Jan. 6 panel to provide 20 of its transcripts to Justice Department
WASHINGTON — The House Jan. 6 committee will share 20 of its interview transcripts with the Justice Department as federal prosecutors have been increasingly focused on efforts by former President Donald Trump and his allies to overturn the results of the election.
A committee aide said that the panel will share the 20 transcripts but has “no plans to share additional transcripts at this time.” The person, who requested anonymity to discuss the confidential transaction, would not say which interviews the committee is sharing.
The information sharing comes after the committee had rejected a Justice Department request for transcripts in May. At the time, the committee’s chairman, Mississippi Rep. Bennie Thompson, had said it was “premature” for the committee to share its work because the panel’s probe is ongoing.
Since then, the panel has been negotiating an agreement over the documents as the department has stepped up its probes. Several senior aides to former Vice President Mike Pence have appeared before a federal grand jury and prosecutors have seized records from a group of Republicans who served as fake electors in battleground states won by President Joe Biden. Trump and his allies pushed officials in those states to replace Biden’s duly selected electors with ones who supported him as they advanced claims that his victory had been stolen.
It remains unclear whether prosecutors might seek to bring criminal charges against Trump, who denies any wrongdoing.
Attorney General Merrick Garland, facing mounting pressure from congressional Democrats to bring charges against the former president, has said prosecutors will hold anyone accountable — no matter their position — if they broke the law.
The committee has not said if it plans to eventually share all of its transcripts with the Justice Department or the public. The Jan. 6 panel has conducted more than 1,000 interviews, but not all of those were formally transcribed.
The Justice Department declined to comment Friday on the transcripts.
Booster shots: U.S. regulators said Friday that they are no longer considering authorizing a second COVID-19 booster shot for all adults under 50 this summer, focusing instead on revamped vaccines for the fall that will target the newest viral subvariants.
Pfizer and Moderna expect to have updated versions of their shots available as early as September, the Food and Drug Administration said in a statement. That would set the stage for a fall booster campaign to strengthen protection against the latest versions of omicron.
The announcement means the U.S. won’t pursue a summer round of boosters using the current vaccines for adults under 50, as some Biden administration officials and outside experts previously suggested. They had argued that another round of shots now could help head off rising cases and hospitalizations caused by the highly transmissible omicron strains.
Alito mocks foreign critics:
Justice Samuel Alito mocked foreign leaders’ criticism of the Supreme Court decision
he authored overturning a constitutional right to abortion, in his first public comments since last month’s ruling. The justice’s remarks drew more criticism as well as some support.
Speaking in Rome at a religious liberty summit, Alito, 72, spent only a couple of minutes on the subject of abortion, and then only to discuss his foreign critics — an unusual step for a high court justice.
Alito quipped that the ruling he authored had been “lambasted by a whole string of foreign leaders,” then joked that British Prime Minister Boris Johnson had “paid the price” for his comments. Johnson called the decision “a big step backwards” shortly before stepping down amid unrelated ethics investigations.
Space station pullout:
The head of Russia’s space agency said Friday that the country has not set a date for pulling out of the International Space Station
program, noting that it would only do that after it puts its own space station in orbit.
Yuri Borisov of the Roscosmos state space corporation told President Vladimir Putin this week that a decision was made for Russia to leave the station after 2024 and to focus on building its own orbiting station.
NASA and its partners hope to continue operating the 24-year-old International Space Station until 2030, and the Russian announcement threw that plan into doubt.
Speaking Friday, Borisov said Russia will start the process of leaving the station after 2024 but the exact timing would “depend on the International Space Station’s condition.”
He said Russia won’t pull out of the International Space Station until it puts its own into operation.
Northwest heat wave:
Extreme heat is forecast to
stretch through the weekend in the Pacific Northwest and authorities are investigating whether triple-digit temperatures were to blame for the deaths of at least four people.
The Oregon State Medical Examiner’s Office said at least three people have died from suspected hyperthermia during the heat wave in Multnomah County, which is home to Portland. A fourth death was suspected due to heat in Umatilla County in the eastern part of the state.
Oregon and Washington state have seen scorching temperatures since July 25 and there will be no relief, forecasters say, until Monday when cool air from the Pacific Ocean blows in.
Portland and Seattle could be on track to break records for the duration of the hot spell.
If temperatures rise above 90 through Sunday in Seattle, that would be six straight days of the mercury topping 90 — something forecasters say has never happened
before in the city. Portland, too, could break heat wave duration marks.
Iran on Friday raised the death toll from landsides and flash floods this week across the country to at least 53, including those killed in a mudslide in the capital of Tehran the previous day, state TV reported.
More than 30 people died in two villages, northwest and northeast of Tehran, after the monsoon dumped heavy rains that triggered mudslides there, the report said.
Almost two dozen people died in eight other provinces and 21 of Iran’s 31 provinces were affected by the heavy rains.
Authorities have blamed the high death toll on a wide disregard of safety measures by people who venture out in the storms while critics cite mismanagement in construction projects as well as late warnings as other causes.