But both parties agreed to provide $7 billion for Afghan evacuees, who fled the country after American troops withdrew from Afghanistan and the Taliban regained control. The additional funding includes about $4.3 billion for the Defense Department to care for evacuees on military bases, $1.3 billion for the State Department and $1.3 billion for the Administration for Children and Families to provide resettlement and other services, including emergency housing and English language classes.
Senator Richard C. Shelby of Alabama, the top Republican on the Appropriations Committee, said in a statement that he was “pleased that we have finally reached an agreement.” But he warned that if Democrats continued to push for policies Republicans oppose — including elimination of the Hyde amendment, which blocks federal funding for abortions — and lower levels of defense funding, “we’ll be having the same conversation in February.”
It remained unclear, however, whether other members of Mr. Shelby’s party would allow the bill to advance in time to avoid a shutdown. A few Republicans, led by Senators Mike Lee of Utah and Roger Marshall of Kansas, have said they will oppose moving forward with it unless a measure is added barring funding to put in place the administration’s mandate for large businesses to require vaccinations or regular testing to stem the spread of the coronavirus.
Scrambling to pacify the holdouts, party leaders were discussing allowing a vote on an amendment that would cut off funding for the vaccine mandate. But Mr. Marshall told reporters on Capitol Hill that he would accept the proposal only if it could be subject to a simple majority vote, rather than the 60 needed to advance most major legislation in the Senate.
The Coronavirus Pandemic: Key Things to Know
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Biden’s winter Covid plan. As Omicron reaches the U.S., President Biden is set to announce a strategy that includes insurance reimbursement for at-home tests. His plan will also require international travelers to show proof of a negative test taken 24 hours before departing for the U.S.
Shifting views on boosters among experts. For months, many public health experts have opposed plans to roll out Covid booster shots to all adults. But as Omicron gains ground, researchers are changing their minds, and now believe that the shots may offer the best defense against the new variant.
Given the 50-50 partisan split, that would mean it would take only one Democrat joining Republicans in support of the proposal to pass it, and Senator Joe Manchin III, Democrat of West Virginia, suggested he had not ruled out doing so.
“I’ve been very supportive of a mandate for federal government, for military, for all the people that work on government payroll — I’ve been less enthused about it in the private sector,” Mr. Manchin told reporters Thursday morning. “We’re working through all that.”
Several senior Republicans who have objected to the mandates have warned that the dispute is not worth a government shutdown, particularly as the nation confronts a new coronavirus variant.
Oxford, Michigan (CNN)The timeline of events leading up to a deadly high school shooting Tuesday in Michigan reveals there were concerns about the teen suspect’s behavior before the tragedy that left four dead and seven injured.
CNN’s Amir Vera, Jason Hanna, Kristina Sgueglia, Carolyn Sung, Laura Dolan, Leon Jobe, and Taylor Romine contributed to this report.
President Biden on Thursday will announce a COVID-19 “winter plan” that imposes new, but less strict than feared, international travel rules and mandates that health insurance companies pay for at-home COVID-19 rapid tests.
Biden’s team had considered forcing US citizens to do seven days of mandatory self-quarantine after returning from abroad and requiring them to test negative three to five days after arrival under threat of legal punishment, according to the Washington Post.
A senior administration official who briefed reporters on the new policies implied that they doubted such aggressive measures could be implemented effectively — after the possible steps sparked panic among Americans who travel for work or vacation.
“We’re not announcing any steps on post-arrival testing and quarantine,” the official said, saying the US had a “pretty strong system” for international arrivals by requiring testing before flights and requiring that most foreigners be vaccinated.
President Joe Biden proposes a “winter plan” for traveling Americans in response to the emergence of the COVID-19 Omicron variant.Jim LoScalzo / Pool via CNP /MedPassengers on public transportation or planes are still required to wear masks.Getty ImagesCurrent COVID-19 rapid testing kits cost more than $20 at pharmacy chains.AP Photo/Ted S. Warren
“If any additional measures are recommended, if additional measures can be implemented well and are effective, we won’t hesitate to take them but we’re not taking them today,” she said.
The new international travel rules will continue to allow air passengers to choose between more accurate PCR tests and less accurate rapid tests. Some countries require PCR tests for air passengers.
Passengers will not be required to quarantine under President Joe Biden’s travel restrictions.Bloomberg via Getty ImagesThe Biden administration promises that at-home COVID-19 tests can be reimbursed by Jan. 15, 2022.Brittany Murray/The Orange County Register via AP
Biden also will extend through March 18 a rule requiring masks on public transportation including trains and planes. And he will encourage people to get COVID-19 vaccine booster shots.
Unlike with the mask mandate, the White House did not give a prospective end date for the testing requirement on arrival flights. Nor did the administration specify how the rule would be enforced, what the potential consequences for violations would be, or who would be responsible for ensuring compliance.
