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The Jan. 6 Committee is asking the Department of Justice to prosecute Trump for his role in the insurrection
After an 18-month investigation, the House of Representatives Jan. 6 Committee unanimously voted to refer four criminal charges against former president Donald Trump for his involvement in the Capitol riots: obstruction of an official proceeding; conspiracy to defraud the United States; conspiracy to make a false statement; and inciting, assisting, or aiding an insurrection.
The referral does not compel the Department of Justice to act, but it will likely put pressure on Attorney General Merrick Garland — whose agency is conducting a parallel investigation into Jan. 6 — to bring criminal charges against Trump.
It is extremely rare for a former president to be found deserving of criminal prosecution. Over several public hearings, the members laid out their case that Trump lied about the election results, tried to misuse the power of his position to retain the presidency, and incited a mob to storm the Capitol.
The committee also voted to refer criminal charges against several Trump allies, including former White House attorney John Eastman, former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, Trump's former personal attorney Rudy Giuliani, and lawyers Jeffrey Clark and Kenneth Chesebro.
Russia was too busy this year to interfere with US midterms, according to US intelligence
Russia's invasion of Ukraine, as well as the nationwide protests in Iran, hindered both countries' ability to interfere with the US midterm elections, according to US intelligence. Russia has been accused of trying to support Donald Trump in the 2016 and 2020 elections and sowing doubts about the state of US democracy, AP reports.
SNAPSHOTS
Amber Heard has agreed to settle Johnny Depp's defamation case. "I make this decision having lost faith in the American legal system, where my unprotected testimony served as entertainment and social media fodder," she said.
The latest plastic surgery trend is facing pushback from "chubby-cheeked hotties." Buccal fat removal is an irreversible procedure that removes a gumball-sized chunk of fat from the inside of both cheeks to give people a more contoured face shape. It's rising in popularity.
Pornhub's most-viewed amateurs of 2022 are a "very horny" married couple. Today, they live almost entirely from their earnings from the site, making between $15,000 to $25,000 a month.
Harvey Weinstein has been found guilty of rape and sexual assault charges in Los Angeles
A Los Angeles jury found former movie producer Harvey Weinstein guilty of raping and sexually assaulting a woman, two years after he was found guilty of rape and sexual assault in New York. He faces up to 24 years in prison on top of the 23-year sentence he's already serving.
During the trial, the jury, made up of eight men and four women, heard from more than 50 witnesses, including the four alleged victims. The verdict in Los Angeles comes five years after the New York Times and the New Yorker first reported that multiple women had accused the former producer of sexual harassment, sexual assault, and rape. Since then, more than 90 women have publicly accused Weinstein of sexual misconduct. In both the New York and Los Angeles criminal cases, Weinstein, 70, has maintained his innocence and pleaded not guilty.
“Throughout the trial, Weinstein’s lawyers used sexism, misogyny, and bullying tactics to intimidate, demean, and ridicule us survivors," filmmaker Jennifer Siebel Newsom, one of the alleged victims and the wife of California Gov. Gavin Newsom, said in a statement to BuzzFeed News. "This trial was a stark reminder that we as a society have work to do. To all survivors out there — I see you, I hear you, and I stand with you.”
The full story contains graphic descriptions of sexual violence.
IMAGE OF THE DAY
The Sex Lives of College Girls gets silly again
Plenty of comedies about adolescent sexuality stumble over their own didacticism. It’s a tricky line to navigate; showrunners want to depict the messiness of sex, but they feel responsible for educating their younger viewers. So it’s just nice that Season 2 of The Sex Lives of College Girls lets itself be vapid, Izzy Ampil writes.
And it works: The writing is more confident, the chemistry more natural. Instead of hot-potatoing serious subject matter it doesn’t know what to do with, the show revels in its main characters’ petty dramas, a wavelength on which it is much more comfortable.
There’s plenty else to take issue with. Why does Whitney have to fall for Andrew, the condescending prick from her biochem lab, who does nothing but neg her? When did Leighton’s mom, who has the personality of a pearl necklace come to life, get woke? Why does Bela keep wearing such awful outfits? But the show’s strength has never been its internal logic. Watching show creator Mindy Kaling’s work is more fun if you give yourself up to the wild ride.
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