Today's Top Political and Coronavirus News Compilation - Wednesday, December 22, 2021 (1 Viewer)

A New York man has pleaded guilty to storming the U.S. Capitol with fellow members of the far-right Proud Boys.

Scanlon, D-Pa., was unharmed, her spokeswoman said. Five people were later arrested in Delaware where her Acura was found, police said.

President Joe Biden’s message to the American people on confronting the omicron coronavirus variant comes with a heavy dose of cajoling.

President Joe Biden, along with progressive and moderate Democrats, appears determined to return to the negotiating table with Sen. Joe Manchin.

Joe Biden will spend his first Christmas as president at the White House with family and is giving up his New Year’s tradition of sun and St.

A man indicted by the Justice Department last month for allegedly running two fraudulent political action committees in 2016 continued to run another operation – including promises of a Trump Christmas card for contributions of at least $35 – using a different PAC shortly after his indictment...

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced on Wednesday it plans to withdraw and reconsider a Trump administration decision to grant Oklahoma authority over environmental issues on tribal land after consulting with the state's 38 tribal nations. The agency would reverse a decision made...

The Biden administration is taking new actions in an attempt to facilitate humanitarian aid to people in Afghanistan, with the Department of Treasury allowing some financial transactions with the Taliban

President Joe Biden sat down for an exclusive interview at the White House with ABC "World News Tonight" anchor David Muir.

Republican optimism ahead of the 2022 midterm elections is at an all-time high, according to several conservative thought leaders and politicians who traveled to Phoenix for Turning Point USA's AmericaFirst conference.

AUSTIN, Texas — Stockyards of border wall materials have been sitting untouched in each of the four states that line the U.S.-Mexico boundary for nearly a year since President Joe Biden canceled all of the Trump administration’s projects.Those unused steel panels, cameras, lights, and electrical...

Safe haven laws drew attention this month when U.S. Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett questioned the role they play in the debate around abortion rights.

A monument at a Hong Kong university that commemorates the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre has been removed by workers over the objections of its creator from Denmark.

President Joe Biden sat down for an exclusive interview at the White House with ABC "World News Tonight" anchor David Muir.

President Biden on Wednesday added a caveat to his contention that he is planning to run for reelection in 2024, saying that he would do so if he remains in good health.

Santa is bringing the gift of another atmospheric river event to the parched US West Coast this week, with heavy snow and rain and windy conditions predicted in spots from Canada to Mexico.

In an interview with ABC News' David Muir, President Joe Biden said he plans to run for reelection in 2024 as long as he's "in good health."

Republicans Gov. Mike DeWine has signed every abortion restriction that has crossed his desk. The latest threatens two SW Ohio abortion clinics.

Most of the victims were in their beds Saturday night in Moorhead, near Fargo, N.D., after family members could not reach them.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki claimed Wednesday that President Biden and his administration had ‘saved Christmas’ as the supply chain problems continue and inflation soars.

James and Jennifer Crumbley are accused of making a gun accessible to their 15-year-old son who allegedly used it to kill four people at his Michigan high school.

The Israel Antiquities Authority says it's discovered remnants of two shipwrecks off the Mediterranean coast, replete with a sunken trove of hundreds of silver and bronze coins and Roman and medieval artifacts.

President Joe Biden sat down for an exclusive interview at the White House with ABC "World News Tonight" anchor David Muir.

A handful of Republican senators are calling on the Biden administration to provide an overdue report on the vetting process for Afghan evacuees brought into the United States.

The committee said it believes Jordan, a vocal Trump ally, spoke with Trump "at least one and possibly multiple" times on Jan. 6.

When President Joe Biden’s poll numbers initially began to slip in late August, Democrats insisted to anyone who would listen that this would be a temporary blip.

Nine days after a tornado demolished his three-story office building in downtown Mayfield, Kentucky, Sonny “Hoot” Gibson was standing in the rubble and heard a faint meow.

At least 25 people were hospitalised, while 50 remain missing following a landslide at a jade mining site in Hpakant.

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — U.S. Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon was carjacked at gunpoint by two men in a south Philadelphia park but wasn't injured, police and her office said.

The Department of Justice released a second report on the financial activity of John Durham's special counsel inquiry into the origins and conduct of the Trump-Russia investigation.The five-page document, released Wednesday, shows a breakdown of the roughly $1.9 million in expenditures made by...

With winter comes isolation and food insecurity for lower-income Asian Americans. Community organizations are working to combat that.

Federal seizures of fentanyl are soaring in Mexico as cartels have begun churning out increased quantities of the deadly synthetic drug while also importing it from China.

Two Tacoma Police officers involved in the arrest of Manuel Ellis will return to duty.

