Month: September 2021

On the 20th anniversary of 9/11, the FBI released a newly declassified document about the 9/11 attacks Saturday, which reveals details about the logistical support given to two of the Saudi hijackers in the lead-up to the terrorist operation. The 16-page document is the first investigative record to be shared since President Joe Biden ordered a declassification review of files about 9/11 last week.

The heavily redacted document provides a summary of an FBI interview in 2015 with a man who had regular contact with Saudi nationals in the U.S. The man aided Nawaf al-Hazmi and Khalid al-Mihdhar, the first hijackers to arrive in the U.S., once they arrived in the country. It also details contacts the hijackers had with Saudi associates in the U.S,; however, it does not provide evidence that senior Saudi government officials were complicit in the attacks.

The document was released shortly after Biden marked the 20th anniversary of the terrorist attacks; victims’ families issued a statement last month saying Biden would not be welcome at any memorial events as long as the documents remained classified. Biden has ordered the Justice Department and other agencies to review which documents can be declassified over the next six months.

Before the document was released, the Saudi Embassy in Washington said in a statement Thursday that it welcomed the full declassification of records to “end the baseless allegations against the Kingdom once and for all.” It added that any suggestion that Saudi Arabia was complicit in the attacks was “categorically false.”

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Authorities said that four people were injured after an explosion at an apartment complex in an Atlanta suburb Sunday afternoon. The Dunwoody, Georgia police department received a call at 1:24 p.m. about the explosion at the Arrive Apartments, a luxury apartment approximately 15 miles north of downtown Atlanta. At least 15 to 20 units of the three-story building were damaged in the blast, Dunwoody Deputy Fire Chief Melvin Carter told reporters at a news conference Sunday afternoon. Jaeson Daniels with DeKalb County Fire Rescue confirmed that four people were transported to the hospital with minor injuries.

The DeKalb County Fire Rescue Department completed its search and evacuation of the building and confirmed no one is trapped, the department said in a statement on Facebook on Sunday night. The structure was stabilized after rescue teams shored up the parts of the building that were structurally unsound so they could be searched, the fire department said.

According to the Dunwoody Fire Department, a leasing manager called Atlanta Gas prior to the explosion about a reported gas order, but the cause of the explosion is still under investigation.

On Thursday, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland announced a lawsuit against Texas’ restrictive abortion law. Garland criticized the new state law, Texas Senate Bill 8, for banning nearly all abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, which is before many women know they’re pregnant. The law makes no exceptions in cases of rape, sexual abuse or incest.

Said Garland: “Today, after careful assessment of the facts and the law the Justice Department has filed a lawsuit against the state of Texas. The act is clearly unconstitutional under longstanding Supreme Court precedent. Those precedents hold in the words of Planned Parenthood versus Casey, regardless of whether exceptions are made for particular circumstances, a state may not prevent any woman form making the ultimate decision to terminate her pregnancy before viability.”

Garland said the Justice Department also is bringing the suit because SB 8 conflicts with federal law by prohibiting federal agencies from exercising their authorities and carrying out their responsibilities under federal laws in relation to abortion services. The suit seeks a declaratory judgment that SB 8 is invalid under the supremacy clause and the 14th Amendment, is pre-empted by federal law, and violates the doctrine of intergovernmental immunity. “The Department of Justice has a duty to defend the constitution of the United States and to uphold the law,” Garland said. “Today, we fulfill that duty by filing the lawsuit I have just described.”

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President Joe Biden on Thursday announced COVID-10 vaccine mandates for federal workers, along with plans to encourage businesses to require vaccinations and efforts to expand testing. Biden signed a pair of executive orders requiring all federal workers, contractors and healthcare workers employed by institutions that accept Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement to get vaccinated. Those affected by the mandate won’t have the ability to opt out by subjecting to frequent testing. It would also require 300,000 educators in federal Head Start programs to be fully vaccinated.

During his speech at the White House Thursday, the President also called on governors throughout the nation to require vaccinations for all teachers and staff. Biden said that if governors do not help to beat the pandemic, he would use his power as president to “get them out of the way.” Further, Biden called on entertainment venues to require vaccination for entry and for physicians to encourage their patients to get vaccinated.

Biden also directed the Department of Labor to require all businesses with 100 or more employees to require that workers be fully vaccinated or get tested for the virus once a week. Employers who fail to meet these requirements could face fines of up to $14,000 per violation.

The president also moved to make testing more accessible, announcing Walmart, Amazon and Kroger will begin selling at-home rapid tests for no profit, a 35% price cut, by the end of the week. The federal government will also expand free testing programs to 10,000 pharmacies and Medicaid will cover the costs of at-home tests for beneficiaries.

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