January 1, 16 States Sue Trump Over Emergency Wall Declaration

A group of 16 states filed suit if federal court in California to stop President Donald Trump’s emergency declaration to fund a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border, The Washington Post reported.

Earlier in the day, California Attorney General Xavier Becerra told MSNBC’s “Andrea Mitchell Reports” he planned to file California’s lawsuit.

Joining California and New York are Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon and Virginia. All have Democratic governors but one – Maryland, whose attorney general is a Democrat – and most have legislatures controlled by Democrats, The New York Times reported.

Justice Dept Official: Rosenstein to Step Down by Mid-March

Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein will leave the Department of Justice by the middle of March, according to a new report.

Fox News reported Monday night that Rosenstein, who was already expected to depart in the wake of Attorney General William Barr being confirmed last week, is leaving to give Barr the chance to transition into his new role. The network cited a senior DOJ official in its report.

Fox reported that Barr has chosen Jeffrey Rosen, an academic who currently serves as president and CEO of the National Constitution Center, to serve as his deputy AG.

Last month, it was reported that Rosenstein would leave the DOJ at the conclusion of special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation, which is looking at whether the Trump campaign colluded with Russia to win the 2016 election.

Roger Stone: Photo of Judge and Crosshairs ‘Misinterpreted’

Political operative Roger Stone posted an image of the federal judge handling his case with what appeared to be crosshairs Monday.

The photo has since been taken down from his Instagram account, but Mediaite posted a screenshot of it. District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson’s face is in the photo. In the top left corner are what seem to be crosshairs.

There is text behind the photo, which Stone later revealed to be “Corruption Central.”

The photo was taken down soon after it was published. Stone has since posted two subsequent images that contained statements, trying to clarify where he found the original photo and what it meant.

“A photo of Judge Jackson posted on my Instagram has been misinterpreted. This was a random photo taken from the Internet,” Stone wrote. “Any inference that this was meant to somehow threaten the judge or disrespect court is categorically false.”

CBS’ Lara Logan: Press No Longer Has ‘Pretense of Objectivity’

CBS News foreign correspondent Lara Logan criticized the international media corps as predominantly “liberal,” crowding out conservative outlets that represent the other side of the coin.

In an interview with retired Navy SEAL Mike Ritland for his Mike Droppodcast, posted by Breitbart, Logan asserted the “media everywhere is mostly liberal, not just the [United States].”

“One ideological perspective on everything never leads to an open free diverse tolerant society,” she said. 

“The more opinions and views … of everything that you have, the better off we all are. So creating one ideological position on everything throughout your universities, throughout academia, in school and college, in media, and everywhere else, that’s what concerns me. I don’t have to agree with everybody.”

NC Elections Head Says Ballots Handled Illegally

AP – A Republican operative conducted an illegal and well-funded ballot-harvesting operation, North Carolina’s elections director said Monday, but the first session of a days-long hearing produced scant evidence that the GOP congressional candidate he worked for knew about it or even benefited.

The director’s testimony came at the opening of a state elections board hearing into whether mail-in ballots were tampered with in the race for the state’s 9th congressional district seat that saw Republican Mark Harris narrowly defeat Democrat Dan McCready.

The race wasn’t certified, leaving the country’s only congressional election without a declared winner. The elections board is expected to either declare a winner or order a new election after the hearing.

Grand Jury Reportedly Convened in R. Kelly Case

A grand jury has been convened in Cook County, Illinois, in connection with new allegations against singer R. Kelly, CNN reports, citing two sources close to the case.

The latest round of accusations against the singer, who has allegations of sexual misconduct against him dating back 25 years although he has never been convicted — arise in the wake of a new sex tape that shows the singer engaging in sex acts with an underage girl, according to reports in CNN and The New Yorker. Attorney Michael Avenatti claimed last week that he had given the tape to the State’s Attorney’s office.

Intense video: Good Samaritans Rescue Woman From Burning Car

A fiery wreck in St. John Parish, Louisiana turned into a dramatic rescue scene.Video captured by Anita Haley shows several people pulling a woman from the window of her car, as the vehicle is covered in flames.