Those nuances behind “Death to America” declarations were present back in May 1979. Banners took issue with policy, not citizens, as marchers swarmed near the U.S. Embassy in Tehran: “We like the American people, we hate the American government,” one read, while another called the U.S. Senate the “house of war, corruption and injustice.”
“It is inappropriate, in my judgment, for senators on either side of the aisle to prejudge the evidence before they have heard what is presented to us, because the each of us will take an oath, an oath that I take very seriously to render impartial justice,” Collins said in an interview with Maine Public Radio on Monday.
The Maine lawmaker’s comments came after fellow moderate Republican from Alaska, Sen. Lisa Murkowski, voiced her own reservations about McConnell’s declaration that he was in lockstep with the White House to set the trial procedures. Murkowski said she was “disturbed,” and that it “further confused the process.”
Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., said he does not believe President Donald Trump is a role model for young people but continues to support the administration because of its policies.
“I don’t think that President Trump as a person is a role model for a lot of different youth, that’s just me personally,” Lankford told CBS’ “Face The Nation” on Sunday. “I don’t like the way that he tweets, some of the things that he says, his word choices at times are not my word choices.”
He added, “He comes across with more New York City swagger than I do from the Midwest and definitely not the way that I’m raising my kids.”
Lankford did the interview alongside Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., about lawmakers’ longstanding tradition of the Senate prayer breakfast. As Trump faces an impeachment trial in the Senate, Lankford was asked about the call from Republicans during President Bill Clinton’s impeachment for an American president to be a moral leader.
Lankford said it’s been “a bit of a conundrum” to disagree with the president on moral issues but the administration has been “tenaciously pro-life” and “very focused on religious liberty.”
“And at the end of the day, what we’re really looking for in an administration is folks that allow us to be able to live our principles,” he said. He added that he does not believe he has to answer for every tweet and crude remark.
“The president has a spokesperson, and I’m not the president’s spokesperson. I have a responsibility for myself and my team and for what my family’s going to do,” he said.
“And one of the interesting things about Washington, D.C., is I don’t get to pick the people that I work with. The American people pick the people that I work with.”
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said Wednesday he will continue developing his country’s nuclear deterrent and introduce a new strategic weapon in the near future, according to the North’s state-run media KCNA.
Kim’s remarks came after the United States missed a year-end deadline for a restart of denuclearization talks.
The White House and the Pentagon did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment.
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said he hoped North Korea would “choose peace.”
“So, seeing that reporting publicly, it remains the case that we hope that Chairman Kim will take a different course,” Pompeo told Fox News in an interview. “We’re hopeful that … Chairman Kim will make the right decision – he’ll choose peace and prosperity over conflict and war.”
Kim convened a rare four-day meeting of the ruling Workers’ Party’s policy-making committee since Saturday as the United States had not responded to his repeated calls for concessions to reopen negotiations, dismissing the deadline as artificial.
Kim had warned he might have to seek a “new path” if Washington fails to meet his expectations. U.S. military commanders said Pyongyang’s actions could include the testing of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), which it has halted since 2017, alongside nuclear warhead tests.
There were no grounds for North Korea to be bound any longer by the self-declared nuclear and ICBM test moratorium as the United States continued joint military drills with South Korea, adopted cutting-edge weapons and imposed sanctions while making “gangster-like demands”, Kim said, according to KCNA.
He pledged to further develop North Korea’s nuclear deterrent but left the door open for dialogue, saying the “scope and depth” of that deterrent will be “properly coordinated depending on” the attitude of the United States.
“The world will witness a new strategic weapon to be possessed by the DPRK in the near future,” Kim said, using the acronym for North Korea’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
“We will reliably put on constant alert the powerful nuclear deterrent capable of containing the nuclear threats from the U.S. and guaranteeing our long-term security.”
The announcement comes a week after the world braced for a “Christmas gift” that Kim promised to send to the United States. Trump downplayed Kim’s cryptic message and said that rather than a missile test, “maybe it’s a nice present.”
“Maybe it’s a present where he sends me a beautiful vase as opposed to a missile test,” Trump said. “I may get a vase. I may get a nice present from him. You don’t know. You never know.”
ROME (Reuters) – A visibly indignant Pope Francis had to pull himself away from a woman in a crowd in St Peter’s Square on Tuesday after she grabbed his hand and yanked him toward her.
Pope Francis was walking through the square in Vatican City and greeting pilgrims on his way to see the large Nativity scene set up in the huge, cobbled esplanade.
