CHRIS MILLER

The 37-year-old company is the only firm in the world capable of making the highly-complex machines that are needed to manufacture the most advanced chips.

An independent review has concluded that the Defense Department and its top leaders acted appropriately before and during the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.

The top U.S. military officer has told Congress he knew former President Donald Trump wasn’t planning to attack China and it was his job to reassure the Chinese of this in the phone calls that have triggered outrage from some lawmakers.

Chris Miller, the Trump administration's last acting defense secretary, told CNN's "Cuomo Prime Time" Monday evening that there was never a concrete date to withdraw U.S. troops from Afghanistan.Why it matters: Former President Trump has said President Biden should have stuck to his May 1 deadline. But Miller told CNN's Chris Cuomo that there was always the provision for officials to "move the goal posts" on the date if required.Get market news worthy of your time with Axios Markets. Subscribe f

The warnings were clear: The Afghan government would likely fall once U.S. troops pulled out.

President Joe Biden and his national security team say the Trump administration tied their hands when it came to the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.

Built and trained at a two-decade cost of $83 billion, Afghan security forces collapsed so quickly and completely — in some cases without a shot fired — that the ultimate beneficiary of the American investment turns out to be the Taliban.

The Biden administration is facing new pressure to resolve a mystery that has vexed its predecessors: Is an adversary using a microwave or radio wave weapon to attack the brains of U.S. diplomats, spies and military personnel? The number of reported cases of possible attack is sharply growing and lawmakers from both parties, as well as those believed to be affected, are demanding answers. Confirmation that a U.S. adversary has been conducting damaging attacks against U.S. personnel would unleash calls for a forceful response by the United States.

The commission evaluating whether to rename Confederate sites will be visiting Fort Bragg, Fort Benning, and Fort Hood beginning this summer.

By the cup or by the gallon, HTeaO’s menu boasts 24 tea and lemonade options customers can mix and match.

Trump told his acting defense secretary to 'do whatever was necessary to protect supporters 'executing their constitutionally protected rights.'

High school girls' soccer: Southern Section playoff results and updated pairings

A Georgia judge will continue hearing legal motions Thursday in the murder case of three men facing a fall trial in the slaying of Ahmaud Arbery, a Black man who was chased and shot after being spotted running in the defendants' neighborhood. Superior Court Judge Timothy Walmsley planned to revisit defense attorneys' push for permission to show the trial jury evidence involving Arbery's mental health.

Australia’s largest telecommunications company Telstra was fined 50 million Australian dollars ($39 million) on Thursday for unconscionable conduct in selling remote Indigenous customers mobile phone contracts that they did not understand and could not afford. The fine ordered by a Federal Court judge is the second largest ever imposed under Australian consumer law. Telstra admitted the offenses in signing up 108 Indigenous customers, some of whom spoke English as a second or third language, to mobile phone accounts.

A CBS4 Miami reporter and photojournalist filming a fight in South Beach Wednesday night were attacked by a group of people, police said.

Attorneys for Ahmaud Arbery's accused killers want to introduce his mental health and past with police at trial. A prosecutor called the motions "offensive."

Prosecutors have charged seven people after the mummified body of the leader of a spiritual group called Love Has Won was found decorated with Christmas lights and glitter in what appeared to be a shrine in a southern Colorado home. Amy Carlson, 45, who was known as “Mother God” by her followers, was found dead in a home in the tiny, rural town of Moffat on April 28, according to arrest affidavits. A coroner’s office has not said how or when Carlson died.

