McConnell denounces RNC censure of Jan. 6 panel members
Sen. Mitch McConnell, the Senate minority leader, pushed back hard Tuesday against the Republican Party’s censure of Reps. Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger and its characterization of the Jan. 6 riot as “legitimate political discourse,” saying the riot was a “violent insurrection.” The remarks from McConnell added to a small but forceful chorus of GOP lawmakers who have decried the Republican National Committee’s rebuke of Cheney and Kinzinger for participating in the House investigation of the Jan. 6 attack. McConnell’s comments were a criticism of how far the party has gone to deny the violence during the assault.
DOJ seizes $3.6B in bitcoins
The Justice Department said Tuesday that it had seized more than $3.6 billion worth of stolen bitcoins and arrested a married couple accused of laundering the cryptocurrency that hackers had stolen six years ago. The couple, Ilya Lichtenstein, 34, and Heather Morgan, 31, were accused in a criminal complaint of conspiring to launder 119,754 bitcoins that had been stolen in 2016 from Hong Kong-based Bitfinex, one of the world’s largest virtual currency exchanges. The value of the currency at the time of its seizure last week makes it the department’s largest financial seizure ever, officials said.
Europe calls for peace, but not at any price
After two days of diplomacy on both sides of the Atlantic about the Ukraine crisis, the leaders of France, Germany and Poland said their overriding goal was the preservation of peace in Europe but made clear that peace could not come at any price. “A further violation of the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine is unacceptable and would lead to far-reaching consequences for Russia politically, economically and surely strategically, too,” German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said Tuesday. Officials representing Russia, Ukraine, France and Germany will meet in Berlin Thursday to discuss reviving the Minsk 2 agreement.
Ottawa protests extend beyond Canada’s borders
As Ottawa residents woke up Tuesday to their 12th day of protesters, the demonstrations reverberated beyond Canada, with a new road blockade temporarily cutting off the country’s busiest link to the United States. The optics of Canada’s usually placid and orderly national capital overtaken by truckers and their supporters protesting coronavirus restrictions has presented a difficult challenge to law enforcement and the government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, which have failed to tame the protesters. The demonstrations have also raised millions of dollars in online campaigns and inspired protests in at least two countries — New Zealand and Australia.
UC settles sexual abuse claims
The University of California has agreed to pay $243 million to settle the claims of 203 women who alleged sexual misconduct by a gynecologist at the Los Angeles campus, the latest among payouts that universities have announced in recent years in response to sexual abuse allegations. The payout in the case of Dr. James Heaps, who was affiliated with UCLA from 1983 to 2018, comes on top of a $73 million settlement to resolve a class-action suit by people who had been patients of Heaps since the 1980s. Heaps faces 21 felony counts of sexual abuse, according to an indictment.
Retired pope asks forgiveness over abuse cases
Responding to a report that he had mishandled four cases involving the sexual abuse of minors while he was an archbishop in Germany decades ago, retired Pope Benedict XVI acknowledged Tuesday that “abuses and errors” took place under his watch and asked for forgiveness but denied any misconduct. The report, commissioned by the Roman Catholic Church in Munich, investigated how the church handled cases of abuse between 1945 and 2019. Benedict, at the time Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, was archbishop of Munich from 1977 to 1982. In his response, Benedict wrote, “”Each individual case of sexual abuse is appalling and irreparable.”
Europe cuts payments to Poland in dispute over mine
The European Union will withhold millions of euros in payments to Poland to recover unpaid fines, the bloc said Tuesday. The move by the European Commission, the European Union’s executive arm, underscored its determination to pursue a new, more aggressive strategy with wayward members even amid shows of unity within the bloc with Russian troops massing on the border with Ukraine. The commission said it would pursue a formal procedure to recover the fines the Polish government has refused to pay in a dispute over its operation of a lignite mine.
Officials adding Black students name to Alabama building that honors KKK leader
In a move intended to address its history of segregation, trustees at the University of Alabama agreed last week that a building named for David Bibb Graves, a former governor and Ku Klux Klan leader, will also carry the name of Autherine Lucy Foster, who in 1956 was the first Black person to attend the school. The decision to rename the building Lucy-Graves Hall was made on Thursday, exactly 66 years after Foster started classes. It came as institutions across the country are reexamining the names of buildings associated with racism and slavery.
Boris Johnson shuffles team
With more than a dozen Conservative lawmakers calling on him to quit, Prime Minister Boris Johnson of Britain shuffled his top team Tuesday and hired a new chief whip to contain a mutiny within his party over a swirling scandal over lockdown-breaking parties in Downing Street. According to his new media chief, Guto Harri, Johnson burst into an impromptu rendition of Gloria Gaynor’s song, “I Will Survive” at a recent meeting. Despite Johnson’s efforts, and his resolve, analysts are wondering whether it is too late to rescue the authority of a prime minister now under investigation by police.
By wire sources
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