Trump orders wide search for political bias in Biden-era actions

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump ordered the attorney general to hunt for instances of campaigns during the Biden administration against perceived political opponents, as the White House on Monday outlined misleading or unproven arguments over government “weaponization.”

The language of the order dovetails with long-standing allegations from Republicans that the Justice Department acted against Trump and other conservatives during the Biden administration, an effort they say was driven by political bias and laid bare by the two federal criminal cases brought against Trump.

With the broad language, the review could look into a range of issues Republican lawmakers highlighted last Congress, including arguments that the FBI used the security clearance adjudication process to “purge its ranks of conservatives and whistleblowers.”

The order refers to a 2021 Justice Department memorandum that sought to address intimidation and violent threats against school administrators and teachers, as well as DOJ charging decisions in connection to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.

—CQ-Roll Call

Mayor Adams agrees to not publicly criticize Trump as president's executive orders rock NYC, nation

NEW YORK — Amid sharp debate over President Donald Trump’s executive orders on immigration, gender identity and other issues, Mayor Eric Adams said Tuesday he has made a deal to not publicly criticize Trump and has been assured he’ll have a direct line to him.

Adams said they made that agreement while he met privately with Trump at his namesake golf club in Florida this past Friday.

The deal would include controversial topics such as the order the end of birthright citizenship, pardon convicted Jan. 6 rioters and other actions that could have serious impacts on New York City.

“We’re not going to agree on everything, but those areas that we disagree, I’m going to personally share with (Trump), and he has given me an opportunity to communicate with him directly on issues we disagree, and I respect that,” Adams said during his weekly press conference at City Hall.

—New York Daily News

Pivotal hearings set as Kohberger defense tries to nix key evidence in Idaho murder trial

BOISE, Idaho — In hearings this week that will likely set the table for his summer murder trial, Bryan Kohberger and his attorneys will return to the courtroom for the first time in more than two months to argue for excluding a host of evidence.

Since November, the defense and prosecution have traded legal briefs over the disputed evidence in the University of Idaho student homicides case. The pieces the defense wants suppressed include: DNA taken from Kohberger that the state says matches some from the crime scene in Moscow where the four college students were killed; every item seized from his college apartment, car and parents’ Pennsylvania home; and all the information from his cellphone and online footprint obtained through search warrants.

The defense has asserted that all of this evidence — and still more, including from two search warrants for Kohberger’s person when he was briefly jailed in Pennsylvania, and again when he was brought to Idaho to await trial — should be withheld from a jury over alleged police misconduct.

Kohberger, who turned 30 in November, has now spent over two years in custody since his arrest in late 2022 on suspicion of the fatal stabbings that took place in the early-morning hours of Nov. 13 that year. He faces four counts of first-degree murder and one count of felony burglary, and could be sentenced to death if convicted.

—Idaho Statesman

Xi touts ties with Russia in Putin call after Trump inauguration

Chinese President Xi Jinping hailed ties with Russia during a video call with Russian President Vladimir Putin as he urged deeper cooperation a day after Donald Trump’s inauguration as U.S. president.

Xi said he’s willing to work with his Russian counterpart to take bilateral relations to new heights and to respond to “external uncertainties,” the state-run Xinhua News Agency reported Tuesday.

The two leaders declared a “no-limits friendship” just weeks before Putin launched his 2022 invasion of Ukraine, with China since becoming a diplomatic and economic lifeline for Moscow after the U.S. and its allies imposed sweeping sanctions.

“Both sides should deepen strategic coordination, firming up mutual support and safeguarding the legitimate interests of the two countries,” Xinhua cited Xi as saying. The president also touted growing bilateral trade last year and agreed to maintain strategic communication, the news service said.

—Bloomberg News