NBC: FBI DC Field Office Flunked Assessment On Fighting Violent Extremism

The FBI's D.C. field office received a failing grade on a 2018 internal assessment of its ability to combat domestic terrorism, NBC reports. [Author: Josh Kovensky]
Tags: News, Nbc, Fbi, Extremism, Josh Kovensky, Capitol insurrection

Law Enforcement Braces For Explosive Threats To Biden Inaug

Military and law enforcement preparing for ongoing, violent attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election are bracing for the use of explosives over the next week. [Author: Josh Kovensky]
Tags: News, Dhs, Fbi, Extremism, National Guard, Josh Kovensky, Capitol insurrection, Biden inaugural, Biden Inaug

In Extraordinary Move, Joint Chiefs Publicly Affirm That Biden Will Be President

President Biden will take office on Jan. 20, the Joint Chiefs of Staff said on Tuesday in a message to the armed forces. [Author: Josh Kovensky]
Tags: News, Extremism, Biden, Trump, Joint Chiefs of Staff, Mark Milley, 2020 Elections, Josh Kovensky, Capitol insurrection

Extremists Eye Jan. 17 In Bid For Insurrection Violence

The next big date in the insurrection could be Sunday.  [Author: Josh Kovensky]
Tags: News, Congress, Extremism, Trump, Muckraker, Josh Kovensky, Capitol insurrection

No Leadership, Myopia, Fears Of Overreach: Why The Gov’t Failed To Stop The Capitol Breach

Ryan Greer kept his schedule for the afternoon of Jan. 6 open. [Author: Josh Kovensky]
Tags: News, Dhs, Capitol Police, Trump, Muckraker, Josh Kovensky, Capitol insurrection, Ryan Greer

Who Controls The D.C. National Guard? By Delegation, It’s The Pentagon

As confusion lingers about who ordered the D.C. National Guard into action on Wednesday, following a mysterious delay, one of the most troubling elements has been who was in control of the military unit as an angry pro-Trump mob descended on the Capitol. [Author: Josh Kovensky]
Tags: News, Pentagon, Extremism, Trump, Capitol, Muckraker, Josh Kovensky, D C National Guard, Capitol insurrection, D.C. insurrection

Capitol Hill Police Offer First Account Of Failure To Protect Congress

After failing to prevent a torrent of Trump supporters from breaching the Capitol on Thursday, the Capitol police force issued its first statement on the event. [Author: Josh Kovensky]
Tags: News, Congress, Extremism, Trump, Capitol, 2020 Elections, Capitol Hill Police, Josh Kovensky, Capitol insurrection

How Far Did Mike Pence Step Into Trump’s Leadership Vacuum During Riot?

There's still a key mystery at the heart of Wednesday's assault on the Capitol: What was Vice President Mike Pence's role in deploying the D.C. National Guard? [Author: Josh Kovensky]
Tags: News, Extremism, Trump, Mike Pence, Capitol, Pence, 2020 Elections, Muckraker, Josh Kovensky, Capitol insurrection, Mike Pence Step Into Trump

What We Know About The Insurrection Shooting

A woman was shot and killed on Wednesday as an angry mob of Trump supporters seeking to overturn the results of the election took over the Capitol building. [Author: Josh Kovensky]
Tags: News, Shooting, Congress, Extremism, Trump, Capitol, 2020 Elections, Josh Kovensky

Pence, Senate Leaders Condemn Trump’s Mob, Resume Process To Formally Certify Biden

Vice President Mike Pence brought the Senate back into session on Wednesday evening with a few words for the Trump-supported angry mob that invaded the Capitol: "you did not win." [Author: Josh Kovensky]
Tags: News, Congress, Senate, Extremism, Biden, Trump, Mike Pence, 2020 Elections, Josh Kovensky

Trump Doubles Down On Incitement In Video While Telling Mob To ‘Go Home’

President Trump doubled down on his bid to overturn the election result in a Wednesday video, telling an angry mob that breached the Capitol building in a bid to overturn the election results, "I know how you feel." [Author: Josh Kovensky]
Tags: News, Extremism, Trump, Capitol, 2020 Elections, Josh Kovensky