The new policy granting Americans free rapid tests won’t take effect immediately, but could dramatically expand testing. Rapid tests available from retailers such as CVS Pharmacy currently cost more than $20 each.
The Biden administration will require Americans to test negative within one day of their flight.Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
“To expand access and affordability of at-home COVID-19 tests, the Departments of Health and Human Services, Labor and the Treasury will issue guidance by January 15th to clarify that individuals who purchase [over-the-counter] COVID-19 diagnostic tests will be able to seek reimbursement from their group health plan or health insurance issuer and have insurance cover the cost during the public health emergency,” according to a fact sheet.
Former assistant U.S. attorney Andrew McCarthy and constitutional law professor Jonathan Turley provide reaction and analysis as the U.S. Supreme Court hears oral arguments in a case that challenges Roe v. Wade
The Supreme Court on Wednesday heard oral arguments in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health, a case in which the State of Mississippi is asking the court to strike down a lower court ruling that blocked its 15-week abortion ban law from taking effect.
The case has implications for two longstanding Supreme Court precedents, Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey, which have severely restricted when states can ban or limit abortions.
Oral arguments ended around noon Wednesday, with five key moments standing out.
1. Breyer asks why court should disregard ‘stare decisis’ to overrule Roe v. Wade
Justice Stephen Breyer asked Mississippi Solicitor General Scott Stewart, who was arguing the case for the State of Mississippi, why the Supreme Court should disregard “stare decisis,” a legal principle in which the court generally follows its previous rulings, by overturning Roe.
Stephen Parlato of Boulder, Colorado, holds a sign supporting abortion rights as anti-abortion activists stand behind him with sign outside the Supreme Court of the United States, Dec. 1, 2021 in Washington, D.C. (Matt McClain/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
“They say it’s rare,” Breyer said. “They call it a watershed. Why? Because the country is divided, because feelings are running high, and yet the country, for better or for worse, decided to resolve their differences by this court, laying down a constitutional principle in this case.”
Stewart responded by saying that much has changed in the years since Roe was decided, arguing that states should be allowed to account for new developments.
“The last 30 years, workability, developments in the law, factual developments that states can’t account for,” Stewart said.
While the Supreme Court overturning its own precedent is rare, it has happened before. Perhaps the most famous example of overturned precedent was the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education ruling, which reversed Plessy v. Ferguson and ended segregation under a legal doctrine known as “separate but equal.”
2.Chief Justice Roberts frets about fate of other precedents if court overturns Roe
Chief Justice John Roberts perhaps signaled hesitation to overturn precedent, asking if overturning Roe would lead to more such decisions in the future.
“There are a lot of cases around the time of Roe, not of that magnitude, but the same type of analysis, that that went through exactly the sorts of things we today would say were erroneous,” Roberts said. “If we look at it from today’s perspective, it’s going to be a long list of cases that we’re going to say were wrongly decided.”
Stewart replied that “other controversial areas, or once-controversial areas, are quite settled, clear rules, and don’t have those considerations against them.”
The Mississippi solicitor general added that the court “won’t have to go down that road.”
3. Roberts questions why 15 weeks isn’t enough time to choose whether to abort a baby
But Roberts also questioned the lawyers arguing in favor of striking down the law why 15 weeks is not enough time for a woman to decide to have an abortion.
“If you think that the issue is one of choice — that women should have a choice to terminate their pregnancy — that supposes that there is a point at which they’ve had the fair choice, opportunity to choose,” Roberts said. “And why would 15 weeks be an inappropriate line? Viability, it seems to me, doesn’t have anything to do with choice. But if it really is an issue about choice, why is 15 weeks not enough time?”
Lawyer Julie Rickelman, who argued the case for Center for Reproductive Rights, countered that allowing the Mississippi law to stand would create a “slippery slope” that would lead states to pass even more restrictive abortion laws.
Official portrait of U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John G. Roberts.
“The state has conceded that some women will not be able obtain an abortion before 15 weeks, and this law will bar them from doing so,” she said. “Without viability, there will be no stopping point. States will rush to ban abortion at virtually any point in pregnancy.”
But Roberts noted that most countries ban abortions after 15 weeks, with the United States joining countries such as North Korea and China in permitting abortions later in pregnancy.
4. Alito grills pro-choice lawyer on validity of viability as line for abortion regulations
Justice Samuel Alito took aim at a pro-choice lawyer over whether viability was a logical legal threshold for when abortions should be prohibited.
“What would you say to the argument that has been made many times by people who are pro-choice and pro-life, that the line really doesn’t make any sense — that it is, as Justice Blackman himself described it, arbitrary?” Alito asked Rikelman.
Alito noted that while a woman may still want to terminate a pregnancy after viability, a “fetus has an interest in having a life” both before and after.
“In some people’s view it doesn’t, your honor” Rikelman replied. “It is principled because in ordering the interests at stake, the court had to set a line between conception and birth.”
