inquiry

WASHINGTON — House Republicans on Thursday shut down an inquiry by Democrats into whether the Bush administration acted illegally or inappropriately last year when it withheld from Congress its estimates of the true cost of the Medicare prescription drug bill.

At issue are allegations that then-Medicare Administrator Thomas A. Scully threatened to fire his top actuary if he gave lawmakers his analyses showing the costs would be much higher than administration officials were saying publicly.

Thursday’s conclusion of a Ways and Means Committee hearing all but ensured that two individuals central to the controversy — Scully and White House aide Doug Badger — would not testify before Congress.

Separately, the Health and Human Services Department is conducting an internal investigation into the matter, and Democratic lawmakers have requested civil and criminal inquiries.

Democrats on the Ways and Means Committee had asked Scully and Badger to answer questions about when President Bush and top-ranking officials were told that internal estimates of the Medicare bill’s cost were more than one-third higher than the $400 billion Bush had set aside, and why those analyses had not been shared with lawmakers.

But White House Counsel Alberto R. Gonzales, in a letter to committee Chairman Bill Thomas (R-Bakersfield), cited “long-standing White House policy” against having White House staff members testify before Congress as the reason Badger would not appear.

And Scully, now a private consultant, said in a letter to Thomas that he was unable to appear before the committee because “unfortunately, for the past ten days I have been traveling.”

Committee Democrats rejected both explanations. In the case of Badger, they said at least 45 high-ranking Clinton administration officials had testified before Congress; in the case of Scully, they offered to let him appear at a later time. But Republicans quashed the Democrats’ attempts to subpoena the men.

Republican committee members accused the Democrats of trying to capitalize on the controversy, which erupted last month when Medicare actuary Richard S. Foster told reporters that Scully had threatened to fire him if he responded to Democratic requests for analyses of the pending legislation.

Thomas, the committee chairman, said that although he was willing to use “whatever tools are necessary to get to the bottom of a violation of law,” he was not willing to issue subpoenas to Badger and Scully “to satisfy someone’s whim or curiosity.”

As for preliminary estimates by Foster indicating that the Medicare bill could cost as much as $551 billion over 10 years, Thomas said the information “probably would not have enlightened Congress as much as confused Congress.” Thomas chaired the House-Senate conference committee that completed the legislation.

In January, the Bush administration revised the estimated cost of the Medicare overhaul to $534 billion.

Democrats, who noted the original Medicare bill passed the House in June by one vote, charged that a broader constitutional issue was at stake: How far can the executive branch go in withholding information from Congress that could affect the outcome of a vote?

In November, a narrowly divided Congress passed the Medicare bill, which created a new prescription drug benefit and gave private insurers and drug companies billions of dollars to lure seniors and the disabled into managed care plans.

Several conservative Republicans, who were concerned about the bill’s projected $400-billion cost, voted for the legislation only after high-pressure lobbying by Bush and Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy G. Thompson.

“The main issue is who knew about the actuarial figure, and why wasn’t it disclosed in a timely fashion?” said Rep. Sander M. Levin (D-Mich.). “There was a cover-up of this information and we want to know how high the cover-up went.”

Procedural maneuvering and partisan wrangling dominated much of Thursday’s hearing, which was more than half over before its two witnesses began their testimony.

Jeff Flick, regional administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services in San Francisco, confirmed that while serving as Scully’s special assistant he composed an e-mail to Foster that reiterated Scully’s insistence that Foster withhold information requested by Rep. Pete Stark (D-Hayward).

“The administrator emphasized that if Rick does not adhere to these instructions, it is outright insubordination and insubordination carries serious consequences,” Flick said, adding that Scully’s “actual language may have been more colorful.”

Scully, who has denied threatening to fire Foster, acknowledged in his letter to Thomas that “there is no question whatsoever that I made it very clear to Mr. Foster, both directly and indirectly, that I, as his supervisor, would decide when he would communicate with Congress.”

Leslie M. Norwalk, acting deputy administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, told committee members that she had advised an anguished Foster that although his office was not legally required to share information with Congress, the office was subject to Scully’s authority.

MINNEAPOLIS — Federal agents executed multiple searches in Minnesota on Tuesday, seizing records and other evidence in an ongoing fraud investigation by the Trump administration of publicly funded social programs for children, authorities said.

Few details were released, though armed agents were seen at child-care centers in the Minneapolis area. KSTP-TV said one crew even had a battering ram.

Democratic Gov. Tim Walz, who has been on the defensive amid Trump administration claims that he hasn’t done enough to root out fraud, welcomed the raids. The state child welfare agency said it shared key information with law enforcement to “hold bad actors accountable.”

“We catch criminals when state and federal agencies share information. Joint investigations work, and securing justice depends on it,” Walz said.

The searches were being conducted at daycares, businesses and some residences, according to a person familiar with the matter who spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss the investigation.

