President Joe Biden is turning to a longtime Democratic problem-solver, lawyer Bob Bauer, to manage his response to a U.S. special counsel’s investigation into his handling of classified material after the discovery of documents at his private office and home.

Bauer will serve as Biden’s personal lawyer during a probe by U.S. Special Counsel Robert Hur, a former U.S. attorney in Maryland who was tapped by Attorney General Merrick Garland on Thursday to examine whether classified documents had been improperly removed or retained.

A spokesperson for Bauer confirmed that he is representing Biden but declined further comment. The White House has said the documents were “inadvertently misplaced” and that it is cooperating fully but has declined to respond to detailed questions on the investigation.

The pick shows Biden circling the wagons, relying on a trusted inner circle that has guided much of his recent political career to beat back political and legal fallout from the investigation, which comes as he weighs running for re-election in 2024.

Republicans, who now control the House of Representatives, are eager to paint Biden’s administration as scandal-plagued as former President Donald Trump, who has announced his 2024 candidacy, faces investigations and lawsuits over classified documents, election fraud and tax payment.

Biden had turned to Bauer, now a law professor at New York University, for help in deciding whether to seek the presidency in 2020. Bauer subsequently served as a senior adviser to Biden’s campaign, leading an army of lawyers who monitored voting access and fought off legal challenges from Trump, Biden’s Republican opponent. Bauer also played the role of Trump in Biden’s debate preparation.

Bauer won praise for managing the rocky period from the election to the announcement of a victor four days later and then through the presidential transition, when Trump refused to concede defeat and pursued novel and unsuccessful legal challenges to prevent Biden from taking office.

Bauer has long been a fixture in Democratic legal circles, representing both of President Barack Obama’s presidential campaigns and serving as Obama’s White House counsel from 2009 to 2011. While working as the Obama campaign’s general counsel in 2008, Bauer helped vet Biden as Obama’s pick for vice president.

In those years, he also became close with Biden and supported his efforts to consider a 2016 bid for the presidency even as others in the administration favored former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the eventual Democratic nominee.

Biden, grieving the 2015 death of his son Beau, ultimately declined to run in 2016 after consultation with a small group including Bauer. Clinton lost to Trump, and Biden mounted a bid four years later.

Gray-bearded and scholarly in mien, Bauer spent nearly his entire career at the law firm Perkins Coie, starting the firm’s influential political law practice. Firms like Perkins collect millions of dollars in billable hours from the warring U.S. political parties during election season.

“He looks and has the temperament of the college professor and he’s a hard-as-nails litigator and strategist,” NYU law professor Samuel Issacharoff, who worked under Bauer on both Obama campaigns, told Reuters in 2020.

Bauer retired from Perkins Coie in 2018 to focus on his teaching, but continued representing some clients in an individual capacity.

He is married to Anita Dunn, another Biden confidant and senior White House adviser. Dunn is a key architect of Biden’s communications strategy who has helped with personnel decisions and crafting a message to counter Republican opponents.

Bauer will now work with White House lawyers as Biden responds to the special counsel’s investigation. Documents with classified markings were found both at Biden’s personal office at a Washington think tank and in a garage at his Delaware home in recent months.

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Tom Brady jogs on the field ahead of a game against the San Francisco 49ers.

AP Photo/Jed Jacobsohn

• The 2022-23 NFL season enters the playoffs with the Wild Card round on January 14 to 16.
• Playoff games will air on national TV, with matchups scheduled for Fox, CBS, NBC, ESPN, and ABC.
• You can stream select games without cable through services like Paramount Plus, Peacock, and Sling TV.

The NFL Playoffs begin January 14 with six games set to run across Saturday, Sunday, and Monday in the Wild Card round. 

Saturday will feature an NFC West matchup between the Seahawks and 49ers, and the Chargers playing the Jaguars. Sunday has three matchups, including the Dolphins and Bills, Giants and Vikings, and Ravens and Bengals.

ESPN will air its only postseason game on Monday night, with the Dallas Cowboys visiting the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. That game will simulcast on ABC and stream on ESPN+ as well. Peyton and Eli Manning will also host their own simulcast of the game on ESPN2.

To help you catch every game during the postseason, we’ve broken down all your options to watch the NFL playoffs without cable, along with a schedule for this weekend’s Wild Card games.

