Politics and views in the United States.

The White House says it'll appeal the dismissal of charges against James Comey and Letitia James. The BBC Chair apologizes for its editing of a Trump documentary and the resignation of Georgia Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene from Congress leaves more questions than it answers.

TRANSCRIPT

Welcome to 2025 Talks, where we're following our democracy in historic times.

Lindsey Callaghan was legally appointed and that's the administration's position.

I know there was a judge who is clearly trying to shield Letitia James and James Comey from receiving accountability, and that's why they took this unprecedented action to throw away the indictments.

White House Press Secretary Caroline Leavitt says they'll appeal the decision to dismiss charges against former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia to James.

A federal judge agreed with Comey and James that the acting U.S. attorney bringing the cases was not properly named to that role.

Though charges can be refiled, Comey's lawyers argue his statute of limitations has run out.

President Donald Trump specifically ordered the investigations, one of several reasons they've been troubled.

At one point, DOJ lawyers revealed the grand jury never saw the revised indictment against Comey, casting it into doubt, and the previous U.S. attorney resigned after saying the case against James is too weak to pursue.

Meanwhile, BBC chairman Samir Shah apologized for the editing of a Trump speech in one of the network's flagship news shows.

Shah told a British House of Commons committee he regrets edits made in an episode of the documentary series "Panorama," which made it seem the president directly called for violent action against lawmakers on January 6th.

"I'd like to take this opportunity first of all to apologize to all the people who believe in the BBC and care for it and wish it to survive and thrive."

Trump demanded the network apologize directly to him, which Shah didn't, or be sued for a billion dollars, which is being dismissed as an empty threat.

The president routinely threatens American news outlets at times winning programming changes and/or large payouts. speech advocates argue U.S. media corporations have capitulated to protect themselves from revenge Trump says he would take via regulatory action by the FCC.

Georgia Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene says she's retiring from Congress in January after a sharp break with the president.

Trump says he's glad to see his former ally go, citing her support for a petition to force the Justice Department to release its files on dead billionaire sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.

He started back in perhaps the worst Republican congressman in our history, stupid person named Batsy. Go your own way.

And once I left her, she resigned because you would never have survived a primary.

Another close Trump ally is suffering whiplash.

After meeting with New York City Mayor-elect Zohar Mamdani, Trump denounced New York Republican Elise Stefanik for calling him a jihadist while campaigning for governor.

Mamdani and Trump consistently exchanged insults in the lead-up to Mamdani winning the election, but both say a recent White House meeting was productive.

An unusually large number of congressional incumbents are quitting ahead of the midterms, and PR reports at least 10 senators and 41 House members won't seek re-election.

Analysts cite voter anger, especially at Republicans, and voter disgust is giving new momentum to legislation aiming to prevent members of Congress, their families, and aides from trading stocks.

Republican Tennessee Representative Tim Rochette says this bill would weed out the crooked politicians debasing D.C. work.

Yeah, everybody talks about this place being a dadgum swamp.

It's not a swamp.

A swamp is something cool God created.

It filters water, animal life lives and flourishes around it.

This is a sewer.

This is created by man, and it needs to stop.

Watchdogs say Capitol Hill has access to insider trading information far beyond what ordinary citizens have, which is why lawmakers regularly beat the markets by wide margins.

I'm Edwin J. Viera for Pacifica Network and Public News Service.

Find our trust indicators at publicnewsservice.org.