Bill Clark/Pool/GettyA Democratic lawmaker called former acting defense secretary Chris Miller “ridiculous” on Wednesday for trying to walk back his claims that former President Donald Trump incited the violent Jan. 6 insurrection.In his prepared remarks for a House Committee on Oversight and Reform hearing on the riot, and in a March interview with VICE, Miller had called out Trump for directly inciting thousands of MAGA supporters to attack the Capitol after repeated claims that the 2020 election was “stolen.”“You said the insurrection happened because of Trump’s speech,” Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-MA) said during the hearing.But Miller then tried to walk back his original claims, saying he’d had a change of heart after seeing information from the ongoing criminal investigation into the siege and statements from D.C. Police Chief Robert Contee. He said he now believed there was “some sort of conspiracy where there were organized assault elements that intended to assault the Capitol that day.”‘Fuck All of You!’: Capitol Rioter Raises Hell During Off-the-Rails Court Hearing“I’d like to modify my original assessment,” Miller said, to which Lynch snarked,” Why am I not surprised about that?”“We are getting more information by the day, by the minute,” Miller said. “There was some sort of conspiracy...that intended to storm that Capitol that day… I have reassessed. [Trump was] not the unitary factor at all.”An incredulous Lynch told Miller: “For your written testimony for today, for today, this morning, you stated the following about the president, quote, I personally believe his comments encouraged the protesters that day.”Unsatisfied with Miller’s response, Lynch called him out for his “very recent reversal of your testimony.”“Absolutely not. That’s ridiculous,” Miller responded, clearly agitated.“You’re ridiculous!” Lynch hit back. Miller seemed stunned by insult, before sarcastically thanking the lawmaker for his thoughts. He later slammed Lynch for the “partisan attack.”Miller’s new reasoning doesn’t quite hold water. Of the 400 individuals charged in connection with the riot, dozens have been accused of planning and training to storm the Capitol. But prosecutors say those alleged conspirators, most of whom believe to MAGA-loving paramilitary group the Oath Keepers, openly admitted that they felt compelled to protest widespread election fraud in D.C. on Jan. 6 at Trump’s behest.Dem Hearings Bend Over Backward to Ignore GOP Complicity in Capitol RiotMiller has come under fire for waiting too long to authorize National Guard troops amid the insurrection, and for ignoring pleas from D.C. leaders for help.Defending his own actions, he said in his prepared remarks that he was concerned about sending U.S. troops into the Capitol out of the “possibility of a military coup or that advisors to the President were advocating the declaration of martial law.”Miller said that he wanted to ensure the operation to deploy the National Guard was finalized before making the call for military assistance to ensure the optics were carefully considered.“I was also cognizant of the fears promulgated by many about the prior use of the military in the June 2020 response to protests near the White House and fears that the President would invoke the Insurrection Act to politicize the military in an anti-democratic manner,” Miller added in this statements, stressing that he was not going to allow a coup under his watch.But Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) slammed Miller for not taking accountability or having any “sense of shame” for his role in the siege.“Will you apologize to the American public for what happened on your watch? Will you apologize to the troops for what happened on your watch?” Khanna asked. “I can’t believe we had someone like you in that role... it’s total self-promotion. All you're trying to do is cover your own reputation.”Dodging Khanna’s request to apologize, Miller instead said he wanted to “highlight the incredible job of the members of our armed forces.”“I stand by every decision I made on January 6,” Miller said.Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL) also tore Miller to shreds on the crucial “1.5 hour gap” between D.C. Mayor Muriel Bower’s request for National Guard backup at about 1:30 p.m. and Miller’s authorization at 3:04 p.m. on Jan. 6. He noted that Trump had told Miller on Jan. 3 to grant Bowser’s request for resources.“Sir, she requested additional support from you. And during that 1.5 hours either you disobeyed an order given to you by the president to help Mayor Bowser, or the president changed his order and asked you to delay the support, or you just plain froze and were being indecisive as people were being injured, killed, while hundreds of rioters breached the capitol and a nation was traumatized,” Krishnamoorthi said.When Miller insisted there were “8,000 badged and credentialed police officers on duty,” Krishnamoorthi asked him specifically why he was missing in action.“That’s completely inaccurate!” Miller hit back, to which Krishnamoorthi responded: “Sir, you partially own this mayhem and that why I’m going to ask for a Department of Defense investigation into your actions.”“I already requested that before I left the DoD,” Miller said.In his March interview with VICE, Miller said he believed Trump played a clear role in the insurrection, stating that “it’s pretty much definitive” the event wouldn’t have happened if the president didn’t encourage it in his speech that day.“It seems cause-and-effect,” Miller said at the time. “The question is, did he know he was enraging people to do that? I don’t know.”Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.

During Wednesday’s House Oversight Committee hearing on the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol attack, Rep. Stephen Lynch, D-Mass., called out former acting Defense Secretary Christopher Miller for reversing his testimony on whether former President Donald Trump incited the violent insurrection.

Five suspected militants killed four people in an Indonesian village on Tuesday, beheading one of them, officials said. The attackers also burned a motorcycle that belonged to one of the victims in Kalemago village in Central Sulawesi province's Poso district, they said. A witness said the attackers were believed to be members of the East Indonesia Mujahideen group, Central Sulawesi spokesperson Didik Supranoto said.

