Latest news with #HouseOversightandAccountabilityCommittee
Yahoo
21-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Megan Thee Stallion shooting: Rep. Luna says she has new evidence
(NewsNation) — Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., says she has seen new evidence proving Tory Lanez is innocent of shooting performer Megan Thee Stallion and is seeking a pardon for the rapper from California Gov. Gavin Newsom. 'Based on the evidence that I've seen, Tory is innocent,' Luna said Tuesday on NewsNation's 'CUOMO.' 'We are calling on Gavin Newsom to issue that pardon immediately.' The Florida congresswoman, who serves on the House Oversight and Accountability Committee, said her office was presented with evidence that 'actually disproved the conviction' of Lanez, who was sentenced to 10 years behind bars in 2022. Luna specifically cited DNA evidence that she says undermines the case. 'They actually found four people's DNA on that firearm, none of which was Tory's. Not to mention there was zero fingerprints on the actual magazine,' she said. Tory Lanez stabbed in prison, reports say She also referenced what she called 'Ring footage that's been obtained that actually disproves the whole 'dance Megan'' scenario described in court testimony, where Lanez allegedly told Megan to dance before shooting at her feet. Luna said she has reached out to Newsom's office requesting an 'emergency meeting' and is working with Democratic colleagues from California on the issue. The congresswoman said she spoke with Lanez, who was recently stabbed 14 times while incarcerated. According to Luna, Lanez plans to work on prison reform once released. Lanez was convicted after testimony from Megan Thee Stallion, her friend Kelsey Harris, and DNA evidence that prosecutors said linked him to the weapon. The shooting occurred in July 2020 after a party at Kylie Jenner's Hollywood Hills home. Luna said her involvement in the case began after being approached by model and television personality Amber Rose. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
17-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
House GOP to probe ‘cover up' after leaked Hur audio signals Biden struggle
The House Oversight and Accountability Committee will hold hearings on a suspected 'cover up' surrounding former President Biden's cognitive functions and autopen usage in office, after audio surfaced this week of his 2023 interview with special counsel Robert Hur. 'Clearly, from that interview, which was many, many months prior to the heavy use of the autopen, Joe Biden wasn't capable of making decisions. He wasn't coherent,' Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), who chairs the committee, said Friday in an interview on Fox News's 'Hannity.' A transcript of Hur's two-day interview was made public last year, but the Biden White House blocked the Justice Department from releasing the audio recording. Hur closed his investigation into the former president's handling of classified documents, concluding that he was a 'well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.' The newly leaked audio, published by Axios, more fully illustrated Biden's long pauses and lapses in memory. Comer announced Friday that his committee's efforts to review Biden's cognitive function near the end of his presidency would resume because of lingering questions about the ex-president's use of autopen to sign a flurry of presidential orders, including preemptive pardons for some of Trump's political foes, during his final stretch in office. 'There are serious concerns that President Biden lacked the mental capacity to authorize those actions,' the Kentucky Republican told guest host Jason Chaffetz, a former GOP lawmaker representing Utah. 'The American people are done being lied to.' 'We're going to bring the truth into the light, and starting next week, those involved in the cover-up will begin to be put on notice,' he added. Comer previously sought the Hur interview audio, as well as meetings with former top White House aides, through subpoenas last year, but he said the Biden administration 'obstructed' the probe and 'defied' the legal requests. 'This is one of the greatest scandals of our generation and Americans are demanding answers,' he said Friday. 'Now that Biden's top enablers can no longer hide behind the power of the presidency, we're continuing our investigation to expose the truth.' The Oversight panel wants to hear from top Biden aides Annie Tomasini, Anthony Bernal and Ashley Williams, and has requested a transcribed interview from the former president's doctor Kevin O'Connor. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
The Hill
17-05-2025
- Politics
- The Hill
House GOP to probe ‘cover up' after leaked Hur audio signals Biden struggle
