It's Tuesday morning, what do we know?

The January 6th Committee has its final word & so does the Weinstein jury

The January 6th Select Committee

• The January 6th Select Committee met for the final time on Monday, this time to announce criminal referrals to the Department of Justice.  The referrals have no binding authority and DOJ is not required to act on any of the recommendations. In fact, the referrals are likely to have no effect on the Justice Department investigations at all. The DOJ will be far more interested in the evidence and testimony the committee collected than the referrals themselves. Nevertheless, the recommendations the committee chose to refer reflect its judgment that sufficient evidence exists to justify bringing criminal charges for the following crimes:

  • Obstruction of an official proceeding, against Trump and John Eastman

  • Conspiracy to defraud the United States, against Trump

  • Conspiracy to make false statements (the fake electors plot), against Trump

  • Assisting, aiding or comforting an insurrection, against Trump

• The committee chose to not make a referral on an insurrection charge despite the fact that members have indicated they believe Trump incited insurrection, presumably because they did not believe they had collected evidence sufficient for a conviction. Instead, they recommend within the report that the Department of Justice investigate the matter further.  Similarly, the committee made no recommendations regarding Rudy Giuliani, Mark Meadows and Kenneth Cheseboro but does refer to them as co-conspirators

• The committee also referred four members of the House—Kevin McCarthy, Jim Jordan, Scotty Perry & Andy Biggs—to the House Ethics Committee for failure to comply with congressional subpoenas 

• If you’re so disposed, you can read the 154-page Executive Summary here

• In any event, Donald Trump continues to rack up historical firsts and can now add becoming the first president—current or former—to be referred by Congress for criminal charges, burnishing an already impressive list of firsts that includes being the first president twice impeached, the first president to lose the White House, Senate and House since Hoover and the first president to lose the popular vote twice (and he holds the record for the lowest average approval rating of any president).  Now, it falls to the special counsel to decide what other firsts might be in Trump’s future

  

  

  What do we know?

• Sam Bankman-Fried had a busy Monday.  Bankman-Fried appeared in a Bahamian court Monday for an extradition hearing that featured the kind of chaos that’s quickly becoming the young grifter’s signature.  Ultimately, Bankman-Fried chose not to fight extradition and, following some paperwork, will return to the U.S. to face a slew of criminal and civil charges

• China is on the precipice of the largest surge in Covid cases since the pandemic began in 2020.  China has gone from the most strident Covid policy on the planet to virtually no policy at all in a matter of weeks, amid a population with almost no herd immunity, vaccines of dubious quality and a health system that is not prepared for the massive wave.  Experts are warning that as many as 800 million people could become infected over the next several weeks, with at least a half million deaths

• An LA jury returned a mixed verdict in the Harvey Weinstein sexual assault case.  Weinsten was found guilty of forcible oral copulation, sexual penetration by a foreign object and forcible rape with respect to Jane Doe #1, but Weinstein was found not guilty on another charge and the jury was unable to reach a verdict on the remaining charges related to three other women—including California First Lady Jennifer Siebel Newsom—whose assaults were part of the criminal case

• The National Republican Congressional Committee missed it, the DCCC missed it, the press missed it.  The curious case of Congressman-elect George Santos, a man made entirely of fiction

• A controversial border policy that began under Trump and continued through the first two years of the Biden administration will receive some attention from the Supreme Court.  The policy, known as Title 42, allows the federal government to expel immigrants before they can make an asylum claim.  The Trump administration invoked Title 42 during the pandemic, claiming it was a way to keep potentially infected immigrants from entering the country.  The policy was widely criticized at the time as a pretense to close the southern border but enforcement of the policy has continued under the Biden administration.  Last week, a federal judge ordered the Biden administration to discontinue the policy by December 21st.  However, authorities from several border states have asked the courts to keep the policy in place, fearing a massive surge in migrants.  Chief Justice Roberts paused the order lifting Title 42 until the full court can review arguments on the issue

• A day late, but this drone shot of Buenos Aires following Argentina’s World Cup victory is worth a watch if you haven’t already seen it.  And even if you have:

ian bremmer @ianbremmer

who has ever celebrated like argentina today? breathtaking

What do we know in Ukraine?

• Russian President Vladimir Putin met with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko in Minsk on Monday.  Putin’s trip to Belarus was meant as a show of unity between the two allies and in a joint press conference both men spoke of the two country’s military and economic cooperation.  Lukashenko, who’s allowed Russia to use Belarussian territory as a staging area for its forces in Ukraine, finds himself performing a delicate balancing act; he wishes to be viewed by Moscow as a stalwart ally and supporter of Putin’s invasion while keeping Belarussian troops out of the war. Belarus has neither the will or capabilities to fight effectively in Ukraine but, as Russian forces become degraded, it’s conceivable Putin will exert pressure on Lukashenko to join the invasion.  Pressure Lukashenko would find difficult to resist, given how dependent Belarus is on Russia for virtually everything

• After a weekend of heavy Russian shelling, Moscow launched a drone attack on Kyiv in the early hours of Monday morning.  Russia launched 23 kamikaze drones, but Ukrainian air defense managed to knock out 18 of them.  No casualties were reported but the drones once again knocked out power and water infrastructure