Biden AG nominee Garland grilled in Senate confirmation hearing

GOP presses ex-federal judge on Hunter Biden, Cuomo, and Durham probes; David Spunt has more on 'Special Report'

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  • Mr. ‘Cuomosexual’

    The role of a satirist is similar to that of a caricaturist, which is why Saturday Night Live’s recent skit of New York governor Andrew Cuomo in the aftermath of the nursing-home deaths scandal wasn’t particularly funny. “We are not the same,” says Cuomo (played by Pete Davidson) to Ted Cruz (Aidy Bryant), who is sipping a cocktail and wearing a Hawaiian shirt, just back from Cancun: “I am a man. You are a clown. If you mess with me, I will send you to a clown hospital. And if you die, I will not count your body.” If anything, this portrayal is more flattering than how Cuomo appears in real life. After the New York attorney general reported that the state had undercounted nursing-home deaths by as much as 50 percent, the New York Post revealed that Cuomo’s top aide, Melissa DeRosa, admitted during a video conference with Democratic lawmakers that the Cuomo administration had covered up the true death toll for fear that it would be “used against us.” It’s not only conservatives who are furious with him. Last week, a news conference and rally were held outside the Department of Justice offices at which family members of elderly patients demanded a federal investigation. They will get their wish. The FBI and U.S. Attorney’s Office have subsequently opened an investigation. State assembly Republicans are moving to form an impeachment commission “to gather facts and evidence” surrounding Cuomo’s “handling and the subsequent cover-up of the COVID-19 crisis in nursing homes.” Even state Democrats are moving to strip Cuomo of his unilateral emergency pandemic powers. Writing in Sunday’s Wall Street Journal, John Daukas, former acting attorney general for the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, argued that Cuomo’s cover-up could merit federal criminal charges. And National Review’s Andy McCarthy has explained that “besides potential civil-rights liability, the Cuomo administration could face problems because the nursing homes that the state oversees receive lots of federal money through Medicare and Medicaid.” Though his deadly mistakes aren’t amusing, the contrast between how he has acted and how he sees himself is certainly laugh-worthy. What comedy skit of Cuomo could be more ridiculous than the sight of his own book on the window display at my local bookstore, American Crisis: Leadership Lessons from the COVID-19 Pandemic, with a picture of him on the front, hands clasped and looking regal? What could be more embarrassing for him than his appearance on Ellen last year in which he grinned at the term, “Cuomosexual,” as his host called him “charming and adorable” and said, straight-faced, that “people are in love with you.” He believed it. SNL presented Cuomo as “a man,” with at least a semblance of self-awareness. But Cuomo presents Cuomo as a god. Let’s not forget that his fall from universal grace was preceded by stunning arrogance. Last year, he described the watchdog Empire Center for Public Policy’s lawsuit to force Cuomo to release the true death toll as “yet another publicity stunt from an arm of the far-right advocacy industrial complex.” Then, last November, there was that shambolic press conference about school reopenings at which the Wall Street Journal’s Jimmy Vielkind asked whether schools in New York City would be opening the next day. “Let’s try not to be obnoxious and offensive in your tone,” the governor said, adding that the reporter was “100 percent wrong,” since, when it came to school closures, “we did it already. That’s the law. An orange zone and a red zone. Follow the facts.” Vielkind replied: “I’m confused . . . and I think parents are still confused as well.” But Cuomo said, “No, they’re not confused. You’re confused. Read the law, and you won’t be confused.” At which point, a New York Times reporter said she also was confused, and Cuomo said: “Well, I don’t really care what you think. Of course you’ll agree with him because you’re in the same business with him.” It turns out that, despite being 100 percent certain, Cuomo was 100 percent wrong. Now that’s funny.