Trump Bypassed In Decision To Deploy National Guard

The President has directed the National Guard to the Capitol Building after it was besieged by supporters of his , White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said Wednesday.  [Author: Josh Kovensky]
Tags: News, Congress, White House, Extremism, Riots, Trump, National Guard, Capitol Building, Kayleigh McEnany, 2020 Elections, Josh Kovensky

Dismally Slow Vaccine Distribution Sets Up A Long 2021

It's becoming increasingly clear that it will be many months until the U.S.'s COVID-19 vaccination campaign reaches the general public, as government data shows severe delays in the effort amid a lack of planning by the Trump administration. [Author: Josh Kovensky]
Tags: News, Vaccine, Trump, HHS, Muckraker, Josh Kovensky, Coronavirus, COVID-19

Public Health Experts Decry Slow Vaccination Campaign As ‘Unconscionable’

The Trump administration's botched COVID-19 vaccine distribution effort means more people will die and the dislocation caused by the pandemic will be prolonged, public health experts told TPM — and it may even put some doses at risk of expiration. [Author: Josh Kovensky]
Tags: News, Vaccine, Trump, Josh Kovensky, Coronavirus, COVID-19, Public Health Experts Decry Slow Vaccination

It’s Rudy! The Melting Mayor Beats Cunningham To Become TPM’s 2020 Duke Of Dukes

The votes are in! And, overwhelmingly, you’ve decided: The duke of dukes goes to Rudy Giuliani, once dubbed America’s mayor and of late America’s sinister buffoon. Giuliani trounced the eponymous Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham, winning a whopping 89 percent of the vote. It’s been an operatic tenure for Giuliani, as he’s traveled the world as the President’s bagman: palling around with the sanctioned, extorting the government of Ukraine to manufacture dirt on Joe Biden, charging for access to th...
Tags: New York, News, Obama, New York City, America, Joe Biden, Ukraine, Moscow, Armenia, Albania, Nicaragua, Rudy, Giuliani, Doj, Rudy Giuliani, Trump

Fourteen Million: Trump Admin Releases Final 2020 Vaccine Distribution Total

It’s official: the Trump administration will deliver 14 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine to the states by the end of the year. That’s at least six million fewer doses than what officials had promised, meaning that Operation Warp Speed will miss its first distribution goal. “That number is lower than what we hoped for,” Operation Warp Speed CEO Moncef Slaoui told reporters on a Wednesday call with the effort’s chief operating officer, Gen. Gustave Perna. The number of doses that have been inj...
Tags: Texas, News, Congress, Cdc, Montana, Vaccine, Msnbc, Trump, HHS, Perna, Slaoui, Moncef Slaoui, Alex Azar, Muckraker, Josh Kovensky, COVID-19

House Minorities Hold Oversight Powers, D.C. Circuit Says

Lawmakers in House minorities can issue demands for records from the executive branch, a federal appeals panel held Tuesday. In an 2-1 ruling first noticed by Politico, the D.C. circuit upheld a demand issued by  Democrats on the House Oversight Committee in 2017 for documents relating to President Trump’s downtown D.C. hotel. The decision — issued by Judge Patricia Millett — goes to an arcane 1920s law which created the seven-member rule. That statute authorizes any seven members of the Hous...
Tags: News, Obama, Congress, Joe Biden, Gop, House, General Services Administration, Trump, GSA, House Oversight Committee, Patricia Millett, Millett, D.C. Circuit, Muckraker, Josh Kovensky

Trump: Vaccine Distribution Is The States’ Problem, Not Mine!