5. Kavanaugh, Breyer clash on Supreme Court precedent
Justices Brett Kavanaugh and Stephen Breyer had a heated exchange over whether the court should overturn precedent, with Kavanaugh citing examples of when the court has done so in the past and Breyer accusing Kavanaugh of making false equivalencies.
“History tells a somewhat different story, I think, than is sometimes assumed,” Kavanaugh said about stare decisis. “If you think about some of the most important cases in this court’s history … there’s a string of them where the cases overruled precedent.”
“Brown v. Board outlawed separate but equal,” he continued. “Baker v. Carr, which set the stage for one person, one vote. West Coast Hotel, which recognized the state’s authority to regulate business. Miranda v. Arizona, which required police to give warnings … about the right to remain silent. … Lawrence v. Texas said that the state may not prohibit same-sex conduct. Mapp v. Ohio, which held that the exclusionary rule applies to state criminal prosecution.”
Members of the Supreme Court. (Erin Schaff/The New York Times via AP, Pool, File)
Kavanaugh noted that some of those cases were “of the most consequential and important in the court’s history,” yet “the court overruled precedent.”
“They do not include the list that Justice Kavanaugh had here. … There are complex criteria that she’s talking about that link to the position in the rule of law of this court,” Breyer said a few minutes later. “All I would say is you have to read them before beginning to say whether they are overruling or not overruling in the sense meant there calling for special concern.”
With oral arguments out of the way, a decision on the case will likely come in the spring.
Many analysts believe the case is the most consequential abortion litigation in over 40 years, putting the fate of Roe in the hands of a Supreme Court that has undergone enormous changes and currently sits at a 6-3 conservative majority.
SAN FRANCISCO — The first case of the coronavirus omicron variant in the United States was confirmed at 4 a.m. Wednesday after an all-night session by scientists here.
The city’s tightly connected network of public health and university medical center researchers worked together to confirm an infection reported six days earlierwas indeed omicron. As soon as the results came in, they were quickly communicated to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The case began on Nov. 22, when a traveler flew into San Francisco International Airport from South Africa, California Gov. Gavin Newsom said at a news conference.
The person, a San Francisco resident who was not identified, did not develop COVID-19 symptoms until Thanksgiving Day. Two days later, on Nov. 28, they were tested and got the results back the next day. Positive.
Despite feeling ill, they went out of their way to contact the San Francisco Department of Public Health to alert officials about the positive test, and that they had recently been in South Africa.
“They did the right thing and got tested and reported their travel history,” Dr. Grant Colfax, the city’s director of public health, said at the news conference.
The person had received the full two-dose course of the Moderna vaccine but no booster. They had mild symptoms and have recovered but are still self-quarantining. Public health officials have reached out to close contacts, all of whom have so far tested negative, the CDC said.
Because the patient had come from South Africa, which has a large number of known omicron cases, the city’s medical community was on high alert for cases among recent arrivals from that country.
“I heard about it yesterday at about 3 p.m.,” Dr. Charles Chiu said Wednesday. His laboratory at the University of California, San Francisco, did the analysis. Chiu is an infectious disease specialist and director of the UCSF-Abbott Viral Diagnostics and Discovery Center.
A nose swab sample from the patient arrived at 10 p.m. Tuesday, and Chiu’s lab ran a very fast molecular test that looked for what’s known as an S gene dropout, where the spike gene isn’t detected on the test.
The test came back within two hours and showed the person had been infected with a drop-out variant. The S genedropout is found with both the alpha and omicron coronavirus variants, so the test only indicated it might be omicron, but didn’t prove it.
“To confirm this finding, we needed to sequence the viral genome,” said Chiu. Using a pocket-sized gene sequencer, his lab assembled the variant’s entire genome within eight hours.
At 4 a.m. in San Francisco, the results were in and the first case of omicron was discoveredin the United States. The CDC was alerted within two hours.
Officials caution it’s unlikely the case was the country’s actual first, simply the first identified.
“We knew that it was just a matter of time,” said Dr. Anthony Fauci, the U.S. government’s top infectious disease expert.
Vice President Kamala Harris’ chief spokesperson and senior advisor, Symone Sanders, is leaving at the end of the year as Harris continues to struggle with her image in public opinion polls.
Her departure was confirmed by a White House official and by Sanders, but she declined to comment. The 31-year-old has been a high-profile riser in Democratic circles, serving as national spokesperson for Sen. Bernie Sanders’ 2016 presidential campaign and then as a senior advisor in President Biden’s 2020 campaign.
The roles, along with her position with Harris over the last year, have made her a recognizable face on cable news. Sanders was one of Harris’ most trusted advisors and has frequently traveled with the vice president. It is unknown whether she will take another job in the Biden administration; she had been seen initially as a candidate for White House press secretary, the job that is now occupied by Jen Psaki.
A White House official said Biden and Harris “are grateful for Symone’s service and advocacy,” calling her “a valued member of the” White House “who will be missed.”
