Court records show how easy it is to walk off with classified documents: Recap

Federal court records portray a sloppy system for tracking the country's most important secrets, amid a controversy over classified documents involving President Joe Biden, former President Donald Trump and former Vice President Mike Pence.

Stashes of secret documents have been scattered through homes, sheds and cars of intelligence agency staffers and contractors. Yet, penalties for mishandling documents vary greatly.

Here's what else is happening in politics:

• The blame game: The White House is blaming the Trump administration and the GOP for undoing Obama-era rail safety measures designed to avert disasters like the toxic East Palestine, Ohio train derailment.

• Debt limit standoff: Former Vice President Mike Pence said cuts to Social Security and Medicare may need to be considered at some point amid debt ceiling talks.

• Ideological tilt at stake: Wisconsin voters decided on two candidates to advance to a general election for a seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court, a key race that could decide the future of policies in the battleground state.

• "The revolution had failed": Prosecutors allege that the Proud Boys, fueled by desperation to keep Donald Trump in the White House, conspired to stop the certification of the 2020 election.

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Biden administration seeks semiconductor ‘clusters’ with $52M chips program

Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said Thursday the Biden administration wants to create at least two major semiconductor “clusters” in the U.S. with federal funding approved last year in the $52 billion CHIPS and Science Act.

Raimondo outlined a vision for a “generation of innovators” in a speech at Georgetown University in Washington before semiconductor companies next Tuesday can start applying for $39 billion in incentives and other government backing.

Raimondo said the hope is for each cluster – which would employ about 10,000 workers – to consist of a leading-edge microchip fabrication plant, research and development facilities, a robust suppler ecosystem and specialized infrastructure. She did not say where the clusters would be located, but the push comes amid significant microchip investments from companies in Ohio, Texas and Arizona.

– Joey Garrison

White House decries ‘bad faith attacks’ against Buttigieg

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre pushed back Thursday at “bad faith attacks” targeting Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who has been roundly criticized by Republicans for his handling of the toxic train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio.

“It is pure politics. It is pure political stunts,” Jean-Pierre said, arguing there weren’t the same outcries during chemical spills while Elaine Chao, transportation secretary under former President Donald Trump, held the post. “Nobody was calling for her to be fired.”

Buttigieg, who Republicans have accused of being too slow to respond to the derailment and toxic spill, made his first visit to East Palestine, Ohio on Thursday. Trump visited Wednesday. There are no current plans for Biden to do the same.

– Joey Garrison

Ohio rail disaster: Just how dangerous is the Ohio derailment disaster? Why it's confusing.

Biden nominates Ajay Banga, former Mastercard CEO, to lead World Bank

President Joe Biden has tapped Ajay Banga, former president and CEO of Mastercard and current vice chairman of the private equity firm General Atlantic, as president of the World Bank.

The nomination of Banga – a native of India and former chairman of the International Chamber of commerce – comes after the bank’s current leader, David Malpass, announced his resignation last week amid a backlash over statements he made skeptical of climate change.

Biden called Banga “uniquely equipped” to lead the World Bank, a global development institution that provides grants and loans to low-income countries. Biden pointed to Banga’s work to bring investment to developing economies and record of enlisting the public and private sectors to "tackle the most urgent challenges of our time, including climate change.”.

Banga still needs confirmation by the bank’s board before he becomes president. It’s unclear whether there will be additional nominees from other nations.

– Joey Garrison

‘The revolution had failed,’ ex-Proud Boy and DOJ star witness testifies

As efforts to prove the 2020 election was stolen repeatedly failed and it became more and more apparent that Donald Trump would not remain president, the Proud Boys were overcome with a sense of desperation.

Prosecutors allege that the members of the right-wing extremist group on trial, fueled by that desperation to keep Trump in office, conspired to stop the certification of the 2020 election by weaponizing an already-inflamed pro-Trump mob on Jan. 6, 2021 against the Capitol.

When rioters began to clear out of the Capitol on Jan. 6 and House members planned to reconvene, the Proud Boys expressed disappointment in private chats. In testimony Thursday, ex-Proud Boy Jeremy Bertino – the only member of the group to plead guilty to sedition – expanded on those messages: "The revolution had failed," Bertino testified.

– Ella Lee

Tim Scott inches toward 2024 run

As Sen. Tim Scott inches closer to an expected 2024 presidential run, he called for a revival of American hope through conservative ideals in a pair of Iowa speeches Wednesday.

