The House Oversight Committee said Monday it is investigating whether Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao acted improperly to benefit herself or her family’s shipping company.
Two Democratic leaders sent Chao a letter asking her to turn over documents and communications related to the New York company, Foremost Group. Chao’s father and sisters own the company, which transports material to and from China.
The New York Times and Politico have reported that Chao may have used her Cabinet position to benefit the company and increase its influence and status with the Chinese government. China has extended hundreds of millions of dollars in low-interest loans to the company for the purchase of foreign-flagged ships.
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Chao has denied wrongdoing.
Democratic Representatives Elijah Cummings of Maryland and Raja Krishnamoorthi of Illinois said they are examining Chao’s statements and actions and whether she complied with ethics rules. Cummings chairs the Oversight panel, while Krishnamoorthi heads an economic and consumer policy subcommittee.
A Transportation Department spokesman said Monday the department has received a letter seeking information on a variety of topics based on publicly available information and news coverage.
‘‘We look forward to responding to the committee’s request,’’ said spokesman Stephen Bradford.
Associated Press
McCabe lawyers say attacks make fair trial impossible
Andrew McCabe, the former acting FBI director, and his legal team have waged a vigorous campaign to dispute allegations that he lied to investigators about a media leak.
In recent months, McCabe’s attorneys shared with federal prosecutors and top Justice Department officials a point-by-point rebuttal of what they view as flaws in a possible criminal case against McCabe.
They argued that prosecuting McCabe would be unprecedented, politically driven, and contrary to the very legal thinking that Attorney General William Barr outlined when he decided President Trump should not be charged with obstruction of justice in the special counsel investigation, according to an analysis provided to The Washington Post by McCabe’s team, the substance of which was communicated to the Justice Department.
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McCabe’s attorneys threatened to mount a no-holds-barred defense, arguing that the case should be thrown out because of Trump’s frequent personal attacks and raising the prospect that they would demand information that might show investigators were influenced by political bias.
McCabe’s team was told Wednesday that Deputy Attorney Jeffrey Rosen had rejected one of their last attempts to get the Justice Department to abandon the case. The team had been told last month that line prosecutors had recommended moving forward, and Jessie Liu, a US attorney for the District of Columbia, had endorsed their recommendation.
But as of Monday morning, no charges had been filed, and there was no sign of the grand jury that had been hearing evidence in the matter previously. That panel was suddenly called back in to the D.C. federal courthouse last week after a monthslong hiatus — which seemed to be an indication that they would soon be asked to consider approving an indictment.
Washington Post
Biden, other hopefuls set for Southern-style politics
Four Democratic presidential candidates are descending on South Carolina for what organizers call the oldest traditional campaign speech event in the country, taking an opportunity to continue to make their cases ahead of the first Southern vote of 2020.
On Monday, Joe Biden, Bill de Blasio, Pete Buttigieg, and Amy Klobuchar are scheduled to speak at the Galivants Ferry Stump, a biennial Democratic event that takes place in a rural portion of northeastern South Carolina. One by one, they will speak to an expected crowd of thousands gathered in the unincorporated community of Galivants Ferry along the banks of the Little Pee Dee River.
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The event dates back to the 1870s, when former Civil War General Wade Hampton arrived in Galivants Ferry as part of his campaign for South Carolina governor. Area businessman Joseph Holliday began to invite Democratic candidates to give campaign speeches from his Galivants Ferry store, standing on a tree stump to be seen above the crowd.
A tradition was born, and the Holliday family has continued to host the stump every other year preceding an election. These days, candidates speak not from the original pine stump but from the porch of the Hollidays’ store, which has been recognized as a ‘‘Local Legacy’’ by the Library of Congress.
Republicans are always invited to attend the stump but aren’t allowed to speak.
Associated Press
Judge won’t toss charge over Muslim candidate threat
A federal judge refused on Monday to throw out a case in which a North Carolina man is charged with anonymously threatening to lynch a Muslim-American man campaigning for a state Senate seat in Virginia. Joseph Cecil Vandevere is charged with interstate communication of a threat to injure a person in connection with a tweet directed at candidate Qasim Rashid. The tweet included a picture of a lynching and read, ‘‘VIEW YOUR DESTINY.’’
Vandevere argued his indictment must be dismissed on First Amendment free speech grounds, claiming the communication in question was not a ‘‘true threat.’’
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However, US District Judge Max Cogburn Jr. said he cannot rule as a matter of law that the alleged threat was ‘‘political hyperbole’’ or that ‘‘no reasonable person would interpret this communication as a serious expression of intent to do harm.’’
Associated Press