Friday, April 8, 2022
Jackson confirmed to SCOTUS, Russia suspended from U.N. Human Rights Council, Pelosi positive for COVID-19, DOJ investigating Trump's handling of secrets and Tiger's Masters comeback.
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Good Friday morning. Here’s what is happening:
POLITICO: The Senate confirmed Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court Thursday afternoon, marking a historic moment for the high court and a massive victory for President Joe Biden.
Jackson was approved, 53-47, on Thursday afternoon with the support of three Republicans. The vote makes Jackson the first Black female justice and delivers Democrats their first high-court seat in 12 years.
Vice President Kamala Harris, the first female Black vice president, oversaw the vote in a Senate chamber packed for the occasion. Senators voted from their desks, a decorum befitting the gravity of the confirmation vote of a Supreme Court justice.
“This is a great moment for Judge Jackson. But it is an even greater moment for America, as we rise to a more perfect union,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said ahead of the vote.
Jackson’s ascension to the Supreme Court is one of the most consequential moves by President Joe Biden and Democrats controlling Congress. It constitutes a huge win for the president as well as Schumer and Judiciary Chair Dick Durbin (D-Ill.). Schumer called it a “joyous, momentous, groundbreaking day.”
Thursday’s vote fulfilled Biden’s campaign promise to appoint the first-ever Black woman to the high court; Jackson will also be just the third Black Supreme Court justice in U.S. history. Additionally, Jackson will be the only sitting justice with experience as a public defender.
“I think [Biden] will likely say at the end of his term, whenever that might be, that this will be one of the most significant things that he has done. Because it is that important to history,” said former Sen. Doug Jones (D-Ala.), who has helped guide Jackson to confirmation as her so-called Sherpa.
Jackson’s confirmation, roughly six weeks after her nomination, will put her in line to replace retiring Justice Stephen Breyer, who is expected to step down later this year. It’s a rapid ascent for the 51-year-old Jackson, who was confirmed to the D.C. Circuit just last June.
All 50 Senate Democratic Caucus members supported Jackson as well as Republican Sens. Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Mitt Romney of Utah, which led to the highest Supreme Court vote total since Justice Neil Gorsuch was confirmed with 54 votes in 2017. Jackson cleared a filibuster 53-47 on Thursday afternoon and was confirmed roughly two hours later.
CBS News: Russia was suspended from the U.N. Human Rights Council on Thursday for what a resolution called reports of ‘gross and systematic violations and abuses of human rights’ and ‘violations of international humanitarian law’ in its invasion of Ukraine.
The 193-nation General Assembly vote - the only one in 11 years that suspended a nation from the Human Rights Council - required a ⅔ super majority of those present and voting, a count that excludes abstentions. The resolution passed 93-24, with 58 nations abstaining.
The General Assembly vote Thursday on whether to suspend Russia from the U.N.'s main human rights body was an initiative driven by the Biden administration in response to the brutal killing of hundreds of civilians in Ukraine by Russian forces.
The move by the U.S., UK and their allies to remove Russia from the powerless 47-nation Geneva-based human rights council - in which many member nations are human rights abusers - further isolates Russia politically from the world despite Russia's veto power on the Security Council, diplomats said after the vote.
Because abstentions would not count in the tally of the resolution's passage and the vote was expected to be more divided than recent General Assembly votes, Russia had sent a warning to several nations.
In a letter obtained by CBS News, Russia cautioned member states that either a vote in support of the resolution or an abstention would be viewed as an "unfriendly gesture" with consequences for bilateral ties.
Nations speaking against the U.S.-led effort before the vote included North Korea, Iran, Venezuela, Brazil, China, Cuba, Senegal, Kazakhstan, South Africa, Egypt, Mexico and Syria, but not all voted against the resolution. Some instead chose to abstain.
-ABC News: At least 30 people were killed and more than 100 others injured in a rocket attack on a railway station in eastern Ukraine on Friday morning.
-CBS News: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the situation in Borodyanka is even worse than Bucha.
-The Associated Press: The United Nations’ humanitarian chief said Thursday he’s not optimistic about securing a ceasefire to halt the fighting in Ukraine following high-level talks in Moscow and Kyiv.
-CNN: Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said publicly for the first time Thursday that the U.S. is providing intelligence to Ukrainian forces to conduct operations in the Donbas region.
-POLITICO: The Senate and House cleared bills on Thursday to revoke normal trade relations with Russia and ban oil imports from the country.
The Associated Press: One of two men accused of impersonating federal agents and giving actual Secret Service agents gifts and free apartments in Washington has claimed to have ties to Pakistani intelligence and had visas showing travel to Pakistan and Iran, federal prosecutors said Thursday.
The men, Arian Taherzadeh, 40, and Haider Ali, 35, were arrested Wednesday. The FBI raided a luxury apartment building in Southeast Washington, where the men were staying and had been offering free apartments and other gifts to U.S. Secret Service agents and officers.
