Austin’s absence spurs new White House rules for Cabinet officials
WASHINGTON — The White House is laying out a new set of guidelines to ensure it will be informed any time a Cabinet head can’t carry out their job after Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s secret hospitalization this month was kept for days from President Joe Biden and his top aides.
The new guidelines include a half-dozen instructions for Cabinet agencies to follow when there is a “delegation of authority,” or when secretaries temporarily transfer their authority to a deputy when unreachable due to medical issues, travel or other reasons. White House chief of staff Jeff Zients launched a review of existing notification procedures earlier this month shortly after Austin’s hospitalization was disclosed, along with the Pentagon’s failure to immediately alert the White House.
“Through your submissions, you demonstrated your commitment to notifying the White House in the event of a delegation — and upon assumption of a delegation, establishing contact with the White House,” White House chief of staff Jeff Zients wrote in a memo sent to the rest of the Cabinet on Friday. The memo was obtained by The Associated Press.
From now on, Cabinet agencies must notify the White House Office of Cabinet Affairs and Zients’ office when they’re anticipating a delegation of authority and again when the delegation happens. It must also put in writing that the delegation is in effect and once it has ended.
Once the interim leader has assumed authority, that person must contact his or her primary counterpart at the White House and the agency must follow any other notifications that are required under law — such as informing key lawmakers on Capitol Hill.
Agencies should ensure that authority is transferred when a Cabinet official is “traveling to areas with limited or no access to communication, undergoing hospitalization or a medical procedure requiring general anesthesia, or otherwise in a circumstance when he or she may be unreachable,” the memo reads.
A man put to death using nitrogen gas shook and convulsed for minutes on the gurney as Alabama carried out the firstof-its-kind execution that has ignited debate over the humaneness of the method.
Breathing through a nitrogen-filled face mask that deprived him of oxygen, convicted killer Kenneth Eugene Smith, 58, convulsed in seizurelike spasms for at least two minutes of the 22-minute execution by nitrogen hypoxia Thursday night. The force of his movements at times caused the gurney to visibly shake. That was followed by several minutes of heavy breathing until his breath was no longer perceptible.
Smith’s supporters expressed alarm at how the execution played out, saying it was the antithesis of the state’s promise of a quick and painless death. But Alabama’s attorney general characterized the execution as “textbook” during a Friday news conference.
Alabama execution:
Haiti police deployment:
Kenya’s high court Friday blocked the U.N.-backed deployment of Kenyan police officers to Haiti to help the Caribbean country bring gang violence under control.
Judge Chacha Mwita said Kenya’s National Security Council, which is led by the president, does not have the authority to deploy regular police outside the country. Kenya’s parliament passed a motion in November allowing the deployment of 1,000 officers to lead a multinational force in Haiti.
The judge said Kenya’s offer was noble but needed to be carried out in accordance with the constitution.
Kenyan government spokesperson Isaac Mwaura said it will appeal the decision.
An unprecedented surge in gang violence is plaguing Haiti, with the number of victims killed, injured and kidnapped more than doubling last year, the U.N. secretary-general’s special envoy for the country said Thursday.
Russia detainee: A court in Moscow on Friday extended the pretrial detention of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, arrested on espionage charges, until the end of March, meaning the journalist will spend at least a year behind bars in Russia.
Gershkovich, 32, was detained in March while on a reporting trip to the Russian city of Yekaterinburg, about 1,245 miles east of Moscow.
Russia’s Federal Security Service alleged that the reporter, “acting on the instructions of the American side, collected information constituting a state secret about the activities of one of the enterprises of the Russian military-industrial complex.”
Costa Rica names: Many Costa Ricans on Friday welcomed a ruling this week by the country’s Supreme Court of Justice eliminating the requirement that people use their father’s surname before their mother’s on identification documents.
In Spanish-speaking nations, people usually go by two last names. In Costa
Rica, if a man were named José and his father’s surname were Suárez and his mother’s Ortiz, by law he would have been registered as José Suárez Ortiz. The court’s decision maintains the requirement to use both names, but allows citizens to choose the order, giving them the freedom to put the mother’s first.
The court modified a section of civil code mandating the order of the names.
The code was based on “customary practices based on patriarchal and archaic concepts of family, which discriminates against women and today is incompatible with the law of the Constitution,” the court said in a news release.
Boebert ex-husband: Republican U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert ‘s ex-husband, Jayson Boebert, has been charged with assault and other counts in connection with two domestic altercations, including an argument with the congresswoman in a restaurant that spiraled out of control and a fight with their son, authorities said.
The altercations have drawn further attention to Lauren Boebert, a far-right politician with a combative political style.
After the argument at the restaurant Jan. 6, Jayson Boebert was uncooperative with police and had to be forcibly removed from the business, according to an arrest affidavit. That led to the charges of disorderly conduct, third-degree criminal trespass and obstructing a peace officer, according to court documents.
The second incident, on Jan. 9, involved a physical fight with the couple’s 18-year-old son during which Jayson Boebert grabbed a rifle after the teen called authorities, according to a separate arrest affidavit. That led to charges of harassment, prohibited use of a weapon and third-degree assault, court documents show. Lauren Boebert was not present during the fight.