Dustin Volz
@dnvolz
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@WSJ reporter covering cyber and intelligence. Priors w/ @Reuters and @nationaljournal.
Joined March 2009
I'm back at @WSJ today after taking some time away for parental leave. Grateful for every moment I've had at home with my family. Please reach out if you'd like to catch up or have any tips to share. I understand the news has been slow lately, so let's change that.
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I am just stunned there are some saying we need to just move on from Wednesday's events when all the documented evidence shows there were determined people—some of them carrying nooses—potentially minutes away from carrying out public executions of our elected representatives.
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Wow. Republican Sen. Richard Burr: "The President bears responsibility for today’s events by promoting the unfounded conspiracy theories that have led to this point."
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Wow. Uber secretly tracked users after they deleted app. Tim Cook found out, threatened Kalanick w/ App Store deletion until Uber stood down
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Graham asks Horowitz if Comey is vindicated by his findings. Horowitz: "The findings here don’t vindicate anybody who touched this FISA.".
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Reuters photographer who was on the scene Wednesday said he heard at least three different rioters say they wanted to find and execute Vice President Pence by hanging.
I heard at least 3 different rioters at the Capitol say that they hoped to find Vice President Mike Pence and execute him by hanging him from a Capitol Hill tree as a traitor. It was a common line being repeated. Many more were just talking about how the VP should be executed.
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Marchers have left thousands of protest signs on fences outside the White House on Trump's first full day in office.
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Trump told Mueller in written answers that he recalled no conversations with Stone about WikiLeaks. SSCI: "The Committee assesses that Trump did, in fact, speak with Stone about WikiLeaks and with members of his Campaign about Stone’s access to WikiLeaks on multiple occasions."
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Can anyone explain why these domestic extremists who broke into the U.S. Capitol and forced lawmakers to cower in fear in secure locations are allowed to waltz out of the building like they just finished a jovial guided tour?.
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New: Sen. Mark Warner says he raised concerns with FBI leadership ahead of Wednesday's riots that it could turn ugly and was repeatedly reassured the situation was under control. “They were flat wrong. Yesterday was an embarrassment to their response."
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Trump national security aides put his name in their briefing docs as much as possible so he will keep reading them
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Former senior FBI official tells me Trump's reported short list of Comey replacements is "catastrophic".
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Seven senators, all of whom sit on Senate Intelligence, ask Obama to declassify more info about Russian interference in the U.S. election
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Brett Holgren, a top intel official at State Dept., says recent FISA Court opinion showing FBI misuses of 702 spying is "disturbing and unfortunate." . But he adds that the revelation itself shows transparency requirements and the oversight process is working.
The State Department, somewhat strangely, is talking today about the diplomatic value of the expiring FISA Section 702. (Normally we hear about 702 from NSA, FBI, ODNI, etc.) You can tune into the @CSIS event w/ Brett Holmgren starting now here:
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NEW: Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was on the July 25 call between President Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, a senior State Department official said Monday, a disclosure that ties the State Department more closely to an ongoing congressional inquiry.
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As if there weren't enough news tonight, U.S. intel agencies confirm a viral video from yesterday purporting to show ballots being ripped up in Pennsylvania was not only fake but "manufactured and amplified" by Russia. Likely quickest turnaround yet for this kind of attribution
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NEW: Trump in a July phone call repeatedly pressured the president of Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden's son, urging Volodymyr Zelensky about EIGHT TIMES to work with Rudy Giuliani on a probe, people familiar with the matter say
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D.C. police officer Michael Fanone: “A lot of people have asked me my about thoughts on the people that helped me. And now that I have kind of processed it all I will say, thank you. But fuck you for being there.”
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NEW: Associate of deceased GOP activist Peter Smith says Smith spoke of meeting unnamed hackers at a suburban DC hotel in Aug. 2016 as he pursued Clinton emails. Smith also exchanged an email with Mattis in the final months of his life. Dems to investigate
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One by one today, Republicans took turns condemning the FBI's use of surveillance powers they long supported.
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A White House spokesman actually confirmed this story is true.
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The @WSJ can confirm that Vindman testified today that the rough transcript of the call contained missing words and phrases that he tried unsuccessfully to restore, according to people familiar with the matter. Good scoop by NYT.
NEW: The mystery of at least one set of ellipses in the July 25 call solved.
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SCOOP: The three top cyber officials at the FBI are departing, a sweep of turnover that comes amid concerns about flagging morale due to Trump's repeated attacks and as U.S. security agencies have warned of unprecedented cyber threats to the country
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Sue Gordon left a letter for Trump with a handwritten note that made clear she was resigning because he wanted her to. “I offer this letter as an act of respect & patriotism, not preference. You should have your team.". She signed it: “Godspeed.” .