Sanders is the second senior member of Harris’ communications team to announce her departure at year’s end. Ashley Etienne, Harris’ communications director, is also stepping down.
As the first woman and the first Black and Asian American person to serve as vice president, Harris came into office with unusually high expectations and scrutiny, with many Americans viewing her as the heir to Biden, who at 79 is the oldest president in history.
But many Democrats have voiced concern over perceived gaffes and unforgiving media coverage of Harris, even as they see at least some of the scrutiny as unfair.
Harris is viewed favorably by 41% of voters, compared with 51% who view her unfavorably, according to The Times polling average. Those numbers are only slightly worse than Biden’s, whose standing with voters has also fallen amid inflation and the unrelenting pandemic.
(CNN)A woman who said she was sexually abused by Ghislaine Maxwell and Jeffrey Epstein more than two decades ago testified in court Wednesday that she met Donald Trump when Epstein took her to Mar-a-Lago when she was 14 years old.
Oxford — A football player, a volleyball striker, a captain of the bowling team and an aspiring artist.
Those were the four students tragically killed in Tuesday afternoon’s mass shooting at Oxford High School and who were identified by the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office.
Late Tuesday, authorities said Hana St. Juliana, 14, Madisyn Baldwin, 17, and Tate Myre, 16, were the three students who initially lost their lives following a five-minute rampage at the Oakland County high school. A fourth student died Wednesday morning: Justin Shilling was 17, authorities said.
Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard said their families have been notified and each family has been assigned a deputy to remain as long as they need and “to provide the protection they deserve.”
Myre, a football player and honor roll student, died in a patrol car as a deputy rushed him to a local hospital, Bouchard said in a 10 p.m. Tuesday update on the investigation.
“One of our deputies, due to the severity of wounds, loaded up one of the children in his car and, sadly, that child died in the car,” Bouchard said. “One of our employees who was in the 911 center as part of the team taking the emergency calls, had a relative killed. This touches us all personally, deeply and will for a long time.
“We will leave no stone unturned.”
Shilling was a senior and co-captain of the school’s bowling team and was an employee at Anita’s Kitchen in Lake Orion.
The restaurant posted a tribute to Shilling Wednesday afternoon, saying “he was an exemplary employee, a devoted friend and co-worker, co-captain of his bowling team, and simply a pleasure to be around.”
“Our thoughts are with his family and friends at this difficult time,” the restaurant said, adding that since opening its Lake Orion doors in December 2019, much of its staff has consisted of Oxford High students. “We often marvel at how blessed we are to have such amazing kids as part of our Lake Orion team. Simply put — we would not be a restaurant without them. Our heart aches for them all today, as they begin to heal from this terrible tragedy.”
In online tributes, friends said Baldwin, a senior, was expected to graduate this year. She had already been accepted into several colleges, some with a full scholarship.
“She was an artist who loved to draw, read and write. She was the eldest of three siblings,” friends wrote.
Juliana, a freshman, was the youngest victim killed. She was No. 9 on the Oxford volleyball team and had been playing front row in volleyball since middle school. She also played on the school’s basketball team and made her high school debut the night before she was killed.
The Oxford women’s basketball program paid tribute to St. Juliana on Twitter, writing, “We will never forget your kind heart, silly personality, and passion for the game. Since 6th grade camp you have stayed dedicated to Oxford Basketball, soaking in the game… This season, we play for you Hana.”
When Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald announced Wednesday more than 20 charges against 15-year-old Ethan Crumbley, including murder and terrorism, she noted Juliana was characterized by her father as “one of the happiest and most joyful kids.”
‘A classy young man’
Myre, a junior and atight-end/running backon the football team, played on the varsity since his freshman year. At 6 feet tall, he was honored with a regional football award by the Michigan High School Football Coaches Association in February. He aspired to attend Michigan State University, Grand Valley State University, Wayne State University or Texas A&M University, according to his player profile.
Myre had just returned from a visit to the University of Toledo this past weekend.
“Tate was a great young man with a bright future and beloved by all. You will be missed, Tate,” his team posted in a tribute to him Tuesday.
Shortly after midnight, nearly 30,000 people had signed an online petition to rename the school’s Wildcat Stadium after Myre. By Wednesday evening, it grew to more than 83,000 signatures.
“Tate is not just a hero to his fellow students at Oxford high school but a legend, his act of bravery should be remembered forever and passed down through generations, he put his life in danger to try and help the thousands of other students at Oxford High School,” petition organizer Drake Biggie wrote.
Bouchard said at a Tuesday night press conference he couldn’t confirm how Myre engaged his assailant.
Myre frequently shared video highlights of his football games and recently shared a video from an interview with the D Zone, that covers Michigan high school football. Reflecting on an 0-3 start to the season, he said the team worked hard and had to trust and love one another to recover.
“We started off the season rough, but we didn’t quit,” he said, wearing No. 42 on his white jersey. “We started building week by week and here we are… I play tight-end, little bit of running back and linebacker and I make most calls on defense so I have a big role.”