Scott called for “trusting each other, overcoming our differences and then creating converts to conservatism” – a subtle nod to the fact that Republican presidential candidates have not won the popular vote since 2004, even as Donald Trump carried the Electoral College in 2016.

It comes on the heels of a midterm election that left Republicans across the country disappointed in their performance, with many blaming the former president for elevating fringe candidates who alienated some Republican and independent voters.

– Brianne Pfannenstiel, Francesca Block; Des Moines Register

Ex-Arizona AG withheld reports that debunked 2020 election fraud claims

The Arizona Attorney General's Office concluded months ago there was no widespread fraud in the 2020 election results in Maricopa County ― but the state's top prosecutor sat on the information and suppressed mitigating details, newly released records show.

An investigative report and two internal memos from 2022 indicate then-Attorney General Mark Brnovich was aware his investigators "did not uncover any criminality or fraud" in the 2020 election weeks before Brnovich reported the county's election system was vulnerable and the process for verification and handling of early ballots was broken.

The three documents were made public Wednesday by newly elected Attorney General Kris Mayes, a Democrat, who described them as "deeply unsettling and unacceptable." Brnovich, a Republican, did not respond to requests for comment on Wednesday.

– Robert Anglen, Arizona Republic

How federal workers got away with taking classified documents home

A software developer for the National Security Agency took home secret documents in a misguided effort to work more for a promotion. A civilian Defense Department worker who was studying at National Intelligence University copied and removed classified records for her thesis. A military contractor mailed home to Texas from Afghanistan entire laptops and hard drives filled with secrets.

These were federal criminal cases of federal workers or contractors convicted of mishandling classified documents before caches were found at the homes of President Joe Biden, former President Donald Trump and former Vice President Mike Pence. In some cases, workers just hoarded documents.

Sloppy handling in some cases went on for decades, despite the secrets at stake being among the country’s most important. The names of undercover intelligence agents and descriptions of how the country gathers its information were included. Adm. Mike Rogers, then head of the National Security Agency, cited “very significant and long-lasting harm” because of uncertainty over whether secrets had been revealed to adversaries.

– Bart Jansen

Georgia Trump investigation: Foreperson media comments highly unusual

Public remarks by Georgia grand jury foreperson Emily Kohrs pierced a veil of secrecy into the investigation of 2020 election interference by Donald Trump.

Kohrs, in a series of media interviews, offered up provocative details about key witnesses and charging recommendations potentially involving a dozen or so people.

Legal analysts said Kohrs’ public comments were at a minimum highly unusual for any grand jury inquiry and, at most, not particularly helpful to any potential case the district attorney may bring.

“I’m not aware of any other case in Georgia in which a grand juror has spoken with the media about witnesses appearing before the grand jury,” said Clark Cunningham, a Georgia State University law professor who has closely followed the investigation.

– Kevin Johnson

More: Georgia grand jury foreperson's public comments add unusual wrinkle

Biden calls Putin’s suspension of nuclear arms treaty a 'big mistake’

Russia’s suspension of a nuclear arms treaty is a “big mistake,” President Joe Biden said Wednesday, as the one-year anniversary of the Russian invasion approaches.

Biden made the brief comment to reporters as he entered the presidential palace in Warsaw where he is meeting with leaders from nations on the eastern edge of the NATO alliance.

Russian President Vladimir Putin announced Tuesday he is suspending Moscow’s participation in New START, a strategic nuclear arms reduction treaty, the last remaining nuclear arms reduction deal between the U.S. and Russia. It limits each side to 1,550 long-range nuclear warheads.

– Maureen Groppe

More: What is the nuclear arms treaty?

A new record of women will serve in Congress

A historic number of women will serve in the 118th Congress once congresswoman-elect Jennifer McClellan, D-Va., is sworn in to office.

A total of 150 women will serve in Congress, surpassing the previous record set at the swearing-in of the 118th Congress last month, according to Rutgers University’s Center for American Women and Politics. Additionally, 125 women, 92 Democratic women and 28 Black women will serve in the House – new records for each category.

McClellan’s special election victory Tuesday also made her Virginia’s first Black female member of Congress.

– Mabinty Quarshie

More: McClellan just won election to Congress. Black women say it's not enough

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Recap: Beyond Biden, Trump and Pence, how others took documents home