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Sen. @MarkWarner told me he worries AG Barr's unusual trips abroad "could put the Five Eyes relationship in jeopardy.". "If Australia starts to feel that their intelligence is being used . to smear an opponent of Mr. Trump, then that trust breaks down.”.
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SCOOP: Speaker Ryan and the Trump White House are getting rid of the current chairman of the Election Assistance Commission, a Boehner-picked official who has spent the past year helping states bulletproof election systems from Russian hackers.
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Trump has now publicly called on China—an authoritarian state that frequently imprisons and kills political dissidents—to investigate a his political rival. In addition to Ukraine.
BREAKING: President Trump openly declares his recommendation that Ukraine and China investigate the Bidens.
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NEW: The legal team representing the whistleblower has received multiple death threats that have led to at least one law enforcement investigation, amid stepped up attacks from Trump and his allies questioning the motives and integrity of Ukraine witnesses
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Gingrich, 2010: "Julian Assange is engaged in terrorism. He should be treated as an enemy combatant."
Newt Gingrich to Hannity: Julian Assange is such a "down to earth, straight forward interviewee".
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Devin Nunes' cow (@DevinCow) now has more followers on Twitter than @DevinNunes. The account, which Nunes sued this week, is approaching 400,000 followers. A couple days ago it had about 1,200 followers.
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SCOOP: Deceased GOP operative Peter Smith secretly raised $100k from 4 donors in Oct. 2016 as part of a project to obtain Hillary Clinton’s emails, an effort that documents and sources say is being actively probed by Mueller .
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New: 90 former national security officials who served under Dem and GOP presidents, including Trump, publish open letter saying whistleblower followed the law and deserves protection + anonymity. "A responsible whistleblower makes all Americans safer.".
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NEW: Major cybersecurity firm FireEye has been hacked in what it says is a highly sophisticated foreign nation-state attack that compromised its Red Team tools. A person familiar with the matter said Russia is the leading suspect.
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I have finally found the best twitter and folks it is Nevada slow counting twitter.
Nevada after counting 3 votes
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BREAK: U.S. prosecutors charged six Russian GRU officers with involvement in some of the most serious cyberattacks in recent years, including the downing of Ukraine’s power grid, interference in the French elections, and the devastating 2017 NotPetya attack.
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Minutes before this tweet landed I heard Trump was telling aides he thinks the SolarWinds hack and Russia attribution is a hoax. And then he just tweeted it out.
The Cyber Hack is far greater in the Fake News Media than in actuality. I have been fully briefed and everything is well under control. Russia, Russia, Russia is the priority chant when anything happens because Lamestream is, for mostly financial reasons, petrified of. .
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“I don’t know this person anymore,” Robyn Sweet, 35, says of her father. “It’s almost like a lot of these middle-aged white men are afraid, I’m not really quite sure of what, but it’s like they’re paranoid. It’s mass hysteria.”.
Incredible profile by @MPhillipsWSJ of one of the hundreds of Trump supporters who stormed the Capitol. “I’m not going to go open a court case saying [Ms. Clinton] eats children,” Mr. Sweet says. “But I can believe that she might eat children.”.
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Members of the Cyber Safety Review Board were informed they have been dismissed pursuant to a DHS order disbanding all advisory committees. The board had been in the middle of probing the Chinese hack of U.S. telecoms, a review that now is in limbo and possibly terminated.
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Thankfully no one in America takes the idea of body slamming journalists seriously.
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NEW: Cohen says call between Stone and Trump about Wikileaks took place on July 18 or July 19, 2016. If true, that would mean the call happened the EXACT same day or one day after Mueller said Wikileaks told Guccifer it had received the stolen DNC archive
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NEW: Loyal Trump ally Kash Patel, a former Nunes aide and a National Security Council staffer, has been named the new acting defense secretary's chief of staff, officials said. via @wstrobel and @nancyayoussef.
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KREBS specifically created the #3 post and placed Wales there in case the White House tried to fire CISA leadership and install political, unqualified leaders, sources tell me. Wales is well respected at CISA and cares about election security, according to multiple colleagues.
I'm told Chris Krebs' deputy, Matt Travis, has also RESIGNED tonight after White House made clear to him he would not be taking the helm of the agency. Brandon Wales, a career official and the third-highest ranking official at CISA, is expected to now serve as acting director.
