A federal judge said a "disturbing pattern" of "missteps" in the case against former FBI Director James Comey could lead to the dismissal of the charges against him.
A federal judge in Virginia today ordered prosecutors to turn over grand jury materials in the criminal case against James Comey after finding the government’s handling of the case raises “genuine issues of misconduct” that could result in the charges against the former FBI director being dismissed.
Magistrate Judge William Fitzpatrick said in his ruling that the type of relief Comey’s lawyers are seeking is “rarely granted,” but that “the record points to a disturbing pattern of profound investigative missteps, missteps that led an FBI agent and a prosecutor to potentially undermine the integrity of the grand jury proceeding.” The ruling directs the government to turn over the material to Comey’s team by the end of the day.
Among the missteps the judge said he found while reviewing the grand jury proceedings in the case were statements made to the panel by acting U.S. Attorney Lindsey Halligan, a former personal lawyer to Trump who had no prior prosecutorial experience.
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FBI Director Kash Patel’s girlfriend has a protective detail because she has received death threats, an FBI spokesperson said.
“Ms. Wilkins is receiving a protective detail because she has faced hundreds of credible death threats related to her relationship with Director Patel, whom she has been dating for three years,” the spokesperson told NBC News. “Out of respect for her safety, we will not be providing additional details.”
MS NOW first reported that Patel’s girlfriend, country singer Alexis Wilkins, was being protected by an FBI security detail.
Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., this morning shared the MS NOW story and accused Patel of not adequately protecting the congressman’s family despite death threats against them.
“I don’t want anything to happen to @FBIDirectorKash or his girlfriend,” Swalwell said in a post. “Protect her if she’s threatened.”
“It’s just F’d up that he REFUSES to protect me and my kids from MULTIPLE specific death threats,” Swalwell continued. “Same for other Dem colleagues. Can only conclude he wants us dead.”
The Supreme Court said this morning that it will hear a case this term about whether an individual stopped on the Mexican side of the U.S.–Mexico border “arrives in the United States” within the meaning of the Immigration and Nationality Act.
That law says someone who “arrives in the United States” can apply for asylum and must be inspected by an immigration officer. The question asked in the case is at what point someone seeking asylum “arrives” in the United States.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals had ruled that asylum-seekers “arrive” when they present themselves “to an official at the border,” even though that interaction happened in Mexico, not the U.S.
Gov. Mike Braun, R-Ind., said in a post to X that he had “a great call” with Trump, where the governor said he conveyed that he was “committed to standing with him on the critical issue of passing fair maps in Indiana to ensure the MAGA agenda is successful in Congress.”
The call comes one day after Trump slammed Indiana Republicans for not pursuing redistricting efforts. The president had also called out Braun, saying that he “perhaps, is not working the way he should to get the necessary Votes.”
Braun accused the Republican-led state Senate of “hiding behind closed doors” after the GOP state Senate leader announced late last week that there wasn’t enough support to pursue redistricting efforts. The governor urged state lawmakers to take a public vote on redrawing maps.
“Hoosiers deserve to know where their legislators stand and expect them to show up for work, not walk out and hide in the dark,” Braun said.
He framed the redistricting push as a response to gerrymandering in California and Illinois. This year’s redistricting fight was set off by Republicans in Texas redrawing the map to favor their party, prompting other states to respond with pushes to redraw their maps as well.
Trump said in a post to Truth Social that he would be “strongly” endorsing against any Indiana state lawmakers who do not support redistricting efforts.
His comments came after the state’s Senate Republican leader said there was not enough support to pursue redistricting efforts. On Sunday, Trump criticized a few Indiana Republicans by name. One was later the victim of a swatting incident.
“We must keep the Majority at all costs,” Trump said in today’s post. “Republicans must fight back!”
More than 6 in 10 registered voters said they think “extreme political rhetoric” was an important contributor to the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk earlier this year — including majorities of Democrats, Republicans and independents, according to the latest NBC News poll.
The findings represent a grim milestone in America’s reckoning with growing political violence and its root causes. The survey marks the first time, across questions about five different violent incidents over 15 years of NBC News polling, that there has been cross-partisan agreement that rhetoric played an important role in an attack, as opposed to the incident having been more about the actions of a single disturbed person.