After reaching out to touch a child, the pope turned away from the crowd only for a nearby woman to seize his hand and pull her toward him. The abrupt gesture appeared to cause him pain and Francis swiftly wrenched his hand free.
The woman had made the sign of the cross as the pope had approached. It was not clear what she was saying as she subsequently tugged him toward her.
Reporting by Crispian Balmer, Editing by Timothy Heritage
Supporters of an Iranian-backed militia besieged the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad on Tuesday in retaliation for U.S. airstrikes, breaking through the first layer of security at the embassy compound and damaging a reception area before being expelled by Iraqi security forces. Here’s what we know:
●The U.S. Defense Department is sending two Apache helicopters and a “small contingent” of Marines to reinforce security at the embassy.
●President Trump accused Iran of “orchestrating an attack” on the embassy, where protesters ransacked a reception area and set fires.
●Iraqi security forces later intervened and set up a barricade, but protesters threw gasoline bombs into the compound.
●The Kataib Hezbollah militia vowed to force the embassy to shut down, and protesters set up tents outside the gates as night fell.
BAGHDAD — Hundreds of angry supporters of an Iranian-backed militia shouting “Death to America” broke into the U.S. Embassy compound in Baghdad on Tuesday, trapping diplomats inside in response to U.S. airstrikes that killed or wounded scores of militia fighters.
The protesters breached the vast embassy compound’s outer security but did not reach the main chancery building.
Iraqi security forces later intervened, erecting a steel barrier at the smashed gate into the compound’s reception area and forcing the protesters to leave. However, protesters remained outside the gates, taunting the guards inside with chants denouncing America, attempting to tear down razor wire atop the compound’s walls and tossing molotov cocktails over them.
After darkness fell, some of the protesters stormed and burned the embassy’s second reception gate, as others set up tents for the night beside the embassy gates. They vowed to stay until all U.S. troops and diplomats leave Iraq.
They did not, however, enter the sprawling embassy compound, where diplomats and embassy staff sought refuge in a reinforced safe room.
President Trump responded angrily Tuesday to the protesters’ actions, charging that Iran was behind a deadly militia attack that led to the airstrikes and blaming Tehran for the embassy siege.
“Iran killed an American contractor, wounding many,” Trump tweeted from his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida. “We strongly responded, and always will. Now Iran is orchestrating an attack on the U.S. Embassy in Iraq. They will be held fully responsible. In addition, we expect Iraq to use its forces to protect the Embassy, and so notified!”
He added later in a separate tweet: “To those many millions of people in Iraq who want freedom and who don’t want to be dominated and controlled by Iran, this is your time!”
Defense Secretary Mark T. Esper said the Pentagon has taken “appropriate force-protection actions to ensure the safety of American citizens, military personnel and diplomats” in Iraq “and to ensure our right of self-defense.” He added in a statement: “We are sending additional forces to support our personnel at the Embassy.”
As the chaos erupted, U.S. military officials were left to determine how to respond without further inflaming the situation. They settled on dispatching two of the Army’s Apache gunship helicopters to provide overwatch and security, and deploying scores of Marines from a crisis-response unit in Kuwait to reinforce those already guarding the embassy.
In Washington, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo spoke to Abdul Mahdi and Iraqi President Barham Salih separately by phone Tuesday and “made clear the United States will protect and defend its people, who are there to support a sovereign and independent Iraq,” department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus said. “Both Abdul Mahdi and Salih assured the secretary that they took seriously their responsibility for, and would guarantee the safety and security of, U.S. personnel and property,” she said.
The State Department said later that “U.S. personnel are secure” and that “there are no plans” to evacuate the embassy. U.S. Ambassador Matt Tueller was away on previously scheduled personal travel and is returning to the embassy, it said.
In his statement announcing the dispatch of reinforcements to the embassy, Esper noted: “As in all countries, we rely on host nation forces to assist in the protection of our personnel in country, and we call on the Government of Iraq to fulfill its international responsibilities to do so.”
Marines from the Marine Corps Embassy Security Group are tasked with guarding U.S. embassies around the world. The additional Marines heading to Baghdad will reinforce those who were already there guarding the embassy.
To former U.S. ambassador to Iraq Douglas A. Silliman, Tuesday’s protests appeared to reflect an effort by “pro-Iranian elements to try to take advantage of what they’re going to define as a disproportionate American response to the killing of an American military contractor and to Iraqi police officials.” He added, “This is not a massive popular anti-American demonstration.”