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Snowden gave his documents to journalists. Debate the merits and/or damages of his disclosures all you want, but no one has ever furnished any evidence that Snowden provided anything to Russian or Chinese intelligence services.
Edward Snowden is a traitor. He is responsible for the largest and most damaging release of classified info in US history. He handed over US secrets to Russian and Chinese intelligence putting our troops and our nation at risk. Pardoning him would be unconscionable.
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Facebook suspends 30,000 fake accounts in France 10 days before first round of presidential election
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This is like a holy trinity of privacy disaster: 1) secret tracking that 2) persists after users delete app 3) in knowing violation of rules
Wow. Uber secretly tracked users after they deleted app. Tim Cook found out, threatened Kalanick w/ App Store deletion until Uber stood down
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I fear my colleagues who sent this push alert at 10 p.m. on a Sunday did not internalize the article
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New: Five Chinese citizens with alleged ties to Beijing’s chief intelligence service have been charged with hacking crimes and are accused of attacking more than 100 companies in the U.S. and overseas. Two Malay businessmen were also arrested Monday on related charges.
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Chris Anderson will testify today that when Russia escalated its conflict with Ukraine by seizing Ukrainian military vessels in Nov. 2018, State officials prepared a statement condemning Moscow—but senior WH officials blocked it from being released.
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New: CISA just issued a rare emergency directive instructing federal civilian agencies to review their networks and immediately power down SolarWinds products, saying the hack "poses unacceptable risks to the security of federal networks."
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I'm told Chris Krebs' deputy, Matt Travis, has also RESIGNED tonight after White House made clear to him he would not be taking the helm of the agency. Brandon Wales, a career official and the third-highest ranking official at CISA, is expected to now serve as acting director.
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The next time you want to criticize a company like Ford or GM for having poor brakes, remember that you willingly drove their cars.
The next time you want to criticize a company like Facebook or Google for having all your data, remember that you willingly gave it to them.
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Can confirm DHS has also been hacked in the SolarWinds attack. DHS is not currently acknowledging their breach publicly. With Commerce and Treasury, that's three confirmed agency intrusions. I'm also told national security agencies and defense contractors have been compromised.
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BREAKING NEWS: The FBI's use of a controversial foreign surveillance tool violated Americans' constitutional privacy rights, FISA Court finds, dealing a rare rebuke to U.S. spying activities.
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The Access Hollywood tape was from 2005.
WATCH: “The guy that’s in the White House now is not the guy we knew 2 years ago.” @JoeNBC says of Trump on @Morning_Joe
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The White House enlisted Sen. Burr and Rep. Nunes, GOP chairs of Senate and House intel panels, to dispute Russia stories when FBI said no
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lost in today's noise: Mueller dedicated the first half of his report to narrating the Kremlin’s well-funded, yearslong effort to target American voters with an arsenal of digital weapons and its coinciding mission to make contacts with the Trump campaign.
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Lamar Alexander votes with Trump more than 90 percent of the time and until about yesterday was never viewed as a swing vote on anything. This was all theater.
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Worth remembering tomorrow: “Not only would any so-called transcript be based on notes, but it would also likely be incomplete because the note-takers usually do not include issues that could be controversial if they became public.”
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NEW: Saudi officials close to MBS tell WSJ they were aware of a plan to hack Bezos' phone, but not of any attempt to blackmail him. Qahtani was involved in the hacking effort as part of a broader intimidation campaign against Khashoggi, officials said.
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NEWS: Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, who helped Giuliani pursue an investigation into the Bidens in Ukraine, were arrested late Wednesday on criminal charges of violating campaign finance rules.
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Chris Krebs (@C_C_Krebs) in Wash Post Live interview: "How are we going to recruit election workers in the future if they think they are going to get death threats? . It has to stop.".
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Statement from FBI Director Chris Wray: . "We do not tolerate violent agitators and extremists who use the guise of First Amendment-protected activity to incite violence and wreak havoc . We will hold accountable those who participated in yesterday’s siege of the Capitol."
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One of the most remarkable things about the last couple years is we have been given no indication that Trump’s re-election campaign will hesitate to take advantage of Russian help again, in whatever form it might take.
“There’s nothing wrong with taking information from Russians,” -Giuliani on @cnn.
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Pardon debate aside, I have still never seen anyone corroborate the frequently made assertion that Snowden “handed over” classified secrets to Russia or China. There is no public evidence that I am aware of that supports that claim.
Edward Snowden is a traitor. He is responsible for the largest and most damaging release of classified info in US history. He handed over US secrets to Russian and Chinese intelligence putting our troops and our nation at risk. Pardoning him would be unconscionable.
