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By ERIC TUCKER, ALANNA DURKIN RICHER and MICHAEL KUNZELMAN Associated Press737
ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) — Former FBI Director James Comey is set to make his first court appearance Wednesday in a Justice Department criminal case accusing him of lying to Congress five years ago.
Rep. Don Beyer, D-Va., whose district includes Alexandria and has one of the largest concentrations of federal employees in Congress, said Tuesday that federal workers are guaranteed back pay “without question or exception,” pushing back against Trump administration warnings that retroactive pay is not assured during the government shutdown.
Beyer, who sponsored the 2019 bipartisan legislation guaranteeing back pay, called the administration’s memo an attempt “to frighten federal employees and their families as a negotiating tactic, which is despicable.”
By JOSH BOAK Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — Lawmakers provided few public signs of meaningful negotiations to break an impasse on reopening the federal government as the shutdown entered its sixth day on Monday, with House Speaker Mike Johnson saying it was Democrats who needed to “stop the madness.”
By STEPHEN GROVES, MARY CLARE JALONICK and MATT BROWN Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — Hopes for a quick end to the government shutdown faded Friday as Democrats refused to budge in a Senate vote and President Donald Trump readied plans to unleash layoffs and cuts across the federal government.
By ALANNA DURKIN RICHER and ERIC TUCKER Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department fired a top national security prosecutor amid criticism from a right-wing commentator over his work during the Biden administration, further roiling the prominent U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia after the ousting of other senior attorneys in recent weeks, according to people familiar with the matter.
By LISA MASCARO, MARY CLARE JALONICK and STEPHEN GROVES Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — Plunged into a government shutdown, the U.S. is confronting a fresh cycle of uncertainty after President Donald Trump and Congress failed to strike an agreement to keep government programs and services running by Wednesday’s deadline.
By ERIC TUCKER, ALANNA DURKIN RICHER and MICHAEL KUNZELMAN Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — James Comey was charged Thursday with lying to Congress in a criminal case filed days after President Donald Trump appeared to urge his attorney general to prosecute the former FBI director and other perceived political enemies.
President Donald Trump announced Saturday that he would nominate senior White House aide Lindsey Halligan to serve as the top federal prosecutor for the Eastern District of Virginia, just one day after the Alexandria-based office was thrown into turmoil by the resignation of U.S. Attorney Erik Siebert.
The nomination drew sharp criticism from Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA), who represents Northern Virginia including Alexandria, where the federal prosecutor’s office is headquartered. “Donald Trump hates the rule of law and is making all of us less safe by firing seasoned professionals, to replace them with goons and yes men who will bend the law to his whim,” Beyer said in a statement Saturday. “This is corrupt as hell.”
Erik Siebert, the U.S. Attorney who led the Eastern District of Virginia federal prosecutor’s office from its Alexandria headquarters, resigned Friday under pressure from the Trump administration amid its push to indict New York Attorney General Letitia James.
Siebert confirmed his departure in an email to colleagues, reviewed by The Associated Press, in which he praised them as the “finest and most exceptional” of Justice Department employees but made no mention of the political turmoil that preceded his resignation.
Alexandria’s congressional delegation joined a chorus of regional lawmakers Monday condemning President Donald Trump’s decision to federalize Washington D.C.’s police department and deploy National Guard troops, with U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine calling the move a “waste of taxpayer dollars” designed to distract from other issues.
U.S. Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.), who represents Alexandria, joined eight other members of the National Capital Region delegation in a statement released hours after Trump’s announcement that he would temporarily take control of the Metropolitan Police Department through Attorney General Pam Bondi.
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Virginia officials have agreed not to fully enforce a 2020 law banning conversion therapy for minors as part of an agreement with a faith-based conservative group that sued over the law, authorities said earlier this week.
The Virginia Department of Health Professions, represented by the state’s office of the attorney general, entered into a consent decree with the Founding Freedoms Law Center last month, saying officials will not discipline counselors who engage in talk conversion therapy.
