Free Republic

Rep. John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.) announced he is stepping aside as the ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee pending an investigation into allegations of sexual harassment. “After careful consideration and in light of the attention drawn by recent allegations made against me, I have notified the Democratic Leader of my request to step aside as Ranking Member of the House Judiciary Committee during the investigation of these matters," he said in a statement on Sunday. “I deny these allegations, many of which were raised by documents reportedly paid for by a partisan alt-right blogger. I very much look forward...

The secretive head of the agency’s National Clandestine Service is retiring amid reports of infighting over a reorganization of the intelligence service. The director of the CIA’s National Clandestine Service, the storied home of the agency’s most secretive intelligence operations, has announced that he plans to retire, The Daily Beast has learned. CIA spokesman Dean Boyd confirmed that the director announced his retirement “after a long and distinguished career at CIA. We thank him for this profound and lasting contributions to both CIA and to our nation’s security.”

MEXICO CITY (AP) — The governor of the embattled western state of Michoacan has left his post for health reasons, the Mexican government announced Wednesday. Mexico's presidency said in a statement that Michoacan Gov. Fausto Vallejo met with President Enrique Pena Nieto to inform him of his decision. Vallejo is a member of Pena Nieto's Institutional Revolutionary Party. Neither the presidency nor Vallejo have said what ails him. Vallejo, 65, took a leave of absence last year to have a kidney transplant and then Michoacan state interior secretary Jose Jesus Reyna took control of the government. Reyna was charged last...

ATLANTA Former Atlanta mayor and U.N. ambassador Andrew Young has stepped down from his position as head of Working Families for Wal-Mart, the longtime civil rights leader said early Friday. Young was hired by the group in February to help improve Wal-Mart's image. "I think I was on the verge of becoming part of the controversy, and I didn't want to become a distraction from the main issues, so I thought I ought to step down," Young told The Associated Press. Young said his decision came after a report in the Los Angeles Sentinel, which he said was misread and...

Complaining of "personal political attacks," Hollywood director Rob Reiner resigned Wednesday as chairman of a statewide preschool commission he helped create that's under scrutiny for $23 million in advertising spending. Just two weeks ago, Reiner dismissed suggestions that he should step down from the California First 5 Commission, which has collected nearly $4 billion in tobacco taxes to fund early childhood programs. "Everything I've done is completely legal," he said at the time. But Reiner called Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger over the weekend and resigned, said Margita Thompson, a Schwarzenegger spokeswoman. In a letter to the governor Wednesday, Reiner said, "We...

SAO PAULO, Brazil - Finance Minister Antonio Palocci, the architect of Brazil's economic recovery and market-friendly fiscal policy, resigned Monday after becoming caught up in a political scandal. Palocci sent a resignation letter Monday evening to President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Silva accepted the resignation, said presidential spokesman Carlos Villanova. Silva tapped former Planning and Budget Minister Guido Mantega to replace Palocci as head of the Finance Ministry. Mantega now heads Brazil's National Development Bank, and was a top Silva adviser along with Palocci during the 2002 campaign that made Silva Brazil's first elected leftist president. Mantega told...

BRASILIA, Brazil (AP) - The president of the government-allied Liberal Party resigned from Congress on Monday - the first lawmaker to step down in a widening corruption scandal that has plagued the government of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. Rep. Valdemar Costa Neto, who represents Sao Paulo state for the Liberal Party, said he had erred in accepting money from Silva's Workers' Party during the 2002 elections. "I assume the only and absolute responsibility for this act," Costa told Congress in an address. He said he would stay on as president of the Liberal Party. Costa Neto acknowledged he...