Governor Hochul Makes an Announcement on Online Radicalization and Social Media

Republicans on the House Oversight Committee voted Wednesday to hold both Bill and Hillary Clinton in contempt of Congress for defying subpoenas to testify about their knowledge of Jeffrey Epstein.

“They possessed information directly relevant to the investigation,” said Rep. James Comer (R-KY), the chair of the committee. “The Clintons had documented relationships with Epstein and Maxwell, evidenced by numerous photographs, flight log records, wedding invitations, and other materials.”

The committee approved holding the Clintons in contempt on Wednesday afternoon, which, if passed in full and ultimately referred to the Justice Department, could result in criminal charges that could land both the Clintons in jail for up to one year and fines of up to $100,000 each. The House is expected to vote on the bill in "two weeks," Comer has said.

The measure was met with opposition by Democratic members of the committee, including Rep. Robert Garcia (D-CA), who accused Comer and Oversight Republicans of having a double standard in terms of their focus on the Clintons, and apparent lack of focus on Attorney General Pam Bondi’s continued violation of the Epstein Files Transparency Act (EFTA), which required the Justice Department to release all Epstein files by Dec. 19.

“It is shameful, illegal, and unconstitutional that the Department of Justice has released 1% of the files! Where is the pressure to get Pam Bondi to release the files?” Garcia said.

“Instead, your focus and the committee is focused on whoever you perceive to be your enemies and the enemies of Donald Trump. Because let’s be clear: we want to talk to President Bill Clinton, we want him to answer our questions! We also want to understand why Pam Bondi refuses to release all the files.”

Rep. Summer Lee (D-PA) moved to add an amendment to the committee’s measure to hold the Clintons in contempt, an amendment that would hold Bondi in contempt over her continued violation of the EFTA. The proposal, however, was shot down by the committee’s Republican majority.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency is backing off plans to terminate disaster relief workers as a major winter storm bears down on much of the country.

Bloomberg News reviewed an internal email sent this week to some FEMA officials instructing them to “cease offboarding” some of FEMA’s Cadre of On-Call Response/Recovery Employees (CORE) and promised updated guidance would follow, but the message did not explain the reasoning for the revised order.

"The pause comes as a winter storm is expected to bring heavy snow, ice and extreme cold across a wide swath of the U.S.," the outlet reported. "FEMA lost more than 3,700 employees — or about 14 percent of the agency — between January and November last year, according to newly released federal workforce data."

The Trump administration has cut into the federal workforce by culling temporary and probationary workers and encouraging veteran employees to leave with incentive packages.

The House passed a Homeland Security appropriations bill last week that urged FEMA to maintain sufficient staffing, including reservists and CORE workers, and Senate Democrats sent a letter to DHS Secretary Kristi Noem asking her to pause the terminations while the full Senate considers the measure.

FEMA said in a statement that officials were following standard protocol and activating its national response center and dismissed reports of staffing cuts as “manufactured drama.”