  • Rep. Stefanik: Garland’s Answer about Cuomo Investigation ‘Not Good Enough’

    Representative Elise Stefanik (R., N.Y.) said Monday that Merrick Garland’s response to a question about a potential conflict of interest in any investigation of New York governor Andrew Cuomo was “not good enough.” During Garland’s confirmation hearing to be attorney general on Monday, Senator Ted Cruz (R., Texas) asked the Biden nominee if he would “commit to not having the investigation done by a person with a conflict of interest.” Cruz noted acting Manhattan U.S. attorney Audrey Strauss’s relationship to Melissa DeRosa, a top Cuomo aide, as a potential concern. Strauss is the mother-in-law of DeRosa, who reportedly admitted recently that the administration covered up data on nursing-home deaths to hide the severity of the situation from federal authorities. “With all of these investigations, the Justice Department is open to evidence of fraud, false statements, violations of the law,” Garland responded. “They normally begin in the appropriate way in the relevant U.S. Attorney’s office.” “I don’t know any of the facts, but I can guarantee you somebody with a conflict of interest won’t be running an investigation of any kind,” he added. Appearing on Fox News on Monday, Stefanik said the answer shows “he’s not reading the basic news.” “As the American people are aware, this is a serious corruption scandal at the highest levels of New York State government,” she said. “We need a much clearer response from the nominee to be AG [committing to] making sure there is an independent apolitical, fair investigation. And when it comes to obstruction of justice, these are not just accusations Katie, this was caught on tape.” She added: “It was caught on tape on a Zoom call with the members of the New York State Assembly, which is why it is Democrats as well who are speaking out about the need to have an independent federal investigation and also, some are proposing impeachment of the governor and the governor, I have said, should resign.” Stefanik said the families of those who died in nursing homes “deserve a commitment from the AG nominee that this would be an independent investigation.” “He’d better get up to speed quickly because that answer is not good enough for the American people,” she said. Lawmakers of both parties have called for Cuomo to be stripped of the emergency powers granted to him last year at the beginning of the pandemic following DeRosa’s comments and a report issued by the New York attorney general Letitia James, which found that the state had undercounted nursing-home deaths by as much as 50 percent. Cuomo last week blasted state lawmakers who have threatened to rescind his emergency powers and open investigations into his administration’s coverup of its mishandling of nursing-home coronavirus deaths. “You can’t use a subpoena or the threat of investigation to leverage a person,” Cuomo said in a briefing. “That’s a crime, it’s called abuse of process, it’s called extortion.”

  • Fresno Police arrest DUI driver they say injured woman and her 3-year-old twins

    A woman and her two children were hospitalized after being injured in a multi-vehicle crash in central Fresno on Sunday.

  • Oath Keeper charged in Capitol insurrection claims she was given VIP pass at Trump rally and ‘met with Secret Service agents’

    ‘Any assertion that the Secret Service employed private citizens to perform those functions is false,’ US Secret Service says

  • Will we need annual COVID-19 vaccines?

    Answers to your coronavirus vaccine questions from Dr. Jen Ashton.

  • NYC gets 2 more vaccine megasites

    The state is opening two more COVID vaccination sites in New York City, and beginning Wednesday, the sites at Medgar Evers College in Brooklyn and York College in Queens will be able to vaccinate up to 3,000 people a day.

  • Neera Tanden confirmation seems unlikely after moderate Republicans oppose her

    Collins says Tanden unfit to run Office of Management and Budget while spokesperson for Romney says senator will not back herUS politics – live coverage Neera Tanden appears before a Senate budget committee hearing in Washington DC 0n 10 February. Photograph: Anna Moneymaker/AP Neera Tanden, president of the left-leaning Center for American Progress, seemed unlikely to be confirmed as budget director in the Biden administration after Susan Collins and Mitt Romney, two moderate Republican senators, said they would not vote in her favour. In a statement on Monday, Collins said Tanden was unfit to run the Office of Management and Budget, which plays a powerful role in overseeing federal finances and regulation. “Neera Tanden has neither the experience nor the temperament to lead this critical agency,” the Maine senator said. The White House press secretary, Jen Psaki, backed Tanden, who she said was “an accomplished policy expert who would be an excellent budget director”. “We look forward to the committee votes this week and to continuing to work toward her confirmation through engagement with both parties,” Psaki said. But then a spokesperson for Romney said the Utah senator would not back Tanden. Romney had been “critical of extreme rhetoric from prior nominees”, the spokesperson said, “and this is consistent with that position. He believes it’s hard to return to comity and respect with a nominee who has issued a thousand mean tweets.” Such a position might seem paradoxical for a party that just endured four years of Donald Trump’s offensive and intemperate tweets. But much of the Republican attack on Tanden, who has strong links to Hillary Clinton, has focused on her social media record. Collins noted Tanden’s decision quietly to delete more than 1,000 tweets in the days after the election. Several of the tweets attacked Republican members of Congress, including Collins, whom Tanden described as “the worst”. Collins said the deletion of the tweets “raises concerns about her commitment to transparency”. Collins and Romney’s opposition delivered a blow to Joe Biden as he struggles to fill his cabinet. Several other key nominations are lining up for confirmation in the Senate but Collins made her move just three days after the Democratic senator from West Virginia, Joe Manchin, said he would vote against Tanden. With the Senate split 50-50, Manchin’s defection meant the administration already needed to persuade at least one moderate Republican to come on board. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, a possible vote for Tanden, has not yet indicated her intention. The White House is on tenterhooks with its efforts to fill cabinet posts. On Monday one of the most critical positions – that of attorney general, the country’s top prosecutor – went before the Senate judiciary committee. It was an especially poignant moment for the nominee, Merrick Garland, who five years ago was denied a confirmation hearing for a seat on the supreme court by the Republican Senate leader, Mitch McConnell. Beyond Garland, Deb Haaland is up for confirmation hearings as interior secretary and Xavier Becerra as health and human services secretary.

