Good morning. We’re covering an ethics report into Matt Gaetz, Donald Trump’s nominee for attorney general, and a U.N. Security Council vote on a cease-fire in Gaza. Plus: A Thanksgiving turkey with wow factor.
Republicans blocked the release of an ethics reportHouse Republicans voted to block the release of an Ethics Committee report about allegations of sexual misconduct and illicit drug use against Matt Gaetz, President-elect Donald Trump’s choice for attorney general, setting up a possible constitutional clash between the House and the Senate. Separately, federal investigators established a trail of payments made by Gaetz to women, including some who testified that he had hired them for sex, according to a document obtained by The Times and a lawyer representing some of the women. The document shows a web of thousands of dollars in Venmo payments between Gaetz and a group of his friends, associates and women who had drug-fueled sex parties between 2017 and 2020, according to testimony that participants are said to have given to federal and congressional investigators. The latest: Gaetz, who has gleefully disparaged some Republican senators whose votes he now needs to be confirmed as attorney general, went to Capitol Hill yesterday to win the support of key members. Senator JD Vance, the vice president-elect, ushered him to the meetings. Context: It was not so long ago that nominees for high-level jobs needed to be above reproach, to the point where a relatively minor tax issue could derail them, Carl Hulse writes in this analysis. But times are evidently changing.
The U.S. blocked a Gaza cease-fire resolutionThe U.S. was the only member of the U.N. Security Council to veto a resolution calling for an immediate and unconditional cease-fire between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip, where fighting has raged for more than 13 months. The U.S. said it vetoed the resolution because it did not make the cease-fire contingent on the release of the hostages still being held in Gaza. The resolution does call for the release of all hostages, but the wording suggests that they would be released only after a cease-fire has been put in place. It was the fourth time the U.S. has blocked an effort by the Council to demand a cease-fire in Gaza since last year, when a devastating attack on Israel led by Hamas killed about 1,200 people. More than 40,000 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the local health authorities, and the territory is at risk of famine, experts say. In Lebanon: A top U.S. envoy, Amos Hochstein, said that there had been “additional progress” in truce talks aimed at halting the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, the Lebanese militant group allied with Hamas. He traveled to Israel yesterday evening. In other news from the region:
Biden agreed to give Ukraine anti-personnel minesThe Biden administration agreed to supply Ukraine with American anti-personnel mines to strengthen its defenses against Russian attacks. The U.S. defense secretary, Lloyd Austin, said yesterday that Russia’s increasing reliance on foot soldiers, rather than armored vehicles, had prompted the decision. Here’s how the mines work. It came as Ukraine fired a number of British Storm Shadow cruise missiles into Russia’s Kursk region, according to Pentagon and Ukrainian officials. Britain had previously allowed Ukraine to use the missiles against Russian positions within Ukrainian territory. On the ground: Marc Santora and Tyler Hicks reported from the front in eastern Ukraine, where the Ukrainians are “simply worn out.” In Kyiv: The U.S. embassy issued a rare warning of a “significant air attack” and shut down temporarily.
Google stores the world’s information, but for the past 15 years it has been concealing its own. The company told employees to destroy messages, avoid using words like “monopoly” and copy lawyers on documents as often as possible — all to avoid antitrust suits. The plan backfired. Here’s everything we know about the tech giant’s culture of distrust. Lives lived: Diane Coleman, a fierce disability-rights advocate who was born with muscular spinal atrophy and who took on the right-to-die movement, has died at 71.
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