Month: February 2024

Mitch McConnell, 82, announced he will step down as Senate GOP leader in November. McConnell said he plans to serve out his Senate term, which ends in January 2027, “from a different seat in the chamber.”

McConnell, the longest-serving Senate leader in history, announced his decision Wednesday with prepared remarks which began: “One of life’s most underappreciated talents is to know when it’s time to move on to life’s next chapter. So I stand before you today … to say that this will be my last term as Republican leader of the Senate.”

McConnell’s announcement is said to be unrelated to his health — he had a concussion from a fall last year, and two public episodes where his face briefly froze while he was speaking. Despite the concerns about his health, colleagues have said in recent months that they believe he has recovered and that McConnell was not impaired cognitively, but did have some additional physical limitations. McConnell said in his prepared remarks: “As I have been thinking about when I would deliver some news to the Senate, I always imagined a moment when I had total clarity and peace about the sunset of my work. A moment when I am certain I have helped preserve the ideals I so strongly believe. It arrived today.” McConnell gave no specific reason for the timing of his decision, but cited the recent death of his wife’s youngest sister as prompting the decision: “The end of my contributions are closer than I’d prefer.”   He added:“I love the Senate. It has been my life. There may be more distinguished members of this body throughout our history, but I doubt there are any with more admiration for it,” but added, “Father Time remains undefeated. I am no longer the young man sitting in the back, hoping colleagues would remember my name. It is time for the next generation of leadership. I still have enough gas in the tank to thoroughly disappoint my critics and I intend to do so with all the enthusiasm which they have become accustomed.”

The Kentucky senator had been under increasing pressure from the wing of his party that has aligned firmly with former President Donald Trump. McConnell and Trump have been estranged since December 2020, when McConnell refused to abide Trump’s assertion that the election of Democrat Joe Biden as president was the product of fraud. After the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, McConnell assigned blame and responsibility to Trump and said that he should be held to account through the criminal justice system for his actions.

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On Wednesday, Hunter Biden testified before two GOP-led House committees leading the impeachment inquiry into President Biden, telling lawmakers in a closed-door deposition that his father was not involved in his various business deals.

In a copy of his opening statement, Hunter Biden said his father was never involved in his business: “I am here today to provide the committees with the one incontestable fact that should end the false premise of this inquiry: I did not involve my father in my business. Not while I was a practicing lawyer, not in my investments or transactions domestic or international, not as a board member, and not as an artist. Never.”

The two House committees have alleged that the Biden family, including the president, financially benefitted from Hunter Biden’s business dealing overseas, despite having direct evidence. The committees subpoenaed Hunter Biden and threatening him with contempt of Congress when he at first refused to testify in private, while he said he preferred to testify in public instead. After negotiations, Biden agreed to the private deposition voluntarily, arguing that his testimony was a “critical component” of their impeachment inquiry, which has centered around allegations that the president profited off of his family members’ foreign business dealings while he was vice president.

Hunter Biden said in his prepared statement: “For more than a year, your Committees have hunted me in your partisan political pursuit of my dad. You have trafficked in innuendo, distortion, and sensationalism — all the while ignoring the clear and convincing evidence staring you in the face. You do not have evidence to support the baseless and MAGA-motivated conspiracies about my father because there isn’t any.” While Biden acknowledged he “squandered” opportunities afforded him during his addiction, he said that those “shortcomings are my own and not my father’s.”

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Retail giant Macy’s shared in a press release on Tuesday that they will be shutting down up to 150 locations over the next two years.  Macy’s statement said it would be “focusing resources by closing approximately 150 underproductive locations, including approximately 50 by the end of the fiscal year.”

While some branded locations will be shut down, the company plans to keep investing in its 350 other locations. Macy’s CEO Tony Spring said: “We are making the necessary moves to reinvigorate relationships with our customers through improved shopping experiences, relevant assortments and compelling value. A bold new chapter serves as a strong call to action. it challenges the status quo to create a more modern Macy’s Inc.”

The company said it would be “prioritizing investment in approximately 350 go-forward locations and the continued expansion of small-format stores,” and will continue to invest in its subsidiary outlets, including Bloomingdale’s and Bluemercury, which the company says have been “outperformers within the Macy’s Inc. portfolio across the broader luxury landscape.”

]The company plans to build out 15 new Bloomingdale’s stores and at least 30 new Bluemercury stores, along with roughly 30 Bluemercury remodels, over the next three years.

