There are new developments in Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russia’s meddling in the 2016 presidential election. Friday, former White House National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI. According to Jeet Heer, Editor at The New Republic, the plea is a result of Mueller cracking down on President Trump.
“He’s used to dealing with mobsters,” Heer says of Mueller, who headed the FBI for 12 years before being appointed as a special counsel for the Department of Justice earlier this year. “The way you deal with mobsters is you get the goons first, you get the higher ups, the capos, and then you get the godfather.”
Heer believes Flynn’s cooperation means he has flipped against the president, which could eventually lead to the FBI apprehending White House Senior Advisor and President Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner. Heer says Mueller has managed to ensure that there won’t be any presidential pardons available, as there are ongoing state-level investigations, too.
“There’s a lot of leverage and it's all on Mueller’s side,” Heer said.
Meanwhile on Capitol Hill, Senate Republicans are leading a fierce battle to pass a vote on the GOP tax plan, which is expected to raise the national debt to $1.7 trillion, according to the CBO. Heer says the bill can pass, but it has to be now or never, since the party also had a very poor performance during the 2017 off-year elections.
“Republicans are headed to a tough season, which means they should probably get whatever they can out of the way,” he said.
The U.S. has fully reopened its borders with Mexico and Canada and lifted restrictions on travel that covered most of Europe.
America’s employers stepped up their hiring in October, adding a solid 531,000 jobs, the most since July and a sign that the recovery from the pandemic recession may be overcoming a virus-induced slowdown.
The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits fell to a fresh pandemic low last week, another sign the job market is healing after last year’s coronavirus recession.
The Federal Reserve made official on Wednesday its plan to wind down the aggressive monthly bond-buying program that has defined the central bank's pandemic response.
Fed watchers are expecting Jerome Powell to announce a timeline for tapering bond purchases on Wednesday afternoon following the meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee.
World leaders are promising to protect the world’s forests, cut methane emissions and help South Africa wean itself off coal at the U.N. climate summit.
A majority of the Supreme Court are signaling that they would allow abortion providers to pursue a court challenge to a Texas law that has virtually ended abortion in the nation’s second-largest state after six weeks of pregnancy.
President Joe Biden is taking a markedly more humble tone for a U.S. leader on climate change.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has opened a global climate summit, saying the world is strapped to a “doomsday device.”
Activists are getting a boost from CrowdLobby to press legislators to expand New York's Good Samaritan Law to teach high school students about being proactive in saving their peers from potentially dying of a drug overdose.
