Evening summary
That’s it from me tonight. Here’s a recap of what we covered:
- Classes had to be canceled at six historically black colleges and universities today after the schools received bomb threats. All have since been found to be safe from the threats by investigators and shelter-in-place orders have been lifted but investigations into the incident are on-going.
The White House calls bomb threats made against at least six HBCUs "disturbing" as police continue investigating the incidents pic.twitter.com/v0wMS8jJEe
— Bloomberg Quicktake (@Quicktake) January 31, 2022
- Kentucky Republican Thomas Massie criticized Anthony Fauci with a quote attributed to Voltaire but actually coined by a white supremacist convicted on child pornography charges.
- Mike Pence’s former chief of staff is cooperating with the committee investigating January 6, a move that suggests more of the former-vice president’s team may come forward.
- Officials inspected the Pittsburgh bridge just months before it collapsed and gave it a poor rating but decided to keep it in-use.
- A federal judge has rejected a plea deal from the justice department that would have allowed the convicted murderers of Ahmaud Arbery to avoid a hate crimes trial.
Thanks for reading! See you next time.
Updated
A federal judge has rejected a plea deal from the justice department that would have allowed the convicted murderers of Ahmaud Arbery to avoid a hate crimes trial.
Travis McMichael and his father Gregory McMichael were found guilty on state murder charges in November and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. The agreement would enable the men to plead guilty to committing a hate crime and serve 30 years in a federal prison before returning to the Georgia Department of Corrections to finish out their sentences.
By admitting they were motivated by hate when they hunted & murdered Ahmaud Arbery these men get to transfer to safer, less crowded & more orderly federal detention facilities.
— Lee Merritt (@MerrittForTexas) January 31, 2022
In essence they get to publicly brag about their hatred & then be rewarded by the federal government.
Arbery’s family urged the judge to reject the deal in a hearing held Monday. “Ahmaud didn’t get the option of a plea,” his mother Wanda Cooper-Jones said. “They killed my son because he’s a Black man. I’m asking on behalf of his family, on behalf of his memory, and on the behalf of fairness that you do not grant this plea.”
You can read more about the case here:
Updated
