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State Department watchdog requests "urgent" Congress meeting on Ukraine

Zachary Basu

Photo: Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images

State Department Inspector General Steve Linick has requested to meet Wednesday with a number of Senate and House committees "to discuss and provide staff with copies of documents related to the State Department and Ukraine," according to a letter first reported by the Washington Post.

Why it matters: The details of the "urgent" briefing are unknown, but the news follows an escalating war of words between Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and key House committees investigating President Trump's alleged efforts to pressure Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden.

  • On Tuesday, the chairs of the House Intelligence, Foreign Affairs and Oversight committees rebuked Pompeo for attempting to block State Department officials from testifying, accusing him of "stonewalling."
  • The Wall Street Journal and others reported on Monday that Pompeo was on the now-infamous phone call between Trump and Ukraine's president, leading the committees to label Pompeo a "fact witness" in their impeachment investigation.
  • Former U.S. special envoy to Ukraine Kurt Volker, who resigned last week, confirmed Tuesday that he would appear for a deposition before the committees later this week. 4 other current or former State Department officials are scheduled to testify in the next 2 weeks, but they have not yet confirmed.

According to CNN's Manu Raju, the inspector general will meet with the following committees:

  • House Foreign Affairs
  • Senate Foreign Relations
  • House Appropriations
  • Senate Appropriations
  • House Oversight
  • Senate Homeland Security
  • House Intelligence
  • Senate Intelligence

Go deeper: House chairmen accuse Pompeo of "stonewalling" in Ukraine investigation

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Omicron dashboard

Illustration: Shoshana Gordon/Axios

  1. Health: Axios-Ipsos poll: Omicron's big numbers — Another wave of death — FDA limits use of Regeneron and Lilly antibody treatments — Fauci: "Confident" Omicron cases will peak in February.
  2. Vaccines: Pfizer begins clinical trial for Omicron-specific vaccine — The shifting definition of fully vaccinated.
  3. Politics: Biden admin withdraws temporary vaccine-or-test mandate for large employers — New York Supreme Court strikes down Gov. Hochul's mask mandate for public areas — Sarah Palin tests positive, delaying defamation trial — Virginia school boards sue Gov. Youngkin for lifting mask mandate.
  4. World: U.K. to lift travel testing requirement for fully vaccinated — Beijing Olympic Committee lowers testing threshold ahead of Games.
  5. Variant tracker
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3 hours ago - Economy & Business

The Robinhood M&A rumor mill churns

Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios

Robinhood's valuation is now just over $11 billion, a fraction of where it traded in August and below that of its last private round of funding. Cue the M&A mongers.

Why it matters: It's not just Robinhood—falling values of growth-oriented tech stocks have raised speculation that formerly high-flying fintechs could be snapped up by more well-capitalized buyers.

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Jacob Knutson
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Student's death renews calls for schools to stock opioid overdose drug

Photo: Amy Davis/Baltimore Sun/Tribune News Service via Getty Images

A Connecticut student's death has renewed calls for schools to stock and administer naloxone, a drug that can quickly reverse the effects of an opioid overdose.

Why it matters: U.S. drug overdose fatalities reached six figures in a 12-month period for the first time in November, and synthetic or natural opioids were the cause of a majority of the overdoses.

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