
Attorney General William Barr knew about two criminal investigations into Hunter Biden's financial dealings for months before the general election but kept them from the public, The Wall Street Journal reported. The news is a remarkable twist in Barr's tenure as President Donald Trump's attorney general, during which he repeatedly took steps to benefit the president and feed into his conspiracy theories. According to The Journal, Barr knew about the Biden tax investigations since at least the spring but tried to keep them under wraps in accordance with Justice Department rules that prevent prosecutors from taking overt investigative steps that could affect the outcome of an election.

Airbnb CEO and co-founder Brian Chesky could use a bit of work on his poker face — though learning you've raised a few billion more dollars than expected is a reasonable excuse for breaking it. The home rental app, which Chesky launched along with Nathan Blecharczyk and Joe Gebbia, first started selling shares at $68 per piece when they began being traded Wednesday. Essentially, Chesky and the other co-founders' net worth was about to double as well, from about $3 billion to more than $6 billion, seeing as they all planned to retain around 10 percent of the company.

German pharmaceutical company BioNTech and its U.S. partner Pfizer say data on their coronavirus vaccine were “unlawfully accessed” during a cyberattack on the servers of the European Medicines Agency. The Amsterdam-based agency, which is considering requests for conditional marketing authorization for several coronavirus vaccines to be used in the 27-nation European Union, said earlier Wednesday that it had been the target of a cyberattack. The EMA declined to provide more details of the attack while the investigation was continuing, but the two companies later released a statement saying that “some documents relating to the regulatory submission for Pfizer and BioNTech's COVID-19 vaccine candidate, BNT162b2, which has been stored on an EMA server, had been unlawfully accessed.”

The conservative TV network Newsmax has attempted to poach several Fox News staffers with offers of higher salaries, according to Axios. The news comes soon after Newsmax briefly eclipsed Fox News in a key ratings metric for the first time on Monday, according to Reuters. It continues the intense competition between Fox — still the leading cable news network — and Newsmax's brand of upstart, hyperpartisan pro-Trumpism.

WASHINGTON – Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, blocked two proposals on Thursday to create Smithsonian museums for Latino and women's history from unanimously passing the Senate, saying there's been too much "balkanization" in the country. Claiming "the last thing we need is to further divide an already divided nation," Lee blocked proposals to establish the National Museum of the American Latino and the American Women's History Museum. "Within the walls of a Smithsonian museum just like at the National Gallery of Art or the great memorials that dot this city, there is no us and them.

Tasked with a California family's historic getaway on Patmos, John Stefanidis gives the once-neutral house a vibrant polychrome presence Originally Appeared on Architectural Digest
An Associated Press investigation has identified at least six sexual misconduct allegations involving senior FBI officials over the past five years, including two new claims brought this week by women who say they were sexually assaulted by ranking agents.

A congressional monitor of federal pandemic aid is raising the possibility of a link between President Donald Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and a $700 million relief loan to a struggling trucking company. Bharat Ramamurti, a Democratic member of the four-person Congressional Oversight Commission, raised the possible Kushner connection at a hearing Thursday, as panel members from both parties challenged the Treasury Department's decision to award the loan to YRC Worldwide. The taxpayer-funded loan was made on the grounds that the company's operations are critical for maintaining national security.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, who has been one of America's most trusted medical leaders during the coronavirus pandemic, recently confirmed that the virus has impacted his own family. The nation's leading disease expert said the brother of his youngest daughter's boyfriend died from COVID-19 at only 32, despite being previously healthy. Fauci made the revelation during a livestream interview hosted by the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and moderated by Dr. Sanjay Gupta of CNN.

The nomination of Lloyd Austin to serve as secretary of defense may serve as a microcosm of how difficult it will be for President-elect Joe Biden to manage the competing demands of the unwieldy coalition that put him in office. As Biden assembled his national security team, some feared liberal hawks were once again circling the White House. The incoming president is something of a wildcard on foreign policy.

On Fox News on Thursday, liberal guest host Marie Harf questioned why her fellow panelists weren't focusing more on the record COVID-19 daily deaths in the US. "We're 43 minutes into this show, and we haven't mentioned yet that 3,000 Americans died yesterday, more than on 9/11," Harf said, adding, "We cannot lose sight of the tragedy that is unfolding every single day in this country, largely because people want to go about life as normal." In response, Fox News anchor Harris Faulkner berated Harf: "Please, keep your judgment someplace where you know you can fact check it, because you can't see my heart."

In the Southern California oceanside city of Manhattan Beach, one arm of government is urging residents to stay home except for essential needs while another is encouraging them to get out and shop and even providing places where they can sit down to relax, eat takeout and watch the sun set on the Pacific. It's one example of confusing messages from governments as most of California is under a broad shutdown order that includes an overnight curfew to try to stem record-breaking coronavirus cases that threaten to overwhelm the hospital system. While state and county health officials are pleading with residents to stay home and only mingle with those in their household, the order allows all retailers to remain open with 20% capacity and encourages people to get outside to exercise.

