Venezuela Appoints Felix Plasencia to Lead Foreign Relations and Trade 
Trump Tells Congress Iran Hostilities Restarted, Citing New 60-Day War Powers Window 
HHS Watchdog Reports $5.56 Billion in Healthcare Fraud Recoveries as Enforcement Actions Decline 
Zelenskiy Plans Ukraine Government Shake-Up as Prime Minister Svyrydenko Set to Step Down 
Trump Administration Launches AI Cybersecurity Partnership to Protect Critical Infrastructure 
UN Says Hamas Disrupted Gaza Aid Distribution, Group Denies Allegations 
Republican Senator Lindsey Graham Dies at 71, Leaving South Carolina Senate Seat Vacant 
Brazil Court Bars Flavio Bolsonaro From Visiting Jair Bolsonaro Ahead of Election 
Trump Administration Hands Over Key Evidence in Minnesota Immigration Shooting Investigations 
Minnesota Wildfires Spread as Governor Tim Walz Deploys National Guard 
Russia Launches Missile and Drone Attacks on Kyiv, Zaporizhzhia, and Kharkiv 
EU Weighs New Trade Restrictions on Israeli West Bank Settlements 
Israel-Lebanon Talks Resume in Rome as Ceasefire and Troop Withdrawal Remain Elusive 
Israeli Strikes Kill Six in Gaza as Ceasefire Talks Continue in Cairo 
Israel Sets October 27 Election as Netanyahu Faces Tough Political Test 
EU Ministers Split as Support Grows for Ban on Trade With Israeli West Bank Settlements 
Iraq PM Visits Washington as U.S. Oil, Gas Deals Take Center Stage 
The investigation into the insurrection last January 6 at the Capitol continues, as right-wing figures have criticized the actions of an unidentified police officer who shot pro-Trump insurrectionist Ashlii Babbitt. An internal probe into the incident was announced to have exonerated the officer.
NBC News reports that a police memo revealed that an internal investigation was carried out regarding the shooting of Babbitt by a police officer that responded to the riots last January. The investigation resulted in the officer’s exoneration that comes months after the Justice Department said it would not press charges on the said officer.
“As members of the mob continued to strike the glass doors, Ms. Babbitt attempted to climb through one of the doors where the glass was broken out,” the Justice Department reported at the time. “An officer inside the Speaker’s Lobby fired one round from his service pistol, striking Ms. Babbitt in the left shoulder, causing her to fall back from the doorway and onto the floor.”
A mob of insurrectionists supporting disgraced former President Donald Trump stormed the Capitol last January ahead of Joe Biden’s inauguration. The mob sought to stop the certification of Biden’s victory over Trump, while also targeting top Democrats in Congress including then-vice president Mike Pence. Five people, including Babbitt and police officer Brian Sicknick, were killed from the riots, and dozens of police officers were left severely injured.
Trump and his allies on the right have also been trying to paint Babbitt as a martyr. Hours prior to the insurrection, Trump held a rally protesting against the results of the election. The refusal of the now-former president to accept his defeat also led to peddling the false claims of election or voter fraud being the cause of his loss to Biden.
Meanwhile, BuzzFeed reported over the weekend that judges and prosecutors are not taking kindly to the claims by Republican lawmakers that the January 6 insurrectionists were “tourists.” Georgia GOP Rep. Andrew Clyde was among those lawmakers who compared the insurrection as a “normal tourist visit” despite video footage of the lawmaker helping bar the doors of the chamber.
