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7.32pm BST
A judge in DC has said that the federal government cannot share grand jury materials with a contractor who was hired to organize the huge collection of evidence from the 6 January Capitol riots, according to Politico. Over 500 defendants face federal prosecution for their role in the insurrection.
Deloitte Financial Advisory Services was offered $6.1m to create a database of material from the riot collected by the FBI. The federal government has reportedly collected 16,000 hours of footage from the day and have issued 6,000 grand jury subpoenas. To move prosecutions forward for the hundreds of cases, the government would need to share its evidence with defense attorneys representing those facing charges.
6.57pm BST
The State Department has determined that Russia and China have been promoting vaccine misinformation through social media platforms, including “messaging that undermines western-origin vaccine development programs,” White House secretary Jen Psaki said at a press briefing this afternoon.
Psaki said the impact goes beyond a competition between vaccines but is further stoking fears over the vaccine overall, with the posts saying that the vaccines are ineffective and unhelpful.
Psaki: “We’re making sure social media platforms are aware of the false narratives dangerous to public health.”