U.S. hosts talks to save oceans under 'siege'

The Department of Justice has located a document known as the "Alternative Mueller Report" — and officials are reviewing it for possible release sometime next year.

"A top deputy to Special Counsel Robert Mueller, Andrew Weissmann, revealed in a book he published last year that the team he headed prepared a summary of all its work — apparently including details not contained in the final report made public in 2019," Politico reported Thursday night. "The reference prompted the New York Times to submit a Freedom of Information Act request for the document in January and to follow up in July with a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Manhattan. Lawyers from the U.S. Attorney's Office in Manhattan told Judge Katherine Polk Failla in a letter Thursday that officials have figured out what document Weissmann was alluding to and have begun reviewing it for possible release."

Arkansas Republican Sen. Tom Cotton was forcefully rebuked on the Senate floor on Thursday after accusing President Joe Biden and Democrats of being soft on Russia and President Vladimir Putin.

"The simplest way to deter invasion of Ukraine, the simplest way to deter Russian aggression, is to draw clear red lines of enforcement, something that Joe Biden will not do, something that apparently the Democratic senators will not force him to do," Cotton claimed.

On Thursday evening, the Senate overwhelmingly passed a bipartisan continuing resolution to prevent a government shutdown at the end of the week — dealing a blow to a small group of Republicans who had been hoping to force such a confrontation as a political statement.

The shutdown effort, led by Republicans like Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, was an attempt to "defund" enforcement of President Joe Biden's civilian vaccine mandate for most businesses over 100 employees, which is currently the subject of litigation on multiple fronts.