The White House does not believe there's a way to block the whistleblower who lodged a complaint against President Trump from meeting with congressional investigators, and officials are now working on a deal to allow the person to speak with them, two people with knowledge of the matter told The New York Times on Tuesday.
The complaint is reportedly linked to a phone call Trump had in July with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, in which Trump asked him multiple times to launch an investigation into the business dealings of Hunter Biden, the son of 2020 presidential candidate and former Vice President Joe Biden. After the complaint was filed in August, Intelligence Community Inspector General Michael Atkinson marked it as being of "urgent concern," and passed it on to acting Director of National Intelligence Joseph Maguire.
Under the law, Maguire was supposed to give the complaint to Congress, but he said he consulted with the Justice Department and was told the complaint was not under the DNI's jurisdiction and also didn't meet the definition of urgent concern. This is what led to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) announcing on Tuesday afternoon that she has directed the House to open a formal impeachment inquiry against Trump.
The whistleblower's attorney sent Maguire a letter on Monday, saying his client wants to meet with lawmakers but needs the DNI's approval, the Times reports. Lawyers for the intelligence community have been speaking with White House and Justice Department officials to figure out the next steps, the Times says, so the whistleblower can discuss the complaint without worrying about executive privilege. A White House official told Politico that Trump has approved sending the complaint to Congress by the end of the week.
Earlier Tuesday, House Intelligence Committee Chair Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) confirmed that the whistleblower's attorney says his client is ready to speak to the committee, and Schiff said he looks forward to "the whistleblower's testimony as soon as this week." Catherine Garcia
It seems just one Game of Thrones prequel still won't be enough for HBO.
The network already has a prequel of the hit series in the works for 2022 called House of the Dragon, but Entertainment Weekly reports HBO wants to order "several" more.
Among them may be a series based on George R.R. Martin's Tales of Dunk and Egg, as Variety and The Hollywood Reporter report an adaptation of these novellas, which follow Ser Duncan the Tall and Aegon V Targaryen nine decades before A Song of Ice and Fire, is in early development.
That would be the second Thrones prequel after House of the Dragon, an upcoming series about the Targaryens. But that may not be all, as Entertainment Weekly writes "the idea is for HBO to go big on Thrones for HBO and HBO Max, not entirely unlike how Disney has done with Star Wars and Disney+." At a recent investor presentation, Disney laid out an avalanche of new Star Wars shows coming to its streaming service, including spinoffs of The Mandalorian.
A Thrones prequel about Robert's Rebellion, a war frequently referred to in Thrones, is one concept being explored, EW says, adding that all of the ideas currently being considered would be prequels rather than sequels or direct spinoffs. At one point, there were five Thrones scripts at "various stages of development" at HBO, as Martin revealed in 2017, though it wasn't clear whether more than one of them would actually end up on the air. House of the Dragon ended up moving forward, but another Thrones spinoff was scrapped in 2019 after already filming a pilot episode.
But it sounds like HBO is still interested in the idea of multiple Thrones series, as it evidently looks to go all in on the franchise and bet viewers disappointed by the original show's finale will return. Brendan Morrow
Facebook's oversight board has taken on a major case, as it's set to review the company's decision to boot the president of the United States from its platform.
Facebook announced Thursday it has referred its decision to indefinitely suspend former President Donald Trump's account to the Facebook independent Oversight Board, which has accepted the case.
"We believe our decision was necessary and right," Nick Clegg, Facebook's vice president of global affairs and communications, said. "Given its significance, we think it is important for the board to review it and reach an independent judgment on whether it should be upheld. While we await the board's decision, Mr. Trump's access will remain suspended indefinitely."
Facebook suspended Trump's account in the wake of the deadly riot at the Capitol building by his supporters, with CEO Mark Zuckerberg saying the "risks of allowing the president to continue to use our service during this period are simply too great" as he attempted to "undermine the peaceful and lawful transfer of power." Facebook said the suspension would continue "indefinitely" and "at least" until he was out of office.
The oversight board pledged to offer a "thorough and independent assessment" of the case and provide "policy recommendations from the board on suspensions when the user is a political leader." Facebook noted that whatever decision the board reaches will be binding and can't be overruled by the company's executives. A decision will come within 90 days.
Twitter also took action against Trump over the Capitol riot by permanently banning his account. But NBC News' Dylan Byers notes that referring the case to the oversight board allows Facebook to "outsource" this final decision. Brendan Morrow
In the latest news story that's improbably not a 30 Rock episode description, Jenna Maroney actress Jane Krakowski has denied secretly dating the MyPillow guy for nine months.
A report from the Daily Mail on Thursday claimed controversial MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell, who has recently made headlines for his false election fraud claims in support of former President Donald Trump, had a "secret nine month romance" with Krakowski until the "passionate" relationship ended last summer.
Lindell, the report claimed, supposedly "wooed the actress for close to a year, showering her with gifts and flowers." An anonymous source told the outlet, "She said she had known him for about eight years and that they had been friends but then they started a relationship about a year ago." The source also claimed, "They would fight and Jane would throw all of the gifts that he had given her away. Then they would make up and there would be more gifts again." The alleged romance reportedly baffled Krakowski's friends just as much as it did social media on Thursday when the article was published.
Both Krakowski and Lindell are denying the report — and claiming they never even met at all. "I've never met the man," Krakowski told the Daily Mail, while Lindell went a step further, saying, "I have never even heard of Jane Krakowski???"
Still, should NBC ever decide to reboot 30 Rock, we've got some good news for Tina Fey: the Daily Mail has already provided the first script. Brendan Morrow
When walking around the neighborhoods and grocery stores in Philadelphia, virtually everyone I see is wearing a mask. That's great news — we should all be happy to endure a little discomfort to fight the pandemic. Unfortunately, nearly all the masks are simple cloth varieties. While these are better than nothing, there are better masks available. President Biden and his administration should be pointing this out, and doing what they can to get those masks into the hands of the American people.
There have been multiple studies on whether masks work to slow the spread of coronavirus, and the general consensus is that they do — but the better the mask, the more they help. Cloth masks are good, 3-ply surgical masks are better, and medical-grade N95 or N100 respirators are better still. Yet so far public health authorities, and Biden himself, have typically just recommended the use of masks in general without any quality distinctions.
The CDC website is confusing on this point. It recommends that people do not use medical-grade N95s, as apparently there is still a global shortage and they should be reserved for medical workers. But it also recommends against surgical masks, which are widely available, for the same reason, and does not mention KN95s, which are probably only a bit worse than normal N95s. (Alas, there are reportedly a slew of counterfeit or low-quality masks out there.)
The Biden administration could upgrade its pandemic-fighting strategy by clearly explaining what kinds of masks are good and appropriate for normal citizens. It could further certify which manufacturers are trustworthy, so people aren't tricked by sleazy ripoff artists on Amazon. Best of all, as part of Biden's invocation of the Defense Production Act, he could send every household in the United States a free weekly supply of the best masks that can be produced (as Taiwan is doing). I would wager that within a month or two, every American could be using KN95s at least, and the spread of coronavirus would be slowed markedly, saving many thousands of lives. Ryan Cooper