Tensions between Minnesota officials and the federal government were high during an extraordinary immigration crackdown that led to the deaths of two people before Operation Metro Surge was eased in February.

Before that crackdown, the government had brought fraud charges against dozens of people, many of them Somali Americans, who were accused of fleecing a federal program that was meant to provide food to children. The investigation began during the Biden administration. More than 60 people have been convicted.

Various state and federal agencies, including the Department of Homeland Security, participated in searches Tuesday. Officers from Minnesota’s Bureau of Criminal Apprehension were removing boxes at some sites.

“The American people deserve to know how their taxpayer money was abused. … No stone will be left unturned,” DHS said.

Jason Steck, an attorney who represents childcare centers, said the names of targeted businesses that were shared with him show they’re operated by Somali immigrants. They were not his clients.

“A few childcare centers, a few autism centers, a few healthcare agencies of some type,” Steck said, adding that it appeared to be a “particular sweep for fraud.”

The executive director of Child Care Aware of Minnesota, a nonprofit that serves childhood educators, said the publicity will be unflattering.

“The majority are in business to do good business. You’re going to come across individuals who try to capitalize on systems that are broken and need to be fixed,” Candace Yates said.

Right-wing influencer Nick Shirley posted a video in December that caught the attention of the Trump administration. He alleged that members of Minnesota’s Somali community were running fake child care centers so they could collect federal subsidies, fueling suspicions on top of the food aid scandal. The claims were disproven by inspectors.

President Trump, meanwhile, has used dehumanizing rhetoric, calling Somali immigrants “garbage” and “low IQ.”

In February, Vice President JD Vance said the government would temporarily halt $243 million in Medicaid funding to Minnesota over fraud concerns. Minnesota sued in response, warning it may have to cut healthcare for low-income families, but a judge on April 6 declined to grant a restraining order.

Walz told Congress in March that he wanted to work with the federal government in fraud investigations, but that the immigration surge had made it more difficult.

“The people of Minnesota have been singled out and targeted for political retribution at an unparalleled scale,” he said at the time.

Vancleave and Richer write for the Associated Press. Durkin Richer contributed from Washington. AP reporters Steve Karnowski in Minneapolis and Corey Williams and Ed White in Detroit contributed to this story.

April 13 (UPI) — The official inquiry into the killings of three young girls in a knife rampage in Southport in 2024 by teen Axel Rudakubana ruled Monday that he could have been stopped but for the “catastrophic” and “irresponsible” failures of authorities and his parents.

Summing up at the end of a 9-month-long phase 1 of the public inquiry, the chair, former Appeal Court judge Sir Adrian Fulford, said the attack could have been prevented if Rudakubana’s parents had reported what they knew and law enforcement, child and mental health agencies had reacted correctly to the risk he was known to present.

Sir Adrian said it was “highly likely” that Bebe King, 6, Elsie Dot Stancombe, 7, and Alice da Silva Aguiar, 9, would still be alive if Rudakubana’s parents had spoken up about the lethal weapons being delivered to their home and agencies had taken responsibility, instead of engaging in unacceptable buck-passing.

Rudakubana, who seriously wounded eight other children and two adults in the attack at a Taylor Swift-themed dance workshop on July 28, 2024, is serving a 52-year prison sentence.

“History simply would have taken a different course,” Sir Adrian said, adding that there could have been a number of different outcomes, the most likely of which was that Rudakubana would have been taken into child protective custody or detained in a correctional or other secure facility.

In a statement, Sir Adrian called for urgent government action on the failings of state bodies at both the organizational and individual levels.

“Far too often, AR’s ‘case’ was passed from one public sector agency to another in an inappropriate merry-go-round of referrals, assessments, case-closures and ‘hand-offs,” he said.

Known to authorities since 2019, Rudakubana was referred to a counter-terrorism “deradicalization” program three times and in March 2022 told police he wanted to stab or poison someone after he was found on a bus armed with a knife. Police drove him home and did not arrest him.

There were also missed opportunities to look into Rudakubana’s “chilling” online activities, through which he fueled his obsession with violence via “degrading, violent and misogynistic” material, leading him to assemble a weapons cache, including knives, a crossbow, petrol bombs and ingredients to make ricin.

In his 760-page report, Sir Adrian called for the country’s “failing” multi-agency approach to dealing with problem young people to be scrapped and replaced with a dedicated agency exclusively tasked with handling high-risk offenders like Rudakubana.

Different agencies failed to share information and no one appeared to be clear which, if any, of the agencies was the lead body in the case.

The report also stated how Rudakubana’s actions in the preceding years leading to the Southport atrocity were wrongly attributed to autism due to “misunderstanding” of the condition, “leading to inaction and a failure to address dangerous behaviors.”

“Numerous systems that should have provided oversight, assessment and protection were ineffective or inadequately used. Some failed outright. The consequences were catastrophic,” said Sir Adrian.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who ordered the inquiry, vowed to “act on the recommendations” once the inquiry was complete.

