President George W. Bush’s top ethics lawyer told Business Insider on Thursday that while it was “debatable” whether Attorney General Jeff Sessions perjured himself during his Senate confirmation hearing, he must resign. Richard Painter, a professor at the University of Minnesota Law School who was the chief White House ethics lawyer from 2005 to 2007, added the latest Russia-related White House firestorm could leave Sessions open to the risk of “blackmailing.”
Category: Senator Al Franken
Pelosi Calls on Sessions to Quit After Post Discloses Russia Contacts
U.S. House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi called on Attorney General Jeff Sessions to resign on Wednesday after the Washington Post reported he failed to disclose two meetings he had with Russia’s ambassador before Donald Trump was inaugurated as president. Citing Justice Department officials, the Post said Sessions spoke twice last year with Russia’s ambassador while he was still a U.S. senator.
FCC puts data security protections on hold – CNET
As expected the Federal Communications Commission on Wednesday voted 2-1 along party lines to stop a new data security rule from taking effect. It was part of a bigger set of privacy regulation, approved by the FCC in October , that’s supposed to protect consumers’ sensitive personal information online.
AT&T says its merger with Time Warner is exactly what customers want
With AT&T planning to avoid a Federal Communications Commission review of its merger with Time Warner, Senate Democrats led by Al Franken recently asked the company to prove that the acquisition will benefit Americans. AT&T gave its response on Friday with a letter that describes the merger’s promised benefits-including targeted advertising.
The dubious cases against one med-tech tax and for a subsidy
The enduring adage that we detest taxes but obligingly accept public benefits those taxes support is playing out in Minnesota by one of the state’s largest and most prosperous interest groups. That’s hardly surprising, but eyebrows may wrinkle in this case, in which highly questionable “facts” are pushed to knock down a federal tax and, in St. Paul, to prop up a subsidy that some call a freebie handout to folks who often don’t need it.
Sen. Al Franken to ‘fight every step of the way’ against rolling back net neutrality
U.S. Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., Tuesday put the administration on notice, saying he will “fight every step of the way” to preserve net neutrality, which requires internet service providers to enable access to all content and applications, regardless of source.
Republican FCC member blasts leadership for ‘midnight’ regs without warning
The longest-serving Republican commissioner in the Federal Communications Commission criticized the Democrat-controlled agency for what he called a “regulatory spasm” in its final days after it issued a report Wednesday scolding AT&T and Verizon for their “zero rating” strategies without the approval of the majority of the agency. “It is disappointing that the FCC’s current leadership has yet again chosen to spend its last days in office the same way it spent the last few years – cutting corners on process, keeping fellow Commissioners in the dark, and pursuing partisan, political agendas that only harm investment and innovation,” wrote Commissioner Ajit Pai.