Rather, he said in an interview in Washington, it “appears to be an attempt by Iran and pro-Iran factions in Iraq to take pressure off of themselves” because massive demonstrations in the past few months “have been anti-Iranian and anti-government corruption and anti-militia.”
The embassy compound lies inside the heavily fortified Green Zone, which is normally off limits to ordinary people. But earlier in the morning, thousands of people walked unimpeded into the zone to join the demonstrations. Iraqi security forces simply mingled with the crowd, and some joined in. One member of the force that guards the zone’s checkpoints was photographed helping the militia supporters smash the bulletproof glass at the embassy reception gate.
Their chants of “Death to America” carried echoes of the 1979 Iran hostage crisis, when Iranian students seized control of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and detained American diplomats and other personnel for 444 days.
“Simply put, in our fight to have key documents and witnesses in a Senate impeachment trial, these new revelations are a game changer,” Schumer said at a press conference just a day after the Times published an explosive story offering new details about some White House officials’ actions in blocking Ukrainian military aid.
“And when you combine these new revelations with the explosive emails from Michael Duffey released last weekend, it makes the strongest case yet for a Senate trial to include the witnesses and documents we have requested,” he added, referencing newly disclosed emails that showed Duffey, an official at the Office of Management and Budget, told the Pentagon to withhold Ukrainian military aid just hours after Trump’s infamous July 25 phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
The House earlier this month voted to impeach Trump on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. Ahead of the vote, Schumer wrote to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and called for Mulvaney, Bolton, Duffey and Blair to testify as witnesses during a trial.
But McConnell said that the trial should not include witnesses and has argued that lawmakers have “heard enough” amid the impeachment proceedings. Trump said in mid-December that McConnell could decide on whether there would be witnesses in the upper chamber trial.
Robert Driscoll, a lawyer for Mulvaney, told the Times that the acting chief of staff would consider a request to testify in consultation with the White House.
“I hope every Republican senator should read this story and explain why they would oppose our reasonable request for witnesses and documents in the Senate trial,” Schumer said. “This story makes the choice even clearer: Will the Senate hold a fair trial, or will it enable a cover-up?”
The devastating fires, fed by intense heat and winds, rampaged across Australia’s southeastern states of New South Wales and Victoria heading into the new year, turning coastal towns into dangerous traps and forcing residents to the oceanside.
As of 3 a.m. local time on Jan. 1, there were 112 fires burning across New South Wales, with several large and dangerous fires continuing to burn on the southern coast, according to the New South Wales Rural Fire Service. More than 2,500 firefighters were combating the fires, according to the fire service.
Victoria State Premier Daniel Andrews requested assistance from 70 firefighters from the U.S. and Canada, while Australia’s military sent air and sea reinforcements, The Associated Press reported.
Officials said all telecommunications, including cell phone coverage, would be lost overnight on the New South Wales south coast between the towns of Nowra and Moruya, and that hospitals would be among the impacted facilities, according to the Australian Broadcasting Corp.
The remains of burnt buildings on the main street of Cobargo on Dec. 31.Sean Davey / AFP – Getty ImagesChildren wear masks to protect them from smoke as they play at an evacuation site in Bega, New South Wales, on Dec. 31.Sean Davey / AFP – Getty Images
The massive blazes have already destroyed more than 10 million acres of bush and 1,000 homes after the devastating fire season began early this year in September. Record-breaking heat, windy conditions and ongoing drought have exacerbated the blazes this annual fire season — a combination that environmentalists say has been exacerbated by climate change.
New South Wales Rural Fire Service Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons told the Sydney Morning Herald it was “absolutely” the worst bushfire season on record.
“What we really need is meaningful rain and we haven’t got anything in the forecast at the moment that says we’re going to get drought-breaking or fire quenching rainfall,” he said.
In Mallacoota, in the state of Victoria, about 4,000 people swarmed to the beach to escape the fires, according to authorities. An image released to AFP/Getty Images showed people taking shelter offshore on a boat near Mallacoota, covering their mouths as they are surrounded by orange sky.
“The community right now is under threat, but they will, we will hold our line, and they will be saved and protected,” Steve Warrington, chief officer at Victorian Country Fire Authority, said Tuesday.
People take shelter from bush fires in a boat just offshore of Mallacoota, New South Wales, on Dec. 31, 2019.Courtesy of Ida Dempsey / AFP – Getty Images
Victoria State Premier Daniel Andrews said Tuesday four people remained unaccounted for.