It’s up to the states to distribute the COVID-19 vaccine, President Trump tweeted Tuesday, responding to mounting criticism of his administration’s failure to plan for distributing the vaccine beyond simply delivering it to the states. “It is up to the States to distribute the vaccines once brought to the designated areas by the Federal Government,” Trump wrote. “We have not only developed the vaccines, including putting up money to move the process along quickly, but gotten them to the state...
Tags: News, Nbc, Vaccine, States, Biden, Trump, HHS, Donald J Trump, Josh Kovensky, COVID-19, Federal Government Trump

Dems Brace For GOP Ploy To Pin Under-Planned Vaccine Rollout On Biden

President Trump and his top lieutenants would love to have the country believe that the COVID-19 vaccine will be widely available very soon, just a few weeks into the Biden administration.  But there’s an inconvenient problem with that estimate: Systematic lack of funding of public health and failures in the Trump administration’s planning for vaccine distribution will likely extend the vaccine distribution timeline months beyond the outgoing administration’s rosiest predictions.  The Tru...
Tags: News, Congress, Gop, Vaccine, Biden, Meet The Press, Trump, HHS, TPM, Lloyd Doggett, Murthy, Doggett, Trump Administration, Azar, Brett Giroir, Bill Pascrell D NJ

Unsolved Mystery: Experts Baffled By The Big Shortfall In COVID Vaccine Doses

More than a dozen states are now reporting that the feds slashed their COVID-19 vaccine allocation, leading to questions over the Trump administration’s planning for the distribution effort. Experts in vaccination and medical supply chains whom TPM contacted expressed dismay and confusion at the situation. States from California to Maine have said that their vaccine allocations have been cut while Pfizer, the manufacturer, has said that it has “millions more doses sitting in our warehouse but...
Tags: News, California, Cdc, Merck, UPS, Maine, Pfizer, Vaccine, States, Trump, Lee, HHS, Hannan, CUNY, Brett P Giroir, Immunization Action Coalition

What Has Happened To The Promised Doses Of The COVID Vaccine?

Some major problems are already emerging in the initial rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine, and the federal government is not providing any good answers. The early warning signs: At least twelve states are reporting cuts in their initial allocations of doses. One governor is reporting that the total number of doses projected to be available nationwide has been cut by four million monthly. The vaccine maker reports it is not having production problems and says it has doses in warehouses, but is ...
Tags: Florida, News, California, Washington, Iowa, Nebraska, Pfizer, Vaccine, Gavin Newsom, Trump, Inslee, HHS, WA, Jay Inslee, Department of Public Health, Department of Health and Human Services

Vaccine Officials Contradict Azar On When It Will Be Available To Wider Public

Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar has been offering a rosy timeframe for when the COVID-19 vaccine will be widely available, but other officials working on the Pentagon-led effort to speed the virus to the public are now presenting a less optimistic forecast. In remarks Thursday, officials from the Trump administration’s Operation Warp Speed projected that the COVID-19 vaccine would not begin to be widely available until late spring or summer. The remarks by officials involved in ...
Tags: News, Nbc, Cdc, Walgreens, United States, Army, Pentagon, Pfizer, Vaccine, Biden, Suarez, Cvs, Trump, Health And Human Services, McKesson, HHS

Caution: Rough Road Ahead

For several weeks now evidence has been accumulating that the COVID-19 vaccine won’t be widely available until significantly later in 2021 than the Trump administration is publicly claiming. Here’s some of the best evidence yet, picked up today by our Josh Kovensky in little-noticed remarks from some of the lead officials on the Pentagon’s Operation Warp Speed. The language being used by the administration, even the OWS officials, is inherently vague and imprecise, which by itself is a big re...
Tags: News, Congress, Pentagon, Trump, David Kurtz, Josh Kovensky, Editors' Blog

The Trump Admin Has A Plan To Distribute The Vaccine — That Ends When Biden Takes Office

The COVID-19 vaccine is out, and it could turn into President Trump’s final dirty trick against Joe Biden. Trump officials have been offering optimistic timeframes on vaccine distribution that both belie the complexity of what will be the greatest mass vaccination campaign in American history and could serve to set unrealistic expectations for the incoming Biden administration.  “Late February, in the March time period, I think you’ll start seeing [it] much more like a flu vaccination ca...
Tags: News, Nbc, Obama, Congress, Cdc, Senate, Joe Biden, Walgreens, House, Kaiser, Wisconsin, Fda, Vaccine, Biden, Baltimore, Cvs

