Good Tuesday morning!
Nuclear talks begin in Vienna today, with diplomats from the U.K., France, Germany, Russia, China and Iran slated to hold a meeting chaired by the European Union. A U.S. delegation, headed by Special Envoy Rob Malley, will hold only indirect talks with Tehran.
Malley told NPR today that Iran has been “increasingly in noncompliance with their nuclear commitments,” and that Iran’s assertion that sanctions must be lifted before compliance is “not going to work that way.”
Israeli President Reuven Rivlinannounced today that he would hand the mandate to form the next government to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, but declared that “no candidate has a realistic chance of forming a government that will have the confidence of the Knesset.”
Fauci Must Explain Why Oversight Bypassed for Funding to Wuhan Lab, Congressman Says
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, testifies during a Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hearing on the federal coronavirus response on Capitol Hill March 18, 2021, in Washington, D.C. (Photo: Susan Walsh-Pool/Getty Images)
Rep. Scott Perry, R-Penn., said it is “very concerning” that the federal infectious disease research organization led by Dr. Anthony Fauci bypassed federal oversight of a grant that funded a lab in Wuhan, China, to genetically modify bat-based coronaviruses.
Infectious disease experts say the National Institutes of Allergies and Infectious Diseases’ grant to the nonprofit group EcoHealth Alliance, which involved the transfer of $600,000 to the Wuhan Institute of Virology, described scientists conducting “gain-of-function” research on SARS-like viruses to make them even more contagious.
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Bryan Doyle, Phillips communications director, replied with a statement. Congressman Phillips receives no special tax benefits for this investment, which was made by financial professionals at J.P. Morgan in 2017, not at his direction. As a member of the Ethics Committee, Dean adheres to the highest ethical standards, which is why he does not accept PAC money, federal lobbyist money, or donations from other members of Congress, Doyle wrote. He has not initiated any investments directly or by proxy since becoming a member of Congress in 2019, and is in the process of placing all eligible investments into a blind trust, which is currently under review at the Ethics Committee, Doyle continued. The only aspect of his financial life that he plays an active role in is as the owner of Penny s Coffee, a local chain of coffee shops in the Twin Cities area.
10 Things in Politics: This GOP senator s everywhere in Biden s DC Caroline Brehman/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images
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1. TODD YOUNG ON HIS BIPARTISAN PITCH: Sen. Todd Young of Indiana led the Senate GOP s campaign arm. He s also one of the few Republicans to score an invite to the Biden White House. And he s currently working with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer on legislation to counter China.
Here s a peek at some of the highlights:
A former aide to the legendary Sen. Dick Lugar, Young sees himself as unapologetically pragmatic. He also wants to reshape the GOP: A temperamental, dispositional conservative whatever language you might choose who believes that our party clearly needs to adapt to the times …
State Dept. launches new Commission on Unalienable Rights; liberals voice opposition
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State Dept. launches new Commission on Unalienable Rights; liberals voice opposition
State Dept. launches new Commission on Unalienable Rights; liberals voice opposition
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is joined by commission chair Harvard Professor Mary Ann Glendon while announcing the formation of a commission to redefine human rights, based on “natural law and natural rights”, during a news conference at the Department of State, on July 8, 2019, in Washington, DC. | Getty Images/Mark Wilson
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced this week the formation of a controversial State Department Commission on Unalienable Rights, which will help him define human rights as the definition has “drifted” through the years to accommodate abortion and LGBT rights.