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RUMOR CONTROL: “Dominion Voting Systems does not now nor has it ever used the SolarWinds Orion Platform, which was subject of the DHS emergency directive dated December 13, 2020," a Dominion spokeswoman says. via @AlexaCorse cc: @CISAgov @CISAKrebs.
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I asked @MarkSZaidEsq if his team had been approached by only one additional potential whistleblower or others as well. Mr. Zaid replied: “There are definitely multiple whistleblowers.” He offered no further comment.
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A pretty well-regarded expert on election hacking reportedly thinks Clinton needs to audit results in WI, PA and MI
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There was an error in Twitter's fact check of Trump's vote-by-mail tweets, underscoring the challenge social media platforms face trying to arbitrate truth. It was corrected after an elections professional notified the company (and me) about the mistake.
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New: Russian intelligence agencies have mounted a campaign to undermine confidence in Pfizer and other Covid vaccines using online front publications that in recent months have questioned their development and safety, U.S. officials said. w/ @mgordonwsj
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Russia has hacked several govt agencies including Treasury and Commerce as part of a widespread attack that also hit FireEye. They got in through a flaw in IT firm SolarWinds, which has 100s of thousands of customers, including military and Fortune 500.
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The media’s culpability in helping Russia achieve its central aims during the 2016 election is not discussed enough in newsrooms.
To those reporters who worked with DC Leaks and Guccifer 2.0, congratulations on being used as a tool of a Russian military intelligence attack on our country.
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A complete travesty. Two journalists who exposed a village massacre of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar—and just won a Pulitzer Prize for their courageous work—will remain in prison for telling truth to power. #FreeWaLoneKyawSoeOo.
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I’m told by @MarkSZaidEsq that this is not accurate and that “60 Minutes completely misinterpreted the contents of our letter.” . The legal team has now posted that letter on their website here:
Scott Pelley on CBS just now: "@60Minutes has obtained a letter that indicates" the whistleblower "is under federal protection -- because he or she fears for their safety.".
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Who could have ever predicted that attempting to record votes using an untested mobile app from a vendor the Iowa Democratic Party refused to disclose could be so problematic
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This is the president of the United States publicly rebuking his own secretary of state for urging diplomacy with a nuclear-armed country
I told Rex Tillerson, our wonderful Secretary of State, that he is wasting his time trying to negotiate with Little Rocket Man. .
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Full circle: In which a leaker Comey wanted to bring to justice defend's Comey's right to disclose
Even if details leaked by the FBI Director fell under confidentiality obligations, the public's need to know here is the superior obligation
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Mueller has turned into a jaded recording artist who is tired all his bandwagon fans want him to play only his latest Vol. 2 hits but refuse to appreciate the deep cuts on his more sophisticated Vol. 1 album.
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Rep. Sean Maloney said the House was evacuated 30 to 60 seconds before it would have been overrun. “Had that one exit not been open,” he said, “we would have been trapped on the House floor.”
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News: The CIA is offering its entire workforce the same “deferred resignation” buyout made to civilian agencies last week, in a bid to make the spy agency more aligned with Trump. Ratcliffe personally asked WH to do the buyout. First known natsec agency to do so.
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The WSJ editorial board responds to a signed letter from 280 WSJ news staffers by accusing us of being swept up in cancel culture. We specifically didn’t call for canceling anything. The letter asks for modest changes to more clearly label opinion articles.
A Note to Readers - WSJ
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SCOOP: Trump has reversed the classified Obama-era rules governing the use of offensive U.S. cyber weapons, sources say, in a bid to loosen restrictions on such strikes
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NEW: White House officials pushed Atlanta’s top federal prosecutor to resign before Georgia’s U.S. Senate runoffs because President Trump was upset he wasn’t doing enough to investigate the president’s allegations of election fraud
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There is still no indication that Nunes, who is concerned about leaks, was authorized to discuss details of classified surveillance reports.
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The 7-day average of global reported deaths due to Covid-19 fell below 6,000 yesterday for the first time since Oct. 25, 2020.
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NEW: Federal prosecutors have gathered evidence of Trump's participation in hush-money transactions that violated campaign-finance laws. "The Wall Street Journal found that Mr. Trump was involved in or briefed on nearly every step of the agreements.".
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This affidavit unsealed today against Russian national Mariia Butina is incredible. This Twitter DM she sent to a Russian official discusses how one political party, apparently the GOP, is "for us" while the other, Democrats, is "against" us. "Our move here is very important."
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