Closing Summary
It is slightly past 4pm in Washington DC. Here’s a wrap-up of the day’s key events:
In a surprise announcement on Friday, the US attorney general, Merrick Garland, announced that he has appointed US attorney in Delaware, David Weiss, as special counsel in the investigation of Hunter Biden, Joe Biden’s son. Garland said that Weiss had told him earlier this week that his investigation had “reached a stage at which he should continue his work as a special counsel, and he asked to be so appointed.”
Prominent Republicans including Kevin McCarthy, Nikki Haley and Steve Scalise have criticized Weiss’s appointment, with many calling the appointment a “sham” and an attempt by the DoJ to protect the Biden family.
The US judge Tanya Chutkan, presiding in the federal criminal investigation alleging Donald Trump tried to subvert the 2020 presidential election, rejected Trump’s request to designate witness transcripts and videos as non-sensitive (and thereby exclude them from the protective order requested by the prosecution).
Chutkan said at the first hearing after Trump was arraigned on federal charges in the election case: “Trump has the right to free speech but that right is not absolute.”
Federal prosecutors and attorneys for Donald Trump attended a court hearing in Washington DC, over special counsel Jack Smith’s request to limit Trump’s ability to publicly reveal evidence collected during the criminal investigation into the insurrection on 6 January 2021.
The White House said on Friday that it is open to training Ukrainian pilots to fly F-16 fighter jets in the US if training capacity is reached in Europe. Reuters reports White House spokesperson John Kirby saying that Washington is eager to move forward with the training.
That’s it from me, Maya Yang, as we wrap up the blog for today. Thank you for following along.
Updated
White House open to training Ukrainian fighter pilots
The White House said on Friday that it is open to training Ukrainian pilots to fly F-16 fighter jets in the US if training capacity is reached in Europe.
Reuters reports White House spokesperson John Kirby saying that Washington is eager to move forward with the training.
Updated
