Survey: 1 in 3 US Election Workers Feels Unsafe 

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Long after a contentious U.S. presidential election that unleashed a torrent of partisan threats against poll workers and others, many American election officials continue to feel unsafe because of their jobs, according to a recent survey.The FILE – Then-President Donald Trump looks on at the end of his speech during a rally to contest the certification of the 2020 U.S. presidential election results by the U.S. Congress, in Washington, Jan. 6, 2021.Trump blamedMany officials blamed former President Donald Trump for inspiring the threats by falsely claiming the November election had been rigged against him in favor of his Democratic opponent,more

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Congress Approves Bill to Make Juneteenth a Federal Holiday

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The United States will soon have a new federal holiday commemorating the end of slavery in the nation.The House voted 415-14 Wednesday to make Juneteenth, or June 19, the 12th federal holiday. The bill now goes to President Joe Biden’s desk to be signed into law.Juneteenth commemorates when the last enslaved African Americans learned they were free. Confederate soldiers surrendered in April 1865, but word didn’t reach the last enslaved Black people until June 19, when Union soldiers brought the news of freedom to Galveston, Texas. That was also about 2½ years after the Emancipation Proclamation freed slaves in themore

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Biden Administration, US Lawmakers Grapple With Domestic Extremism Threat

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The United States faces a growing threat from domestic violent extremists, according to a strategy released this week by the Biden administration. The warning comes as U.S. lawmakers continue to investigate the January 6 storming of the U.S. Capitol by supporters of former President Donald Trump seeking to derail the Electoral College vote count confirming Joe Biden’s presidential victory. VOA Congressional Correspondent Katherine Gypson has more.Producer: Katherine Gypson. …

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Lawyer: US Drops Lawsuit, Grand Jury Probe Over Bolton Book

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The Justice Department has abandoned its lawsuit against John Bolton, former President Donald Trump’s short-term national security adviser, over his book that officials argued disclosed classified information, according to court documents and Bolton’s representatives. Prosecutors also dropped a grand jury investigation over the book’s publication, Bolton’s lawyer said Wednesday. The Trump administration sued last year to block the release of Bolton’s book, “The Room Where It Happened,” and to recover copies of the book that had already been distributed. The book, released in the run-up to the 2020 presidential election, offered a behind-the-scenes and unflattering account of Trump’s foreign policy dealings.more

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Military Defends January 6 Response as House Steps Up Probes

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A top Army leader defended the Pentagon’s response to the January 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, telling a House panel Tuesday that the National Guard was delayed for hours because they had to properly prepare for the deployment and that senior military leaders had determined beforehand that there was “no role for the U.S. military in determining the outcome of an American election.” Lieutenant General Walter Piatt, director of the Army staff, echoed comments from other senior military leaders about the perception of soldiers being used to secure the election process. He said the Pentagon wanted to be careful aboutmore

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Biden Picks Israel, Mexico, NATO Ambassadors

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President Joe Biden on Tuesday announced his nominees to be ambassadors to Israel, Mexico and NATO, as he moves to strengthen U.S. alliances in tough regions. Among a slate of names announced by the White House on Tuesday were Thomas Nides, a Morgan Stanley vice chairman who served as a deputy secretary of state under former President Barack Obama, to serve as the ambassador to Israel. The close U.S. ally is welcoming a new government after Israel’s parliament ended Benjamin Netanyahu’s 12-year run as prime minister on Sunday. Biden also picked Ken Salazar, a former U.S. senator from Colorado and interior secretary, asmore

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Trump Pressed Justice Department to Upend His Election Loss, Documents Show

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In the last weeks of his administration, former U.S. President Donald Trump and his aides pressured the Justice Department to investigate his unfounded voting fraud complaints and upend his election loss, newly released documents Tuesday show. Nearly five months after leaving office, Trump still contends he was cheated out of another four-year term in the White House by voting irregularities. According to the House of Representatives Oversight and Reform Committee, before he left office, Trump, former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, and a private attorney, Kurt Olsen, all sought to enlist the Justice Department to pursue election irregularities thatmore

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Rep. Greene Apologizes for Comparing Safety Masks, Holocaust

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Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene apologized Monday for affronting people with recent comments comparing the required wearing of safety masks in the House to the horrors of the Holocaust. “I’m truly sorry for offending people with remarks about the Holocaust,” the Georgia Republican told reporters outside the Capitol, saying she had visited Washington’s U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum earlier in the day. “There’s no comparison and there never ever will be.” Greene’s comments were a rare expression of regret by the conservative agitator, a freshman whose career has included the embrace of violent and offensive conspiracy theories and angry confrontations with progressivemore

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Republican McConnell Says He Would Block a Biden Supreme Court Pick in 2024