Former NFL player and Oxford second-year coach Zach Line said “Tate Myre is coming into his own” after the 2020 season opener when Myre used his speed for touchdown receptions of 50 and 25 yards while rushing for two touchdowns in a 34-0 win over L’Anse Creuse North, showing his potential.
Myre worked hard in the off-season to prepare for his junior season, which was capped off by his performance in the district semifinal win over No. 9 Clarkston. He had a 22-yard touchdown catch and then an interception after Clarkston had pulled within 31-28.
“Everything about him from what I’ve heard, and what I saw of him and how he handled himself on the field, he was just a classy young man,” Clarkston head football coach Kurt Richardson said. “He was maybe one of the best, if not the best player in our league (OAA Red) because he played so hard. He was all over the field. It’s so sad what happened. I know the whole community is hurting.”
‘We are all shattered’
Amanda Sierengowski told The Detroit News she was an extended aunt who watched Baldwin grow up. Sierengowski’s sister, Tarah Baldwin, is Baldwin’s aunt by marriage.
Sierengowski recalled Baldwin winning at every card game she played.
“(Baldwin) actually drew my sister’s tattoo, a memory Tarah will cherish forever,” Sierengowski said. “Our entire family is shattered. Tarah, my sister, was Madisyn’s best friend.
“We are all shattered.”
Jennifer Graves Mosqueda, Baldwin’s grandmother, posted to Facebook during the incident Tuesday that while other family members made it out of the school safely, the family went on a search on foot for Madisyn.
At the time of the incident, Baldwin was not answering calls from family, and Mosqueda wrote that she was not in her psychology class, where she was expected to be, during the time of the shootings.
Mosqueda, whom Baldwin called GiGi, wrote early Wednesday that “This beautiful, smart, sweet loving girl was tragically taken from us all today leaving a huge hole in all of our hearts and lives.
“This horrific day could never have been imagined or planned for,” she wrote while linking to Baldwin’s GoFundMe page. “My daughter and son-in-law would never ask for anything during this time, however, I want them to be able to be with each other, their other children and family during this time without worrying about work, bills and arrangements.”
Mosqueda could not be reached for comment.
Updates on the wounded
Seven others were injured in the shooting, including six students and a 47-year-old teacher who had a grazed gunshot wound to the shoulder. In a charging document that Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald filed Wednesday against 15-year-old Ethan Crumbley, the names of the wounded were listed.
The teacher, who was identified in the charging documents as Molly Darnell, has been discharged from the hospital, Bouchard said. Darnell, who had a grazed gunshot wound to her left shoulder, is listed as an English Language Arts coach on the Oxford High website.
The wounded students are Phoebe Arthur, John Asciutto, Riley Franz, Elijah Mueller, Kylie Ossege and Aiden Watson, according to the Prosecutor’s Office. The named students couldn’t be matched with the conditions of anonymous victims listed by the Sheriff’s Office.
As of late Wednesday afternoon, three remain hospitalized, according to the Sheriff’s Office:
A 17-year-old girl with a gunshot wound to the neck who is in stable condition at McLaren Oakland Hospital in Pontiac.
A 17-year-old girl with a gunshot wound to her chest who remains in critical condition at St. Joseph Mercy Oakland in Pontiac.
A 14-year-old girl has improved from critical condition to stable and is off of a ventilator at Hurley Medical Center in Flint after suffering chest and neck gunshot wounds.
Three other students have been released, including a 15-year-old male who suffered a wound to his left leg and a 17-year-old male who was wounded in the hip, according to the Sheriff’s Office. A 14-year-old male was discharged Wednesday afternoon from McLaren Oakland Hospital in Pontiac, officials said.
The White House, meanwhile, has been in touch with state and local authorities offering assistance, Press Secretary Jen Psaki said Wednesday, noting that she would check on whether Biden had reached out to the victims’ families.
“Of course, our condolences — as you hear the president say yesterday — our heart goes out to this community and these families,” Psaki said at a Wednesday’s press briefing. “As a parent myself, you watch this news, this coverage, and it really just sticks with you.”
Oxford — A football player, a volleyball striker, a captain of the bowling team and an aspiring artist.
Those were the four students tragically killed in Tuesday afternoon’s mass shooting at Oxford High School and who were identified by the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office.
Late Tuesday, authorities said Hana St. Juliana, 14, Madisyn Baldwin, 17, and Tate Myre, 16, were the three students who initially lost their lives following a five-minute rampage at the Oakland County high school. A fourth student died Wednesday morning: Justin Shilling was 17, authorities said.
Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard said their families have been notified and each family has been assigned a deputy to remain as long as they need and “to provide the protection they deserve.”
Myre, a football player and honor roll student, died in a patrol car as a deputy rushed him to a local hospital, Bouchard said in a 10 p.m. Tuesday update on the investigation.
