White supremacist internet personality Tim Gionet, who is popularly known as Baked Alaska, has derailed his plea deal with federal prosecutors by declaring himself innocent in a last-minute turn of events in a case linked to the 6 January riots at the US Capitol.

Mr Gionet was set to plead guilty in a Washington DC federal court on Wednesday to a count of misdemeanor for willfully and knowingly parading, demonstrating, and picketing inside the Capitol.

Shweta Sharma reports:

A federal judge on Thursday has ruled that GPS Fusion, the research firm hired by Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign to dig up dirt on Donald Trump’s ties to Russia must turn over 22 internal emails.

The emails will need to be turned over to special counsel John Durham who is probing the FBI’s Russia ties, reported CNN.

They are a part of 38 emails that were subpoenaed last year.

“Fusion did more in connection with the Alfa Bank allegations than simply provide information and analysis to (Clinton campaign lawyer Marc) Elias so that he could better advise the Campaign on defamation risk,” federal Judge Christopher Cooper wrote in the ruling.

The emails are largely among Fusion employees and pertain to their efforts to plant news coverage about Mr Trump’s alleged ties to Russia.

“It is clear that Fusion employees also interacted with the press as part of an affirmative media relations effort by the Clinton Campaign. That effort included pitching certain stories, providing information on background, and answering reporters’ questions,” the judge added in the ruling.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki shot down a question from Fox News’s Jacqui Heinrich on Thursday after the reporter asked about a federal program long targeted by the right aimed at helping drug addicts avoid overdose deaths.

John Bowden has the story.

Outgoing White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki has said that she had hit her “limit” in terms of questions about Covid tests when she previously asked, “should we just send one to every American?” in response to a reporter’s question.

In December of last year, Ms Psaki was repeatedly asked about the availability of Covid tests in the US, leading to her eventually responding in a tone some considered sarcastic or mocking.

Almost two weeks later, the government bought 500 million tests to send to Americans.

Gustaf Kilander reports:

The White will host world leaders for another global Covid-19 summit to urge preparedness for the next pandemic, as the US passed the grim milestone of 1 million American deaths from the coronavirus.

In a statement on Thursday, President Joe Biden said each of the million dead represented “an irreplaceable loss … leaving behind a family, a community, and a nation forever changed”.

“As a nation, we must not grow numb to such sorrow. To heal, we must remember. We must remain vigilant against this pandemic and do everything we can to save as many lives as possible, as we have with more testing, vaccines, and treatments than ever before,” he said, adding that it is “critical” for Congress to “sustain” such resources by passing a supplemental Covid-19 funding bill.

Andrew Feinberg reports from Washington, DC.

Outgoing White House press secretary Jen Psaki has detailed some of the tougher aspects of the job, including threats she received from angry critics of the Biden administration, in an interview with members of the press corps this week.

Speaking at the Christian Science Monitor breakfast on Thursday, Ms Psaki explained that throughout her time at the White House she received threatening messages mentioning both her and her children, with some even containing mentions of her home address.

“The thing that has been hardest, personally, is I have had threats, I have had nasty letters, texts to me with my personal address, the names of my children,” she said.

John Bowden has the story.

The governors of Virginia and Maryland have sent a letter to US Attorney General Merrick Garland asking his Department of Justice to clamp down on protests outside the homes of conservative Supreme Court justices on the precipce of voting to restrict abortion rights.

Glenn Youngkin of Virginia and Larry Hogan of Maryland, both Republicans, wrote in the letter on Wednesday that the federal government must “take the lead and provide sustained resources to protect the justices and ensure these residential areas are secure in the weeks and months ahead”.

Abe Asher reports:

President Joe Biden is directing federal agencies to take actions towards easing the baby formula shortages that have left many store shelves bare in the wake of a manufacturing shutdown and recall from the nation’s largest formula maker.

“We have been working on this issue since since the very beginning in the days leading up to to the recall,” said a senior administration official who briefed reporters on the actions late Thursday. “We absolutely recognize the frustration that American families are feeling right now, and that’s why the President has acted to direct the administration to pull additional levers and take additional action to make more supply available as quickly as possible”.

Andrew Feinberg reports from Washington, DC.

Powerful legal groups, conservative Christian activists and right-wing figures shaped an anti-abortion agenda in the hands of the US Supreme Court, Alex Woodward reports.

President Joe Biden had a stark warning for his Democratic supporters and colleagues: Republicans are coming for gay marriage next.

That was the message he delivered to donors at a fundraiser on Wednesday hosted by the Democratic National Committee as the White House and Democrats nationally face questions about whether they have a strategy to see abortion rights protected at the federal level in the event that the Supreme Court overturns Roe v Wade.

“Mark my words: They’re going to go after the right of the — Supreme Court decision on the right of same-sex marriage,” he warned.