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U.S. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said on Monday that President Joe Biden would not get a Supreme Court nominee confirmed in 2024 if Republicans regain control of the chamber and a vacancy arises during that presidential election year. “It’s highly unlikely. In fact, no, I don’t think either party, if it were different from the president, would confirm a Supreme Court nominee in the middle of an election,” McConnell told syndicated conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt. McConnell could return as majority leader if Republicans regain control of the Senate in the 2022 midterm elections. While serving as majority leader, McConnell blockedmore

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US Attorney General Vows to Combat Efforts to Curb Voting Rights

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U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland warned Friday that the Justice Department would vigorously oppose state efforts to impose new curbs on voting rights for many Americans, particularly Blacks and other minorities.“We’re scrutinizing new laws that seek to curb access, and where we see violations, we will not hesitate to act,” Garland said in a speech at the Justice Department in which he announced his agency would double its voting rights enforcement staff over the next 30 days.“We’re also scrutinizing current laws and practices in order to determine whether they discriminate against Black voters and other voters of color,” Garland said, addingmore

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US Department of Justice Probes Secret Seizure of House Democrats’ Data

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The U.S. Department of Justice Office of Inspector General says it is beginning a review of the department’s use of subpoenas to obtain communication records of U.S. lawmakers and members of the media.The review comes after Democratic Representatives Adam Schiff and Eric Swalwell were informed that the Justice Department had taken their metadata from Apple in 2018 as part of a crackdown on leaks in the Russia probe and other national security issues, according to The Associated Press. The news agency attributed the information to three sources with knowledge of the seizures.House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., talks tomore

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Oregon State Legislature Removes Republican Lawmaker for Helping Protesters Breach Capitol

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The legislature in the western U.S. state of Oregon Thursday voted 59-1 to remove a Republican lawmaker from office for his role in allowing right-wing protesters to breach the capitol during a demonstration against COVID-19 lockdowns in December.On the floor of the state House of Representatives late Thursday, Republicans voted with the majority Democrats to remove Representative Mike Nearman, with the unapologetic Nearman the only dissenting vote. He is the first legislator expelled from office in the state’s 162-year history.A special bipartisan committee appointed by Democratic House Speaker Tina Kotek to consider the expulsion had also voted earlier in themore

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Leak of IRS Data Reveals Tax Strategies of America’s Wealthiest 

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An unprecedented leak of the personal federal tax data of thousands of Americans has turbocharged a debate over wealth inequality in the United States and has tax reform advocates hopeful that a deeper public understanding of how the wealthy avoid taxes will lead to a restructuring of the U.S. tax code.The data, leaked to the nonprofit journalism organization ProPublica, includes detailed information on the tax filings of thousands of the wealthiest individuals in the country and extends over more than 15 years.This week, ProPublica used the data to give the nation its first detailed look at the extent to whichmore

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Trump Officials Seized Apple Data of 2 Democratic Lawmakers, NY Times Says

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Prosecutors in the U.S. Justice Department under former president Donald Trump seized data from Apple from two Democratic lawmakers on the House Intelligence Committee, as well as that of their staff and family members, The New York Times reported Thursday.Subpoenas for the communications metadata targeted congressman Adam Schiff of California, a Trump foe who was then the panel’s top Democrat and now its chairman, the paper said.Congressman Eric Swalwell told CNN on Thursday he was the second Democratic lawmaker on the committee who was targeted.”I was notified… by Apple that they did seize my records. It’s wrong,” he said.According tomore

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China, Russia Military Budgets Combined Exceed US Spending, Top General Says

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China and Russia’s combined military spending exceeds that of the United States when adjusted for purchasing power, which has allowed China to shorten capability gaps in its quest to become the top superpower by midcentury, the top U.S. military officer said Thursday.”Combined, the Russian and Chinese budgets exceed our budgets if all the cards are put on the table,” Joint Chiefs Chairman General Mark Milley told the Senate Armed Services Committee. He called China’s increased spending trend “disturbing.”Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, left, and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Mark Milley, arrive for a Senate Armed Services budget hearing on Capitolmore

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Joe Manchin: The West Virginia Senator Blocking Joe Biden’s Agenda

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A long-simmering battle within the Democratic Party came to a head this week when  Democratic Senator Joe Manchin announced he will not support a sweeping package of voting rights reforms because no Republicans are willing to vote for it.   At the same time, he repeated his vow to vote to protect a Senate rule, called the filibuster, that allows a minority of the body to prevent pieces of legislation from receiving an up-or-down vote on the Senate floor.  FILE – Gov. Joe Manchin, left, is sworn into office for a second term at the Capitol in Charleston, West Virginia, Jan.more

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US Attorney General Warns Ransomware ‘Getting Worse and Worse’

