The Army has suspended a three-star general's contract and placed him under investigation after he posted a tweet that appeared to mock first lady Jill Biden, USA Today reports.
The big picture: Retired Lt. Gen. Gary Volesky, the Army's former top spokesman, responded to a tweet from Biden that said the rights of women had been stolen in the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.
Reps. Andrew Clyde (R-Ga.) and Jody Hice (R-Ga.) on Friday sent a letter to the head of the University of Georgia, urging him to ensure that the university's resources will not be used to "target crisis pregnancy centers."
Driving the news: The letter comes after Fox News published a story saying that "far-left radicals" had been using a map created by the UGA professors in 2018 containing the addresses of crisis pregnancy centers across the country.
Ukraine's Foreign Ministry on Saturday slammed Rep. Victoria Spartz (R-Ind.), the only Ukraine-born lawmaker in Congress, for asking President Biden about allegations against Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s chief of staff.
Driving the news: "We advise Ms. Spartz to stop trying to earn extra political capital on baseless speculation around the topic of war in our country and the grief of Ukrainians," said Ukraine's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Oleg Nikolenko.
Vice President Kamala Harris said in an interview with CBS News that prior to the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade, Americans took the right to have an abortion for granted.
Driving the news: Harris said in the interview, which is set to air Sunday, that Democrats failed to codify Roe in the past because they "certainly believed" that issue was "settled."
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) on Friday responded to reports that Justice Brett Kavanaugh was forced out of a restaurant by abortion rights protesters on Wednesday, sarcastically tweeting, "[t]he least they could do is let him eat cake."
Driving the news: Protesters had gathered outside of the restaurant and called Morton's manager to have the justice, who joined the Supreme Court's majority opinion overturning Roe v. Wade, kicked out, per Politico.
A member of the far-right Oath Keepers militia brought explosives to Washington, D.C., ahead of the Jan. 6 deadly insurrection, according to court documents from the Justice Department.
Driving the news: The DOJ said that the government seized explosives from Jeremy Brown, an Oath Keeper member from Florida, including "military ordnance grenades" in his vehicle.
A district court on Friday night temporarily blocked Texas officials from investigating two families for child abuse if they seek gender-affirming care for their trans children.
Driving the news: The court granted a temporary injunction to block Texas' Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) from investigating some families that are part of PFLAG National, an LGBTQ advocacy group that filed a lawsuit in June challenging a directive issued by Gov. Greg Abbott in February.
Uvalde Mayor Don McLaughlin said Friday that he is in support of releasing the 77-minute hallway footage that marks the duration of the Robb Elementary School shooting when a gunman killed 19 children and two teachers in Texas, ABC News reports.
Why it matters: Conflicting timelines and retracted statements have sowed doubt in law enforcement as the public waits for an answer on failures in police officers' response to the shooting.
Driving the news: "This is a tragedy for Japan and for all who knew him ... He was a champion of the Alliance between our nations and the friendship between our people," Biden said.
President Biden had a phone call Friday with the sister of Paul Whelan, an American who has been detained in Russia for more than three years.
Driving the news: Biden told Elizabeth Whelan that the United States will work to bring home her brother, WNBA star Brittany Griner and other detained Americans from Russia, per a White House official.
The FBI and British domestic security agency MI5 warned Friday that domestic terror cases are increasingly carrying an international component as extremists draw inspiration from neo-Nazism and racist attacks across borders, the Washington Post reports.
Why it matters: FBI Director Christopher Wray previously testified that the U.S. domestic terrorism caseload has "exploded" in size since spring 2020. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas has called domestic violent extremism the "single greatest terrorism-related threat" in the U.S.
The assassination of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe left the world reeling on Friday as people grappled with how the shooting happened in a country with strict gun laws and one of the lowest homicide rates.
Why it matters: Gun violence in Japan stands in stark contrast to the U.S., with only one firearm-related death in all of 2021, the New York Times reports.
