Earlier tonight, the House voted to create a commission to look into the Jan. 6 insurrection.
Thirty-five Republicans joined Democrats to pass it, but they did so over the objections of the House minority leader, Kevin McCarthy, who opposed the bill. Today, the Senate minority leader, Mitch McConnell, joined him in opposition.
The Republican leadership in Congress seems to be engaged in a coordinated effort to reduce and minimize the attack on the U.S. Capitol, or even erase it all together.
One reason used to oppose the commission is that it would be redundant of work already being done by the Justice Department and Congress itself.
Fox News files a motion to dismiss Dominion’s defamation suit over 2020 election coverage.
Rudolph W. Giuliani, a lawyer for former President Donald J. Trump, disputing the results of the election won by Joseph R. Biden Jr.Credit.Erin Schaff/The New York Times
May 18, 2021, 9:07 p.m. ET
Fox News Media, the Rupert Murdoch-controlled cable group, filed a motion on Tuesday to dismiss a $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit brought against it in March by Dominion Voting Systems, an election technology company that accused Fox News of propagating lies that ruined its reputation after the 2020 presidential election.
The Dominion lawsuit and a similar defamation claim brought in February by another election company, Smartmatic, have been widely viewed as test cases in a growing legal effort to battle disinformation in the news media. And it is another byproduct of former President Donald J. Trump’s baseless attempts to undermine President Biden’s clear victory.
A Press Corps Deceived, and the Gaza Invasion That Wasnât
A spokesman led the international media to believe that Israeli forces had entered Gaza. They hadnât. But the army wanted Hamas to think they had.
Israeli soldiers at a staging area near the border with Gaza on Friday.Credit.Dan Balilty for The New York Times
May 14, 2021Updated 7:36 p.m. ET
The Israeli military abruptly announced after midnight on Friday that its ground forces had begun âattacking in the Gaza Strip,â saying it on Twitter, in text messages to journalists, and in on-the-record confirmations by an English-speaking army spokesman.
G.O.P. Pursues Harsher Penalties for Poll Workers in Voting Crackdown
Heavy fines, felony charges and jail sentences: Republicans seeking to restrict voting are proposing strict punishments for election officials and workers who make errors or violate the rules.
“The default assumption that county election officials are bad actors is problematic,” said Chris Davis, the county election administrator in Williamson County, Texas.Credit.Susannah Kay for The New York Times
May 15, 2021, 1:56 p.m. ET
AUSTIN, Texas Anita Phillips has been an election judge in Texas for 17 years, responsible for managing a precinct in Waco, a city of roughly 135,000 people. But over the last four years, the civic duty she prized has become arduous. Harassment by partisan poll watchers has grown increasingly caustic, she has found, and helping voters is ever more treacherous amid a thicket of new rules.