The nominee, Lloyd J. Austin III, a retired four-star Army general, must obtain a congressional exemption from a law that bars recent active-duty officers from serving in the top Pentagon job.
Today
Rain and snow showers this evening transitioning to snow showers overnight. Low 32F. Winds SE at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of precip 40%..
Tonight
Rain and snow showers this evening transitioning to snow showers overnight. Low 32F. Winds SE at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of precip 40%. Updated: April 14, 2021 @ 6:24 pm
January 8, 2021 12:46 p.m.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) on Friday announced in a letter that she had spoken with Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Mark Milley to discuss options for preventing “an unstable president” from accessing nuclear codes.
“The situation of this unhinged President could not be more dangerous, and we must do everything that we can to protect the American people from his unbalanced assault on our country and our democracy,” Pelosi wrote in a letter to colleagues.
Pelosi added that among her discussions with the nation’s top military officer was preventing Trump from “initiating military hostilities,” as well as keeping him from accessing launch codes and potentially ordering a nuclear strike.
Jan. 8, 2021 3:53 pm ET
The U.S. imposed sanctions Friday on a senior Iraqi official for his link to human-rights abuses by Iran-backed militias, as the Trump administration continues its campaign to isolate Tehran during the president’s final weeks in office.
The official, Faleh al-Fayyadh, is chairman of the Popular Mobilization Forces, an umbrella for several dozen Iraqi paramilitary groups including powerful factions with close ideological and operational ties to Tehran.
He is the most senior Iraqi official to be blacklisted by Washington, which has deployed sanctions in its efforts to curb Iran’s influence in Iraq and the region.