“One of our deputies, due to the severity of wounds, loaded up one of the children in his car and, sadly, that child died in the car,” Bouchard said. “One of our employees who was in the 911 center as part of the team taking the emergency calls, had a relative killed. This touches us all personally, deeply and will for a long time.
“We will leave no stone unturned.”
Shilling was a senior and co-captain of the school’s bowling team and was an employee at Anita’s Kitchen in Lake Orion.
The restaurant posted a tribute to Shilling Wednesday afternoon, saying “he was an exemplary employee, a devoted friend and co-worker, co-captain of his bowling team, and simply a pleasure to be around.”
“Our thoughts are with his family and friends at this difficult time,” the restaurant said, adding that since opening its Lake Orion doors in December 2019, much of its staff has consisted of Oxford High students. “We often marvel at how blessed we are to have such amazing kids as part of our Lake Orion team. Simply put — we would not be a restaurant without them. Our heart aches for them all today, as they begin to heal from this terrible tragedy.”
In online tributes, friends said Baldwin, a senior, was expected to graduate this year. She had already been accepted into several colleges, some with a full scholarship.
“She was an artist who loved to draw, read and write. She was the eldest of three siblings,” friends wrote.
Juliana, a freshman, was the youngest victim killed. She was No. 9 on the Oxford volleyball team and had been playing front row in volleyball since middle school. She also played on the school’s basketball team and made her high school debut the night before she was killed.
The Oxford women’s basketball program paid tribute to St. Juliana on Twitter, writing, “We will never forget your kind heart, silly personality, and passion for the game. Since 6th grade camp you have stayed dedicated to Oxford Basketball, soaking in the game… This season, we play for you Hana.”
When Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald announced Wednesday more than 20 charges against 15-year-old Ethan Crumbley, including murder and terrorism, she noted Juliana was characterized by her father as “one of the happiest and most joyful kids.”
‘A classy young man’
Myre, a junior and atight-end/running backon the football team, played on the varsity since his freshman year. At 6 feet tall, he was honored with a regional football award by the Michigan High School Football Coaches Association in February. He aspired to attend Michigan State University, Grand Valley State University, Wayne State University or Texas A&M University, according to his player profile.
Myre had just returned from a visit to the University of Toledo this past weekend.
“Tate was a great young man with a bright future and beloved by all. You will be missed, Tate,” his team posted in a tribute to him Tuesday.
Shortly after midnight, nearly 30,000 people had signed an online petition to rename the school’s Wildcat Stadium after Myre. By Wednesday evening, it grew to more than 83,000 signatures.
“Tate is not just a hero to his fellow students at Oxford high school but a legend, his act of bravery should be remembered forever and passed down through generations, he put his life in danger to try and help the thousands of other students at Oxford High School,” petition organizer Drake Biggie wrote.
Bouchard said at a Tuesday night press conference he couldn’t confirm how Myre engaged his assailant.
Myre frequently shared video highlights of his football games and recently shared a video from an interview with the D Zone, that covers Michigan high school football. Reflecting on an 0-3 start to the season, he said the team worked hard and had to trust and love one another to recover.
“We started off the season rough, but we didn’t quit,” he said, wearing No. 42 on his white jersey. “We started building week by week and here we are… I play tight-end, little bit of running back and linebacker and I make most calls on defense so I have a big role.”
Former NFL player and Oxford second-year coach Zach Line said “Tate Myre is coming into his own” after the 2020 season opener when Myre used his speed for touchdown receptions of 50 and 25 yards while rushing for two touchdowns in a 34-0 win over L’Anse Creuse North, showing his potential.
Myre worked hard in the off-season to prepare for his junior season, which was capped off by his performance in the district semifinal win over No. 9 Clarkston. He had a 22-yard touchdown catch and then an interception after Clarkston had pulled within 31-28.
“Everything about him from what I’ve heard, and what I saw of him and how he handled himself on the field, he was just a classy young man,” Line said. “He was maybe one of the best, if not the best player in our league (OAA Red) because he played so hard. He was all over the field. It’s so sad what happened. I know the whole community is hurting.”
‘We are all shattered’
Amanda Sierengowski told The Detroit News she was an extended aunt who watched Baldwin grow up. Sierengowski’s sister, Tarah Baldwin, is Baldwin’s aunt by marriage.
Sierengowski recalled Baldwin winning at every card game she played.
“(Baldwin) actually drew my sister’s tattoo, a memory Tarah will cherish forever,” Sierengowski said. “Our entire family is shattered. Tarah, my sister, was Madisyn’s best friend.
“We are all shattered.”
Jennifer Graves Mosqueda, Baldwin’s grandmother, posted to Facebook during the incident Tuesday that while other family members made it out of the school safely, the family went on a search on foot for Madisyn.
At the time of the incident, Baldwin was not answering calls from family, and Mosqueda wrote that she was not in her psychology class, where she was expected to be, during the time of the shootings.