  • Aaron Rodgers to guest host 10 episodes of 'Jeopardy!' in April; Shailene Woodley confirms engagement

    Shailene Woodley confirmed to Jimmy Fallon on Monday night that she is in fact engaged to Aaron Rodgers.

  • Pfizer and Moderna plan to at least double vaccine shipments by mid-March

    Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna pledged Tuesday to boost their current distribution of COVID-19 vaccines. As it stands, Pfizer and Moderna are distributing 4-5 million vaccine doses each week. Pfizer plans to up that to 13 million doses weekly by mid-March, and Moderna is working to distribute 40 million doses per month, the companies told the House Energy and Commerce Committee during a Tuesday hearing. Moderna plans to ship at least 100 million doses by the end of May. The increased production promises come amid a sluggish coronavirus vaccine rollout. President Biden originally set the U.S. on a goal of distributing 100 million vaccine doses during his first 100 days in office, but increased it to 150 million as it became clear the original plan wouldn't allow the U.S. to achieve herd immunity for months. The U.S. gave out an average of 1.45 million vaccines each day in the week of Feb. 10-17, per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Both Moderna and Pfizer are currently testing booster shots that may work better against more transmissible COVID-19 variants. Moderna is testing its vaccine's efficacy on adolescents and hopes to distribute it to them by the fall. More stories from theweek.comTed Cruz says his wife is 'pissed' over leaked Cancun textsDavid Perdue decides against 2022 Senate runDemocrats may drop $15 minimum wage from coronavirus relief because 2 senators oppose it

  • Judge Merrick Garland says he will not be the president's attorney

    Confirmation hearings for President Biden's attorney general nominee began on Monday. Judge Merrick Garland told Senators he would restore the independence of the Department of Justice and will make the investigation into the Capitol assault his top priority. CBS News legal contributor and Loyola Law School professor Jessica Levinson joins CBSN to discusses how Garland's DOJ could differ from that of former President Trump's administration.

  • Could WANDAVISION’s Big Bad Be This FANTASTIC FOUR Villain?

    WandaVision is coming to a close. But we think the show's final act twist may enlist the Fantastic Four villain Kang, a.k.a. Immortus. The post Could WANDAVISION’s Big Bad Be This FANTASTIC FOUR Villain? appeared first on Nerdist.

  • Oath Keeper claims she met with Secret Service before Capitol riot

    A leader of the far-right "Oath Keepers" group charged in the deadly U.S. Capitol riots said she was in Washington on Jan. 6 to provide security for legislators and meet with Secret Service agents, according to a court filing. Jessica Watkins, 38, is one of nine associates of the anti-government group charged with conspiring to storm the Capitol to prevent Congress from certifying President Joe Biden's election victory. Prosecutors said Watkins entered the Capitol building illegally.

  • Should you just give up dating for a year — or more? On finding love during COVID.

    “It’s so hard to flirt with a mask on. You have to basically wink now.”

  • Prince Harry's Last Name Is So Complicated Now That He's Stepped Down From Royal Duties

    This is truly a JOURNEY.

