Good Monday morning.
Two minutes of hate:
On Sunday, the White House had to walk back Biden’s statement that he’d be open to exchanging cybercriminals with RUSSIA.
He’s not saying he’s going to be exchanging cybercriminals with Russia,” Sullivan said of Biden.
“There’s no cybercriminals who have committed crimes in Russia he’s looking at, thinking, ‘I’m going to exchange them,’ ” Sullivan said.
“I think that was over-read or misread in the press coming out of there.”
But Biden had been asked by the media at the G-7 summit about a proposal from Putin that involved both countries turning over criminals. “If we agree to extradite criminals, then of course Russia will do that, we will do that, but only if the other side, in this case the United States, agrees to the same and will extradite the criminals in question to the Russian Federation,” Putin said.
“The question of cyber security is one of the most important at the moment because turning all kinds of systems off can lead to really difficult consequences,” he continued.
Biden had responded to Putin: “I’m open to it if there’s crimes committed against Russia. That in fact the people committing those crimes are being harbored in the United States, I’m committed to holding him accountable,” Biden said, adding that he learned of Putin’s comments after the end of the summit.
“I think that’s potentially a good sign of progress,” Biden maintained.
So he did say he was open to exchanging criminals.
It turns out that the Department of Justice secretly obtained the contents of an email account that belonged to former White House Counsel Don McGahn and his wife in 2018. Apple was prevented from telling McGahn they had turned over his records.
And related, the Merrick Garland’s DoJ will be meeting with the legacy media on Monday to discuss the Trump Administration’s leak investigations that sought out records of reporters for the disinformation outlets.
The planned meeting comes after the revelation that Department of Justice officials took aggressive steps to obtain 2017 phone records, and in some cases email records, of reporters at the three outlets, including CNN Pentagon Correspondent Barbara Starr.
In an extraordinary step, a gag order was placed on CNN general counsel David Vigilante to keep a leak probe from being disclosed to the public, or even to Starr.
“What we’re asking the attorney general tomorrow is to try to bind future administrations,” CNN Washington Bureau Chief Sam Feist said. “Don’t just send a memo. Change policy.”
“These are the organizations that were at the top of [Trump’s] list of enemies of the American people,” Feist said. “Whether Merrick Garland knows the details of how that came about, we don’t know, but we’re certainly going to ask.”
What do you think? Was the Trump Administration justified in looking for the source of leaks? Or should the media be exempt from scrutiny after they print sensitive or classified information?
46:
President Biden set to make first NATO visit as President after meeting G7 allies
Blinken downplays Biden-Putin meeting
Ocasio-Cortez: Senate Democrats ‘blocking crucial items in a Democratic agenda’
Media leaders to meet with Garland to discuss leak investigations
Pelosi pushes for Barr and Sessions to testify on data seizures
Family of Imprisoned American Journalist Urges Biden to Bring Him Home
US and Japan leave G7 stuck on coal
Critics give thumbs down to Kamala Harris’ answers on trip to Mexico, Guatemala
US assessing reported leak at Chinese nuclear power facility
Coronavirus news:
A dangerous Covid-19 variant on the rise could cause outbreaks in US states with lower vaccination rates, expert says
New COVID-19 sensor can smell virus in crowded room: researchers
Pompeo insists Covid-19 leaked from a Chinese lab
‘The Predicate Of Your Question Is All Wrong’: Mike Pompeo Challenges Chris Wallace Over Claim ‘We Don’t Know’ Where COVID-19 Came From
Civil unrest:
At least 8 people hospitalized after a car plowed into a crowd at a Texas racetrack
Virginia school board member tells graduates they’re entering world overwhelmed by racism, individualism
Seattle off-duty cop hit, killed on freeway while helping other driver involved in crash, officer’s car stolen
Three killed, four wounded in Cleveland shooting
Porn Star Who Took Nudes At George Floyd Memorial Found Dead
Washington juvenile accused of brandishing machete, hurling anti-gay slurs
2 children caught in crossfire of quadruple Cincinnati shooting
Other morsels:
Israel’s Knesset votes in new government; Naftali Bennett named prime minister
Reporter Who Broke Story Of 2016 Bill Clinton-Loretta Lynch Secret Tarmac Meeting Found Dead Of Apparent Suicide
And that’s all I’ve got, now go beat back the angry mob!