NFL Playoffs Wild Card schedule

Game	Date and time	Channel
Seattle Seahawks at San Francisco 49ers	January 14, 4:30 p.m. ET	Fox
Los Angeles Chargers at Jacksonville Jaguars	January 14, 8:15 p.m. ET	NBC, Peacock
Miami Dolphins at Buffalo Bills	January 15, 1 p.m. ET	CBS, Paramount Plus Premium
New York Giants at Minnesota Vikings	January 15, 4:30 p.m. ET	Fox
Baltimore Ravens at Cincinnati Bengals	January 15, 8:15 p.m. ET	NBC, Peacock
Dallas Cowboys at Tampa Bay Buccaneers	January 16, 8:15 p.m. ET	ESPN, ABC, ESPN+

How to watch the NFL Playoffs

Every game of the NFL Playoffs will be broadcast on national television, with matchups spread across CBS, NBC, Fox, ESPN, and ABC. If you don’t have cable, you can watch playoff games with a digital antenna. You can also watch games across a few different streaming services.

CBS games are available to stream on Paramount Plus, FuboTV, YouTube TV, and Hulu + Live TV. Paramount Plus is the cheapest of the bunch at $5 a month.

NBC games are available on Peacock Premium, Sling TV Blue, YouTube TV, Hulu + Live TV, and FuboTV. Of that group, Peacock Premium is the most affordable at $5 a month.

Fox matchups can be streamed through Sling TV Blue, YouTube TV, Hulu + Live TV, and FuboTV. Sling TV is the least expensive at $40 a month. Just note, Fox is only available through Sling in select markets.

ESPN games will also be available to stream on ESPN+, Sling TV Orange, YouTube TV, Hulu + Live TV, and FuboTV. ESPN+ is the most affordable of the bunch at $10 a month.

Finally, NFL+ offers streaming access to every playoff game, but playback is limited to mobile devices, so you can only use it to watch games on your phone or tablet, and not on your TV. NFL+ starts at $5 a month if you want to stream games on the go.

What’s the format for the NFL playoffs?

The NFL Playoffs use a single elimination tournament to decide the season’s champion. The four division winners from each conference earn top seeding in the playoff bracket, with three more teams in each conference earning playoff seeds based on their regular season record.

In total, 14 teams are competing in the playoffs. The team with the best regular season record in each conference earns a first-round bye, allowing them to skip the Wild Card round. This season, the Philadelphia Eagles and Kansas City Chiefs earned byes.

When is the 2023 Super Bowl?

Super Bowl LVII is set for February 12; kickoff is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. ET on Fox. The game will be played at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, the home field of the Cardinals.

An activist holds up a sign during a rally in front of the U.S. Supreme Court in response to the leaked Supreme Court draft decision to overturn Roe v. Wade May 3, 2022.

Alex Wong/Getty Images

• Supreme Court officials have narrowed their abortion leak investigation to a small group of people, according to a WSJ report.
• At least one law clerk is among the suspects, per the WSJ.
• Chief Justice John Roberts announced an investigation into the leak last May.

At least one law clerk is among a small group of suspects in the Supreme Court’s investigation of the leaked draft abortion-rights ruling, according to a Wall Street Journal report published Friday.

Officials have narrowed their investigation but have not yet identified the person who leaked the draft ruling, sources familiar with the matter told WSJ. A spokesperson for the Supreme Court did not immediately return Insider’s request for comment.

Chief Justice John Roberts announced a probe into the leak a day after Politico published the draft ruling on May 2 for the consequential case, Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. 

Roberts instructed the Supreme Court’s marshal to look into the source of the leak, though little has been made public on the investigation in the months since. Rumors swirled at the time in legal and political circles that a law clerk might have been behind the leak. 

Early reports found that law clerks to the justices sought legal counsel as they came under scrutiny and were asked to turn over their cell phone data. Each justice has four clerks.

Associate Justice Neil Gorsuch in September said he’s expecting a report on the investigation “soon,” though did not say whether it would be made public.

The draft opinion, written by Associate Justice Samuel Alito, ruled to overturn the 1973 landmark decision, Roe v. Wade, which legalized abortion nationwide. The June 24 decision eventually handed down by the Supreme Court’s conservative majority was largely unchanged from the draft, overruling nearly 50 years of constitutionally protected abortion rights.

The unprecedented leak shattered Supreme Court norms, prompting outcry from several of the justices on both sides of the ideological spectrum. Associate Justice Clarence Thomas, the longest-serving member who’s often considered the most conservative, repeatedly denounced the leak at the time, saying it destroyed trust within the institution.

