.By Mary Clare Jalonick and Eric Tucker
Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., stepped aside as chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee on Thursday after the FBI served a search warrant for his phone as part of an ongoing insider-trading investigation tied to the coronavirus pandemic.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell announced the move, saying he and Burr had agreed it was in the Senate's best interests.
FBI officials showed up at Burr's home with the warrant on Wednesday, marking a significant escalation into the Justice Department's investigation into whether Burr broke the law with a well-timed sale of stocks before the coronavirus caused markets to plummet,
The Justice Department declined to comment. His attorney did not respond to phone and email messages, but said last month that the law is clear that any senator can participate in stock market trading based on public information "as Sen. Burr did."
Between Bells: Californians lining up for recreational marijuana, Hollywood's A-List women say 'Time's Up' on workplace harassment, and can Dems get a DACA deal? We're joined by Fast Company, Cannabis Culture, Bossip.com, TechnoBuffalo, Conservative Review and more.
Jodie Emery, Editor-in-Chief of Cannabis Culture, says that "the federal government would be hard-pressed to really ignore" the legalization of adult-use pot in the Golden State.
Recreational marijuana is officially legal in California. This makes it the sixth state to go green after Washington, Oregon, Alaska, Nevada, and Colorado. Governor John Hickenlooper (D-CO) shares his lessons from the legalization and regulation of marijuana in his state for California.
Even though California's recreational Marijuana law went into effect today, much of the country still does not have medical or recreational legalization. On top of that, the Federal government's laws are vastly different from states that have legalized. Paul Armentano is the Deputy Director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws and he joins Cheddar to give his take on how legalization will progress from here.
Even with California, the sixth biggest economy in the world, legalizing pot, incongruities in state and federal law hinder growth in the marijuana market. That's according to Paul Armentano, Deputy Director at NORML.
President Trump has returned from his holiday in Florida and is officially back to work. Congress is back in session tomorrow and there is a lot to get done. Lawmakers will be voting on many items like immigration, disaster relief, and more. Will the two sides of the aisle be able to work together, or will divisions hinder Washington?
The governor says Colorado learned that properly packaging edibles helps keep pot away from children.
Congress is heading back to work with a packed agenda ahead of the looming government shutdown. CRTV's Nate Madden and The Democratic Coalition's Jarad Geldner join Cheddar's roundtable to discuss what awaits lawmakers when they get back from their holiday break.
The top headlines in politics, tech, and entertainment.
President Donald Trump gave an impromptu with the New York Times Washington Correspondent Michael Schmidt at his Mar-A-Lago property Thursday. Alexander Heffner, Host of PBS' "The Open Mind," explains what this interview says about the relationship between Trump and the media.
