The Associated Press reports: Republican Rep. Paul Gosar of Arizona is defending a woman who was shot and killed by the Capitol Police as she tried to break into the U.S. House chamber during the Jan. 6 insurrection, saying she was “executed.” Gosar on Wednesday asked Rosen why Babbitt was “executed” and asked the name of the officer who killed …

Axios reports: Former acting Secretary of Defense Chris Miller told the House Oversight Committee Wednesday that he limited the deployment of National Guard troops at the Capitol ahead of Jan. 6 in part due to media “hysteria” about “the possibility of a military coup.” William Walker, commanding general of the D.C. National Guard, previously testified that a three-hour delay in …

Newsday reports: A Brooklyn man who allegedly participated in the U.S. Capitol riot on Jan. 6 was arrested Tuesday at his Midwood home, according to federal prosecutors in the Eastern District of New York. Anton Lunyk, 26, was charged with breaking into a federal building, impeding government business and other crimes related to his role in the siege. The FBI …

The Los Angeles Times reports: It’s the end of an era: Ellen DeGeneres will end her daytime chat show next year. “When you’re a creative person, you constantly need to be challenged — and as great as this show is, and as fun as it is, it’s just not a challenge anymore,” the comedian and host told the Hollywood Reporter. …

Tampa’s NBC News affiliate reports: Timothy Carpenter, 66, was shopping at Chesterdales Home & Garden store on Tamiami Trail North where the privately-owned store requires customers and staff to wear face masks, according to the Collier County Sheriff’s Office. Deputies told Carpenter he was trespassed from the store and needed to leave. Carpenter responded saying he would leave when he …

Mediaite reports: Rep. Ken Buck (R-CO) said Wednesday he believed Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) had been “cancelled” for expressing her opinions of former President Donald Trump. “Liz Cheney was cancelled today for speaking her mind and disagreeing with the narrative that President Trump was putting forward,” Buck told reporters on Wednesday morning, following Cheney’s ouster. Cheney’s support from Buck, a …

NPR reports: “I will do everything I can to ensure that the former president never again gets anywhere near the Oval Office,” Cheney told reporters after her ouster, which was done by a voice vote. “The nation needs a party that is based upon fundamental principles of conservatism, and I am committed and dedicated to ensuring that that’s how this …

The New York Times reports: House Republicans purged Representative Liz Cheney of Wyoming from their leadership ranks on Wednesday, voting to oust their No 3 for her refusal to stay quiet about Donald J. Trump’s election lies, in a remarkable takedown of one of their own that reflected the party’s intolerance for dissent and unswerving fealty to the former president. …

USA Today reports: Jay-Z will be inducted to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame on his first year eligible for the honor. Artists become eligible 25 years after the release of their first album or single and Jay-Z released his debut album in 1996. The 2021 Rock Hall class is a veritable who’s who of modern influencers: Foo Fighters, …

NBC News reports: More than 100 influential Republicans plan to release a call for reforms within the GOP alongside a threat to form a new party if change isn’t forthcoming, a person familiar with the effort said. The statement, set to be released Thursday, involves a “Call for American Renewal,” a credo that declares that it is imperative to “either …

Deutsche Presse-Agentur reports: The Holy See has accepted the resignation of the bishop of the Polish city of Bydgoszcz, Jan Tyrawa, over alleged negligence in the face of sex abuse accusations against priests subordinate to him, a Vatican diplomat said on Wednesday. Tyrawa tendered his resignation after the end of a Vatican investigation, which looked into accusations of the sexual …

The Hill reports: Reps. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) and Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) got into a back-and-forth on Twitter Tuesday evening ahead of the expected vote to oust Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) from her perch in House GOP leadership. Gaetz resurfaced past comments Kinzinger made touting a failed February vote to remove Cheney from leadership, saying it was a comment that didn’t …

The New York Daily News reports: Ex-cop Robert Smith was busted Tuesday along with current NYPD officers Robert Hassett and Heather Busch on charges of collecting thousands of dollars in crooked payoffs for steering cars damaged in wrecks to a specific tow-truck business. But the allegedly corrupt Smith, in shocking Brooklyn Federal Court documents, was outed as a racist who …

Former Sen. Jeff Flake writes for the Washington Post: On Wednesday, Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) will most likely lose her leadership post within the House Republican Conference, not because she has been untruthful. Rather, she will lose her position because she is refusing to play her assigned role in propagating the “big lie” that the 2020 election was stolen from …

Law & Crime reports: A defendant showed up to a court’s Zoom stream with a deeply unfortunate screenname. No, his name was not really “Buttfucker 3000.” This happened in an arraignment hearing posted to YouTube on Tuesday from the court of Judge Jeffrey Middleton in St. Joseph County, Michigan. There was a brief pause before the defendant realized the judge …

Mediaite reports: Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) attacked Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) on The Ingraham Angle, saying she was pushing “Democrat talking points.” Cheney gave a speech on the House floor on rejecting the big lie and election fraud conspiracy theories on the eve of the vote to oust her as the GOP conference chair. “You can’t have the Republican conference …

Media Matters has the transcript: The dominos start falling, you’re going to have Nuremberg trials, I mean — there’s going to be people getting hung. Because that’s what happens when you launch a bio-attack, is you get marched up there and they pull a switch and a trapdoor opens up and you fall about two feet and — that’s what …

The New York Times reports: Delivering the broadside from the House floor on Tuesday night, Ms. Cheney took a fiery last stand, warning that former President Donald J. Trump had created a threat that the nation had never seen before: a president who had “provoked a violent attack” on his own Capitol “in an effort to steal the election,” and …

Politico reports: Republican gubernatorial candidate Caitlyn Jenner told CNN this week that she never voted for president in the November 2020 election and opted to golf instead because she “couldn’t get excited” about the dozen measures on the California ballot. For someone seeking support in the upcoming recall, it was a head-turning statement. Then came the head-scratcher: Los Angeles County …

Deadline Hollywood reports: Days of Our Lives, produced by Corday Productions in association with Sony Pictures Television, has been picked up for two more years, which will take the iconic soap through record 57th and 58th seasons. This marks a happy ending to another down-to-the wire renewal for Days and the first time since 2014 that the show has snagged …