More recently, The New York Times reported in November on another alleged leak of a 2014 Supreme Court decision, Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores, a case concerning religious rights and reproductive health. Former anti-abortion leader Rob Schenck told The Times that he had gained advanced knowledge of the Supreme Court’s decision weeks before it was released.  

After the White House admitted this week that classified documents were kept at President Joe Biden’s Washington, D.C., offices and at his home in Wilmington, Del., one sportsbook is offering bettors a chance to place wagers on where Biden’s next document trove will be discovered.

Sports betting site Bovada is taking bets on 14 possible locations where a possible third batch of classified documents linked to Biden might be found. The most likely location, according to the site’s oddsmakers, is the Biden family’s holiday home in Rehoboth Beach, Del. But the site is taking bets on far more unlikely locations for classified documents to turn up, including the Washington, D.C., Metro, a private jet, and Disney World.

The site weighed in on the documents scandal after the White House on Monday revealed that classified documents were found at offices of the Penn Biden Center in D.C. Then, on Thursday, the administration confirmed that another set of classified documents was kept in the president’s garage at his home in Wilmington, after which Attorney General Merrick Garland announced he would appoint a special counsel to investigate the matter.

Biden, who criticized former president Donald Trump as “irresponsible” for keeping classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago home, said he was “surprised” to learn government documents were found in his D.C. office.

Other long-odds locations for Biden document troves Bovada accepts wagers for include Buckingham Palace, the Grand Canyon, and in an envelope at the Oscars.

The post Betting Site Posts Odds for Location of Next Classified Biden Docs Discovery appeared first on Washington Free Beacon.

The Biden administration is planning to break precedent and nominate a civilian to oversee America’s missile defense operations rather than a military official, sources tell the Washington Free Beacon—a move that former agency chiefs say would put U.S. national security at risk.

The current director of the U.S. Missile Defense Agency, vice admiral Jon Hill, is expected to retire later this year. The Biden administration has privately told lawmakers that it can’t find military leaders interested in the position and plans to nominate a civilian to lead the agency for the first time, congressional sources told the Free Beacon.

Although the Department of Defense hasn’t announced any candidates, congressional aides told the Free Beacon that one name being floated is the MDA’s civilian executive director, Laura DeSimone, who holds the deputy role at the agency. The Pentagon did not respond to a request for comment.

The news follows the Biden administration’s decision to scrap the sea-launched nuclear missile program, defying the advice of senior military officials and raising concerns on Capitol Hill about the administration’s seriousness on missile defense. It also comes amid heightened risks of Russian nuclear attacks, and as President Joe Biden has claimed that the “prospect of Armageddon” is the strongest since the Cuban missile crisis.

The prospect of civilian leadership has raised alarms with defense hawks on Capitol Hill and with former MDA directors, who sent a letter to the Senate and House Armed Services Committees on Friday urging lawmakers to reject a non-military nominee and citing “increasing threats to the homeland from a widening array of sophisticated capabilities.” The nominee would require Senate confirmation.

“Any suggestion that the next director could be a civilian leader should be carefully scrutinized and almost certainly rejected,” wrote former MDA directors Lt. Gen. Ronald T. Kadish, Lt. Gen. Patrick J. O’Reilly, Lt. Gen. Henry A. Obering, and Vice Adm. James D. Syring.

“Now is not the time to experiment with the leadership of the agency best suited to defend against those threats to the American people, their allies and partners, and the deployed sons and daughters in uniform.”

The MDA, which develops, purchases, and oversees U.S. missile defense systems and coordinates with other defense agencies under the Department of Defense, has a unique authority that requires a military background to carry out effectively, according to the former directors.

“It would have been impossible in our experience for this job to have been effectively executed without a senior military flag officer,” they wrote. “No other defense agency has the same set of acquisition authorities, requirements authorities, and support responsibilities for the defense of the homeland from history’s most dangerous regimes armed with its most dangerous weapons,” they wrote.

The post Risky Business: Biden Admin Considers Civilian to Run Missile Defense Agency appeared first on Washington Free Beacon.

President Joe Biden’s reelection prospects received a much-needed boost this week when the FDA fast-tracked a new Alzheimer’s treatment that could “modestly slow the pace of cognitive decline.”

Alas, this promising development was quickly forgotten amid revelations that classified documents were found in Biden’s office at the University of Pennsylvania and in the garage of his residence in Delaware.