Police in New South Wales said Tuesday that two men, believed to be father and son, died in a house in the wildfire-ravaged southeast town of Cobargo, while there are fears for another man missing, the AP reported.
“They were obviously trying to do their best with the fire as it came through in the early hours of the morning,” New South Wales Police Deputy Commissioner Gary Worboys said, according to the AP. “The other person that we are trying to get to, we think that person was trying to defend their property in the early hours of the morning.”
Smoke and flames rise from burning trees near the town of Nowra in New South Wales on Dec. 31.Saeed Khan / AFP – Getty ImagesA firefighter battles a bush fire near the town of Sussex Inlet on Dec. 31.Sam Mooy / Getty Images
Dramatic video captured the moment a fire crew’s truck was overrun by a bushfire south of Nowra, a town south of Sydney. The truck is seen making its way through the raging fires as smoke and embers fill the air. Massive flames are then seen surrounding the truck from all sides. Fire and Rescue New South Wales, which released the video, said the crew was forced to shelter in their truck as the fire front passed through. The fire service confirmed in a follow up post on Twitter that the crew survived the incident.
On Monday, a volunteer firefighter died when his truck was overturned in a rare fire phenomenon known as a fire tornado, authorities said.
Cyclonic winds lifted the truck — which weighs between 10 and 13 tons — and “flipped it onto its roof, trapping the people inside” and killing firefighter Samuel McPaul, 28, in the incident, Fitzsimmons said. Three others were also injured.
McPaul is survived by his wife, who is pregnant with their first child. He was due to become a father in May, officials said.
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison expressed condolences to McPaul’s family, calling his death “absolutely heartbreaking.”
Fires approach a home in the outskirts of Bargo, near Sydney, on Dec. 21. David Gray / Getty Images fileGary Hinton stands in the rubble after fires devastated the town of Cobargo, Australia, on Dec. 31.Sean Davey / AFP – Getty Images
“The fires in New South Wales and Victoria are continuing to rage and we expect further difficult news out of both of those states,” he said.
“I want to thank all of those out there fighting those fires, all of those out there supporting them in these difficult times,” he added. “The conditions remain tough and for the rest of us it’s a matter of just simply listening to the instructions, staying safe and being patient and doing what we need to do to put ourselves in a place of safety.”
The Mason-Dixon poll found that Biden was the only candidate with a positive favorability rating: 45 percent favorable to 41 unfavorable. Trump was underwater, at 46 percent favorable and 47 percent unfavorable.
In a hypothetical head-to-head match-up, Trump leads Biden by 10 points among men but trails the former vice president by the same amount among women.
Biden garnered 92 percent support among black voters and 61 percent among Hispanics. Trump leads with white voters by a 58-33 margin over Biden.
The Mason-Dixon survey of 625 registered voters in Florida was conducted Dec. 11–16.
Maine Senator Susan Collins became the second Republican to criticize Majority Leader Mitch McConnell this week for his pre-impeachment trial comments about being in “total coordination” with President Donald Trump.
Collins, speaking with Maine Public Radio in a segment broadcast Monday evening, said it was “inappropriate” for McConnell — and Democratic lawmakers — to “prejudge” the impending Senate impeachment trial. Collins said the level of agreement between Republicans and Democrats in deciding how proceedings should work during former President Bill Clinton’s impeachment is likely impossible today. Collins demanded “impartial justice” in the Senate trial and criticized McConnell for “saying that he’s taking cues from the White House.” Collins agreed with Democrats that witnesses and documents should be allowed for introduction at the Senate trial.
The moderate Maine Republican’s comments came just one week after Alaska GOP senator Lisa Murkowski was similarly critical of McConnell’s vow to be in “lockstep” with Trump’s wishes.
“It is inappropriate, in my judgment, for senators on either side of the aisle to prejudge the evidence before they have heard what is presented to us, because each of us will take an oath, an oath that I take very seriously to render impartial justice. That’s what it says, impartial justice,” Collins said Monday, adding that Democrats shouldn’t be jumping to the opposite conclusion before the trial is held.
Collins’ office did not immediately respond to Newsweek requests for comment Tuesday morning.
“And I have heard Democrats like Elizabeth Warren, saying that the president should be impeached, found guilty, and removed from office,” Collins continued. “I’ve heard the Senate Majority leaders saying that he’s taking his cues from the White House. There are senators on both sides of the aisle, who, to me, are not giving the appearance of and the reality of judging that’s in an impartial way.”
