Politico reports: Brandon Straka, a Donald Trump ally who spoke at a Jan. 5 “Stop the Steal” rally in Washington — and has since pleaded guilty for joining the mob that stormed onto the grounds of the U.S. Capitol the next day — has provided investigators with information they say “may impact the government’s sentencing recommendation.” It’s an indication that …

CNN reports: Members of the House Select Committee investigating the January 6 attack on the US Capitol believe that former Texas Governor and Trump Energy Secretary Rick Perry was the author of a text message sent to then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows the day after the 2020 election pushing an “AGRESSIVE (sic) STRATEGY” for three state legislatures to …

NBC News reports: A Florida man was sentenced Friday to just over five years in prison for assaulting police officers during the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol. The sentence, of 63 months, was the longest one yet imposed among the more than 150 defendants who have pleaded guilty to taking part in the siege. Robert Palmer, 54, of Tampa, …

Cornwall Live reports: An anti-vaxxer has admitted sending bomb hoaxes to a school and a health centre, and criminal damage to a vaccine clinic so bad that it had to close. Rodney Stuart Peasley, of Scorrier, appeared at Truro Magistrates’ Court charged with four counts of criminal damage to Mount Hawke Medical Practice’s vaccine clinic and three of sending false …

CNN reports: Stone emerged from the deposition after only an hour-and-a-half and told reporters he invoked the Fifth Amendment, which offers protection against self-incrimination, “not because I have done anything wrong, but because I am fully aware of the House Democrats’ long history of fabricating perjury charges.” “I question the legitimacy of this inquiry,” Stone said, “based on the fact …

Yahoo News reports: Ryanair removed a man who breached airport security and boarded a flight from London to Dublin on December 15 and yelled anti-vaccine theories at passengers. Footage by passenger Lorna Spaine shows the man ranting from the aisle of the plane as people waited to depart Stansted Airport. In the video the man is heard calling the coronavirus …

The Guardian reports: Some obituary notices open with the grand achievements of a life well-lived, or the tender details of a person’s passing with loved ones at their side. The death in El Paso, Texas, of Renay Mandel Corren, however, was marked in somewhat more unorthodox fashion. “The bawdy, fertile, redheaded matriarch of a sprawling Jewish-Mexican-Redneck American family has kicked …

Politico reports: Former President Donald Trump veered into several antisemitic tropes in a recent interview, claiming that Israel used to have “absolute power over Congress” and saying that American Jews — the majority of whom vote Democratic — “either don’t like Israel or don’t care about Israel.” Trump also claimed that evangelical Christians in the United States “love Israel more …

Axios reports: Private equity investor Brian Shevland is suing the CEO of the blank check company that it merging with former President Trump’s social media platform, claiming a “brazen act of fraud.” Big picture: The lawsuit comes just a week after Digital World Acquisition Corp. (DWAC), led by Patrick Orlando, disclosed that it’s under investigation by federal securities regulators. Shevland …

The Houston Chronicle reports: Texas Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton has been one of former President Donald Trump’s most reliable allies in spreading the myth of widespread voter fraud, particularly in the 2020 election, and frequently boasts that few states are as vigilant. His office’s election integrity unit added two lawyers to the team in the last year, bringing it …

Mediaite reports: Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) is doing something pretty rare among Republicans on Capitol Hill — voicing support for the January 6 committee. In an interview with Spectrum News, the Kentucky senator was confronted about recent comments in which he said “it will be interesting to reveal all the participants that were involved” in January 6. “It …

Roll Call reports: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention vaccine advisers voted unanimously Thursday to recommend that the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine take a back seat to Moderna and Pfizer shots, when possible, due to risks of adverse side effects. Serious clotting events, specifically thrombosis with thrombocytopenia, or TTS, are a rare but serious side effect of the Johnson …

The Guardian reports: Trump supporters and members of far-right extremist groups who took part in the violent insurrection at the US Capitol on 6 January are raising hundreds of thousands of dollars from online crowdfunding sites by portraying themselves as maligned American patriots, martyrs and “political prisoners”. Several of the highest-profile participants in the “stop the steal” insurrection are raising …

Playbook reports: Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is one of the most prominent anti-vaxxers in the country. So it came as a surprise when an invitation to a holiday party at his home in California last week urged attendees to be tested or vaccinated beforehand, two people familiar with the matter told Daniel Lippman. When we called up Kennedy for comment, …

The Hill reports: The Trump administration deliberately undermined the nation’s coronavirus response for political purposes, including by weakening testing guidance and championing widespread “herd immunity,” according to a new report from the House panel investigating the pandemic response. The staff report released Friday was a summation of the year’s work investigating political interference in the pandemic response from Trump officials …

From the Justice Department: In federal court in Brooklyn, Eduard Florea was sentenced by United States District Judge Eric R. Komitee to 33 months in prison for transmitting threats to injure others, including threats against now-United States Senator Raphael Warnock, and possessing ammunition after having been convicted of a felony. Florea pleaded guilty to the charges in August 2021. Breon …

“At this point it is simply not an interesting topic for your private life. Yes, Covid has killed a lot of people. So has prostate cancer. “Imagine telling people about your prostate every day for the next two years. People would know that you were a narcissist. “No one would sit next to you at dinner. You would be boorish. …

Politico reports: Former President Donald Trump has hit a wall in his efforts to oust Mitch McConnell as GOP leader. Despite months of attacks, the Trump-led campaign to depose the Senate minority leader has resulted in firm pledges from just two Republican candidates and no senators, and it has failed to turn up a formidable challenger to run against McConnell. …

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports: Republican Herschel Walker’s campaign deleted a false claim that he graduated from the University of Georgia hours after it was posted on a website promoting his U.S. Senate bid. The former football star’s campaign removed the reference that he “graduated from UGA with a Bachelor’s degree in Criminal Justice” late Thursday after The Atlanta Journal-Constitution inquired …

The Associated Press reports: A judge Thursday rejected a motion by Fox News to dismiss a $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit brought against the cable news giant by Dominion Voting Systems over claims about the 2020 presidential election. In the 52-page ruling Delaware Superior Court Judge Eric Davis said that the voting machine company had shown that “At this stage, it …