Mosqueda, whom Baldwin called GiGi, wrote early Wednesday that “This beautiful, smart, sweet loving girl was tragically taken from us all today leaving a huge hole in all of our hearts and lives.
“This horrific day could never have been imagined or planned for,” she wrote while linking to Baldwin’s GoFundMe page. “My daughter and son-in-law would never ask for anything during this time, however, I want them to be able to be with each other, their other children and family during this time without worrying about work, bills and arrangements.”
Mosqueda could not be reached for comment.
Updates on the wounded
Seven others were injured in the shooting, including six students and a 47-year-old teacher who had a grazed gunshot wound to the shoulder. In a charging document that Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald filed Wednesday against 15-year-old Ethan Crumbley, the names of the wounded were listed.
The teacher, who was identified in the charging documents as Molly Darnell, has been discharged from the hospital, Bouchard said. Darnell, who had a grazed gunshot wound to her left shoulder, is listed as an English Language Arts coach on the Oxford High website.
The wounded students are Phoebe Arthur, John Asciutto, Riley Franz, Elijah Mueller, Kylie Ossege and Aiden Watson, according to the Prosecutor’s Office. The named students couldn’t be matched with the conditions of anonymous victims listed by the Sheriff’s Office.
As of late Wednesday afternoon, three remain hospitalized, according to the Sheriff’s Office:
A 17-year-old girl with a gunshot wound to the neck who is in stable condition at McLaren Oakland Hospital in Pontiac.
A 17-year-old girl with a gunshot wound to her chest who remains in critical condition at St. Joseph Mercy Oakland in Pontiac.
A 14-year-old girl has improved from critical condition to stable and is off of a ventilator at Hurley Medical Center in Flint after suffering chest and neck gunshot wounds.
Three other students have been released, including a 15-year-old male who suffered a wound to his left leg and a 17-year-old male who was wounded in the hip, according to the Sheriff’s Office. A 14-year-old male was discharged Wednesday afternoon from McLaren Oakland Hospital in Pontiac, officials said.
The White House, meanwhile, has been in touch with state and local authorities offering assistance, Press Secretary Jen Psaki said Wednesday, noting that she would check on whether Biden had reached out to the victims’ families.
“Of course, our condolences — as you hear the president say yesterday — our heart goes out to this community and these families,” Psaki said at a Wednesday’s press briefing. “As a parent myself, you watch this news, this coverage, and it really just sticks with you.”
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and health authorities in California confirmed the first case of COVID-19 linked to the newly discovered variant Omicron in the U.S. on Wednesday, saying an individual who had recently returned from South Africa tested positive for the strain.
The traveler was fully vaccinated and is experiencing “mild symptoms that are improving” and has been self-quarantining since testing positive, the CDC said in a statement. The person’s close contacts have been contacted by health authorities and tested negative.
The health agency said the emergence of the variant “emphasizes the importance of vaccination, boosters, and general prevention strategies needed to protect against COVID-19. Everyone 5 and older should get vaccinated boosters are recommended for everyone 18 years and older.”
The U.S. joins more than 20 countries and territories to have spotted at least one case of the strain around the world, since South African health officials sounded the alarm over the variant on November 25. The Biden administration recently classified Omicron as a “variant of concern,” echoing the World Health Organization’s designation over the holiday weekend.
“This is the first confirmed case of COVID-19 caused by the Omicron variant detected in the United States. As all of you know, of course we’ve been discussing this, we knew that it was just a matter of time before the first case of Omicron would be detected in the United States,” Dr. Anthony Fauci, the president’s chief medical adviser, told reporters at a White House briefing.
The first Omicron case
Officials said the person, who has not been identified due to privacy rules, is an adult under the age of 50 who began noticing symptoms of COVID-19 on November 25, a few days after returning from South Africa on November 22. The individual tested positive on November 29.
“The person recently traveled to South Africa and developed symptoms upon their return, and they did the right thing and got tested and reported their travel history,” Dr. Grant Colfax, San Francisco’s director of public health, told reporters on Wednesday.
The person had been fully vaccinated with Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine less than six months ago, California’s governor said on Wednesday, but was not yet eligible to receive a booster shot.
Scientists at the University of California, San Francisco have been sequencing the vast majority of positive tests collected in San Francisco, and had been alerted to the possibility of the possible Omicron case on Tuesday afternoon.
“We were able to confirm the detection of Omicron within five hours and we had most of the genome within eight hours. So, 4 a.m. last night, we actually had assembled most of the genome. We were able to conclusively demonstrate that this was indeed an infection from the Omicron variant,” said Dr. Charles Chiu, professor of laboratory medicine at the university.
Preparing for more
The discovery comes as the Biden administration is mulling tougher restrictions on international travel, part of a new strategy to curb the virus that Mr. Biden plans to announce on Thursday. The CDC has also ramped up efforts to surveil for new cases of Omicron in recent days, including an unplanned expansion of a pilot program that includes San Francisco’s international airport.
