The Department of Justice is "on a path to charge" former President Trump, former U.S. attorney Preet Bharara told NBC's "Meet the Press" on Sunday.
Driving the news: Last month, Attorney General Merrick Garland announced the appointment of a special counsel, Jack Smith, to oversee the federal criminal investigations into Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election and handling of classified documents.
The U.S. is still "negotiating" for the release of detained American Paul Whelan, National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said Sunday on ABC's "This Week."
Driving the news: Kirby said that the U.S. made a "very serious, specific proposal made to the Russians" to secure the release of Whelan and WNBA star Brittney Griner together, but "it just didn't land anywhere ... with the Russians."
U.S. Central Command forces killed two ISIS officials, including a Syrian province official, in a helicopter raid on Sunday morning.
Driving the news: The raid, which took place in eastern Syria at 2:57am local time, killed ISIS Syria province official Anas, who was involved in plotting and running deadly terrorist attacks in the area, per a press release.
A new analysis of the midterms by centrist Democratic think tank Third Way finds that most Democratic candidates improved on President Biden's 2020 performance in rural America — with some notable exceptions.
How it works: Third Way's data dive labeled counties as rural, suburban/exurban or urban and aggregated the countywide results. The analysis covered 10 states (Arizona, Colorado, Georgia, Kansas, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin) and 16 races.
Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema's stunning decision to become an independent has triggered the possibility of a blue-on-purple civil war that could cost Democrats a must-win Senate seat in 2024.
The big picture: In the last three elections, Democrats have won unlikely victories in traditionally red Arizona because a critical mass of independents and moderate Republicans couldn't stomach MAGA-aligned GOP nominees.
Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey (R) has erected a barrier of double-stacked shipping containers along parts of the U.S.-Mexico border as a final act before he leaves office in January, AP reports.
The big picture: Ducey's wall effort began in August in western Arizona, when the Republican governor sought to fill in gaps in former President Trump's border wall, per AP.
Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit to Saudi Arabia this week was a result of "bad American policy," former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told "Fox News Sunday."
Driving the news: Xi's four-day visit to Saudi Arabia included three summits with several Arab leaders and came at a time of heightened tensions between Saudi Arabia and the Biden administration, primarily over oil production in recent months.
David Urban, an ex-adviser for former President Trump’s 2020 reelection campaign, defended the Biden administration's prisoner swap to free jailed basketball star Brittney Griner for notorious arms dealer Viktor Bout on CNN's "State of the Union" on Sunday.
Why it matters: In the final years of the Trump administration, Urban had worked to free Paul Whelan, an American and former U.S. Marine who has been detained in Russia since December 2018. Critics of the swap for Griner, including Trump, have implied that the Biden administration had favored her release over Whelan's.
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said Sunday that Sen. Kyrsten Sinema's (I-Ariz.) decision to register as an independent likely "has to do with her political aspirations for the future in Arizona."
Driving the news: "I happen to suspect that it's probably a lot to do with politics back in Arizona," Sanders said on CNN's "State of the Union."
If the Jan. 6 select committee investigating the Capitol riot chooses to issue criminal referrals, it could be a signal to the Department of Justice to focus their federal investigation on certain alleged crimes, Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) told ABC's "This Week" on Sunday.
Driving the news: The panel's chair, Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), told reporters last week that the committee was still working to decide who might be referred and for what alleged crimes.
The federal government has "failed its duty" to communities on the southern border over the past 40 years, Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.) said during an interview on CNN's "State of the Union"that aired Sunday.
Driving the news: Sinema made waves in Congress this week by announcing that she was leaving the Democratic Party and registering as an independent mere days after Democrats secured a 51-49 majority in the Senate.
