Democratic lawmaker slams Jim Jordan as a 'traitor' over his text to Mark Meadows that outlined a legal theory of how Mike Pence could challenge the 2020 election results

Rep. Ruben Gallego lambasted Rep. Jim Jordan in a Wednesday evening interview after the Republican congressman confirmed that he sent a text to former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows on January 5, saying that then-Vice President Mike Pence "should call out all electoral votes that he believes are unconstitutional as no electoral votes at all."

In an appearance on MSNBC, Gallego, a Democrat from Arizona, called Jordan "a traitor."

"He's a traitor to the Constitution of the United States. He has been a traitor to the Constitution of the United States for quite a while. And now we actually have it in text," Gallego continued. "But we shouldn't be surprised, and why is anybody surprised?"

The text that the Ohio lawmaker sent to Meadows on January 5 was a forwarded message from Joseph Schmitz, a conservative lawyer and former inspector general at the Defense Department, Jordan's office confirmed to Politico earlier Wednesday.

A Wisconsin police department released video apparently exonerating one of its officers after a social media post accused him of planting evidence..

Hours after a Twitter user accused a Wisconsin police officer of planting evidence, the Village of Caledonia Police Department released body camera footage it said disputed the accuser's account. Law enforcement said officers stopped a vehicle on Wednesday at approximately 3:22 p.m. for traveling at 63 miles per hour in a 45 miles per hour zone. Moments later, officers removed the driver and rear passengers from the vehicle, and following a pat down of one of the men, they located an "empty corner tear" plastic bag that did not contain narcotics, police added.

The department said the searching officer handed the baggie to another officer, who then turned the baggie over to the officer seen on camera, who placed the empty baggie in the vehicle as a means of discarding it.

"The front seat passenger tells the officer that his actions are on video, and the officer replies that he is also recording the incident," Christopher Botsch, chief of police, wrote in the department's Facebook post on Saturday. "The officer acknowledges to the front seat passenger that he (officer) put the item there and explains that it was taken from one of the passengers and the officer did not want to 'hold on to it.' Essentially, he appears to be discarding the empty baggie."

Baby Deer Trapped in Sewer Grate Rescued While Mother Stands Nearby.

On Monday, a scary story came to a happy resolution when a fawn in North Olmsted, Ohio found itself stuck inside a sewer grate, requiring a team of officers and local officials to set it free.

According to a recent Facebook post from the North Olmsted Police Department, the owner of local Sittoo's Restaurant originally reported the trapped baby deer to authorities. He explained that the fawn was "stuck in a sewer grate behind the business" and that it "wasn't able to free itself."

A crew of officers headed to the scene, along with employees from the city's Service Department. Eventually, "they were able to work together to free the baby."

Photos posted to Facebook show the heartbreaking scene, in which the baby deer is found with the lower half of its body trapped in the grate. Its front legs rest bent on the ground next to its head.

RICHMOND, Va. -- The conviction of a retired U.S. Air Force officer who used a racial slur while speaking to a Black store clerk and Black customer was overturned Tuesday by a federal appeals court that found his speech was protected by the First Amendment under the circumstances.

Retired Air Force Lt. Col. Jules Bartow, who is white, was arrested after he used the slur while shopping for boots at the Quantico Marine Corps Exchange in November 2018. Prosecutors and witnesses at his trial said he posed several bizarre rhetorical questions, including asking the customer, while referring to the store clerk, “If I called her a (slur), would she still say good morning?”

Bartow was convicted of violating Virginia's abusive language law.

Bartow's conviction was overturned by a three-judge panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The court found that the First Amendment permits criminalization of abusive language, but only if the government proves the language had a direct tendency to cause immediate acts of violence by the person to whom it was addressed.