USNN2020 - USNN World News - Page 526 of 557

Healthcare

Americans Are Suffering ‘Delusional Psychosis’ About CCP Virus, Psychiatrist Claims

by USNN2020December 3, 2020February 26, 2025

Healthcare

Expired Face Masks Can Still Be Used: FDA

by USNN2020December 3, 2020January 12, 2021

World

Chinese State Media Misrepresents Facts to Claim COVID-19 Did Not Originate from China

by USNN2020December 3, 2020July 11, 2024

Healthcare

CDC: COVID-19 Quarantines Can Be as Short as Seven Days

by USNN2020December 3, 2020January 12, 2021

Congress

Trump Supports McConnell’s COVID-19 Relief Package: Mnuchin

by USNN2020December 3, 2020January 12, 2021

National News

Trump Calls for ‘Full Forensic Audit’ of Mail-In Ballots

by USNN2020December 2, 2020January 12, 2021

Commentary Attorney General William Barr signaled on Tuesday that he has washed his hands of the president. He told the media that the Department of Justice has found no evidence of fraud that would change the election results in favor of Donald Trump. U.S. officials I spoke with do not understand Barr’s motivation for speaking to a press corps typically hostile to him as well as Trump. “There’s no evidence that the DOJ spoke with any of the numerous witnesses with first-hand knowledge of election fraud,” said one senior official. “And many people reached out directly to the FBI and got no response back.” The effect of Barr’s statement is to derail the Trump campaign’s efforts to reverse the vote in battleground states contested by the president’s legal team. It is difficult to imagine state legislatures or courts taking up the campaign’s cause when the headlines show that Trump’s own attorney general says nothing is wrong. By distancing himself from the president’s political fortunes, Barr gave his bona fides as an honest broker in order to resolve the issue that most matters to him—salvaging the reputation of the institution he’s led twice, the Justice Department. He revealed Tuesday that he’d appointed John Durham special counsel to continue his nearly two-year-long probe into the origins of Crossfire Hurricane, the FBI’s discredited investigation of the 2016 Trump campaign. According to Barr, the scope of the investigation he asked the U.S. attorney from Connecticut to lead in May 2019 has “narrowed considerably.” At first, it seemed sprawling. The two men reportedly traveled to Italy and contacted officials in the United Kingdom and Australia to gather information on foreign nationals allegedly involved in Crossfire Hurricane. In August, Durham interviewed former CIA director John Brennan for eight hours. In September, the prosecutor reportedly sought information on the FBI’s investigation of the Clinton Foundation. Republican officials reasoned that it was precisely because the investigation was so large and thorough that it was taking Durham so much time to deliver indictments. Reports claimed that he kept finding new evidence, was following more leads. On Tuesday, Barr said Durham’s work now “really is focused on the activities of the Crossfire Hurricane investigation within the FBI.” Perhaps Barr believes that limiting the investigation’s scope will convince a Biden White House that it does not threaten his administration. After all, a thorough investigation would have to look at Biden’s pick for National Security Advisor, Jake Sullivan. What did the former Hillary Clinton campaign advisor know about the FBI’s role in the anti-Trump operation when he was briefing the press on “collusion” and tweeting out stories sourced to Clinton contractor and FBI source Christopher Steele? What did John Kerry, Biden’s choice for climate envoy, do with Steele’s Trump-Russia reports when they were passed to him as secretary of state? And why did then-Vice President Biden direct the FBI to look at Trump’s national security advisor Michael Flynn for violating the Logan Act? There’s nothing to stop Biden from dismissing Durham. Trump reportedly considered firing Robert Mueller at least twice. But the president’s legal team defended the probity of the coup targeting their client. “I would never have anything to do with any attempts to attack Bob Mueller’s integrity,” said the former spokesman for the White House’s legal team, Mark Corallo. In other words, the aides hired to defend Trump were less concerned with the stability of the U.S. government than the prospect that their reputations would be trashed in the press. A Biden administration will be lauded by the media for disarming a weapon dangerous to “democracy” if—when—Durham is fired, and any charges made are withdrawn. But the only Americans likely to be shocked by a cover-up of that magnitude are Trump voters. And they are no longer capable of being shocked by the corruption of the Democratic Party and its media partners after watching, for example, the press bury news of the Biden family’s financial ties to a Chinese regime responsible for a pandemic that left hundreds of thousands of Americans dead and tens of millions unemployed. It’s not clear why Durham can make a case now that he wasn’t able to make in a year and a half. He was rumored to be concerned that bringing charges or releasing a report too close to the election would look like a political hit job, and the investigation, conducted by a career prosecutor proud of his reputation as a “straight-shooter,” had to be above reproach. Only self-regard blinded him to the irony—his discretion left the rule of law liable to the outcome of a political contest. The subject of his investigation—corruption at the highest levels of government—was all the evidence he needed that its integrity would depend entirely on a Trump victory. Failing to bring charges, or even filing a report, for interfering in the 2016 election, was an invitation to interfere in the 2020 race. If no one was held accountable for what they did four years ago, there was little risk this time out. And now Barr speaks out to downplay the Trump campaign’s claims of election fraud when it is precisely because of the actions and decisions taken by the institution he cherishes that half of America has lost its faith in the justice system as well as the electoral process. On such things much smaller than war hang the fate of nations. Lee Smith is the author of the recently published book, “The Permanent Coup: How Enemies Foreign and Domestic Targeted the American President.”

