Two leaders of the Proud Boys were sentenced to lengthy prison terms on Thursday for their roles in the assault on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, with a top lieutenant in the far-right group, Joseph Biggs, given 17 years, and another key figure in the attack, Zachary Rehl, getting 15 years. Mr. Biggs’s sentence…
Month: August 2023
Justice Thomas Reports Private Trips With Harlan Crow
Justice Clarence Thomas reported a luxury trip, private jet flights and a real estate transaction with a Texas billionaire in his annual financial disclosure form, which was released on Thursday morning. In an unusual move, the justice, who has been under increased scrutiny in recent months after he failed to disclose gifts and travel paid…
The U.S. and China Are Talking Again. Where It Will Lead Is Unclear.
When Gina Raimondo, the commerce secretary, visited China this week, she joined a long line of U.S. politicians who have come to the country to try to sway Chinese officials to open their market to foreign businesses and buy more American exports, in addition to other goals. Ms. Raimondo left Shanghai on Wednesday night with…
Two Years After Afghanistan Exit, Biden Resists Calls for More Taliban Contact
When the last American soldier flew out of Afghanistan on Aug. 30, 2021, leaving the country to Taliban rule, the world braced for a human rights nightmare. In that sense, the Taliban have met expectations. The country’s extremist rulers, who seized power from an American-backed government of 20 years, have carried out revenge killings, torture…
Republican Women, Fearing Backlash on Abortion, Pivot to Birth Control
She had barely opened her town hall to questions when Representative Mariannette Miller-Meeks, a Republican from a competitive district in Iowa, was pressed to defend her opposition to abortion rights. “One of the main functions of the federal government is to protect life,” Ms. Miller-Meeks, who won election in 2020 by just six votes, told…
After Jacksonville, Tensions Flare Between DeSantis and Black Floridians
Days after being sworn in as Florida’s governor in 2019, Ron DeSantis pardoned the Groveland Four, a group of Black men who had been wrongfully accused of sexually assaulting a white woman decades earlier. At the time, Mr. DeSantis’s decision seemed like it could serve as a vital olive branch to Florida’s wary African American…
The Object of Ukraine’s Desire: F-16’s From the West. But It’s Tricky.
The F-16 fighter jets would not be delivered to Ukraine until next year, but that did not dissuade President Volodymyr Zelensky from hopping into one last week in the Netherlands — one stop on a European tour to collect commitments to donate the warplane as quickly as possible. There he was in Denmark, praising the…
Harrison Floyd, Last Defendant in Trump Election Interference Case in Georgia, Is Granted Bond
Harrison William Prescott Floyd, a supporter of Donald J. Trump’s who was indicted along with the former president in the Georgia election interference case, was granted a $100,000 bond on Tuesday, the last of the 19 defendants in the case to reach a bond agreement. While the other defendants named in the indictment, including Mr….
U.S. Does Not Want to ‘Decouple’ From China, Raimondo Says
Gina Raimondo, the U.S. secretary of commerce, told Chinese officials on Tuesday that the United States was not seeking to sever economic ties with China, but she expressed a litany of concerns that were prompting the business community to describe China as “uninvestable.” Ms. Raimondo, who oversees both trade promotion and U.S. limits on China’s…
Eliquis and Jardiance Among First Drugs Picked for Medicare Price Negotiations
The Biden administration on Tuesday announced the first 10 medicines that will be subject to price negotiations with Medicare, kicking off a landmark program that is expected to reduce the government’s drug spending but is being fought by the pharmaceutical industry in court. The medications on the list are taken by millions of older Americans…