McConnell’s comments earlier this month about being in “total coordination” with the White House have been widely condemned by Democrats, left-leaning pundits and now at least two Republican senators. But his commentary was greeted warmly by fellow top Senator Lindsey Graham, who earlier this month vowed to kill impeachment as soon as it reached the Senate. “I am trying to give a pretty clear signal I have made up my mind. I’m not trying to pretend to be a fair juror here,” Graham said at the time.
Unlike many House Republicans who have dismissed the need for any documents or new evidence to be presented at trial, Collins said she is “open to witnesses.” But she said it is baffling why the House did not enforce subpoenas issued to people like Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and instead rushed to get the articles of impeachment passed before Christmas.
Collins repeatedly stated that Trump’s impeachment proceedings should mimic the bipartisan approach taken against Clinton in the late 1990s
“I have made that recommendation. I have spoken in our caucus, but since I’m one of the few members of the caucus who participated in the 1999 trial, I went back and gathered all the documents,” Collins said. “And I have shared with my colleagues my belief that the Clinton approach, the approach to the Clinton trial worked well.”
Elizabeth Warren ripped her Republican counterparts as the Senate braces for President Trump’s impeachment trial.
The Massachusetts senator and 2020 Democratic presidential candidate reflected on 2019 during a New Year’s Eve address in Boston, asserting that Trump had “become bolder with his lies and more brazen in his law-breaking.”
“Meanwhile, the Republicans in Congress have turned into fawning, spineless defenders of his crimes,” she said Tuesday at the Old South Meeting House.
Trump this month was impeached by the House for abuse of power and obstructing Congress after allegations he pressured Ukraine to dig up political dirt on another 2020 Democratic rival, former Vice President Joe Biden.
“It brought no one any joy, but the House Democrats upheld their sworn duty to the Constitution and impeached the president of the United States. Soon I will return to the Senate to do my sworn duty as well,” said Warren, 70. “But unless some Senate Republicans choose truth over politics, Donald Trump will be emboldened to try to cheat his way through yet another election.”
Warren will join Sens. Michael Bennet of Colorado, Cory Booker of New Jersey, Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, and Bernie Sanders of Vermont in taking part in Trump’s Senate trial, during which the Democratic White House hopefuls will be expected to be in Washington, D.C., six days a week rather than on the campaign trail ahead of the Iowa caucuses on Feb. 3.
Republicans weren’t Warren’s only targets on Tuesday. The liberal firebrand, who launched her exploratory committee exactly one year ago, knocked her opponents for running on more center-left platforms.
“Those moments in American history define us. And at each one of them, if our leaders had approached the moment thinking small, we would not have made it through. Americans do big things. That’s who we are. And our best moments as a country have been when we see a challenge clearly, and we mobilize to meet it head-on,” she said, referring to the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, and the Great Depression.
Elizabeth Warren ripped her Republican counterparts as the Senate braces for President Trump’s impeachment trial.
The Massachusetts senator and 2020 Democratic presidential candidate reflected on 2019 during a New Year’s Eve address in Boston, asserting that Trump had “become bolder with his lies and more brazen in his law-breaking.”
“Meanwhile, the Republicans in Congress have turned into fawning, spineless defenders of his crimes,” she said Tuesday at the Old South Meeting House.
Trump this month was impeached by the House for abuse of power and obstructing Congress after allegations he pressured Ukraine to dig up political dirt on another 2020 Democratic rival, former Vice President Joe Biden.
“It brought no one any joy, but the House Democrats upheld their sworn duty to the Constitution and impeached the president of the United States. Soon I will return to the Senate to do my sworn duty as well,” said Warren, 70. “But unless some Senate Republicans choose truth over politics, Donald Trump will be emboldened to try to cheat his way through yet another election.”
Warren will join Sens. Michael Bennet of Colorado, Cory Booker of New Jersey, Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, and Bernie Sanders of Vermont in taking part in Trump’s Senate trial, during which the Democratic White House hopefuls will be expected to be in Washington, D.C., six days a week rather than on the campaign trail ahead of the Iowa caucuses on Feb. 3.
Republicans weren’t Warren’s only targets on Tuesday. The liberal firebrand, who launched her exploratory committee exactly one year ago, knocked her opponents for running on more center-left platforms.
“Those moments in American history define us. And at each one of them, if our leaders had approached the moment thinking small, we would not have made it through. Americans do big things. That’s who we are. And our best moments as a country have been when we see a challenge clearly, and we mobilize to meet it head-on,” she said, referring to the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, and the Great Depression.