During a court appearance Thursday, Assistant U.S. Attorney Joshua Rothstein said Ali had told witnesses that he was affiliated with the Inter-Services Intelligence agency in Pakistan and that he had multiple visas from Pakistan and Iran in the months before prosecutors believe the men began impersonating U.S. law enforcement officials. Rothstein said the U.S. has not yet been able to verify the veracity of Ali’s claims to the witnesses.
Prosecutors believe the men were trying to “ingratiate themselves” and “integrate” with U.S. federal agents and people who worked in the U.S. defense community, Rothstein said.
The FBI searched five residences at the building on Wednesday and three vehicles. They found body armor, gas masks, zip ties, handcuffs, equipment to break through doors, drones, radios and police training manuals, Rothstein said.
The two men also had surveillance equipment and a high-power telescope, he said. The FBI found evidence that they may have been creating surveillance devices and also found a binder with information on all the residents in the luxury apartment building, which is home to law enforcement officers, defense officials and congressional staffers.
Prosecutors say the men had also set up surveillance in the building and had been telling residents there that they could access any of their cellphones at any time. The residents also told investigators they believed the men had access to their personal information.
The FBI also found several firearms — including handguns and ammunition — and disassembled rifle pieces and sniper scopes, Rothstein said.
Prosecutors allege Taherzadeh and Ali had falsely claimed to work for the Department of Homeland Security and work on a special task force investigating gangs and violence connected to the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
BBC News: Two people have been killed by at least one gunman in the center of Tel Aviv, the fourth attack of its kind in just over two weeks.
The shootings happened on Dizengoff Street, one of the busiest streets, known for its bars and restaurants.
Security forces are hunting for at least one gunman and police have told people to stay indoors.
It follows a spree of attacks by Israeli Arabs and a Palestinian which left 11 people dead.
A spokesperson for Israel's emergency services said nine people were brought to hospital after the attack and doctors at Tel Aviv's Ichilov Hospital said medical teams are "fighting for the lives" of four victims.
In a statement issued on Thursday night, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett offered his condolences to the families of those killed and said that Israeli security services "are in pursuit of the terrorist who carried out the murderous rampage tonight in Tel Aviv".
"Wherever the terrorist is - we will get to him. And everyone who helped him indirectly or directly - will pay a price," Mr Bennett said.
Over 1,000 members of the Israeli police, army special forces and the Shin Bet intelligence service are involved in the search, police officials have said.
Yahoo News: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi tested positive for COVID-19 on Thursday, the latest high-profile Washington official to come down with the virus in recent weeks amid a wave of new infections.
A spokesperson for the California Democrat confirmed that she tested positive just as she was set to hold her weekly press conference with reporters. She’s the eighth mtive this week, Speaker Pelosi received a positive test result for COVID-19 and is currently asymptomatic,” Drew Hammill, Pelosi’s deputy chief of staff, tweeted. “The Speaker is fully vaccinated and boosted, and is thankful for the robust protection the vaccine has provided.”
Pelosi’s positive test result came one day after Attorney General Merrick Garland and Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo both announced on Wednesday that they too had tested positive for COVID-19. Democratic Reps. Joaquin Castro of Texas and Adam Schiff of California revealed their positive test results on Tuesday.
Vice President Kamala Harris’s communications director, Jamal Simmons, and Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser also tested positive for COVID-19 this week.
The slew of positive test results comes amid an outbreak among Washington leaders who attended a Gridiron Club dinner on Saturday night. Among the guests were Cabinet members as well as journalists and members of Congress.
Garland, Raimondo, Castro, Schiff and Simmons attended the swanky black-tie event, where guests were asked to show proof of vaccination but weren’t required to be tested for COVID-19 in order to attend, and many of the guests were unmasked. Pelosi wasn’t in attendance, but Hammill, her spokesperson, was.
-POLITICO: Washington D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser said Thursday she has tested positive for COVID-19, putting her among latest in the string of cases among the capital’s political class.
-WTTG-TV: At least six members of Congress have tested positive for COVID-19 this week.
-Reuters: A U.S. appeals court panel on Thursday reinstated President Joe Biden's executive order mandating that federal civilian employees be vaccinated against COVID-19.
The New York Times: Medicare is severely restricting use of the Biogen’s new Alzheimer’s drug by limiting use to those in a clinical trial.
Ever since Medicare proposed to sharply limit coverage of the controversial Alzheimer’s drug Aduhelm, the agency has been deluged with impassioned pleas.
Groups representing patients insisted the federal insurance program pay for the drug. Many Alzheimer’s experts and doctors cautioned against broadly covering a treatment that has uncertain benefit and serious safety risks.
On Thursday, Medicare officials announced their final decision. Though the Food and Drug Administration has approved Aduhelm for some 1.5 million people, Medicare will cover it only for people who receive it as participants in a clinical trial.
Chiquita Brooks-LaSure, the administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, or C.M.S., said the decision was intended to protect patients while gathering data to indicate whether Aduhelm, an expensive monoclonal antibody given as a monthly infusion, could actually help them by slowing the pace of their cognitive decline.
“It’s our obligation at C.M.S. to really make sure it’s reasonable and necessary,” Ms. Brooks-LaSure said in an interview Thursday. “The vast majority” of the approximately 10,000 comments the agency received on its website, she said, were in favor of “really limiting coverage of Aduhelm to a really controlled space where we could continue to evaluate its appropriateness for the Medicare population.”