The House Oversight and Accountability Committee will hold hearings on a suspected 'cover up' surrounding former President Biden's cognitive functions and autopen usage in office, after audio surfaced this week of his 2023 interview with special counsel Robert Hur. 'Clearly, from that interview, which was many, many months prior to the heavy use of the autopen, Joe Biden wasn't capable of making decisions. He wasn't coherent,' Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), who chairs the committee, said Friday in an interview on Fox News's 'Hannity.' A transcript of Hur's two-day interview was made public last year, but the Biden White House blocked the Justice Department from releasing the audio recording. Hur closed his investigation into the former president's handling of classified documents, concluding that he was a 'well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.' The newly leaked audio, published by Axios, more fully illustrated Biden's long pauses and lapses in memory. Comer announced Friday that his committee's efforts to review Biden's cognitive function near the end of his presidency would resume because of lingering questions about the ex-president's use of autopen to sign a flurry of presidential orders, including preemptive pardons for some of Trump's political foes, during his final stretch in office. 'There are serious concerns that President Biden lacked the mental capacity to authorize those actions,' the Kentucky Republican told guest host Jason Chaffetz, a former GOP lawmaker representing Utah. 'The American people are done being lied to.' 'We're going to bring the truth into the light, and starting next week, those involved in the cover-up will begin to be put on notice,' he added. Comer previously sought the Hur interview audio, as well as meetings with former top White House aides, through subpoenas last year, but he said the Biden administration 'obstructed' the probe and 'defied' the legal requests. 'This is one of the greatest scandals of our generation and Americans are demanding answers,' he said Friday. 'Now that Biden's top enablers can no longer hide behind the power of the presidency, we're continuing our investigation to expose the truth.' The Oversight panel wants to hear from top Biden aides Annie Tomasini, Anthony Bernal and Ashley Williams, and has requested a transcribed interview from the former president's doctor Kevin O'Connor.
Yahoo
08-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Greene bangs gavel almost 50 times to quiet Democrat in House hearing
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) banged her gavel almost 50 times in an effort to silence Ranking Democratic member Melanie Stansbury (N.M.) during a House subcommittee hearing Wednesday afternoon. The hearing, which focused on trans women in sports, devolved into heated crossfire between Democrats and Republicans on multiple occasions. However, the hearing got especially intense when Stansbury began speaking over her allotted time, which led to Greene, who is chair of the subcommittee, to interrupt the Democratic member. 'The gentlelady's time is expired,' Greene told Stansbury, who continued to speak over her. When Stansbury accused Greene of going over a minute into her time, Greene fired back that Stansbury 'wasted' a minute of her time 'on a non-point of order' and attempted to recognize Rep. Lisa McClain (R-Mich.). Still, Stansbury refused to stop talking, which led Greene to bang her gavel repeatedly. 'Time was not wasted,' she said, with Greene still gaveling. 'And to the trans community, we stand with you, with the LGBTQ+ community, we stand with you.' 'You can break my eardrums all you want, Madam Chair,' she added, speaking louder. 'But we stand with the LGBTQ+ community and you can gavel me until the cows come home and it won't stop it.' 'This hearing will come to order,' Greene said as she banged her gavel. Once Stansbury was finished speaking, Greene recognized McClain and the hearing continued. Stansbury emerged as a prominent figure throughout the hearing, even making a motion to immediately adjourn the hearing, arguing it was 'irrelevant to this committee,' though the motion ultimately failed in the Republican-dominated committee. However, when asked by Stansbury how USA Fencing pertained to the House Oversight and Accountability Committee, which the subcommittee falls under, Greene held up the committee rule book. Republican senators have been growing increasingly concerned that Greene, who says she is looking seriously at either running for governor or for Senate in 2026, would hit major roadblocks in her general election race against vulnerable Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff (Ga.). While GOP senators acknowledge Greene would have a good shot at winning the nomination, they fear that the Republican firebrand, who has a knack for making headlines with controversial comments and generating enthusiasm from MAGA voters, would ultimately lose in the general election. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Yahoo
02-05-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
A Military Whistleblower Showed a Photo of an Allegedly Huge "Disc-Shaped" Object, But There's an Incredibly Obvious Explanation