“Had that law not been passed that allowed these people to be armed, I fear we could have lost hundreds,” Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said in an interview with Fox News.
But gun safety advocates argued that the shooting itself wouldn’t have happened if the U.S. — and Texas — had stronger gun regulation.
“Media referencing the White Settlement shooting owe the public a nuanced discussion; we need watchdogs to make sure it’s so,” tweeted Shannon Watts, founder of gun safety group Moms Demand Action.
“Two are dead due to Texas’ lax gun laws; a man with a long criminal history was able to access a long gun,” she added.
Texas had the 25th highest rate of gun homicides in the U.S. from 2008 to 2017, according to research compiled by Everytown, the gun safety group that runs Moms Demand Action.
Divisions around the shooting in Texas come amid a broader political debate over gun safety in the U.S. The issue is a major topic among Democratic presidential candidates who are running for the right to take on Trump next November. Leading candidates, including Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and former Vice President Joe Biden, have advocated for universal background checks and closing loopholes that allow people to buy guns more easily from unlicensed sellers or online.
Mike Bloomberg, a late entrant to the race, has made gun safety a seminal issue in his campaign. Bloomberg helped found Everytown and he remains a major financial backer of the organization. His financial support helped Democrats in Virginia take back state government in November, in an election that featured gun regulation as a leading issue.
In addition to closing loopholes and requiring universal background checks, Bloomberg has said that if elected president he would pour $100 million a year into local violence intervention programs and spend at least $100 million on public health research into gun violence.
Trump, whose White House bid benefited from $30 million from the NRA in 2016, has said he wants to ensure the gun-rights lobby’s views are “represented and respected” in evaluating gun legislation, including H.R. 8, a bill that mandates background checks.
H.R. 8 passed the Democratic-controlled House in February but has yet to come to a vote in the GOP-controlled Senate. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has said he will not put any bill up for a vote unless he is sure that Trump would sign it.
In a tweet on Tuesday, Trump praised the benefits of allowing guns in church.
“If not for the fact that there were people inside of the church that were both armed, and highly proficient in using their weapon, the end result would have been catastrophic,” he wrote.
Just after 10 p.m. on Saturday, a man wielding a machete burst into the home of Rabbi Chaim Rottenberg during a Hanukkah party. Ramapo police say he slashed the partygoers, sending five to hospital; two of them remained in critical condition on Monday.
Grafton Thomas, 37, of Greenwood Lake was arrested Sunday morning, captured in blood-soaked clothing by NYPD officers. He was held on $5 million bail in the Rockland County Jail by Ramapo Town Justice Rhoda Schoenberger after being arraigned on five counts of attempted murder and one count of burglary. He has pleaded not guilty.
Gancz, who leads Chabad of Suffern, went to see two of the victims of the attack, including the son of Rabbi Chaim Rottenberg and a second man, both of whom would survive a machete-swinging man who burst into their Hanukkah celebration.
In Washington, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo spoke to Abdul Mahdi and Iraqi President Barham Salih separately by phone Tuesday and “made clear the United States will protect and defend its people, who are there to support a sovereign and independent Iraq,” department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus said. “Both Abdul Mahdi and Salih assured the secretary that they took seriously their responsibility for, and would guarantee the safety and security of, U.S. personnel and property,” she said.
Swing voters and independents in battleground states are coming to the Republican Party ‘in droves,’ says Pennsylvania Congressman Guy Reschenthaler, Republican member of the House Judiciary Committee.
WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump would beat every Democratic candidate in the swing states of Virginia and Florida except for former Vice President Joe Biden, according to a pair of polls from Mason-Dixon Polling & Strategy.
In a hypothetical matchup, Biden narrowly edges Trump in Florida by 2 percentage points, 47%-45%. Trump leads Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, 51%-42%; Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, 49%-44%; and South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg, 49%-45%.
Biden’s lead over Trump is slightly wider in Virginia, where the former vice president leads the incumbent 49%-45%. The other Democrats trail the president in the state. The poll says Trump beats Warren 48%-44%, Sanders 51%-45% and Buttigieg 47%-45%.
A USA TODAY/Suffolk University Poll released this month said Trump beat every Democratic candidate, including Biden, in a national matchup.
Florida is an important swing state, narrowly deciding the 2000 election after a lengthy and controversial recount. It went for Trump in 2016 after backing President Barack Obama in 2012 and 2008.
This is a widget area - If you go to "Appearance" in your WP-Admin you can change the content of this box in "Widgets", or you can remove this box completely under "Theme Options"
