Good morning, Her Campus! With a break-neck news cycle, there is no possible way for you to stay on top of every story that comes across your feeds—we’re all only human, after all.
But, life comes at you fast. So grab a cup of coffee and settle in for this quick and dirty guide to stories you might’ve been sleeping on (like, literally. It’s early.)
House Speaker Paul Ryan Says He Opposes Effort to Impeach Rod Rosenstein
House Speaker Paul Ryan spoke out on Thursday to say he opposes a small, conservative group of House members’ effort to impeach Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein.
Ryan said the document requests by House Republicans to Rosenstein, who is currently overseeing the Justice Department’s Russia investigation, did not meet the “high crimes and misdemeanors” criteria that would warrant an impeachment, ABC News reports.
“I don’t think we should be cavalier with this process or with this term,” Ryan said.
Ryan’s comments come a day after a group of 11 House GOP members filed articles of impeachment against Rosenstein, accusing the Justice Department of “intentionally withholding embarrassing documents and information.”
While the group of 11 members have criticized the Justice Department for not being responsive enough as House committees have demanded documents related to the Russia investigation and the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s emails, Ryan seemed a little more encouraged by progress on the Justice Department’s document production.
“We do not have full compliance, and we have to get full compliance, but we have been making tremendous progress to that point,” Ryan said of multiple document requests.
Senate Democrats Probe of NRA Donors’ Contact With Russia
Senate Democrats are pushing for information regarding a 2015 meeting between top NRA donors and Russian nationals in Moscow.
According to ABC News, a group of former NRA presidents, board members and top donors traveled to Moscow for a trip sponsored by the gun-rights group “Right to Bear Arms,” which was founded by Maria Butina, who has since been arrested and charged for acting as a foreign agent on behalf of Russia.
via Mark Peterson/Corbis via Getty Images
The delegation list includes: included NRA board member Pete Brownell, Trump campaign surrogate Sheriff David Clarke, major NRA benefactors Dr. Arnold and Hilary Goldschlager, NRA fundraiser Joe Gregory, former NRA president David Keene and Outdoor Channel CEO Jim Liberatore. The group reportedly met with Butina, Alexander Torshin, the Deputy Governor of the Russian Central Bank, and Dmitry Rogozin, who was the Russian Deputy Prime Minister at the time, ABC News reports.
In a letter released on Thursday, Senators Ron Wyden, Elizabeth Warren, Sheldon Whitehouse and Richard Blumenthal requested “information and documentation you may have in relation to a National Rifle Association delegation’s December 2015 trip to Moscow” from the individuals who traveled to Moscow, including interactions with Butina, Torshin and Rogozin, the trip’s itinerary and how it was paid for.
Clarke disclosed to the Milwaukee County Ethics Board that the “Right to Bear Arms” paid $6,000 to cover the cost of his meals, hotel and transportation. In a video on Youtube, the group is shown touring a firearms factory along with Butina.
Senate Democrats have been trying to determine if the NRA had received any money from individuals associated with Russia, and if so, if that money was used to assist President Donald Trump with his campaign.
Facebook Stock Plunges
Facebook stock plunged by 19 percent on Thursday, heading for the largest one-day blowout in U.S. stock market history, with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s fortune taking a nearly $16 billion hit.
The plunge comes a day after executives forecast years of lower profit margins, according to The Huffington Post.
Facebook shares closed at a record high of $217.50 on Wednesday, but began to dive in after-hours trading after the company reported earnings. The stock continued to fall when the market opened Thursday.
The earnings report revealed that user growth in the U.S. and Canada, Facebook’s most valuable region, had plateaued.
The social media company has been plagued with privacy scandals, but it hadn’t seen a significant impact on share price until now.
Facebook’s relationship with Cambridge Analytica, the political data analytics firm that ran data operations for President Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign uncovered violations of data collection policies, with as many as 87 million users having their information taken. Just earlier this month, a software bug lead to 800,000 previously blocked users to become unblocked, and another bug caused posts that users requested be kept private become public.
The company has buckled down and worked to improve security measures, but Zuckerberg acknowledged on Wednesday’s earnings call that “security is not a problem that you ever fully solve.”
As to why the stock dropped so dramatically, analyst Gene Munster told ABC News that the stock drop “makes sense given what they revealed [Wednesday]. The future is going to be different.”
“The days of hyper-growth are over. Even if engagement is negatively impacted, it still has incredible, unprecedented reach,” Munster added. “It’s still going to be a key player in tech, but not growing as fast as it used to.”
What to look out for…
Scientists have confirmed Albert Einstein’s Supermassive Black Hole Theory.