Self-styled Pentagon whistleblower and former US Army counterintelligence officer Luis "Lue" Elizondo showed off a peculiar image of what appeared to be a gigantic, disc-shaped object floating hundreds of feet above the ground, during a House Oversight and Accountability Committee meeting this week. The briefing, which took place on Thursday, was hosted by the Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena Disclosure Fund, a nonpartisan political advocacy group "committed to uncovering the truth about UAPs," a less-stigmatized term used by government officials to refer to UFOs. Also present at the meeting was Harvard professor and noted UFO hunter Avi Loeb. According to a tweet by the Disclosure Fund, the object was "estimated 600-1,000 ft in diameter, silver-hued, disc-shaped," which the group used to call for "full declassification and open scientific analysis." "This was taken by a civilian pilot," Elizondo claimed during the meeting. "But again, you'd think this information would be important for somebody to look at," he added, while holding up a printout of the image. According to Elizondo, "an average person with an average camera" took the photo at "21,000 feet." "The object is potentially anywhere between 600 and 1,000 feet in diameter," he added. "It's a lenticular object, and it is silver." However, despite making a big deal out of the image, he admitted that he couldn't "vouch for the veracity of this photograph," quipping that "I didn't take it." At first glance, it does indeed look like an alien ship from a Hollywood movie. But as eagle-eyed users on Reddit quickly pointed out, Elizondo's purported smoking gun has a hilariously simple explanation. On the platform's otherwise conspiracy theory-friendly r/UFOs community, user mattperkins86 traced back the satellite image to two adjacent, perfectly circular fields, with the nearer, much darker one perfectly lining up to look like the second circle's shadow. The two circles, located an hour east of Colorado Springs, can be spotted on Google Earth here. Put the pieces together, and showing the image as evidence of a UFO makes Elizondo look absolutely buffoonish. "He HAD to have known that if this thing was fake, it was going to be found," mattperkins86 wrote. "So I am left thinking that this is intentional, I guess." "This is actually hilarious," one user wrote. "Not even a crop circle, just regular crops in a circle." UFO debunker Mick West also had a closer look, finding that the shadows simply didn't line up the way they should if it was an object floating above the ground. Elizondo tried to retrofit the photo after the criticism, arguing in a lengthy tweet that the "specific photo had only just been provided to me (by a private pilot) that morning, prior to the forum" admitting that the photo "had NOT YET been vetted." "The dimensions I quoted, were per the pilot's own assessment of what he saw, based on altitude and experience," he added. "As you know, I am always first to admit mistakes, but this is not one of those times," Elizondo wrote. Instead of admitting his gaffe, Elizondo argued that the incident "illustrates a bigger point" that pilots and other individuals reporting UFO sightings may be "faced with fierce ridicule." Of course, none of that really addresses the core criticism: that he shared an unvetted photo that was handed to him hours earlier, seemingly having done no due diligence. The incident, following almost a decade of public government investigations into the UAPs, shows that even though it's a singularly grabby topic — or perhaps exactly because of that reality — official discussions often devolve into a laughable circus. Officials have repeatedly pushed back against claims that the US government is hiding recovered alien spaceships that crashed on Earth, or that the Pentagon was conspiring against the public to keep evidence of extraterrestrials secret. As he's admitted, Elizondo already has a track record of showing off debunked evidence of UFOs. "A photo that was provided to me by a friend in Government a couple of years ago was presented by me two days ago at our engagement in Philadelphia," he admitted in an October tweet. "Looks like we can put this one bed, as our friends in Twitter figured/solved this one, major bravo to you!" The photo, which Elizondo alleged to show a "mothership" UFO, turned out to be a simple, unusually-shaped cloud. Elizondo has previously alleged that military pilots had received radiation burns after making close encounters with UFOs, and that other pilots had experienced the "warping of space time." The former intelligence official has strongly advocated for the release of classified information regarding UAPs, promising to turn up the pressure on the Defense Department's UAP Task Force. In 2017, Elizondo resigned from the DoD in protest of the "bureaucratic challenges and inflexible mindsets" that he said "plague" his former employer and its treatment of the "UAP issue," according to an official bio submitted to Congress. After years of hunting for evidence of UFOs, though, Elizondo has little to show. His repeated efforts to prove their existence using phony pictures of crops and clouds aren't helping his ambitions. Whether his latest slip-up will meaningfully add to the discussion and reduce the stigma surrounding the subject remains dubious at best. If anything, chances are it could risk further undermining the UAP Disclosure Fund's legitimacy. Even the r/UFOs community, which remains extremely open-minded when it comes to the supernatural, is starting to turn on him. "Jesus, this is embarrassing," one user wrote in response to Elizondo's latest gaffe. More on UFOs: There's Another Reason Flights Have Been So Messed Up Lately: UFO Sightings
