The Republican National Convention had a whole bunch of federal employees participating in the proceedings. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany, and dozens of other lower-level workers all took part in the celebration of Donald Trump's nomination for re-election. Trump's speech on Thursday took place on the South Lawn of the White House — the first time the building had been used for such a purpose. To cap it all off, there was a fireworks show on the National Mall (which is public land), displaying Trump campaign slogans.

This is a straightforward violation of the Hatch Act, which limits how federal employees (not including the president and vice president) can participate in partisan election campaigns. They cannot use their "official authority or influence for the purpose of interfering with or affecting the result of an election," or "engage in political activity" while on duty, on federal property, wearing a federal uniform, and so on.

Now, one can argue with some justice that the Hatch Act is somewhat ridiculous, at least for top-level Cabinet officials, because they are inherently political. But it is the law, and as Charlie Savage writes at The New York Times, previous administrations have always tried to at least follow the letter of the law. The Trump administration is doing no such thing — instead it is flagrantly disobeying it in full view of everyone, and scoffing at critics. "Nobody outside of the Beltway really cares," White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows told Politico about the law. (Naturally, when the president was a Democrat, Meadows espoused the exact opposite opinion.) Even if a Cabinet official is inherently political, the point of the Hatch Act is to prevent the president from leveraging his power over the federal bureaucracy to entrench himself in power. That is plainly what Trump is trying to do. Ryan Cooper

Shortly after police detained Russian opposition leader and Kremlin critic Alexey Navalny upon his return to Moscow from Germany, where he was recovering from a poisoning allegedly carried out by Russia's FSB spy agency, President-elect Joe Biden's incoming National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan called for the anti-corruption activist's immediate release.

Sullivan said the Kremlin's actions were a "violation of human rights" and "an affront to the Russian people who want their voices heard."

The forceful statement quickly drew attention from members of the U.S. media, who compared it to the Trump administration's generally more lax approach to Moscow.

Sullivan also beat the current White House to the punch — there's been no word on the Navalny situation from President Trump, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, or National Security Adviser Robert O'Brien as of yet. Tim O'Donnell

Despite security concerns, the plan is still for President-elect Joe Biden to take the oath of office on the West Front of the United States Capitol during Wednesday's inauguration ceremony, incoming White House Communications Director Kate Bedingfield said Sunday during an appearance on ABC's This Week.

Bedingfield said that doing so would reflect American "resilience" following the deadly riot at the Capitol earlier this month, when a pro-Trump mob violently forced its way into the building.

Bedingfield also provided a glimpse of what may be in Biden's inaugural address. She didn't get into specifics, but her expectations mirrored those of other advisers, who anticipate Biden will call for unity and "lay out a positive, optimistic vision for the country." Tim O'Donnell

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) reiterated his belief that his Republican colleagues in the Senate should not embrace what he considers "an unconstitutional impeachment" of President Trump.

Speaking with Fox News' Maria Bartiromo on Sunday morning, Graham said Trump is facing a "scarlet letter" impeachment that's driven by the "radical left" and called on President-elect Joe Biden and the GOP to put a stop to it. The biggest risk of following through, Graham argued, is the destruction of the Republican Party. If the party "wants to move forward, President Trump's gonna be the most important voice ... for a long time."

That said, Graham did issue a warning for Trump, as well. When asked about the possibility of the president pardoning people involved in the deadly siege of the United States Capitol — the impetus for Trump's impeachment — Graham said he hopes "we don't go down that road" because it "would destroy" Trump.

Alexey Navalny, a Russian opposition leader and fierce critic of the Kremlin, flew back to Moscow following five months in Berlin, where he was recovering after he was allegedly poisoned by Russia's FSB spy agency. At airport border control, Navalny kissed his wife goodbye before Russian law enforcement promptly detained him, as expected.

Moscow's prison service said it had orders to arrest Navalny because he violated conditions after an embezzlement conviction. Navalny, one of Russian President Vladimir Putin's top rivals, has maintained the charges were politically motivated. Still, while he was always aware of his impending detainment, he told reporters who traveled with him it never crossed his mind not to return home to Moscow. "This is my home," he said. "I'm not scared of anything."

Alexei Makarin, the deputy director of the Center for Political Technologies in Moscow, told Bloomberg that Navalny could have stayed in Germany, but in that case the Russian people "would quickly lose interest in him." Now, the anti-corruption activist may be seen as a "symbol of resistance behind bars and a big risk for Putin."

Navalny's wife and lawyer, however, opted to wait behind passport control where Navalny was taken, which reportedly suggests there's a chance he'll be released "with a writ of summons."

As far as the United States is concerned, if Russia does continue to hold Navalny, former U.S. Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul argues it will be the first big foreign policy test for the Biden administration. Tim O'Donnell

Israel has vaccinated at least 25 percent of its population against the coronavirus so far, which leads the world and makes it "the country to watch for herd effects from" the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, says infectious disease expert David Fishman. Recently, the case rate in Israel appears to have declined sharply, and while there could be a few reasons for that, it's possible the vaccination effort is beginning to play a role.

One study from Clalit that was published last week reports that 14 days after receiving the first Pfizer-BioNTech shot, infection rates among 200,000 Israelis older than 60 fell 33 percent among those vaccinated compared to 200,000 from the same demographic who hadn't received a jab.

At first glance, Fishman writes, that might seem disappointing since clinical trials suggested the vaccine was more than 90 percent effective. But he actually believes the 33 percent figure is "auspicious." Because vaccinated and non-vaccinated people are mingling, there could be "herd effects of immunization." In other words, when inoculated people interact with people who haven't had their shot, the latter individual may still be protected because the other person is. On a larger scale, that would drive down the number of infections among non-vaccinated people, thus shrinking the gap between the two groups' infection rates.

More data needs to come in, and Fishman thinks "we'll know more" this week, but he's cautiously optimistic about how things are going. Tim O'Donnell

Luke Mogelson, a veteran war correspondent and contributing writer for The New Yorker, captured what appears to be the "clearest" footage yet of the deadly riot at the United States Capitol earlier this month.

Mogelson attended (in a journalistic capacity) President Trump's rally on Jan. 6, which preceded the pro-Trump mob's march to and breach of the Capitol. He followed the rioters into the building and filmed a group that entered the empty Senate chamber. They began taking photos of documents in the room as part of a self-declared "information operation." One man said he was attempting to find something that he could "use against these scumbags," while another said he thought Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) "would want us to do this."

In a later scene, Mogelson witnessed Jake Angeli, otherwise known as Q Shaman, sitting in Vice President Mike Pence's chair, as a lone Capitol Police officer tried unsuccessfully to get him to move. He also gathered footage from outside the Capitol, including a large crowd aggressively forcing its way into the building, as well as a man telling people around him to "start making a list, put all those names down" and "start hunting them down one by one."

The New Yorker notes that although the footage was "not originally intended for publication, it documents a historic event and serves as a visceral complement to Mogelson's probing, illuminating" written feature. Read the full report here and watch the complete footage here. Tim O'Donnell