Naturally, the president doesn’t remember how they got there. Biden also struggled to remember the exact date of the January 6 uprising, likening “what happened on July the 6th” to a “meaty evil battle.”

The president traveled this week to Mexico City, where he struggled to stay focused during a joint press conference with President Andrés Manuel López Obrador of Mexico and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada.

“I want the record to show I don’t know what questions I didn’t answer,” Biden told members of the press.

Have a great weekend!

BIDEN SENIOR MOMENT ARCHIVE:

WATCH: Biden’s Senior Moment of the Week Vol. 1

WATCH: Biden’s Senior Moment of the Week Vol. 2

WATCH: Biden’s Senior Moment of the Week Vol. 3

WATCH: Biden’s Senior Moment of the Week Vol. 4

WATCH: Biden’s Senior Moment of the Week Vol. 5

WATCH: Biden’s Senior Moment of the Week Vol. 6

WATCH: Biden’s Senior Moment of the Week Vol. 7

WATCH: Biden’s Senior Moment of the Week Vol. 8

WATCH: Biden’s Senior Moment of the Week Vol. 9

WATCH: Biden’s Senior Moment of the Week Vol. 10

WATCH: Biden’s Senior Moment of the Week Vol. 11

WATCH: Biden’s Senior Moment of the Week Vol. 12

WATCH: Biden’s Senior Moment of the Week Vol. 13

WATCH: Biden’s Senior Moment of the Week Vol. 14

WATCH: Biden’s Senior Moment of the Week Vol. 15

WATCH: Biden’s Senior Moment of the Week Vol. 16

WATCH: Biden’s Senior Moment of the Week Vol. 17

WATCH: Biden’s Senior Moment of the Week Vol. 18

WATCH: Biden’s Senior Moment of the Week Vol. 19

WATCH: Biden’s Senior Moment of the Week Vol. 20

WATCH: Biden’s Senior Moment of the Week Vol. 21

WATCH: Biden’s Senior Moment of the Week Vol. 22

WATCH: Biden’s Senior Moment of the Week Vol. 23

WATCH: Biden’s Senior Moment of the Week Vol. 24

The post WATCH: Joe Biden’s Senior Moment of the Week (Vol. 25) appeared first on Washington Free Beacon.

California Republicans on Thursday blasted Gov. Gavin Newsom (D.) and the state’s Democratic leaders for failing to prepare for massive rainfall while pouring money into efforts to fight climate change.

“Instead of capturing rainfall and harnessing it, we are now underwater,” Assemblyman Juan Alanis (R.) told reporters at a press conference following a series of storms that have killed 19 people, including young children. The Republicans slammed Democrats for neglecting the state’s water infrastructure. They specifically pointed to California’s failure to implement a $7.545 billion water storage project mandated by voters in 2014 on a ballot bond initiative, the completion of which would have alleviated the present flooding and helped with storage for dry seasons. The last dam built in the state was completed in 1980.

Flooding is particularly intense when heavy rains follow a period of intense drought. With more heavy rains on the way, the Republicans questioned why state Democrats—who control all three branches of the state government and hold a supermajority in the legislature—hadn’t done more to prepare.

“We know this cycle occurs with regularity,” said Assemblywoman Diane Dixon (R.), referencing California’s history of cycling between droughts and floods. “Why aren’t we prepared?”

California Democrats have seized on the storm damage to discuss climate change. Newsom said the “whiplash” from drought to rain was “proof that the climate crisis is real.” Rep. Katie Porter (D., Calif.), who has caught flak for announcing her insurgent Senate campaign while her state grapples with natural disaster, said the flooding showed the “urgency of addressing climate change.” Climatologists say it’s too soon to tell whether the storms were caused by climate change or merely another instance of California’s erratic weather patterns.

 In the budget proposal he unveiled this week, Newsom cut money to programs that could help with flood mitigation and water conservation. He did, however, propose keeping $20 million to help businesses buy environmentally friendly refrigerants, $2.1 billion for building vehicle charging stations in low-income neighborhoods, and $65 million for the “decarbonization” of food production. Newsom also touted the state’s $738 million investment in flood management and dam safety, although 25 percent of that money has not yet been spent.

The Republicans noted that Democrats in the legislature have worked with them to push flood control and infrastructure projects but that executive leadership and regulatory red tape have stymied progress.

