Top Senate Democrat says he’s ‘deeply disturbed’ after seeing footage of strikes on suspected drug boats
Jack Reed, the top Democrat on the Senate armed services committee, said today that he is “deeply disturbed” by the footage of the 2 September “double-tap” strike on a suspected drug-trafficking boat off the coast of Venezuela.
On Capitol Hill, the Rhode Island lawmaker didn’t respond to questions from reporters after the classified briefing with Adm Frank Bradley and general Dan Caine ended today. However, in a statement Reed said that the Pentagon had “no choice” but to release the unedited video of the strike.
“This briefing confirmed my worst fears about the nature of the Trump Administration’s military activities,” Reed added. “This must and will be the only beginning of our investigation into this incident.”
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At the justice department’s press conference today, attorney general Pam Bondi said there was “no new tip” or “no new witness” that led to today’s arrest of the suspect in the pipe bomb case. “Just good, diligent police work and prosecutorial work,” she said.
Pam Bondi speaks about the recent arrest in the pipe bombs case. Photograph: Alex Brandon/AP
When asked by a reporter about any possible political motivations of the suspect, Bondi side-stepped the question.
“Right now, it’s ongoing,” she said. “We just executed the search warrant early, early this morning.”
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Updated at 14.15 EST
Top Senate Democrat says he’s ‘deeply disturbed’ after seeing footage of strikes on suspected drug boats
Jack Reed, the top Democrat on the Senate armed services committee, said today that he is “deeply disturbed” by the footage of the 2 September “double-tap” strike on a suspected drug-trafficking boat off the coast of Venezuela.
On Capitol Hill, the Rhode Island lawmaker didn’t respond to questions from reporters after the classified briefing with Adm Frank Bradley and general Dan Caine ended today. However, in a statement Reed said that the Pentagon had “no choice” but to release the unedited video of the strike.
“This briefing confirmed my worst fears about the nature of the Trump Administration’s military activities,” Reed added. “This must and will be the only beginning of our investigation into this incident.”
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Justice department confirms arrest of suspect in pipe bomb case
Attorney general Pam Bondi is holding a presser now, confirming the arrest of a suspect, Brian Cole, for planting pipe bombs at the Republican and Democratic party headquarters on the evening before the January 6 insurrection.
She’s joined by FBI director Kash Patel and US attorney for Washington DC, Jeanine Pirro.
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Updated at 14.08 EST
CDC vaccine advisers push back vote on hepatitis B vaccine for babies
Melody Schreiber
After a contentious meeting, vaccine advisers for the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) voted to delay a vote on restricting hepatitis B vaccination for infants.
The meeting of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) turned confrontational at times before one member introduced a motion to delay the vote, which passed by 6 to 3, to give advisers time to examine the wording before taking a vote.
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Trump delivers remarks at re-named Institute of Peace
The president is now speaking at the recently re-named Donald J. Trump Institute of Peace, ahead of the ceremonial signing of a US-brokered peace and economic agreement between Rwanda and Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
While introducing Rwandan president Paul Kagame and the leader of the DRC, Félix Tshisekedi, he mispronounces the latter’s name.
Trump went on to tout his administration’s peace-making credentials, and his hopes for the two countries who have been locked in an ongoing conflict for years. “I think they spent a lot of time killing each other, and now they’re going to spend a lot of time hugging, holding hands, and taking advantage of the United States of America economically, like every other country does,” Trump said.
ShareSam Levine
A congressional watchdog is opening an investigation into whether Bill Pulte, a top Trump ally, abused his position to obtain sensitive mortgage data on Donald Trump’s political rivals and accuse them of crimes.
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) confirmed on Thursday it was opening the investigation.
“I can confirm that GAO has accepted this request following our standard process. The first thing GAO does as any work begins is to determine the full scope of what we will cover and the methodology to be used. This can take a few months, and until that is done, we cannot provide any estimates on a completion date,” a GAO spokesperson said.
The inquiry comes after six senate Democrats requested the investigation into how Pulte went about referring New York attorney general Letitia James, Senator Adam Schiff, California representative Eric Swalwell, and Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook to the justice department for mortgage fraud. All four have denied wrongdoing and only James was indicted, though experts have said the case against her appears thin.
Experts told the Guardian that Pulte’s referrals were extremely unusual. Mortgage fraud investigations are typically handled by the Federal Finance Housing Agency’s Office of inspector general, which is staffed by investigative agents. Pulte appears to have bypassed that office entirely.
Pulte is a top Trump ally who has used his perch atop a little-known federal agency to accuse Trump’s rivals of crimes.
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One quick note, after today’s classified briefing from Adm Frank “Mitch” Bradley and general Dan Caine on the “double-tap” strike on a suspected drug-trafficking boat, the top lawmakers on the Senate armed services committee – chair Robert Wicker and ranking member Jack Reed – left the room without responding to questions from reporters.
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Suspect named in January 6 pipe bomb case – report
A suspect has been named in the pipe bomb case that targeted the Republican and Democratic party headquarters in Washington DC, on the night before the January 6 insurrection.
The Associated Press is reporting, citing three unnamed sources familiar, that Brian Cole has been identified as the alleged perpetrator. Two of the AP’s sources said that Cole is from suburban Woodbridge, Virginia. No other details were immediately available, including the charges the suspect might face.
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Signalgate report concludes Hegseth violated internal defense department instructions by using personal phone
The inspector general concluded that Hegseth had sent “sensitive, nonpublic, operational information” to the Signal chat from his personal cell phone “that he determined did not require classification” before he sent it.
The report acknowledges that Hegseth “holds the authority to determine the required classification level of all DoD information he communicates”. But it does not say whether or not he did so in this instance.
It finds that his actions violated an internal defense department instruction that prohibits “using a personal device for official business and using a non-approved commercially available messaging application to send nonpublic DoD information”.
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Updated at 12.42 EST
According to the report, in Hegseth’s statement he acknowledged the email briefing he had received about upcoming war plans on 14 March from the US Central Command.
He also stated that as defense secretary “he has authority to decide whether information should be classified and whether classified materials no longer require protection”.
Hegseth also said that he had taken “‘non-specific general details” that he determined “were either not classified or that he could safely declassify and use to create an ‘unclassified summary’ to provide to the Signal chat participants”.
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