  • Ted Cruz invited his college roommate on the Mexico trip he blamed on his daughters

    When Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) was discovered to have fled frozen, outage-plagued Texas for an extended weekend vacation at the Ritz-Carlton Cancún, he first blamed the trip on his daughters, aged 10 and 12. That was bad politics and probably worse parenting, but then someone on his wife's text message chain leaked the messages to The New York Times, showing that she had been trying to round up a group of neighborhood friends to join them in Mexico. They did not get any takers from Houston, but they also didn't vacation alone. Ted Cruz invited his longtime friend and college roommate, David Panton, to join the family in Mexico — and Panton, who lives in Atlanta, accepted, Axios reported Monday morning. "An aide tells Axios the senator extended the invitation only after the Cruz family planned the vacation last Tuesday" — leaving conspicuously open the possibility that Cruz himself wasn't the driving force behind the vacation. Cruz has been trying to make amends to Texans for jumping ship on the state — and, apparently, the family dog — in the middle of a very serious crisis. But the consequences also extend to his daughters, who, according to rules posted by their elite Houston private school on Jan. 30, must now quarantine for 7 to 10 days before returning to class, Politico reports. St. John's School won't even let students in quarantine attend virtually. There was already a divide in the school between parents who followed the safety guidelines and those who flouted them, and "Cruz's trip this week wrenched that divide wide open," Politico says. "You start with the fact that there are people ticked off by those who think they're the VIPs at this school who don't want to be bothered to follow the rules because it infringes on their social life. Then you've got people on top of that who don't like Ted Cruz," one St. John's parent, Victoria Konar, told Politico. "And then you have everyone irritated because they're freezing to death and can't bathe and can't eat and he's going off to the Ritz Carlton in Cancun and lying about it." A spokesman for Cruz said his "daughters plan to follow the St. John's policy." So, for good or bad, the daughters appear to be getting an extra week off from school. But there is one clear winner from this episode, Axios notes: "Panton stayed at the Ritz-Carlton, while Cruz schlepped home." More stories from theweek.comTed Cruz says his wife is 'pissed' over leaked Cancun textsDavid Perdue decides against 2022 Senate runDemocrats may drop $15 minimum wage from coronavirus relief because 2 senators oppose it

  • Northern Irish Brexit issue is two-way street, says EU's Sefcovic

    Britain must show it is fully using the avenues available under the Brexit divorce deal to minimise trade disruption in Northern Ireland before seeking concessions, a senior EU official said on Tuesday. Britain's exit from the EU's trading orbit in January has created trade barriers between Northern Ireland - which remains in the EU's single market for goods - and the rest of the United Kingdom. Maros Sefcovic, a vice president of the European Commission, said he hoped to learn of British efforts during an online meeting on Wednesday .

  • Wife of Mexican drug kingpin 'El Chapo' appears in U.S. court charged with ties to Sinaloa cartel

    Emma Coronel Aispuro, the wife of Mexican drug cartel kingpin Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, made her initial appearance in a federal court in Washington on Tuesday on charges of helping her husband run his drug empire. Coronel, 31, a former beauty queen, was arrested at the Dulles International Airport on Monday. "This defendant worked closely with the command and control structure of the Mexican drug trafficking organization known as the Sinaloa cartel," a lawyer for the government said during the virtual hearing on Tuesday.

  • Venezuela non-profit groups denounced harassment by Maduro government

    Carlos Julio Rojas, 36, says he has been detained four times in the last five years for demanding that the government of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro improve basic services such as power and water in the capital. Rojas, who leads the non-profit group Front for Defense of Northern Caracas, last July spent 10 hours in a jail cell for joining a protest of retirees who were seeking better pensions. Maduro's government rejects accusations of widespread rights abuses, saying it is the victim of a foreign-led smear campaign.

  • Sacha Baron Cohen and Isla Fisher are one of Hollywood's most private couples. Here's a timeline of their 20-year relationship.

    Fisher has said being with Cohen is like "winning the lottery" ... even if she has to deal with his many shenanigans.

  • WHERE ARE THEY NOW: 15 sets of siblings who were child stars

    Dakota Fanning turns 27 today. She and her younger sister, Elle Fanning, are set to star together as siblings in "The Nightingale" in 2022.