Aduhelm’s manufacturer, Biogen, said the decision “effectively denies all Medicare beneficiaries access to Aduhelm,” adding that “Biogen is carefully considering its options and will provide updates as the company further evaluates the business impact of this decision.”
A major issue for Medicare had been how to deal with other similar drugs for Alzheimer’s, several of which are likely to be considered for F.D.A. approval soon. In a proposal in January, Medicare had said it would cover them in the same way as Aduhelm because it typically made coverage decisions for an entire class of drugs.
But after both experts and advocacy groups raised concerns, Medicare officials said Thursday that they would not automatically apply the same restrictions to each new drug. If, unlike with Aduhelm, the F.D.A. finds that there is clear evidence that a drug can help patients, Medicare would cover it for all eligible patients and would only impose a requirement that the patients’ experience be tracked.
NPR: The Justice Department is conducting an investigation into possible mishandling of government secrets by former President Donald Trump.
The matter had already been under investigation by the House Oversight Committee, whose chairwoman, Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., is pushing for more answers and access to information.
Word of the Justice probe does not come as a surprise to former Justice Department officials like David Laufman, who told NPR in February that "it would be a gross departure from a long line of precedent to not even initiate an investigation."
Legal experts have debated whether the former president, who held the power to classify and declassify government secrets, might face legal jeopardy. Even if Trump is insulated from liability, people who helped pack and transport the documents may not be, the experts said.
The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) said earlier this year that it had retrieved 15 boxes of White House records and other items stored at Trump's Florida property and representatives of the former president were searching for any additional records that, by law, should have been turned over to the National Archives when Trump left office in January 2021.
The Washington Post first reported that the Justice Department is looking into the matter. Attorney General Merrick Garland confirmed two months ago that secrets had been found among Trump's papers and that the National Archives had referred the issue for DOJ investigation.
CNN: New York Attorney General Letitia James asked a New York court on Thursday to hold former President Donald Trump in civil contempt for allegedly failing to comply with a court order that he turn over certain documents for her investigation.
State Judge Arthur Engoron in February had ordered Trump to "comply in full" with the attorney general's subpoena seeking documents and information. Engoron also ruled that Trump, Donald Trump Jr. and Ivanka Trump should comply with the attorney general's subpoenas for testimony, but the Trumps are appealing that decision.
In a motion filed Thursday, the attorney general's office said that that Trump "did not comply at all" with the subpoena for documents and that his attorneys said he would not produce "any" documents in response to the subpoena because his attorneys believe that if the documents exist, the Trump Organization would have them and the attorney general's office "will just have to wait until the Trump Organization completes its production to get them."
According to new filings, her office had agreed to extend an early March deadline for the documents until March 31. But rather than produce the documents that day, Trump presented 16 objections to the subpoena's demands.
James argued on Thursday that Trump's attorneys' response amounted to "more delay and obfuscation," saying that his objections came too late.
"Mr. Trump should now be held in civil contempt and fined in an amount sufficient to coerce his compliance with the Court's order and compensate OAG for its fees and costs associated with this motion," the filing stated.
James is asking the court to impose a fine of $10,000 per day, or any other amount the court deems "sufficient to coerce his compliance with the Court's February 2022 Order," as well as compensation for the attorney general offices costs and fees in filing the motion.
-The Associated Press: Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said Thursday a criminal investigation into the former president and his business practices is continuing ‘without fear or favor’ despite a recent shakeup in the probe’s leadership.
-The Associated Press: Tiger Time: Woods thrills patrons with Masters comeback.
He walked among the azaleas with just the slightest hint of a limp.
He couldn’t quite bend over to read the putts on Augusta National’s tricky greens.
Otherwise, there was nothing to indicate that Tiger Woods nearly lost his right leg 14 months ago in a devastating car wreck.
Woods’ greatest comeback yet got off to an electrifying start Thursday when he shot a 1-under 71 in the opening round of the Masters.
“To end up in the red,” he said confidently, “I’m right where I need to be.”
As Woods walked briskly toward the clubhouse after a grueling day that stretched to nearly 5 1/2 hours, he heard shouts of “Way to go, Tiger!” from the spectators.
He was just three strokes off the lead - with roughly half the field still on the course - after making three birdies, a pair of bogeys and a whole lot of solid pars — many of them salvaged by his deft touch around the greens.
Woods pulled off one last Houdini act at No. 18. After yanking his tee shot into the towering pine trees on the right, he had to lay up short of the green.
But he pitched to 6 feet and rolled in the putt to keep his score under par.
“I felt good,” Woods said. “Once the adrenaline kicks in and I get into my own little world, I knew I should be able to handle business.”
Yep, there’s still a long way to go. Woods still must prove his body can bounce back day after day — four of them, should he make it to Sunday.
But it felt as if he was already a winner.
“You just can’t not watch him,” said Australia’s Cameron Smith, among those tied for the lead after shooting a 68. “It’s an inspiration with him coming back and playing golf.”
