Month: February 2022

According to an exclusive New York Times report, Rudolph Giuliani — the attorney and former adviser to President Donald Trump — is in discussions with the House panel investigating the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol, and may agree to answer their questions.

Giuliani indicated through his lawyer that he’s less hostile to investigative efforts than some of the other members of Trump’s circle. His cooperation could provide a major breakthrough in the panel’s investigation. Sources say that Giuliani was discussing whether to give investigators a formal deposition or an informal interview, and he may also seek to block some information from questioning by invoking attorney-client privilege with Trump.

The House panel subpoenaed Giuliani last month, alongside three other Trump aides — attorneys Jenna Ellis and Sidney Powell, and former campaign adviser Boris Epshteyn. Previous reports indicate that Giuliani was a key player in a plan to seize voting machines in the weeks after the election using the Department of Homeland Security. Giuliani also faces a defamation lawsuit filed by Dominion Voting Systems, which states that he spread baseless claims that the company attempted to help Joseph Biden steal the 2020 election.

Editorial credit: paparazzza / Shutterstock.com

Authorities said that no survivors were found after a small plane crashed near an airport in Kansas on Sunday. Olathe Fire Department Capt. Mike Hall said they were called to the scene at 10:20 a.m., where they found a single-engine plane “fully engulfed” in flames in a field north of Johnson County Executive Airport. The plane, a Piper Meridian Turbo Prop, was en route to Albuquerque. Kansas Highway Patrol spokeswoman Trooper Tiffany Bush said the plane looked like it could seat about five or six people but it was unclear how many people were on board.

The plane was attempting to take off at the time of the crash but slammed into the ground and burst into flames; the flames then sparked a small grass fire a few acres wide, which firefighters extinguished. The runway remained closed Sunday afternoon, but was planning to reopen once the National Transportation Safety Board removed the wreckage.

Editorial credit: Nicotrex / Shutterstock.com

On Thursday, the Senate passed a bill barring forced arbitration in workplace sexual harassment cases. The measure, which the House had overwhelmingly passed earlier this week, will go to President Joe Biden to be signed into law. The bill bars employment contracts from forcing people to settle sexual assault or harassment cases through arbitration rather than in court, a process that often benefits employers and keeps misconduct allegations from becoming public.

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., and Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., sponsored the Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act. Gillibrand said in a press statement: “I am thrilled to announce that the historic Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act has passed the Senate and is now headed to President Biden’s desk,” adding that the bill is “one of the most significant workplace reforms in the last 50 years and is a major step forward toward changing a system that uses secrecy to protect perpetrators and silence survivors.”

Graham said in a statement: “I’m very pleased the Senate has now joined the House of Representatives in passing this important legislation and sending it to President Biden’s desk to sign into law. The days of sexual harassment and sexual assault cases being buried in unfair arbitration clauses are now over.”

The legislation would invalidate existing forced arbitration clauses in employment contracts that prevent sexual assault and sexual harassment survivors from seeking justice and public accountability under the laws meant to protect them.

Editorial credit: lev radin / Shutterstock.com

The Jan. 6th House select committee investigating the attack on the Capitol stated there are gaps in the phone logs provided by the White House on the day of the riot.

Those familiar with the probe said on Thursday that the phone records show no entries of calls to, or from, former President Donald Trump via the White House switchboard despite numerous reports he spoke to lawmakers in the house after the beginning of the attack.  Records also do not indicate there was any tampering with the call logs; it is widely known that Trump often used his personal cellphone, or those belonging to his aides, to make and receive such calls. Sources said the logs show no phone calls for multiple hours after Trump returned to the Oval Office after he gave a speech on the 2020 presidential election at the Ellipse. Supporters who attended the speech marched from the park near the White House to the U.S. Capitol, where they attempted to interrupt Congress’ certification of the electoral votes.

The gaps in call  logs comes on the heels of scrutiny Trump is facing for allegedly violating the Presidential Records Act by ripping up paper records during his time in office. The National Archives and Records Administration confirmed last month that some of the records turned over to the Jan. 6 committee had been torn and taped back together. Some records that had been torn and not reconstructed were also presented to lawmakers.

Editorial credit: Evan El-Amin / Shutterstock.com