The Jan. 6 select committee says its evidence has shown that then-President Donald Trump and his campaign tried to illegally obstruct Congress’ counting of electoral votes and “engaged in a criminal conspiracy to defraud the United States.”

In a major release of its findings, filed in federal court late Wednesday, the committee suggested that its evidence supported findings that Trump himself violated multiple laws by attempting to prevent Congress from certifying his defeat.

“The Select Committee also has a good-faith basis for concluding that the President and members of his Campaign engaged in a criminal conspiracy to defraud the United States,” the committee wrote in a filing submitted in U.S. District Court in the Central District of California.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The House panel investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol said Wednesday for the first time that its evidence suggests crimes may have been committed by former President Donald Trump and his associates in the failed effort to overturn the outcome of the 2020 presidential election.

Trump and his associates engaged in a “criminal conspiracy” to prevent Congress from certifying Democrat Joe Biden’s victory in the Electoral College, the House committee said in a court filing. Trump and those working with him spread false information about the outcome of the presidential election and pressured state officials to overturn the results, potentially violating multiple federal laws, the panel said.

“The Select Committee also has a good-faith basis for concluding that the President and members of his Campaign engaged in a criminal conspiracy to defraud the United States,” the committee wrote in a filing submitted in U.S. District Court in the Central District of California.

The Jan. 6 committee has dropped a stick of political dynamite by outlining a criminal case against former President Donald Trump, but the Justice Department decides whether to light the fuse. And Democrats are starting to nudge.

In a blockbuster Wednesday night court filing, congressional investigators said there’s a strong case the former president committed felony obstruction when he tried to overturn the election, among other potential charges. Jan. 6 panel members, however, say DOJ shouldn’t wait for them — importantly, it could be months before they make the call on any related formal criminal referrals.

And progressives are starting to ramp up pressure on DOJ to investigate.

More than 1 million people have fled Ukraine in a rapid exodus after a week of war, as Russia’s military bombarded key cities across the country in an effort to overcome staunch resistance to the invasion.

The conflict has fueled a growing humanitarian crisis in Europe and left those who have remained in Ukraine facing an intensifying assault from the air and ground.

But the mileslong Russian military convoy threatening the Ukrainian capital has made little progress over the last three days. Russian forces’ northern advance has struggled to overcome a fierce Ukrainian defense and its own logistical issues. They appear to have had more success in the south, with one key port city all but under Russian control and another struggling to hold out under siege.

A district court judge in Travis County, Texas, granted a temporary restraining order Wednesday to prevent the state from performing a child abuse investigation of a family seeking gender-affirming health care for their transgender child.

The American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Texas and LGBTQ civil rights organization Lambda Legal filed a lawsuit Tuesday on behalf of the parents of a transgender girl. The child’s mother, an employee of the state’s Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS), had been suspended from her job because of last week’s legal opinion by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton saying gender-affirming treatments and procedures for transgender children can constitute a form of child abuse.
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axton’s legal opinion prompted Gov. Greg Abbott to instruct DFPS Commissioner Jaime Masters “to conduct a prompt and thorough investigation of any reported instances of these abusive procedures in the State of Texas.”

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden faces growing calls from fellow Democrats to ban imports of Russian oil as lawmakers desperately try to find a way to stop President Vladimir Putin’s bloody war in Ukraine.

“It is so obviously apparent that we need to cut it off. I wonder if there’s a reason we haven’t [and] what the hell the reason is,” moderate Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., told NBC News on Wednesday.

Another centrist, Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., told reporters: “We should stop buying over 600,000 barrels [of Russian oil] a day in America. Can you believe that? No one knew that. No one paid attention to it. And that has to stop.”

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration on Thursday announced new sanctions against Russian oligarchs and others in President Vladimir Putin’s inner circle as Russian forces continue to pummel Ukraine.

Those targeted by the new sanctions include Putin’s press secretary, Dmitry Peskov, and Alisher Burhanovich Usmanov, one of Russia’s wealthiest individuals and a close ally of Putin. The U.S. State Department also announced it was imposing visa bans on 19 Russian oligarchs and dozens of their family members and close associates.

“These individuals and their family members will be cut off from the U.S. financial system; their assets in the United States will be frozen and their property will be blocked from use,” the White House said in a statement announcing the new penalties.