Friday Afternoon Update: More Electricity Substations Attacked, Biden Slammed For Prisoner Swap, Weekly Jobless Claims Increase

This article is a companion piece to today’s Morning Wire Afternoon Update. To listen to the podcast version, click here.

FBI Looking Into Northwest Electricity Substations Attacks

The FBI says there have been reports of apparent attacks against at least five electricity substations in Washington State and Oregon in November. The incidents followed what appeared to be deliberate attacks on two substations in North Carolina that resulted in the loss of power for tens of thousands of residents.

Biden Gets Blowback For Prisoner Swap

President Biden has suffered some blowback from his own party for his agreement to a one-for-one swap of WNBA star Britney Griner for infamous Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, known as “The Merchant of Death.”

Democratic Senator Bob Menendez called it a “deeply disturbing decision,” saying quote, “The Russians and other regimes that take American citizens hostage cannot pretend that there is equivalence between the Brittney Griner’s of the world…