Contracting watchdog officials say they would lose their power to suspend improper procurements under Gov. Ned Lamont’s budget proposal.
FBI
Posted inMoney
State to audit West Haven officials’ use of federal pandemic relief funds
Auditors are to review overtime-related pay that went to several West Haven officials as part of an ongoing investigation.
Posted inPolitics
New documents suggest Hyde was communicating with someone tracking Yovanovitch
The House Intelligence Committee released new texts from Robert Hyde and an unknown third party that discuss monitoring the diplomat before she was fired by President Donald Trump.
Posted inPolitics
Report: FBI to determine if Hyde had a role in spying on Yovanovitch
CNN reports that the FBI is taking a closer look at Robert Hyde, but he denied attempting to spy on former U.S. Ambassador to Ukrainian Marie Yovanovitch.
Posted inPolitics
Horowitz tells Blumenthal there was no FBI ‘spying’ on Trump campaign
Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz also said he was “surprised” that U.S. Attorney General John Durham disagreed with him about the Russia probe.
Posted inPolitics
Durham rejects ‘some conclusions’ of Horowitz report
Connecticut U.S. Attorney John Durham is conducting his own probe into how the Russia investigations were initiated.
Posted inPolitics
CT lawmakers slam Senate inaction on gun background checks
WASHINGTON – Connecticut lawmakers joined other Democrats Wednesday to condemn Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell for failing to hold votes on two House-passed bills that would have reformed the system the FBI uses to vet potential gun buyers.
Posted inPolitics
Conn. U.S. Attorney Durham conducting probe of FBI media leaks in Russia probe
WASHINGTON – Connecticut U.S. Attorney John Durham is investigating a former top FBI lawyer and possibly others in connection with media leaks from the agency’s initial probe of Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible collusion by then-candidate Donald Trump’s presidential campaign. Durham’s role in heading the leak investigation was revealed Tuesday, with the release of a letter to him from House Republicans seeking more information on his findings.
Posted inMoney
End to federal shutdown elusive, impact will grow in CT
Terence Ward has worked for the U.S. Justice Department for 28 years and plans to continue to do so, but after next Friday, he and all 22 employees of the federal public defender’s office in the state will work without pay if the government shutdown continues. Ward is one of about 1,500 federal employees in the state affected by the shutdown, which isn’t likely to end soon and whose impact in Connecticut will grow with time.
Posted inPolitics
As positions harden, likelihood of quick end to federal shutdown dims
WASHINGTON – Efforts to end a partial government shutdown failed Saturday as Congress put off the issue until after Christmas, meaning there’s no quick end to closures that will affect about 1,500 government workers in Connecticut and those who need certain services.
Posted inMoney
CT would feel aftershocks of federal government shutdown
WASHINGTON – A looming federal shutdown will affect some 1,500 federal employees in Connecticut and impact state residents seeking certain services – but it won’t be felt like the 2013 shutdown that shuttered Head Start centers and provoked the state’s defense contractors to prepare to furlough employees.
Posted inPolitics
Murphy: pipe bombs, suspicious packages a ‘coordinated assassination attempt’
WASHINGTON – Congressional lawmakers on Wednesday were urged to take additional security precautions following reports that the U.S. Secret Service intercepted explosive devices sent to former President Barack Obama, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and other high-profile Democrats. No member of the Connecticut congressional delegation was targeted in the attack, which Sen. Chris Murphy called “a coordinated assassination attempt against Democrats.”
Posted inJustice
Attorneys for Kavanaugh’s Yale accuser worry FBI ‘is not conducting a serious investigation.’
Washington – A lawyer for former Connecticut resident Deborah Ramirez, who has accused Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of exposing himself to her in a Yale dorm room, said the FBI conducted a “detailed and productive interview” Sunday of his client. But in a series of tweets on Tuesday, the attorney said he is concerned “that the FBI is not conducting — or not being permitted to conduct – a serious investigation.”
Posted inJustice
Blumenthal helped Kavanaugh classmate send FBI emails on efforts to discredit Yale accuser
WASHINGTON – Sen. Richard Blumenthal said he tried to help a Yale classmate of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh send the FBI emails that she says show that the judge’s team was trying to discredit the story of Deborah Ramirez, who has accused the judge of exposing himself to her at a party.
Posted inJustice, Politics
Yale Law professors call for ‘neutral’ probe of Kavanaugh sexual assault accusation
WASHINGTON – As the partisan tussle over the nomination of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court continued Friday, Yale Law School faculty weighed in with a letter asking that the FBI or another “neutral factfinder” investigate an accusation that the nominee sexually assaulted another teen at a high school party decades ago.