400 suspects in at least 45 states are facing charges for the January 6 attack on the Capitol building.

Washington — The head of the District of Columbia National Guard revealed Wednesday it took Pentagon leaders more than three hours to approve a request for Guard troops to assist Capitol Police officers overwhelmed by the violent mob that breached the U.S. Capitol on January 6. Walker said he received the call from Sund at 1:49 p.m. and immediately alerted Army leadership of the request. Shawn Thew / APWalker said personnel arrived at the Capitol less than 20 minutes after the Pentagon green-lit the request for help. "I don't think it was so much of what the District of Columbia National Guard and Guard nation did for June," he said. During the call, Walker said Contee and Sund "pleaded" for the D.C. National Guard to get to the Capitol "with all deliberate speed."

"The Department failed to meet its own high standards as well as yours," Pittman wrote in a statement shared by the House Appropriations Committee. The board consists of the Sergeant at Arms of the U.S. House of Representatives, the Sergeant at Arms and Doorkeeper of the U.S. Senate, and the Architect of the Capitol. Acting House Sergeant at Arms Timothy Blodgett, in a separate statement, did not address the Capitol Police Board's decision to deny Sund's request. He praised the evacuation procedures inside the Capitol that day and commended his staff and USCP officers for getting all members and staff in the Capitol home safely that day. After the briefing, Ohio Democratic Congressman Tim Ryan, who chairs the House Appropriations subcommittee overseeing Capitol Police, said he was "terribly disappointed" in the USCP response to the riots.

President Trump signed an executive order Tuesday that recognizes veterans who served at a toxic military base in Uzbekistan and mandates a comprehensive study of any health consequences related to toxic exposure at the base. The account was backed up to CBS News by a second Defense Department employee who witnessed the discoveries. And for the first time, the Departments of Veterans Affairs and Defense sent witnesses to answer lawmakers' questions on the record. Mark Jackson, of the Stronghold Freedom Foundation, a nonprofit that tracks cases of sick K2 veterans, said he was in "disbelief" when he learned the executive order was signed late Tuesday. President Biden has been vocal about his commitment to post-9/11 veterans' health issues in the past, but has not directly addressed K2 in public remarks.

The National Guard and state forces responded at the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday after pro-Trump rioters overran the building during the Electoral College vote count. The New York Times reported that Pence and not the president gave the order to mobilize the National Guard. Members of the National Guard arrive to secure the area outside the U.S. Capitol, Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021, in Washington. Ralph Northam also said he would send his state's National Guard along with 200 state troopers to the Capitol. The mission Miller approved directed unarmed National Guard members to help direct traffic and support local police with crowd control.

President-elect Joe Biden's transition team is having new problems with the Trump administration, the latest in a series of clashes between them. There is disagreement over access to the Pentagon, according to CBS News' Ed O'Keefe. Miller said the Pentagon has fulfilled hundreds of interview requests with personnel and handed over thousands of pages of documents. Mr. Biden is also planning to nominate Michael Regan, North Carolina's top environmental official, to lead the Environmental Protection Agency. Mr. Biden and Dr. Jill Biden are set to make good on a pledge to publicly take the COVID-19 vaccine Monday.

Biden team accuses Pentagon of stonewalling transition The Biden transition team is clashing with the Trump administration over access to the Pentagon. Acting Defense Secretary Chris Miller says his team and the Biden team mutually agreed to put off some meetings scheduled for Friday until after the holidays, but the head of the Biden transition told reporters that's not true, and that his team continues to face "isolated resistance from political appointees" in the Defense Department and similar issues at a few other agencies he declined to name. Ed O’Keefe reports on the latest in the Biden transition.

WASHINGTON – The Latest on President-elect Joe Biden (all times local):5:45 p.m. The Lincoln Project has announced plans to launch an advertising campaign against two law firms over their role representing President Donald Trump and the Republican Party in their voter fraud-related lawsuits. President Donald Trump would have to authorize Biden to receive that brief. ___11:20 a.m.U.S. defense officials said James Anderson, the top policy adviser at the Pentagon, submitted his resignation Tuesday, a day after President Donald Trump fired Defense Secretary Mark Esper. Trump’s firing of Esper comes as he has refused to concede his election loss to Democrat Joe Biden.