“The governor talks about his big ideas and how California is leading the nation and big ideas,” Dixon said. “This is a simple, big idea that he can execute and implement and short-circuit and get these reservoirs built. It’s not rocket science.”

A spokesman for Newsom did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The post ‘Why Aren’t We Prepared?’: California Republicans Slam Newsom for Prioritizing Climate Change Over Flood Preparedness appeared first on Washington Free Beacon.

A search for Ana Walshe, a 39-year-old real estate investment manager and mother of three young boys from Cohasset, Massachusetts, is still underway after police say she was last seen around New Year’s Eve. Her husband, Brian Walshe, reported her missing on January 4, and is now under investigation for misleading authorities.

Ana reportedly had dinner with her husband and friend on New Year’s Eve, and Brian told authorities that she left the couple’s Massachusetts home early the next morning for Washington D.C.—where her company is based—for one of her frequent work trips.

[time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”]

Brian was arrested on January 8, however, with authorities alleging that a day after he reported last seeing his wife, he bought hundreds of dollars worth of cleaning supplies and that blood and weapons were found in and near the couple’s home—all of which he failed to disclose to the police.

Brian, 47, was arrested on Sunday and charged with misleading a police investigation. He has pleaded not guilty.

At Brian’s arraignment Monday, Jan. 9, District Attorney Lynn Beland said that Brian’s “various statements caused a delay in the investigation.”

Here’s what to know about the case.

When did Ana Walshe go missing?

Ana Walshe was reported missing on January 4, according to Cohasset Police Chief, William Quigley, who spoke on the case at a press conference on January 6. Quigley said the authorities received missing person reports from Walshe’s employer and her husband simultaneously that day.

Brian told police that Ana took a ride share from her home in Cohasset to Boston Logan International Airport for a flight bound to Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. Quigley said that police have been in contact with rideshare companies, but have been unable to confirm if Ana actually got a ride to the airport or ever got on a flight. None of Ana’s debit or credit cards have been active since January 1, according to authorities.

Quigley shared that Brian reported that Ana was called to fly to Washington on January 1 due to a work emergency. Ana was originally supposed to fly out on January 3. Detectives found evidence of the January 3 booking, but confirmed that Ana never got on that flight.

Why is Brian Walshe being held on bail?

Police allege that many of the statements Brian gave after his wife’s disappearance were untruthful. Brian has been confined to his home for the past several months while awaiting sentencing after pleading guilty in a federal fraud case involving counterfeit art.

Brian’s federal fraud charges from 2018 are for selling fake Andy Warhol artwork. While awaiting sentencing, Brian’s movement has been restricted and he’s only permitted to leave his home for court approved reasons, such as to pick his kids up from school.

Brian told police that on January 1, after his wife left, he made a trip about 30 miles north to see his mother in Swampscott, Massachusetts, also buying groceries and getting home that evening. Police could not verify Brian’s trip north, and allege that he didn’t appear in any surveillance footage of the stores he said he stopped at, nor did he produce any receipts for the groceries.

Brian was seen on video surveillance on January 2 making an unapproved trip to Home Depot buying $450 worth of cleaning products in cash, including tarps and buckets, prosecutors said at his arraignment. When authorities searched the couple’s home, they found blood and a broken knife in the basement, but haven’t determined whose blood it was yet.

Law enforcement hopes to collect blood samples from the couple’s children to compare against the blood found in the basement, according to CNN.

Brian’s car has been impounded and it shows evidence of having recently been cleaned, according to CBS.

Authorities also found materials such as hacksaw and bloodstained cloth in a dumpster in nearby Peabody, Massachusetts, which they believe are linked to Ana’s disappearance.

Beland reported that Ana’s phone pinged from her home on January 1 or 2, a day or two after Brian alleged that Ana had left the state.

In the aftermath of Ana’s disappearance, a police incident report from 2014 filed in Washington D.C. has come to light regarding the couple’s past. In it, Ana alleges that Brian threatened to kill her and her friends, but the case was later closed.

According to affidavits from 2019, when Brian carried out an unsuccessful fight to contest his father’s will, relatives and friends of the family described Brian as untrustworthy and sociopathic.

Brian is currently being held on a $500,000 bail and is scheduled to appear back in court on February 9. The couple’s three children are currently being held in state custody, according to the the Department of Children and Families.

Brian’s attorney, Tracey Miner, did not respond to TIME’s request for comment.