoff told CNN he had witnessed improvements in ceasefire negotiations. The sides were previously “miles apart,” he said.

Following talks in Saudi Arabia led by US national security adviser Mike Waltz and US secretary of state Marco Rubio as well as Witkoff’s “equally positive” meeting with Putin, “we’ve narrowed the differences between them and now we’re sitting at the table,” he added.

The White House and Russia’s embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The envoy told CBS that negotiations were complex, involving multiple angles and a large swath of territory, including a “main area of confrontation” in the Kursk region, a nuclear reactor supplying electricity to Ukraine and access to ports. 

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“There’s so many elements to the implementation of a ceasefire here,” Witkoff said, adding that it “involves how to get people to not be fighting with each other over a 2,000 kilometre border”.

He also seemed to dismiss a statement made by French President Emmanuel Macron, who argued that Russia “does not seem to be sincerely seeking peace”.

Witkoff declined to comment on Macron’s remarks, but added: “I think it’s unfortunate when people make those sort of assessments, and they don’t have, necessarily, first-hand knowledge . . . I saw a constructive effort over a long period of time to discuss the specifics of what’s going on in the field”.

Asked when he thinks there will be a deal, Witkoff cited Trump, who has said it would take weeks.

“I don’t disagree with him,” the envoy told CNN. 

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Trump Guts Voice Of America News Agency, Musk Says “Nobody listens to them anymore.”

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Trump Guts Voice Of America News Agency, Musk Says “Nobody listens to them anymore.”

Voice of America staff were locked out of their offices on Saturday—unable to complete planned reporting—after President Donald Trump signed an executive order gutting the government-run news agency that the White House has referred to as “radical propaganda.”

VOA was founded in 1942 in part to counter Nazi propaganda.

The move impacts all full-time staffers at the VOA and the Office for Cuba Broadcasting, which runs Radio and Television Martíore, and is poised to have a devastating effect on practically all operations under the United States Agency for Global Media—the parent entity of VOA and the department targeted by Trump’s Friday evening order.

According to the agency, which is fully funded by federal dollars, broadcasters and their sister networks reach 420 million people in 63 languages and more than 100 countries each week, “often in some of the world’s most restrictive media environments.”

“I am deeply saddened that for the first time in 83 years, the storied Voice of America is being silenced,” VOA director Michael Abramowitz wrote in a LinkedIn post. He shared that his entire staff of 1,300 journalists, producers, and assistants had been put on administrative leave, including himself. “Even if the agency survives in some form, the actions being taken today by the Administration will severely damage Voice of America’s ability to foster a world that is safe and free and in doing so is failing to protect U.S. interests,” he said.

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A statement released by the White House following the executive order details news coverage by VOA as justification for the defunding, including an article defining white privilege after the murder of George Floyd, a story about whether Russia perpetuated allegations against Hunter Biden to benefit Trump, and a segment on LGBT migrants.

“It’s a relic of the past,” Ric Grenell, Trump’s special envoy for special missions, wrote on X in February. “We don’t need government-paid media outlets.” Trump’s billionaire donor and Department of Government Efficiency advisor Elon Musk wrote on his social media platform: “Yes, shut them down … Nobody listens to them anymore.”

The order, entitled “Continuing the Reduction Of The Federal Bureaucracy,” called for multiple other departments to be “eliminated to the maximum extent consistent with applicable law,” including the Institute of Museum and Library Services, the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness, and the Minority Business Development Agency.

In December, Trump announced that Republican Kari Lake, a former news anchor who ran twice for office in Arizona on a MAGA platform and lost both times, was his pick to serve as director of Voice of America—though that didn’t happen. A couple of months later, Trump named her a senior adviser to the USAGM.

On Saturday morning, Lake took to X, shared a link to the executive order, and told employees to check their emails—where they would find news of being terminated.

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