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Dems call on FBI to investigate Ron DeSantis and Florida’s vaccination system

On Thursday, the Miami Herald reported that two Florida officials are asking the FBI to investigate whether Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) is running a "pay to play" scheme trading COVID-19 vaccine doses to communities in wealthy ZIP codes in exchange for campaign contributions.

"Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried and Senate Democratic Leader Gary Farmer issued separate statements urging the U.S. Attorney and the FBI to look into whether the $3.9 million in contributions made to the governor's political committee since December alone were connected to favorable treatment for vaccine distribution," reported Mary Ellen Klas and David Goodhue.

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'I'm target number one: Republican Ron Johnson whines that he’s the real victim in Washington attack

Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) is whining that he's under attack because both sides of the aisle are calling out the lies about the 2020 election, CNN.com reported Thursday.

Democratic officials, Republican officials, the FBI, former Trump officials at the Department of Homeland Security, top military in the D.C. National Guard and the Army, a slate of police, and those at the rally dispute the conspiracy theories being spread about the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

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Pence blasted by former aide for pushing the ‘big lie’ that almost got him killed

Olivia Troye, who worked as homeland security, counterterrorism and coronavirus adviser to Vice President Pence for two years, penned a op-ed in The Bulwark, asking, "Does Mike Pence have a death wish?"

"Not two months have passed since an armed, violent mob stormed the Capitol chanting 'hang Mike Pence,' erected a gallows, and forced the Secret Service to rush the then-vice president to safety, all because he had refused to overturn the 2020 election," Troye writes.

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Feds investigating communications between insurrectionists and GOP members of Congress: CNN

Republican members of Congress are facing scrutiny for their communications with the insurrectionists who attacked the U.S. Capitol on January 6th in an effort to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

"Federal investigators are examining records of communications between members of Congress and the pro-Trump mob that attacked the US Capitol, as the investigation moves closer to exploring whether lawmakers wittingly or unwittingly helped the insurrectionists," CNN reported Thursday, citing "a US official briefed on the matter."

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Capitol attack hearing revealed two major time discrepancies — and 3 missing hours waiting on the Pentagon

There are two major points of confusion about the timeline of the Jan. 6 attacks on the U.S. Capitol. But at the same time, both timelines have a three-hour-plus gap between calls for help came and it ultimately was approved, depending on which testimony is to be believed.

A Washington Post timeline shows the contrasting perspectives on the time that the first calls came in and the disputes in the time that the actual authorization was given to the National Guard.

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Allen Weisselberg is an existential threat to Trump — and his 3 oldest kids: biographer

Trump Organization executive Allen Weisselberg represents an existential threat to former President Donald Trump -- and his three oldest children, a Trump biographer explained on CNN on Thursday.

The New York Times is now reporting that Manhattan prosecutors are focusing on Trump's top money man, Allen Weisselberg, who, for more than two decades, served at the Trump Organization's financial gatekeeper," CNN's Brianna Keilar reported Thursday.

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Republican former congressman says GOP will continue to fan the flames of violence to rake in more cash

Former Rep. Denver Riggleman (R-VA) said that he has little hope of the end to violent rhetoric from Republican officials because they make far too much money using it.

Speaking to MSNBC's Katy Tur, Riggleman explained that officials like Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) are well aware of the truth around the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, but if he intends to run for reelection in 2022 he has to scare off a primary challenger.

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The 'Dutch Trump' crashes and burns after going all in on COVID conspiracies

When Thierry Baudet won a landslide victory that sent him to the Dutch senate, many thought he would go on to win the country's general elections in March 2021 as a "palatable" alternative to the Dutch far-right politician Geert Wilders.

"He served the same smörgåsbord of nostalgia, nationalism and anti-immigrant xenophobia as Wilders, but he presented as a more clean-cut, decent, thoughtful figure," writes The Guardian's Joost de Vries.

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Congress can completely destroy all of Trump’s deregulation in one action — but they better hurry

A little-known legislative power would enable Democrats to completely nullify former President Donald Trump's deregulation in one fell swoop, but if they want to do it they'll have to work fast.

While president, Trump and his team worked to get rid of regulations on chemicals in the environment, safety standards, housing guidelines, transparency rules, the Endangered Species Act, energy conservation and more (see Brookings). Using the Congressional Review Act, the House and Senate can repeal some of those rules.

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'I'm not going to risk getting myself killed': Madison Cawthorn’s very bad week isn't enough to coax his 2020 challenger to run against him again

WASHINGTON — Rep. Madison Cawthorn was the subject of two ruinous exposés this week, one detailing numerous accusations of sexual harassment and misconduct against him from his college days and the other reporting he had lied about critical details of his back story.

None of that, however, is enough to draw his 2020 Democratic opponent into a rematch.

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Trump lashes out at Wall Street Journal after it urges GOP to dump him

Days after the Wall Street Journal posted an opinion column saying that Republicans should abandon former President Donald Trump and "Trumpism," the ex-leader lashed out in a press statement.

Trump, who has been banned from social media and relegated to sending out press releases, attacked the conservative-leaning Journal.

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WATCH: Jen Psaki delivers brutal response when asked if Trump deserves credit for vaccine rollout

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki on Thursday delivered a brutal response when asked about giving former President Donald Trump credit for the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines in the United States.

During her daily press briefing, Psaki was asked about comments made by Admiral Brett Giroir, the former assistant secretary at the Department of Health and Human Services, who argued recently that he and his colleagues in the Trump White House should be getting more praise for the work they did in planning the distribution of the vaccine.

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QAnon-evangelical crossbreeding is creating America’s own ‘al-Qaeda’ radicals: experts

The Qanon conspiracy movement is cross-pollenating with evangelical Christianity, and experts on extremism are worried about an increasingly radicalized religious movement.

The cult-like conspiracy system and conservative Christianity are influencing one another and creating potentially violent fanatics under the stress of the coronavirus pandemic and the resulting economic fallout, and both movements are angry and bitter over former president Donald Trump's election loss -- which they believe was fraudulent, reported the Independent.

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