It’s Good To Be The King’s Lawyer: Giuliani Details ‘Celebrity’ COVID Treatment

We now know, via Rudy G. himself, how much he owes to President Trump for his lux COVID-19 treatment. “Dr. Trump, he was very confident in it,” Rudy Giuliani said in an appearance on his video podcast, Common Sense, released Friday, referring to the scarce and experimental treatment that he received. Days after being released from Georgetown University hospital, Giuliani provided on the podcast more detail than he has before about his velvet-rope COVID treatment. Special attention from the Wh...
Tags: Texas, News, Supreme Court, White House, New York City, New Hampshire, Giuliani, Rudy Giuliani, Trump, Ccp, Andrew, Conley, Georgetown University, Regeneron, Rudy G, Maria Ryan

Vaccine Distribution Rehearsals Portend Delays, State Official Told Congress

As COVID-19 vaccine distribution is getting underway around the country, at least one state official has warned that serious delays could affect the rollout. Pennsylvania Health Secretary Dr. Rachel Levine told a House committee last week that a quarter of states had seen significant issues in mock distribution scenarios hosted by the federal government. “In recent mock shipments of vaccine to train and test the transportation/logistics planning that has been done by [Operation Warp Speed], t...
Tags: News, Congress, Joe Biden, Pennsylvania, House, Pfizer, Vaccine, Trump, Levine, Rachel Levine, Moderna, Muckraker, Josh Kovensky, Coronavirus, COVID-19, COVID

Trump Admin Buys Extra 100 Mil Vaccine Doses After Missing Out On Pfizer Purchase

The Trump administration has bought an additional 100 million COVID-19 vaccine doses from Moderna, officials announced on Friday, after reports emerged that it missed an opportunity to buy tens of millions of doses from Pfizer. That adds doses for 50 million more people to the total amount of vaccine procured by the Trump administration before it leaves power, counting the two firms whose vaccines are on the verge of FDA approval: Moderna and Pfizer. But the news comes after the Trump adminis...
Tags: News, European Union, Fox, Fda, Pfizer, Vaccine, Trump, Moderna, Brett Giroir, Josh Kovensky, Coronavirus, COVID-19, Pfizer Purchase

ICYMI: Your TPM Weekend News Roundup

Texas Messes With Battleground States A bonkers long shot lawsuit from Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has become a litmus test for Republicans this week. The lawsuit seeks to have the U.S. Supreme Court overturn election results in four states that handed Joe Biden a win: Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin. On Wednesday, the Trump campaign and more than a dozen red-state attorneys general signed on to the legal gambit, which is all but certain to be unsuccessful. The long odds hav...
Tags: Texas, News, Congress, La, Joe Biden, Cnn, Fbi, Pennsylvania, Gop, United Kingdom, House, Wisconsin, Fox News, Fda, Pfizer, Biden

We Still Need An Answer To A Critical Question: Do COVID Vaccines Prevent Transmission?

With two COVID-19 vaccines on track for approval by the end of the year, the country is preparing to inoculate frontline health-care workers and the most vulnerable. But while the vaccine has been found to confer immunity on those who take it, it’s still not clear whether the shot stops transmission. Researchers are racing for an answer to the question of whether those who are inoculated are also incapable of spreading COVID-19. Not all vaccines put a stop to both illness and spread. Some vac...
Tags: News, Africa, Fda, Pfizer, Vaccine, Vanderbilt University, Tan, TPM, Immunization Action Coalition, William Schaffner, Moderna, Schaffner, Gary Slutkin, Josh Kovensky, Coronavirus, COVID-19

Jerry Falwell Drops Lawsuit Against Liberty University

Jerry Falwell Jr. dropped his defamation claim against Liberty University on Wednesday, Lynchburg’s News & Advance reported. Falwell had sued Liberty in October, claiming that the university had defamed him by relying on allegations of his involvement with Giancarlo Granda in firing him. The son of the mega-pastor who founded Liberty University, Falwell Jr. moved to drop the case just days before Liberty was due to reply to his initial claim. TPM reported in-depth last month on Granda’s eight...
Tags: New York, News, Gop, Evangelical Christianity, Extremism, Trump, Liberty University, Jerry Falwell, Jerry Falwell Jr, Falwell, Michael Cohen, Jerry, Lynchburg, Falwell Jr, Granda, Muckraker