A federal grand jury declined to indict Letitia James, the New York attorney general, on mortgage fraud charges for the second time in a week, an embarrassing blow to the Trump justice department.
US targets Nicolás Maduro’s family with new sanctions
The US has issued new sanctions targeting the family members of Venezuela’s dictator, Nicolás Maduro, and six crude oil tankers, Reuters reports.
The US treasury department announced sanctions against three nephews of Maduro’s wife and oil tankers and shipping companies allegedly linked to them.
The targeted oil tankers “have engaged in deceptive and unsafe shipping practices and continue to provide financial resources that fuel Maduro’s corrupt narco-terrorist regime”. The sanctions come as the Trump administration has dramatically escalated its pressure campaign against Maduro, including with the seizure of a Venezuelan oil tanker.
Democrats and others have criticized the administration over its boat strikes and the seizure, warning the US was “sleepwalking us into a war with Venezuela”.
Trump administration creates new militarized zone along California border
Victoria Bekiempis
The US’s southern border is poised to become more militarized following an announcement by Trump administrationofficials that armed forces would now oversee 760 acres of public land for a three-year period.
The US Department of Interior said in a statement that jurisdiction over this acreage – located in California’s San Diego and Imperial counties – would be transferred to the US navy “to establish a National Defense Area to support ongoing border security operations”.
Expansive portions of the border region have been deemed militarized zones since April. This designation permits US military members to capture migrants and those whom they allege are illegally on US army, navy or air force bases, according to the AP. The classification also enables more criminal charges which, in turn, could mean greater prison terms. AP notes that more than 7,000 service members have been sent to the US border, as well as military surveillance equipment.
‘Shoving Americans off a cliff’: Democrats condemn ACA vote
Democrats have forcefully condemned Republicans over the failure to extend Affordable Care Act tax credits, with votes today that threaten to increase healthcare costs to unaffordable levels for millions of Americans.
The US Senate earlier rejected competing proposals that would have addressed the approaching expiration of subsidies for plans under the ACA, also known as Obamacare. Premium tax credits for roughly 21.8m enrollees of the plans are on track to expire by the end of December. A bill supported by Democrats laying out a three-year extension failed, with only four Republicans supporting.
Chuck Schumer, the Democratic Senate minority leader, said:
Senate Republicans just shoved the American people off the side of a cliff with no parachute and with an anchor tied to their feet. Republicans just blocked the Democrats’ bill for a clean, simple extension of the ACA tax credits, the last chance they had to ensure people’s premiums do not skyrocket in the coming months.
Republicans, Schumer added, were “fighting like hell to kick people off insurance … [and] give sweet giveaways to billionaires and the ultra-rich”.
Senator Patty Murray, a Democrat from Washington state, said the Republicans’ proposal was a “cruel joke”. Republicans, she said in a video message, “never wanted to lower healthcare costs in the first place”.