The nation is seeing a history-making slowdown in population growth amid Covid-19, decreased international immigration and fewer births.

Although Biden extended the pause on student-loan payments until May, he told borrowers to "prepare for payments to resume."

Sally Ann Howes, who played as a child actor before she later starred in the 1968 film “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang” with Dick Van Dyke, has died. She was 91.

The US has opened a formal investigation into the potential for Tesla drivers to play video games on a center touch screen while the vehicle is in motion.

The U.S. has authorized the first pill against COVID-19, a Pfizer drug that Americans can take at home to reduce the risk of hospitalization and death.

Majority Leader Chuck Schumer told colleagues to expect votes next month on the safety net package and a rules change to pass voting rights legislation.

Sen. Joe Manchin's leadership PAC saw a surge in corporate contributions this fall as he fought President Biden's agenda.

The House select committee investigating January 6 has asked Rep. Jim Jordan, one of former President Donald Trump’s top congressional allies, to voluntarily meet with the panel as it zeroes in on Republican lawmakers who may have significant knowledge of events leading up to the US Capitol attack.

The Biden administration is extending a student loan moratorium that has allowed tens of millions of Americans to put off debt payments during the pandemic.

Flynn briefly served as national security advisor to President Donald Trump. He was later pardoned by Trump for the crime of lying to the FBI.

Russian leader says, "if the obviously aggressive line of our Western colleagues continues," Moscow "will take adequate, retaliatory military-technical measures."

To Democrats eager to become senators in 2023, the Senate is plainly broken and West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin’s power over President Joe Biden’s Build Back Better plan is proof.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell made his latest pitch to Sen. Joe Manchin while speaking to conservative commentator Hugh Hewitt, who asked if the minority leader had talked to the Democratic senator about joining the GOP.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) — For nearly 10 years, Joseph Moore lived a secret double life. At times the U.S.

Donald Trump sued New York Attorney General Letitia James on Monday in what legal experts described as a longshot bid to block her investigation into his business practices.

While Republicans look ahead to 2022, Trump remains stuck on 2020.

The House committee investigating the Capitol riot is requesting a meeting with Rep. Jim Jordan. Chairman Bennie Thompson told Jordan in a letter Wednesday that the panel wants to question him on any communications he had with then-President Donald Trump on Jan. 6, when hundreds of people...

Biden administration official Samantha Power lowballed her stake in a Cayman Islands-based investment firm by at least $900,000 during her Senate confirmation process, a watchdog group alleged in a complaint. The complaint, filed by the conservative American Accountability Foundation, called for...

The law allows the Capitol Police chief to directly request help from the National Guard in emergencies.

President Joe Biden stepped before the podium Tuesday in an impossible political bind – attempting to assure vaccinated Americans that they don’t need to cancel their holiday plans as he confronts a fast-growing Covid surge that is likely to further disrupt American life as many more workers...

If you're still hunting an elusive Christmas gift, it could be sitting on one of the 91 cargo ships anchored off the coast of Los Angeles.The supply chain crunch may have stabilized, but the backlog of container ships waiting to unload goods is far from clear. The longest-waiting ship is Wan...

Mark Greene became the fifth of 50 people charged with conspiracy in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot to plead guilty to conspiracy and obstruction.

Any move by Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., to leave the Democratic Party would likely come at too high a political cost to him personally, according to several political analysts and consultants who spoke to Fox News Digital.

A white former staffer at a Massachusetts liberal arts college for women is suing the school, alleging it discriminated against her because of her skin color.Jodi Shaw filed the lawsuit against Smith College earlier this month, accusing the Northampton school “fostered a toxic climate of racial...

It’s exactly the scenario Democrats had worked for months to avoid – but now find themselves confronting.

It’s a dead heat between former football star Herschel Walker and Sen. Raphael Warnock in Georgia.

Police say the US man gave the document to a Syrian trying to travel to Germany from Istanbul airport.

President Biden and congressional Democrats are getting less done in Washington than many voters expected, according to a new poll.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is urging Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), a close ally and his No. 2, to run for reelection next year as Thune weighs retiring.Asked on Wednesday about the possibility that Thune retires, McConnell told conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt, "I certainly...

A year into Russia's war, he has little to show for it but there is no sign of an end.

Tech entrepreneur and billionaire Elon Musk punched left several times during a Tuesday interview with satire website, the Babylon Bee. Musk touched on several topics during his interview with the outlet, which publishes conservative satire pieces that usually target Democratic Party elites and...

One year after Congress first authorized billions of dollars in Covid-19 pandemic rental assistance, the money has helped more than 2.5 million struggling renters to remain in their homes. But there are still roughly 4.7 million households behind on their rent across the country.

