Free Republic

WASHINGTON (AP) — The last time Secret Service agents escorted a U.S. leader to face criminal charges, they kept their mission a secret — even from their own bosses. It was Oct. 10, 1973, and just a few agents knew the history they would make in ensuring that Vice President Spiro Agnew appeared in a federal courtroom to enter a plea and resign from office. “It was a big day for the country, and a sad day,” said Jerry Parr, one of those agents, in a 2010 interview. “And we didn’t tell anyone it was happening. For better and worse.”...

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R) defended his 2016 rival, former President Donald J. Trump, on Saturday, calling Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s case against him “very political.” “Bragg’s predecessor didn’t take up the case. The Justice Department didn’t take up the case. Bragg first said he would not take up the case,” Bush tweeted. “This is very political, not a matter of justice. In this case, let the jury be the voters,” he added.

Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) demanded “swift” accountability this weekend for the death of Keenan Anderson in a confrontation with police before the facts were known — including whether Anderson was trying to hijack cars. Anderson, a 31-year-0ld teacher from Washington, DC, who happens to be a cousin of Black Lives Matter founder Patrisse Cullors, died Jan. 3 after being tased during a confrontation with Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) officers. The Los Angeles Times reported: The incident began Jan. 3 at 3:30 p.m. with a motorcycle officer arriving at what the LAPD characterized as a “felony hit-and-run” car crash at...

MSNBC political commentator and former White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said Thursday on “Morning Joe” that Attorney General Merrick Garland was a “quiet storm” building January 6 cases with “complete bad&&&” special counsel Jack Smith. Partial transcript as follows: DAVID IGNATIUS: The conviction of Stewart Rhodes of Oath Keepers for seditious conspiracy is a big deal. Yeah, obvious that our Attorney General, Merrick Garland, sees it as a significant precedent or basis for further prosecutions of that type. They’re seeing that the courts will accept this very deep description of what happened January 6. And if Merkel decides to...

MSNBC legal analyst Neal Katyal said Wednesday on “Deadline” New York Attorney General Letitia James’s civil lawsuit filing also presents a “good” criminal case. Katyal said, “On page two, the attorney general isolated a list of federal crimes she thought were potentially violated. And the thing this lawsuit did was collect all the reporting from our friends on this show, but then add to it all the evidence from the accountants, the evidence from the CFO and others, and it’s tremendous. It’s a case based on a huge amount of paperwork, which is unlike a lot of the other investigations...

One person was taken to the hospital Tuesday evening after a package delivered to a building at Northeastern University exploded when it was opened, school officials confirmed. A second package was also found and rendered safe by the bomb squad, Boston police confirmed at a news conference Tuesday night. Northeastern University said the package was delivered to Holmes Hall on Leon Street around 7 p.m. and detonated when a staff member opened it. That person, a 45-year-old man, suffered minor hand injuries and was taken to the hospital.

Merrick Garland is supposed to be a pretty good lawyer. Harvard Law School, federal prosecutor, federal judge, Supreme Court nominee, attorney general presiding over the Department of Justice (DOJ) — all the cake, most of the icing, without the cherry. But some of my former prosecutor friends tell me that he may have overlooked a key procedural point in his current joust with former President Trump over the Mar-a-Lago documents. On Sept. 8, Garland filed a notice of appeal to the 11th circuit Court of Appeals from the special master order of Florida District Judge Aileen Cannon. Simultaneously, he moved...

A Research Square study of two adjacent North Dakota school districts, one of which mandated student masking and one of which did not, found “no significant difference” in Covid-19 case rates between the two. The researchers, who received funding from the University of Southern California, noted that “randomized data about the effectiveness of mask mandates in children is still entirely lacking.” Indeed, they wrote, “While observational studies of school mask mandates have had conflicting results, randomized studies have failed to detect an impact of masking on participants under 50 years of age.” These researchers, however, were fortunate enough to discover...

This is a tale of two presidential elections, one close, one not close; a tale of two candidates, one a patriot who put the good of the country first, the other an apparent congenital liar who always put himself first, ahead of anything including country. It’s a tale of Al Gore and Donald Trump.

On Friday, Federal District Judge Amita Mehta ruled that a civil suit alleging a conspiracy to foment the Jan. 6 insurrection could proceed. In an extremely thorough and detailed 112-page ruling, Mehta concluded that the plaintiffs had made a “plausible” case that former President Trump himself was at the center of a conspiracy to stop the peaceful transfer of power. While plausibility is not the same as proven, Mehta’s ruling is the first time such a finding has been made in an official proceeding.

Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) tested positive for COVID-19 on Monday, becoming the latest high-ranking individual in the political world to come down with a breakthrough infection amid a nationwide surge in cases. Hogan wrote on Twitter Monday morning that he received a positive rapid test for COVID-19 during his “regular testing routine.” He said he is vaccinated and received a booster shot and is “feeling fine at the moment.” The governor also encouraged individuals to get vaccinated or receive the booster shot “as soon as possible” as the omicron strain “becomes more dominant.”

Rhode Island has reported its first case of the omicron variant, making it one of the dozens of states to have detected the new COVID-19 strain. Gov. Dan McKee (D) and the Rhode Island Department of Health (RIDOH) announced the omicron case in a joint statement on Saturday. The infected individual is in their 20s and recently traveled from New York to Providence, according to the statement.

Colorado health officials on Thursday reported that the third confirmed U.S. case of the COVID-19 omicron variant has been detected in their state. The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) said in a statement that it has confirmed the first omicron case in Colorado. "The case was identified in an adult female resident of Arapahoe County who had recently traveled to Southern Africa for tourism," the CDPHE said. "She is experiencing minor symptoms and is isolated and recuperating at home. She had been fully vaccinated and was eligible for the booster vaccine but had not received it yet."

The Omicron variant of the coronavirus has made its way to California. The variant’s presence in the state — reported Wednesday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — is not unexpected. First detected in southern Africa last month, the strain has already been found in nearly two dozen countries around the globe. Still, the arrival of the highly mutated variant comes at what was already shaping up to be a particularly precarious time in California. Officials have long expressed concern that the one-two punch of the end-of-year holiday season and colder weather will increasingly push people to...

Protesters gathered outside the Supreme Court were seen taking abortion pills ahead of the nation’s highest court hearing arguments over the Mississippi abortion law challenging Roe v. Wade. "Abortion pills forever," the protesters repeatedly chant, according to footage posted by Erin Matson on Twitter Wednesday morning. "Epic action from @ShoutYrAbortion — people took abortion pills outside the Supreme Court!," Matson, a feminist activist, captioned the video.

Dr. Anthony Fauci predicted Tuesday that the global case tally for Omicron will “change rapidly” as it spreads around the world. The White House chief medical adviser said at a briefing that the latest COVID-19 variant has already proven it spreads at a fast pace by sweeping all of the provinces in South Africa, where it was first detected by scientists last week before popping up elsewhere. “Confirmed cases as of yesterday were 205 in 18 countries, and just this morning, that’s gone up to 226 in 20 countries — and I think you’re going to expect to see those...

Japan confirmed its first case of the COVID-19 omicron variant on Tuesday, according to The Associated Press. The infection was found in a Namibian diplomat in his 30s who recently entered Japan, the AP noted. The diplomat, who tested positive for COVID-19 when he landed at Tokyo Narita Airport Sunday, is receiving care at a hospital. Initially, the man had no symptoms. However, he is now showing signs of fever, Chief Cabinet Secretary Shigeyuki Goto said, according to the news service. Japanese health officials reportedly stated that the diplomat had been fully vaccinated with the Moderna vaccine as of July.

President Biden on Wednesday said the verdict that found the three white men charged in the death of Ahmaud Arbery guilty of multiple counts of murder is not enough, and called for a future of unity. “While the guilty verdicts reflect our justice system doing its job, that alone is not enough. Instead, we must recommit ourselves to building a future of unity and shared strength, where no one fears violence because of the color of their skin,” Biden said in a statement. He said his administration “will continue to do the hard work to ensure that equal justice under...

Jurors in the Ahmaud Arbery slay case started deliberating Tuesday over the fate of the three white men accused of killing the black unarmed jogger in Georgia last year. Gregory McMichael, 65, his son Travis McMichael, 35, and their neighbor William “Roddie” Bryan, 52, are charged with murder, aggravated assault and other crimes in the shooting death of Arbery, 25, who they suspected was fleeing a burglary as he ran through their neighborhood near Brunswick. Superior Court Judge Timothy Walmsley told the jurors Tuesday, “It is your duty to consider the facts objectively without favor, affection, or sympathy to anyone.”...

One of the most interesting stories from the early days leading up to the American Revolution involves the events surrounding the Boston Massacre. On March 5th, 1770 the Stamp Act had just been repealed but British Soldiers were ever present in Boston as a show of force against the “rowdy” colonists. The British government, in order to save face, implemented the Townshend Acts instead as a means to continue taxing the colonies (without representation, of course). Anger was growing in the streets. The presence of the Red Coats in the city added to the public fury and protests were sparked....