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Trump’s Gaza peace plan faces a crucial vote at the United Nations today, with world powers still divided over whether it can convert a fragile ceasefire into the long-term solution that has eluded the Middle East.
Much about the plan remains uncertain, with occasional outbreaks of violence between Israel and Hamas threatening this tenuous diplomacy at every turn, and Palestinians inside Gaza suffering hunger and now flooding at the onset of a bitter winter.
The fraught path ahead was made clear even before the delegates took to their desks, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — under pressure from his far-right coalition partners — denouncing the resolution’s outlining of a future Palestinian state. Hamas also warned against the U.S. proposal.
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House Republican leaders aim to put on the floor tomorrow a resolution to order the Justice Department to release Epstein-related case files, a Republican source familiar with the plan said.
A conservative House ally of Trump, meanwhile, said Republicans have been widely frustrated with the White House’s dismissive handling of the Epstein saga and have privately encouraged them to shift strategy, including as recently as Friday — just days before Trump wound up pivoting and supporting the House vote. The White House was also warned that there would likely be Republican defections on the floor, as NBC News previously reported.
Sen. Bernie Sanders today endorsed Democrat Randy Villegas, a 31-year-old school board trustee and auto shop owner, in a hotly contested battle in California to take on one of the GOP’s most vulnerable House members.
Villegas and Jasmeet Bains, a doctor and moderate member of the California state Assembly, are both competing in the all-party primary for Republican Rep. David Valadao’s seat. Villegas has centered his campaign around economic populism and is affiliated with the progressive Working Families Party.
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Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., blasted Trump last night for his attacks against her in recent weeks, suggesting his rhetoric could be responsible for a recent pipe-bomb threat at her construction company as well as hoax pizza deliveries.
“President Trump’s unwarranted and vicious attacks against me were a dog whistle to dangerous radicals that could lead to serious attacks on me and my family,” Greene wrote in a post on X.
Greene warned that Trump and other conservatives calling her a “traitor” to the Republican Party “puts blood in the water and creates a feeding frenzy. And it could ultimately lead to a harmful or even deadly outcome.”
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An Indiana state senator was the victim of a swatting incident Sunday just hours after Trump criticized him and other Republican lawmakers for not redrawing the state’s congressional map, according to the lawmaker and the local sheriff.
Vigo County Sheriff Derek Fell said in a post on his office’s Facebook account that an email was sent to a police department “advising harm had been done to persons inside a home,” which was Goode’s address.
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Trump yesterday brushed aside concerns about conservative commentator Tucker Carlson’s recent interview with a far-right activist known for his antisemitic views, which has caused a schism within the Republican Party.
Trump defended Carlson, saying the former Fox News host has “said good things about me over the years.” He said if Carlson wants to interview Nick Fuentes, whose followers see themselves as working to preserve America’s white, Christian identity, then “people have to decide.” Trump did not criticize Carlson or Fuentes.
Fuentes appeared to appreciate Trump’s sentiment, posting “Thank you Mr. President!” along with video of his interaction with reporters.
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Trump said yesterday that he may hold talks with Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro, even as the United States intensified its military pressure with the latest strike on an alleged drug boat and the arrival of its most advanced aircraft carrier.
The suggestion of a possible diplomatic path to defuse the mounting tensions with the South American country came after Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that the U.S. would designate the Cartel de los Soles, a group Washington alleges is run by Maduro, as a foreign terrorist organization.
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The Federal Aviation Administration will end its flight reduction emergency order today, meaning flights will resume operations as normal, officials announced yesterday.
The emergency order will officially lift Monday at 6 a.m. ET, ending the reductions that caused mass cancellations and delays at airports. The cuts, which started with a 4% reduction in flights at 40 major airports on Nov. 7, were designed to address fatigue and staffing issues among air traffic controllers amid the record-long government shutdown.
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Trump yesterday called on House Republicans to support the release of files related to the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, dramatically changing course on a flashpoint issue he has long opposed.
“House Republicans should vote to release the Epstein files, because we have nothing to hide, and it’s time to move on from this Democrat Hoax perpetrated by Radical Left Lunatics in order to deflect from the Great Success of the Republican Party,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
Just last week, Trump had called the efforts to release the files a “hoax,” saying Democrats were bringing them up to “deflect how badly they’ve done on the Shutdown.”
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NBC News