Vladislav Klyushin's lawyer said, “It’s not a secret his company had a series of government contracts in Russia, including with some of the national intelligence agencies.”

ALEC is turning its focus on the fossil fuel industry.

Between 2020 and 2021, the biggest population increases have occurred in Republican-led states and the biggest declines have occurred in Washington, D.C., and Democrat-led states.

Safe haven laws drew attention this month when U.S. Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett questioned the role they play in the debate around abortion rights.

Madagascar's police minister was part of a team looking for survivors after a shipwreck.

President Joe Biden on Wednesday touted progress his administration has made in alleviating supply chain issues that have spurred shortages of consumer products, raised prices for Americans and contributed significantly to historic levels of inflation in the United States.

EXCLUSIVE: Former President Trump said his new media company will likely be up and running in the first quarter of 2022, telling Fox News in an exclusive interview that the platform is currently “under development” and will be a way of ”getting our voice out to a lot of people."

The 110-year prison sentence for the Colorado lorry driver sparks calls for leniency and reform.

Thousands of families could be displaced for up to six to eight weeks.

Several high-level White House staffers posted tweets claiming President Biden’s policies led to the timely delivery of gifts.

At least 14 people have died and tens of thousands evacuated their homes after torrential rain.

How worried should you be about the uptick in Covid-19 cases and the emergence of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus?

Embryonic dinosaur fossils are extremely rare. It is the first time any have shown signs of a distinctive birdlike posture known as “tucking” — with the head under the right arm.

Poland says the EU’s decision reflects a trend towards ‘bureaucratic centralism’ in Brussels that ‘has to be stopped’.

Santa is bringing the gift of another atmospheric river event to the parched US West Coast this week, with heavy snow and rain and windy conditions predicted in spots from Canada to Mexico.

Among other blows during the 2016 campaign, Donald Trump insulted Cruz's wife and implicated his father in the assassination of John F. Kennedy.

Revised figures show the economy grew at a slightly faster pace in Q3, but Omicron is expected to weigh in on Q4.

Martin Hyde, a Florida Republican who is looking to challenge the Trump-endorsed Rep. Vern Buchanan in next year’s primary, is locked in a bitter battle with his Sarasota homeowners' association over an anti-Biden Christmas lights display.

Most of the victims are believed to be illegal jade miners prospecting for the semi-precious stone.

Criminals targeting pandemic relief funds have stolen close to $100 billion, the U.S. Secret Service said Tuesday.

Researchers studying the wreckage of the last U.S. slave ship on the Alabama coast have made a surprising discovery.

Rabbis, historians and observers are worried that Zemmour’s bigoted discourse has become part of the mainstream debate.

PM Viktor Orban vows to stick by an asylum law the European Union's top court deemed illegal.

"The biggest take-home is that Biden has significantly decreased US military action across the globe," the group Airwars said in a new report.

Life expectancy in the U.S. decreased by nearly two years in 2020, mainly because of the pandemic, a new federal report suggests.

A leading outside group that works to elect conservative women is endorsing Kelly Tshibaka, the Republican primary challenger to GOP Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska.

Israeli archaeologists discover a Roman-era gold ring bearing an early Christian depiction of Jesus.

Elections officials in Oregon are seeking more information to determine whether former New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof is eligible to run for governor. Kristof announced his candidacy last October and on Monday officially filed paperwork to run as a Democrat. Oregon Public...

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — On a dirt path, forked yellow tongue darting from its mouth, a member of the world’s largest lizard species lazes on an island in eastern Indonesia’s Komodo National Park as tourists snap photos.

New York City officials say they’re opening more COVID-19 testing sites and restricting visitation at city-run hospitals and jails.

An 1887 time capsule was opened in Richmond, Virginia, Wednesday after being unearthed from the base of the now-removed statue of Gen. Robert E. Lee.

Denmark is due to pay €210m (£179m) over the next 10 years to rent 300 cells in the jail at Gjilan.

If Democrat Joe Manchin switches parties, Republican Mitch McConnell would become Senate majority leader.

The pandemic-led trend of people moving to Florida in 2020 has continued into 2021 as former residents of large, metropolitan areas seek more comfortable living in the Sunshine State.

Upper-level high wind could force a rocket off-course or even damage or destroy it.

The pandemic-led trend of people moving to Florida in 2020 has continued into 2021 as former residents of large, metropolitan areas seek more comfortable living in the Sunshine State.

One expert expects "heroic" discounts on goods in January, but it's hard to predict what items will be on sale.

Franco, 43, has previously denied allegations several former students made in a lawsuit in 2019. In June, he agreed to pay more than $2 million to settle the lawsuit.