In a statement, Lancashire Police Chief Constable Sacha Hatchett said she was “extremely sorry” officers had not arrested Rudakubana in the incident in March 2022 and that “we did not adequately assess the risk he posed.”

Hatchett added that Lancashire Police “fully accepted” the changes recommended by the inquiry.

Lancashire County Council acknowledged the findings and apologized.

“We are deeply sorry for the failures identified and for the part we played in the systemic shortcomings that preceded the attack in Southport. We know that no words can ease the grief of the families who lost loved ones, or the pain of those who were injured and traumatized,’ said chief executive Mark Wynn.

“Since 2019, we have made substantial changes to our safeguarding practice, and the chair’s findings will inform our continued improvement. We are committed to implementing all recommendations directed to us in full,” added Wynn.

Chris Walker, the attorney representing the dead girls’ families, said the system was “not fit for purpose and must undergo fundamental changes to reduce serious risks to society.”

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WASHINGTON — The Department of Justice has indicated that former Atty. Gen. Pam Bondi will not appear for a scheduled deposition next week before a House committee investigating how the government handled its investigations into Jeffrey Epstein.

Jessica Collins, a spokeswoman for the House Oversight Committee, said Wednesday that the department signaled that Bondi, who was ousted by President Trump last week, will not appear for the deposition April 14 “since she is no longer attorney general and was subpoenaed in her capacity as attorney general.” The committee will contact Bondi’s personal counsel to discuss the next steps about scheduling the interview, she said.

Bondi has faced scrutiny for how the Justice Department handled what are known as the Epstein files, and the Republican-led committee subpoenaed her in a bipartisan vote last month. The department’s release of millions of case files on Epstein, the late financier who sexually abused underage girls, contained multiple errors and ran behind a deadline set by Congress.

After Trump announced Bondi’s ouster from his Cabinet on April 2, Bondi said on social media that over the next month she would be “working tirelessly to transition the office.” But Deputy Atty. Gen. Todd Blanche has been elevated to the top job, on at least an acting basis, and is performing the duties of the department’s top official. The Justice Department’s website on Wednesday still listed Bondi as attorney general.

Meanwhile, some Republicans who had joined Democrats to subpoena Bondi said they would insist on having her appear before the committee.

Rep. Nancy Mace, who initiated the motion to compel her appearance, said on social media Wednesday that “Bondi cannot escape accountability simply because she no longer holds the office of Attorney General.”

Mace (R-S.C.) added that the motion was done “by name, not by title” and that “we expect her to appear as soon as a new date is set.”

The top Democrat on the committee, Rep. Robert Garcia of California, also said he would push to enforce the subpoena and threatened to press for contempt of Congress charges if she does not appear.

In a statement, he said, “Now that Pam Bondi has been fired, she’s trying to get out of her legal obligation to testify before the Oversight Committee about the Epstein files and the White House cover-up.”

The committee’s head, Republican Rep. James Comer of Kentucky, enforced subpoenas on Bill and Hillary Clinton this year, making the former president and former secretary of State, respectively, among the highest-ranking former government officials to be subpoenaed by Congress.

Groves writes for the Associated Press.

April 5 (Asia Today) — A senior South Korean prosecutor refused to take an oath before a parliamentary inquiry, escalating tensions between the prosecution and lawmakers and raising the possibility of coordinated action within the prosecution.

Park Sang-yong, a deputy chief prosecutor leading an investigation into alleged illegal financial transfers to North Korea, declined to be sworn in as a witness during a National Assembly inquiry into allegations of politically motivated prosecutions under the previous administration.

Under South Korean law, witnesses may refuse to take an oath if their testimony could expose them to criminal liability.

Park submitted a seven-page written explanation to the committee chair and left the hearing after about 38 minutes. He later said the inquiry itself was unconstitutional and illegal, arguing that participating would amount to cooperating with an improper process.

“The law allows a refusal to take the oath if justified, yet I was prevented from following that procedure,” Park said after leaving the session.

Justice Minister Jeong Seong-ho criticized the move as “highly inappropriate,” saying it undermined accountability. The acting prosecutor general also expressed regret, calling the incident unacceptable.

The dispute stems from an investigation into alleged payments to North Korea involving a South Korean company. Park has also faced separate allegations of misconduct during the probe, which are under investigation by prosecutors.

Within the prosecution, signs of collective action have emerged. Members of the investigative team reportedly created a group chat, fueling speculation about a coordinated response to the inquiry.

Legal experts warned the standoff could weaken the effectiveness of the parliamentary probe and deepen concerns over institutional conflict between the legislature and prosecution.

Some analysts said the episode reflects broader tensions over the independence of investigative authorities and the limits of parliamentary oversight.

— Reported by Asia Today; translated by UPI

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Original Korean report: https://www.asiatoday.co.kr/kn/view.php?key=20260405010001293