A state judge on Friday lifted an order temporarily blocking Louisiana's abortion trigger bans from being in effect — nearly all abortions are now illegal in the state.
Driving the news: Louisiana's trigger laws had been blocked since June 27, after abortion providers sued the state over the bans, which they had said violated the state's constitution.
A police officer armed with a rifle watched the gunman in the Uvalde elementary school shooting walk toward the campus but did not fire while waiting for permission from a supervisor to shoot, according to a report released Wednesday.
Driving the news: Some of the 21 victims at Robb Elementary School, including 19 children, likely “could have been saved” on May 24, according to a report by the Advanced Law Enforcement Rapid Response Training (ALERRT), a Texas State University training center for active shooter situations.
The House plans to vote on bills to protect abortion rights and crack down on mass shootings when members of Congress return from recess next week.
Why it matters: The votes are in response to two major events that rocked the country during Congress’ two-week break: the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson overturning Roe v. Wade, and a July 4 mass shooting in Illinois.
Border Patrol agents on horseback acted unprofessionally, unsafely and used unnecessary force toward Haitian migrants last September, but did not strike them with horse reins, according to a 500-page report released by the Department of Homeland Security and Customs and Border Protection on Friday.
Why it matters: Images and videos of border agents on horses chasing and grabbing Haitian migrants near the Rio Grande River went viral and sparked national outrage.
President Biden on Friday signed an executive order aimed at protecting abortion access after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.
Why it matters: Biden has faced intense pressure from his own party to act more aggressively on abortion. Many conservative states had "trigger laws" in place that banned or severely limited abortions in the days following the ruling and more bans are expected.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has been subpoenaed by prosecutors in Fulton County, who have launched a criminal investigation into former President Trump's efforts to overturn the results of Georgia's 2020 elections.
Driving the news: The AJC reported that the grand jury is seeking to access the full recording of a call that took place in January 2021 between then-U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia, Bobby Christine and his staff.
Stacey Abrams, the Democratic nominee for Georgia governor, has raised $22 million during the past two months of her campaign, more than 3x the fundraising by her opponent, Republican Gov. Brian Kemp.
Why it matters: Kemp and Abrams' fundraising numbers reflect what a different kind of election this rematch is. For the same period in 2018, Abrams reported raising $2.8 million, with $1.5 million in cash on hand.
Wisconsin's conservative-led Supreme Court ruled Friday that absentee voter drop boxes are illegal under the state's constitution.
Why it matters: The ruling is a victory for Republicans. Many in the party, including former President Trump, have falsely alleged the 2020 election was rigged and that ballot drop boxes may facilitated voter fraud.
What he's saying: "Really BAD NEWS FOR THE WORLD! Former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is dead. He was assassinated. His killer was captured and will hopefully be dealt with swiftly and harshly," Trump said on his social media platform, Truth Social.
A House committee is launching an investigation into companies' handling of reproductive health data in the aftermath of the Supreme Court's decision overturning Roe v. Wade.
Americans' confidence in newspapers and television news has plummeted to an all-time low, according to the latest annual Gallup survey of trust in U.S. institutions.
Why it matters: The erosion of trust in media is one of the most significant signs of deepening polarization in America.
Divisions in U.S. society worsened significantly after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, according to the latest Axios-Ipsos Two Americas Index.
Why it matters: From December through May, our national survey found a small window in which Americans were feeling more in common with one another — perhaps because of shared opposition to Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The June findings slammed that window shut.
The big picture: Like Walker, Blake and Taylor were both victims of police shootings. All three incidents have sparked protests over law enforcement's use of force against Black Americans.
The Cleveland police officer who fatally shot 12-year-old Tamir Rice in 2014 resigned from his new police post on Thursday, two days after being sworn in.
Driving the news: Former officer Timothy Loehmann was hired as the only police officer in the small Pennsylvania town of Tioga this week, sparking backlash, the Washington Post reported.