The firm's potato deliveries from North America are being delayed by supply chain disruptions.

Two new British studies provide some early hints that the omicron variant of the coronavirus may be milder than delta.

As the COVID-19 pandemic has swept the globe, more than 5.3 million people have died from the disease worldwide, including over 816,000 Americans.

President Joe Biden on Wednesday pledged more than 250,000 treatment courses of Pfizer’s antiviral pill will be available starting in January after the US Food and Drug Administration authorized it to treat Covid-19.

Every year, as the holiday season descends on Washington, a beautiful mural emerges in an obscure, basement hallway of the Capitol.

The Supreme Court said Wednesday it is scheduling oral arguments for January 7 in the cases challenging the Biden administration’s Covid-19 vaccine requirements for large employers and certain health care workers.

ABC NewsPresident Joe Biden claimed on Wednesday that he doesn’t see it as a “failure” of his administration that there has been a dire shortage of COVID-19 tests amid the recent explosion in cases due to the Omicron variant.At the same time, he did seem to express some regret that he didn’t...

Clyburn said he is fully vaccinated and asymptomatic.

Multiple states and territories set records for seven-day averages this week, including New York, Maine, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico.

CityMD announced it is temporarily closing 19 of its 150 locations amid a surge in COVID-19 cases and increased demands for testing.

China has ordered the lockdown of as many as 13 million people in neighborhoods and workplaces in the northern city of Xi’an following a spike in coronavirus cases, setting off panic buying just weeks before the country hosts the Winter Olympics.

South Korea has set a new record for daily COVID-19 deaths as it struggles to resolve a shortage of hospital beds amid weeks of surging cases.

"We are burnt out. We are tired and we are disheartened."

We break down the facts on who's getting the shot and who's not - and each group's odds of survival.

If you test positive for COVID-19, you should isolate at home, stay away from others and tell the people you’ve been in close contact with.

The weight of the pandemic can be measured in the count of hospital beds filled with Covid-positive patients.

The risk of needing hospital treatment could be 30 - 70% lower with Omicron than other variants.

Blanket booster programmes in rich countries risk prolonging the battle with COVID-19, WHO chief says.

Congress has committed nearly $6 trillion since early 2020 to fight Covid-19 and cushion the economic blow from a once-in-century pandemic.

"Apart from the vaccine program, this is one of the things that may have made the biggest difference in the U.K.," one expert said.

The White House on Wednesday said President Biden’s “acknowledgment” of former President Trump and his administration for their success in making COVID-19 vaccines available to the public was a “reflection” of Biden's “belief” that “the enemy of the American people is the virus.”

The companies cited low inventories and spiking demand, prompting rules about how many test kits each person can buy.

The 74-year-old musician, who says he has received 'three Pfizer jabs,' has chronicled his bout with the virus on his Instagram account.

What do we know about the new coronavirus variant’s symptoms and its severity, and what are the effect of vaccines?

Amid frustration over their stalled legislative agenda, Senate Democrats appear ready to move to neuter the legislative filibuster in the new year -- but it does not appear they have the votes to do it,

The Omicron variant is now the dominant strain in a host of countries including the US, Denmark, Portugal, and the UK. Leaders around the world continue to implement measures to curb cases as the holidays approach. Follow here for the latest news updates.

Trial data shows oral pill is 90 percent effective in preventing deaths and hospitalisations in high-risk patients.

With rising omicron COVID cases nationwide, officials are telling Americans to take drastic COVID mitigation measures, including canceling gatherings.

A new study found using plasma from COVID-19 survivors early in an infection period prevents hospitalization.

South Africa’s drop in new COVID-19 cases in recent days may signal the country’s dramatic omicron-driven surge has passed its peak, medical experts say.

Nearly 170,000 new pediatric COVID-19 cases were confirmed last week.

As the Omicron variant spreads across the continent, countries tighten curbs to brace for another wave.

South African data offered a glimmer of hope on Wednesday about the severity of the Omicron coronavirus variant, but World Health Organization officials cautioned that it was too soon to draw firm conclusions as the strain spread across the globe.

Fauci's remarks come as the U.S. faces a major spike of infections ahead of the holidays, with nearly 930,000 new cases over the last seven days.

President Joe Biden announced the newest plans to tackle the spike in COVID-19 cases.

"We're prepared today for what's coming," said Biden. "In March of 2020, we were not ready."

A blood-thinning drug could be sprayed as extra protection if a trial shows promise, scientists say.

Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., is demanding that Massachusets Gov. Charlie Baker reimpose an indoor mask mandate as the omicron variant spreads throughout the country

Ireland's chief medical officer says people should only see those they plan to spend Christmas with.