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Two men have been found guilty on all counts in the Oct. 30, 2002, murder of Jam Master Jay, a member of the pioneering hip-hop group Run-DMC, which was founded in 1983 along with Joseph “Rev. Run” Simmons and Darryl McDaniels. Mizell was gunned down in his studio in front of witnesses on Oct. 30, 2002.

The defendants — Karl Jordan Jr., 40, and Ronald Washington, 59, were each charged with one count of murder while engaged in narcotics trafficking, as well as one count of firearm-related murder for the fatal shooting of Jam Master Jay (real name was Jason Mizell). Jordan was also charged in August 2020 with one count of conspiracy to distribute cocaine and seven counts of cocaine distribution.  According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York, each defendant is facing a minimum of 20 years to life in prison or the death penalty; both defendants had pleaded not guilty.

Prosecutors claimed during the trial hat Mizell was murdered by Jordan and Washington (Mizell’s childhood friend) because Mizell was allegedly going to cut them out of a cocaine distribution deal due to the drug dealer, later identified as Ralph Mullgrav, declining to work with Washington. Mullgrav claimed that Mizell “wasn’t a drug dealer,” but had dabbled in drug sales “to make ends meet” — a claim that the DJ’s family disputes.

Attorneys for Jordan and Washington argued during closing arguments that there was no physical evidence linking their clients to the fatal shooting, and drew attention to a third man who was charged in the fatal shooting, who is expected to face trial in 2025.

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Attorneys for former President Donald Trump filed notice on Monday that they’re appealing the $464 million civil fraud judgment against him and his company. The First Judicial Appellate Division will hear the case to determine whether Trump can have the penalty dismissed.

In the filing, Trump’s attorneys request that an appeals court determine whether New York Judge Arthur Engoron “committed errors of law and/or fact, and whether he abused his discretion and/or acted in excess of his jurisdiction” when he handed down the massive judgment against Trump and his company on January 16th.  The $464 million figure includes the prejudgment interest that accrued on Engoron’s more than $350 million award against Trump and the Trump Organization. The order also bars Trump from running any New York businesses for three years.

Trump attorney Alina Habba said in a statement: “We trust that the Appellate Division will overturn this egregious fine and take the necessary steps to restore the public faith in New York’s legal system.” The appeal was filed along with Trump’s co-defendants – his sons Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr., as well as various Trump Organization entities and two executives.

Last week, Judge Engoron refused a requested from Trump’s attorneys to delay enforcing the penalty, which totals $355 million plus interest for 30 days, to protect his appellate rights. Engoron said: “You have failed to explain, much less justify any basis for a stay. I am confident that the Appellate Division will protect your appellate rights.”  In addition, Engoron’s ruling calls for an independent financial monitor for the Trump Organization, and said that the two elder sons of the former president, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, cannot do business in New York for two years and both have been ordered to pay $4 million each in restitution.

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Republican National Committee Chair Ronna McDaniel announced on Monday that she will step down next month as chairwoman, after having served as chair of the RNC since 2017. She was the second woman to lead the RNC.

McDaniel, 50, said in a statement that she will step down on March 8 shortly after the Super Tuesday primaries to allow the party’s presidential nominee to select the next head of the committee. The statement read: “Some of my proudest accomplishments include firing Nancy Pelosi, winning the popular vote in 2022, creating an Election Integrity Department, building the committee’s first small dollar grassroots donor program, strengthening our state parties through our Growing Republican Organizations to Win program, expanding the Party through minority outreach at our community centers, and launching Bank Your Vote to get Republicans to commit to voting early. I have decided to step aside at our Spring Training on March 8 in Houston to allow our nominee to select a Chair of their choosing. The RNC has historically undergone change once we have a nominee and it has always been my intention to honor that tradition.”

McDaniel, the niece of former presidential candidate and Sen. Mitt Romney, was chair of the Michigan GOP in 2016 where she was credited with helping Trump win the state. Trump hand-picked McDaniel after the 2016 election to serve as RNC chair as Reince Priebus left the post to become his first chief of staff at the White House, and she was re-elected to a fourth term in January 2023, defeating challengers California attorney Harmeet Dhillon and MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell. In her statement McDaniel thanked Trump for “the opportunity to lead our party …It has been the honor and privilege of my life to serve the Republican National Committee for seven years as chairwoman to elect Republicans and grow our party.”

McDaniel’s announcement Monday cames on the heels of Saturday’s South Carolina primary where Trump won 59.8% of the vote, defeating Nikki Haley. It also comes less than two weeks after Trump endorsed North Carolina GOP chairman Michael Whatley to be the next chairman of the RNC, his daughter-in-law Lara Trump to be co-chair and top campaign aide Chris LaCivita to be the party’s chief operating officer.

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