House Panel wants to know if Trump still has secret US records
WASHINGTON — The chair of the House Oversight Committee on Tuesday asked the National Archives to review whether former President Donald Trump has additional presidential records at his storage facility in Florida and other properties that should be turned over to the government.
Representative Carolyn Maloney, in a letter to the archives, said she is concerned that Trump properties may contain records that weren’t the focus of the FBI’s August search at Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s residence in Florida, and therefore may not have been turned over to the federal government.
“I am deeply concerned by former President Trump’s flagrant disregard” for the law governing presidential record-keeping, Maloney, a New York Democrat, wrote to Debra Steidel Wall, the acting archivist of the National Archives and Records Administration.
The archives, in an emailed statement, confirmed receipt of Maloney’s letter, but said that officials there had no further comment.
—Bloomberg News
Pa. Sen. Pat Toomey blocks landmark reform legislation to fight global money laundering
With just weeks left in his final term, U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey played a key role in blocking sweeping anti-money laundering legislation that was created to choke off the billions of dirty dollars pouring into the United States from shady operators, including drug traffickers, oligarchs and corrupt foreign leaders.
The outgoing Pennsylvania Republican pushed last week to halt the reforms from being included in the nation’s annual defense spending bill in a blow to advocates who had gained bipartisan support to wage the most comprehensive crackdown on money laundering in a generation.
Citing the flow of suspicious money into the country, lawmakers say the ENABLERS Act targets the people who have long helped drug kingpins and others move their money into the U.S. – and hide it — including some lawyers, accountants and financial advisers.
Toomey declined an interview request through his staff, but a top Republican aide on the Banking Committee said the veteran lawmaker objected to the legislation being tucked into the National Defense Authorization Act — a must-pass bill — without any hearings.
—Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Grand jury finds sexual assault, abuse and cover-ups at Pennsylvania juvenile detention center
PHILADELPHIA — A Pennsylvania grand jury investigating conditions inside Delaware County’s youth detention facility — which was emptied in March 2021 after allegations of rampant abuse were raised — has found systemic problems and a “dangerous absence of oversight” enabled violence, sexual abuse and other maltreatment.
The grand jury report, released Tuesday by the state attorney general’s office, did not recommend criminal charges for any former staff at the 66-bed Delaware County Juvenile Justice Center in Lima, citing statutes of limitations and a lack of admissible evidence.
But it proposed a series of legislative and policy safeguards including state laws requiring each county detention center to have a board of managers, and increasing transparency and accountability around abuse allegations.
“The Grand Jury found the system failed to protect these children and provide them with the tools they needed to reform and grow, instead abandoning them in a dangerous environment with little to no oversight,” Attorney General Josh Shapiro said in a statement.
—The Philadelphia Inquirer
Germany to ease removal of right-wing extremists from military
BERLIN — Germany's Defense Ministry wants to make it easier to remove extremists from the Bundeswehr military, amid an investigation into a far-right coup plot involving an active soldier.
The ministry said on Tuesday that is seeking an amendment to the law that would make it possible to dismiss a soldier without having to go through a time-consuming judicial disciplinary procedure.
Last week, a terrorist group linked to the so-called Reich Citizens' (Reichsbürger) Movement was targeted in nationwide raids.
The group is accused of seeking to build up its own armed forces to overthrow the state. A former lawmaker, a soldier and an aristocrat were among dozens detained on suspicion of being part of the group.
—dpa
