WTF Just Happened Today

1/ The Senate passed the $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package. The American Rescue Plan includes $1,400 stimulus checks for hundreds of millions of Americans, $300-per-week jobless benefits until early September, a child allowance of up to $3,...

1/ Senate Democrats agreed to lower the federal unemployment benefits to $300 a week – down from the $400 approved by the House – as part of the $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package. Under the amendment, benefits would be extended through Sept...

1/ The Senate voted to open debate on Biden’s $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief bill. The vote was 51 to 50, with Harris breaking the 50-to-50 tie. As soon as the Senate voted to proceed to the bill, Sen. Ron Johnson forced the clerk to read all 62...

1/ Moscow blames anti-Russian hysteria in the U.S. for Sessions’s plight, saying “fake news” and a “witch hunt” are intended to head off better relations. (Washington Post) 2/ Trump cries “total witch hunt” as questions about Russia pile up as to ...

1/ Jeff Sessions recused himself from the Russia inquiry and from any future investigation of Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election. His conversations with the ambassador, Sergey Kislyak, came amid suspected Russian hacking directed ...

1/ Sessions met with Russians twice last year, but didn’t disclose the encounters during his confirmation hearing when asked about possible contacts between members of Trump’s campaign and representatives of Moscow. Sessions oversees the Justice D...

1/ Sean Spicer targets own staff in leak crackdown. After becoming aware that information had leaked out of a planning meeting, Spicer reconvened his staff and told them to dump their phones on a table for a “phone check,” to prove they had nothin...

1/ A Department of Homeland Security report casts doubt on the need for Trump’s travel ban. The report concludes that citizenship is an “unreliable” threat indicator and that people from the banned countries have rarely been implicated in U.S.-bas...

1/ The New York Times, CNN and Politico were prohibited from attending a White House briefing by Trump’s press secretary. Spicer allowed reporters from only a handpicked group of news organizations: Breitbart News, the One America News Network and...

1/ The FBI rejected a White House request to publicly knock down media reports about communications between Trump’s associates and Russians during the 2016 presidential campaign. Comey rejected the request for the FBI to comment on the stories, be...