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U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland warned Wednesday that ransom-motivated cyberattacks are “getting worse and worse,” echoing other top Biden administration officials who have sounded the alarm about the problem in recent weeks.  “We have to do everything we possibly can here,” Garland told lawmakers. “This is a very, very serious threat.”  The attorney general’s warning during a Senate hearing on the Justice Department’s fiscal 2022 budget request followed a pair of high-profile ransomware attacks over the past month that have rattled the U.S. national security and law enforcement establishment and sparked calls for beefed-up cyber defenses.  In a ransomware attack,more

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Senate Passes Bill to Boost US Tech Industry, Counter Rivals

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The Senate overwhelmingly approved a bill Tuesday that aims to boost U.S. semiconductor production and the development of artificial intelligence and other technology in the face of growing international competition, most notably from China. The 68-32 vote for the bill demonstrates how confronting China economically is an issue that unites both parties in Congress. That’s a rarity in an era of division as pressure grows on Democrats to change Senate rules to push past Republican opposition and gridlock. The centerpiece of the bill is a $50 billion emergency allotment to the Commerce Department to stand up semiconductor development and manufacturing through researchmore

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Key Democratic Senator Voices Opposition to Voting Law Reforms

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A key U.S. centrist Democratic lawmaker, West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin, adamantly voiced his opposition Sunday to sweeping nationalization of voting laws favored by President Joe Biden and other Democrats.Manchin, perhaps the most conservative Democrat in the 100-member U.S. Senate, said in an opinion article in a home-state newspaper, the Charleston Gazette-Mail, and in a “Fox News Sunday” television interview that he will continue to oppose the voting reforms because they are too partisan and have not drawn any Republican congressional support.In the television interview, Manchin described the measure as “the wrong piece of legislation. It will continue to dividemore

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Key US Senator Voices His Opposition to Voting Law Reforms

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A key U.S. centrist Democratic lawmaker, West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin, adamantly voiced his opposition Sunday to sweeping nationalization of voting laws favored by President Joe Biden and other Democrats.Manchin, perhaps the most conservative Democrat in the 100-member U.S. Senate, said in an opinion article in a home-state newspaper, the Charleston Gazette-Mail, and in a “Fox News Sunday” television interview that he will continue to oppose the voting reforms because they are too partisan and have not drawn any Republican congressional support.In the television interview, Manchin described the measure as “the wrong piece of legislation. It will continue to dividemore

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Trump to GOP: Support Candidates Who ‘Stand for Our Values’ 

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Former President Donald Trump on Saturday urged Republicans to support those candidates who share his values in next year’s midterm elections as he launched a new phase of his post-presidency.Trump teased the prospect of presidential bid of his own in 2024 but vowed first to be an active presence on the campaign trail for his allies in next year’s fight for control of Congress.”The survival of America depends on our ability to elect Republicans at every level starting with the midterms next year,” Trump said.Trump delivered his latest comments in a speech to hundreds of Republican officials and activists gatheredmore

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Infrastructure Bill Would Upgrade Aging US Waterways System

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It’s a routine sight on the Illinois River: towboats slowly pushing barges carrying everything from salt and petroleum to corn and soybeans.”This is the backbone of our economy,” said Tom Heinold, chief of the operations division for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Rock Island District. “Here in the upper Midwest, we feed the world from right here.”Heinold oversees Corps of Engineers facilities along the Illinois River, including the Starved Rock Lock and Dam near Utica. The National Waterways Foundation says the statewide system moves more than 83 million tons of freight annually, worth more than $13 billion to themore

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JPMorgan Freezes Donations to Republicans who Contested 2020 Election

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JPMorgan Chase & Co will resume making political donations to U.S. lawmakers but will not give to Republican members of Congress who voted to overturn President Joe Biden’s election victory, according to an internal memo Friday seen by Reuters.The country’s largest lender was among many corporations that paused political giving following the deadly Jan. 6 Capitol riot when supporters of former president Donald Trump tried to stop Congress from certifying the election.Just hours later, 147 Republicans, the vast majority of them in the House of Representatives, voted to overturn the Electoral College results which Trump falsely claimed were tainted bymore

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Ex-Counsel Tells Congress of Trump Efforts to Undercut Russia Probe, Democrats Say 

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A former White House counsel “shed new light” on the investigation into Russia’s role in the 2016 U.S. elections and the pressure he was under to stymie the federal probe, congressional Democrats said Friday. Don McGahn, who served as Donald Trump’s presidential lawyer for nearly two years before resigning in October 2018, testified in a daylong, closed-door session before the House Judiciary Committee.McGahn appeared under a subpoena issued about two years ago to testify as the committee was looking into allegations of wrongdoing by Trump. Late in 2019, the House voted to impeach Trump on charges of abuse of power andmore

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