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Tom Howell Jr.

Tom Howell Jr.

Tom Howell Jr. covers politics and the White House for The Washington Times. He can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.

Articles by Tom Howell Jr.

Swiss Federal President Ignazio Cassis speaks during a press conference in Bern, Switzerland, Monday, Feb. 28, 2022. The Swiss president says Russias attack on Ukraine is unacceptable and Switzerland will adopt European Union sanctions, including asset freezes. (Peter Schneider/Keystone via AP)

Famously neutral Swiss sign on to European sanctions against Russia

Switzerland, which has long jealously guarded its neutral status in the face of past world crises, said Monday it will join European Union sanctions against Russia and top officials including President Vladimir Putin in the wake of last week's invasion of Ukraine. Published February 28, 2022

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen speaks to lawmakers on Capitol Hill in Washington, Dec. 1, 2021. (AP Photo/Amanda Andrade-Rhoades, File)

Treasury ramps up sanctions, freezes assets tied to Russia’s central bank

The Treasury Department on Monday prohibited any persons in the U.S. from engaging in transactions with Russia's central bank to "effectively immobilize" certain assets as Moscow scrambles to pull levers that would blunt the crippling impact of sanctions on its economy. Published February 28, 2022

President Joe Biden waves as he walks with first lady Jill Biden to board Maine One at the White House in Washington, Friday, Feb. 25, 2022, en route to Wilmington, Del. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Congress ditches mask mandate for State of the Union

The U.S. Capitol's attending physician said Sunday that masks can be optional in the halls of Congress, citing revised guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Published February 27, 2022

A Russian armored personnel carrier burns amid damaged and abandoned light utility vehicles after fighting in Kharkiv, Ukraine, Sunday, Feb. 27, 2022. The city authorities said that Ukrainian forces engaged in fighting with Russian troops that entered the country's second-largest city on Sunday. (AP Photo/Marienko Andrew)

Pressured Putin hints at nukes but agrees to talks with Ukraine

Facing a wall of global opposition and unexpectedly fierce resistance from Ukrainian forces, Russian President Vladimir Putin played the nuclear card Sunday, ordering the country's vast nuclear arsenal be put on a "special combat readiness" status to persuade the U.S. and European nations not to come to Kyiv's aid. Published February 27, 2022

Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, who is a U.S. Circuit Judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, poses for a portrait, Friday, Feb., 18, 2022, in her office at the court in Washington. President Joe Biden on Friday nominated federal appeals court Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the U.S. Supreme Court, making her the first Black woman selected to serve on a court that once declared her race unworthy of citizenship and endorsed segregation. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

Senators expect less contentious, quicker confirmation battle for historic Supreme Court pick

The push to make Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson the first Black female justice in the Supreme Court's 233-year history should be less contentious and speedier than past confirmation fights because President Biden's historic pick is replacing a liberal justice and is well-known to senators from a floor vote less than eight months ago, senior lawmakers said Sunday. Published February 27, 2022

White House press secretary Jen Psaki speaks with reporters in the James Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House, Thursday, Feb. 24, 2022, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

White House: Putin making up threats to justify aggression

White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Sunday that Russian President Vladimir Putin's decision to put nuclear forces on alert is part of a pattern of manufacturing threats that don't exist to justify more aggression. Published February 27, 2022

In this file photo, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, testifies before a Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee hearing on Tuesday, Jan. 11, 2022 on Capitol Hill in Washington. (Shawn Thew/Pool via AP) **FILE**

CDC relaxes masks guidance in major change to agency’s view of risk

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention significantly relaxed its mask guidance in a major update to its COVID-19 rules Friday, pivoting to a system in which severe disease and hospital capacity are key factors instead of case counts and positivity rates alone. Published February 25, 2022

In this Oct. 7, 2021, file photo, House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chair Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., presides during a committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington. (Bill Clark/Pool via AP) ** FILE **

House Democrats ramp up their probe into Trump records

The House Oversight Committee said Friday it is expanding its probe into former President Donald Trump's handling of presidential records after archivists identified items marked as classified in boxes recovered from his Mar-a-Lago estate, plus his reported penchant for tearing paper records to pieces. Published February 25, 2022