Biden speaks with potential FDA commissioner
CNN
President Joe Biden recently held a call with Dr. Rob Califf, the former FDA commissioner, who is now under consideration to lead the agency again, according to two people familiar with the conversation.
The call last week was seen as a next step in Califf's vetting for the job, which acting commissioner Dr. Janet Woodcock currently holds, though a final decision has not been made.
For nine months, Biden struggled to find a candidate who is both qualified and could win Senate confirmation. The White House ruled out Woodcock after it became clear she would face steep opposition from a handful of lawmakers, including West Virginia Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin, for how liberally the FDA approved opioids when she ran the drug division within the agency.
Attorneys for Donald Trump conducted an internal investigation into allegations that one of his top aides, Boris Epshteyn, has sought to gain financially from his influence with Trump and others in the president-elect’s orbit, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter.
The special counsel stressed his decision was not about the strength of his case against Trump
CNN’s 5 Things brings you the news you need to know every morning.
A Republican senator has blocked the promotion of a general who oversaw the US withdrawal from Afghanistan, according to a source familiar with the matter, as President-elect Donald Trump has vowed to go after the officials involved in the withdrawal.
Special counsel Jack Smith said Monday that he is dropping his election subversion case against President-elect Donald Trump, seeking the case’s dismissal in a court filing with the judge.
President Joe Biden tapped into his presidential pardon power in the waning days of his time in office Monday, granting clemency to a pair of lucky turkeys and kicking off the holiday season.
The Supreme Court declined Monday to hear a challenge from major tobacco companies to the Food and Drug Administration’s requirement that they place graphic health warnings on cigarette packages and in advertisements.
The family of Ajike “AJ” Owens, a Black mother of four who was shot and killed by her neighbor during an ongoing dispute over children playing near the neighbor’s home, says the 60-year-old white woman deserves “the maximum penalty under the law,” according to a statement.
Despite his campaign promises to leave the issue to the states, President-elect Donald Trump’s administration will shape the national landscape around abortion and reproductive health.
The criminal cases of actors Jussie Smollett and Bill Cosby, both Black, high-profile entertainers found guilty before their convictions were overturned, differ widely in details but share some parallels.
Uruguayans went to the polls Sunday for a second round of voting to choose their next president, with the conservative governing party and the left-leaning coalition locked in a close runoff after failing to win an outright majority in last month’s vote.