On a highway ride to celebrate a cyclist's retirement, five bicyclists were killed and four others were injured in a crash involving a truck, according to authorities. Around 9:40 a.m., a box truck struck a group of about 20 bicyclists. The box truck remained at the scene for several hours after the collision, as authorities investigated what caused the crash.

Wildlife photographer Shellie Gilliam saw a king of the swamp swallowed whole on Saturday afternoon — by a bird — at Lake Apopka, outside Orlando. OK, so the scaly little guy wasn't fully grown, but color us impressed, anyway. In a video posted to her Facebook page on Monday, Gilliam shows the great blue heron consuming its reptilian snack whole.

Amid continuing Republican attacks on the legitimacy of Joe Biden's presidential victory in Georgia, the state House speaker is proposing to take the selection of the state's chief election official from the voters and put it in the hands of legislators. Republican House Speaker David Ralston said Thursday that he will seek a state constitutional amendment to change how Georgia's secretary of state is chosen. With two-thirds approval needed by both the House and Senate, such a move is unlikely, particularly with Democrats signaling immediate opposition.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein forgets conversations and gets upset with her staff for not briefing her on a topic moments after they do, according to a new report from the New Yorker. The US Senator from California is said to be struggling with her short-term memory, even forgetting things she herself has said, sources familiar with the situation told the New Yorker's Jane Mayer.



The Pfizer vaccine has already been approved for the public in the UK, Canada, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. The drug still needs to be formally approved by the FDA's vaccine chief, which is expected in the coming days. The recommendation comes a day after the US recorded more than 3,000 deaths in the latest 24-hour period - the highest total in a single day anywhere in the world.

A Wisconsin National Guard F-16 fighter jet crashed in Michigan during a routine training flight Tuesday night, the Guard said in a Facebook post. The Guard's 115th Fighter Wing announced Thursday afternoon that the pilot, who was initially missing after the crash, had died. Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Guillermo Maldonado, the founding pastor of Miami's King Jesus International Ministry, made false claims about COVID-19 during a sermon on Sunday. A pastor at a Florida megachurch has encouraged his parishioners not to take the COVID-19 vaccine when it becomes available, and instead told them to "believe in divine immunity." Guillermo Maldonado, the founding pastor of Miami's King Jesus International Ministry, made the scientifically inaccurate comment during a sermon that was streamed on Facebook Live on Sunday.

On Tuesday, Axios reported that a suspected Chinese spy got close to Rep. Eric Swalwell of California early in his political career and, separately, slept with two unnamed US mayors as part of a yearslong intelligence campaign. Swalwell has not been accused of wrongdoing, and Axios also did not report on or suggest any sexual relationship between Swalwell and the woman. But on Tuesday night, the Fox News host Tucker Carlson said that US intelligence officials believed Swalwell and the woman had a sexual relationship and that Swalwell's office declined to comment on the matter.

Golden Ray cargo ship in St. Simons Island, Georgia. Paul Hennessy/NurPhoto via Getty Images Source: NPR ... and the ship listed a full 90 degrees, according to CBS News.

According to a new report, Dr. James Phillips will no longer be employed at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center beginning next year. CBS News reported Phillips has been removed from the schedule beginning in January 2021, according to sources close to the situation. The news outlet stated the emergency room doctor is chief of disaster medicine at George Washington University and works on a contract basis for Walter Reed.

The US saw 291,557 battle deaths during World War II, according to the Department of Veterans Affairs. The United States has now recorded more COVID-19 deaths than the total number of Americans killed in combat during World War II, the bloodiest war in human history. According to the Department of Veterans Affairs, the US saw 291,557 battle deaths during WWII.

Disney World is seemingly editing digital masks onto parkgoers who remove their face coverings for ride photos, WDW News Today reported. In the past, Disney deleted photos that showed people without masks, meaning that they and others on the ride could not purchase them. While some people think Disney's new idea is "brilliant," others argued that this could encourage people to not wear masks on rides.

Kristen Choi, a nurse who participated in a trial of Pfizer and BioNTech's COVID-19 vaccine, reported a high fever, nausea, and fatigue after her second shot. Choi said getting the shot was worth it despite the unpleasant reaction. A couple of hours after getting her second shot in a trial of Pfizer and BioNTech's coronavirus vaccine in September, Kristen Choi felt chilled, nauseous, and light-headed.


“The prospect of a 2024 run is politically significant. It’s also a complete fiction.”
“His flirtation with a 2024 bid ensures he’ll remain the dominant force in the Republican Party.”
“He shouldn’t run for president again. There’s a better job and life for him on the horizon.”
“Trump is in for years of scandals and humiliations…He’ll have to devote much of his energy to trying to stay out of prison.”
“If Trump himself passes on the opportunity, his two very political children could also potentially pick up the mantle.”