Opinion

Barr Fails to Salvage DOJ’s Reputation With Statements on Election Fraud

by USNN2020December 2, 2020January 12, 2021

National News

Trump: US Election System ‘Under Coordinated Assault and Siege’

by USNN2020December 2, 2020June 29, 2024

Congress

Rep. Mo Brooks Plans to Challenge Electoral College Votes in Congress

by USNN2020December 2, 2020June 20, 2024

National News

Trump Team to File Lawsuit: 40,000 People Voted Twice in Nevada

by USNN2020December 2, 2020February 26, 2025

National News

Michigan, Arizona Public Hearings Shed Light on Election Irregularities

by USNN2020December 2, 2020June 20, 2024

National News

2020 Election Boosts GOP State Legislator Advantage by 67 Percent

by USNN2020December 2, 2020February 26, 2025

NATIONAL NEWS

West Virginia Law Restricting Sports by Biological Sex Is Constitutional: Judge

By Zachary Stieber A West Virginia law that prohibits people from participating on single-sex sports teams that don’t match their biological sex is constitutional, a judge ruled ...

Report on Congressional Stock Returns Raises Concerns About Insider Trading in Washington

By Liam Cosgrove The average U.S. legislator beat the S&P 500 Index by a wide margin in 2022, with two House representatives earning more than ...

Florida Takes Steps to Save Endangered Citrus Production, Protect Valuable Farm Land from Foreign Buyers

By Patricia Tolson In an aerial view of a fruit loader harvesting oranges at a grove in Fort Meade, Fla. on Feb. 1, 2022. (Joe ...

The Year 2023 Could See Mass Layoffs as Tech Job Cuts Soar 649 Percent From 2021

By Naveen Athrappully Tech companies laid off a large number of employees in 2022, with firms seemingly set to terminate even more employees this year ...

Damar Hamlin ‘Awake’ After On-Field Cardiac Arrest: Teammate

By Jack Phillips A teammate of Damar Hamlin said Thursday that the Buffalo Bills safety is awake, while his agent revealed he is holding hands with his family in ...

Longtime Democrat Senator Announces She Won’t Seek Another Term

By Zachary Stieber Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) said she will step away from Congress at the end of her term, leaving an open seat as ...

Alan Dershowitz Asks Judge to Be Excused From Sanctions Linked to Kari Lake Lawsuit

By Jack Phillips Retired Harvard University law professor Alan Dershowitz said he wasn’t part of the legal team that represented Kari Lake and Mark Finchem in connection to a ...

New York Gun Control Law Unconstitutional: NY Supreme Court

By Zachary Stieber The New York law that enables the confiscation of guns from people who haven’t committed a crime is unconstitutional, a state Supreme Court judge ...

150,000 Votes in the 2020 Election Not Tied to a Valid Address in Wisconsin: Election Watchdog

By Steven Kovac Election Watch (EW), a Wisconsin election integrity watchdog organization, has discovered that more than 150,000 votes cast in the 2020 presidential election ...

Trump Breaks Silence on McCarthy as Contender for House Speaker After Failed Votes

By Tom Ozimek Former President Donald Trump has thrown his weight behind Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) for House speaker ahead of a fourth round vote Wednesday after McCarthy failed ...

Kari Lake Files Petition to Transfer Election Lawsuit to Arizona Supreme Court

By Jack Phillips Arizona GOP candidate Kari Lake filed a petition to transfer her election case from Maricopa County to the Arizona Supreme Court over the past ...

McCarthy Fails in Votes for Speaker of the House; Bitter Battle Erupts Among GOPers

By Mark Tapscott and Madalina Vasiliu WASHINGTON—Chaos walked into the chamber of the U.S. House of Representatives Tuesday and made itself home as members of the new ...