
Trump's attorneys ask Garland to stop the release of special counsel report as his former codefendants take the matter to federal court
CBSN
Attorneys for President-elect Donald Trump asked Attorney General Merrick Garland to remove special counsel Jack Smith from his post and either decline to release Smith's upcoming report detailing his investigations into the president-elect or hand over the matter to Trump's incoming administration, according to a letter released Monday.
The letter, addressed to Garland and a top career official at the Justice Department, alleged the special counsel did not have the legal authority to submit a final report summarizing his dual investigations into Trump and urged the attorney general to "put an end to this weaponization of the justice system and move forward constructively." The correspondence was written in part by defense attorneys Todd Blanche and Emile Bove, Trump's picks to serve as deputy attorney general and principal deputy attorney general in his upcoming administration.
Smith led two now-defunct investigations into the president-elect, one tied to his alleged efforts to resist the peaceful transfer of power and overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election and another based on accusations that Trump unlawfully retained sensitive government records after he left office in 2021. The probes resulted in criminal indictments against Trump, which have since been dismissed. Trump initially pleaded not guilty and denied all wrongdoing.

The threat of tornadoes moved east into the Mississippi Valley and Deep South on Saturday, a day after a massive storm system moving across the country unleashed winds that damaged buildings, whipped up dust storms that caused deadly crashes and fanned more than 100 wildfires in several central states. Fatalities were reported in Missouri and Texas.

A Canadian woman who had appeared in an "American Pie" movie was detained for several days by U.S. immigration officials while attempting to cross the border from Mexico to the U.S. to renew her work visa, according to her mother. The woman's father expects his daughter to be able to return to Canada as early as Friday.

When the Environmental Protection Agency was formed in 1970, its mission was to protect the environment and human health. Since then, scientists, health experts and advocates have worked to implement regulations aimed at protecting and cleaning the air we breathe and the water we drink. Many of these regulations, which were aimed at cleaning up the air, also helped reduce carbon emissions, which can contribute to climate change – so it was a win for our bodies and the planet.