On Wednesday ahead of the announcement, the CDC ordered airlines to begin handing over contact information for travelers from eight countries in Southern Africa.
Fauci said he was not aware of any other potential Omicron cases being investigated by the CDC in the country. He said Americans should continue following CDC guidance to prevent the spread of the variant, and urged those who are fully vaccinated to “get boosted now,” saying the extra dose likely conveys some level of protection against the variant.
“There’s every reason to believe that that kind of increase that you get with the boost would be helpful at least in preventing severe disease of a variant like Omicron,” he said. “We may not need a variant-specific boost. We’re preparing for the possibility that we need a variant-specific boost.”
How exactly vaccines perform against the variant remains unclear. Though the Omicron variant shares a number of mutations with other variants of concern that could enable it to be more transmissible and evade the body’s defenses, scientists have cautioned that it could take weeks to verify in test tubes the variant’s risk.
On “Face the Nation” on Sunday, Dr. Scott Gottlieb, a former commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration and a member of Pfizer’s board, conveyed confidence in the vaccines.
“People who have looked closely at this sequence … those individuals feel reasonably confident that three doses of vaccine is going to be protective,” Gottlieb said. “Now, that could give a really strong impetus to trying to get more people boosted.”
The Omicron variant’s emergence in the U.S. comes amid the busy holiday travel season. According to auto club AAA, over 53 million Americans were estimated to have traveled for the Thanksgiving holiday, an increase from last year.
The Food and Drug Administration says current COVID-19 tests will likely remain accurate in detecting infections by the variants, despite a quirk known as “S-Gene Target Failure” that had also been seen in earlier strains. Several labs have said they are using that to prioritize positive tests that may be caused by Omicron for further genetic sequencing, in order to verify which variant caused the infection.
Public health officials have defended the U.S. variant surveillance effort, arguing that the system of public health and commercial labs scaled up by the CDC could detect emerging variants down to 0.01% prevalence in the country.
The CDC currently estimates that the Delta variant remains virtually all circulating virus in the country.
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Following the 2020 presidential election, then-Department of Justice official Jeffrey Clark promised to pursue baseless election fraud claims for then-President Donald Trump.
Yuri Gripas/AP
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Yuri Gripas/AP
Following the 2020 presidential election, then-Department of Justice official Jeffrey Clark promised to pursue baseless election fraud claims for then-President Donald Trump.
Yuri Gripas/AP
The Democratic-led House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol voted Wednesday evening to refer former Trump Justice Department official Jeffrey Clark for criminal contempt of Congress.
The panel said Clark, who had promised to pursue baseless election fraud claims, shirked his legal obligation to answer questions tied to the deadly insurrection.
The nine-member committee, made up of seven Democrats and two Republicans, voted unanimously in favor of the referral.
Committee Chair Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., said in remarks ahead of the vote: “He chose this path. He knew what consequences he might face if he did so. This committee and this House must insist on accountability in the face of that sort of defiance. We must honor the oath we took to support and defend the Constitution.”
Ahead of the vote, Thompson said Clark had requested the chance to come in and appear before the panel to assert his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. Thompson said the committee will allow it on Saturday, but they were still moving forward with the contempt referral.
The panel vote sends the measure to the full Democratic-led House for a vote. If the chamber approves it, the referral would then be sent on to federal law enforcement to investigate and potentially pursue charges.
It marks the second such case for the committee, after referring ex-Trump strategist Steve Bannon in October for defying a subpoena outright. Three weeks after the House approved the referral, Bannon was indicted by the Justice Department and is now fighting his contempt of Congress charges.
“I think it’s a very, very strong case, particularly in light of the fact that his superiors at the department have testified, and so his obstruction stands out all the more,” California Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff, a member of the panel, said Wednesday ahead of the vote on the Clark referral. “So I think he has a very weak argument. [I] hope the Justice Department moves as quickly as it did on Bannon.”
Clark and his attorney have not responded to requests for comment.
What is Jeffrey Clark’s role here?
In Clark’s case, he appeared with his attorney before the panel in early November, but said he was immune from answering their questions because of various arguments of legal privilege.
After that Nov. 5 meeting with the committee, Thompson said he rejected Clark’s claims, and noted he had a short window to reconsider or face the consequences.
Clark was a key figure in a recent Senate report detailing Trump’s attempts to enlist the Justice Department in his efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election.
The report said Clark proposed delivery of a letter to Georgia state lawmakers and others to push for a delay in certifying election results and recommended a press conference announcing the DOJ was investigating allegations of voter fraud, despite a lack of evidence.
“We’ve been clear and consistent throughout: Willful defiance of the committee will have consequences,” California Democratic Rep. Pete Aguilar, a member of the panel, said ahead of Wednesday’s meeting. “We’ve shown that with Mr. Clark, we’ve shown that with Mr. Bannon, and we’re not afraid to exercise it.”
Why the committee went this route with Clark
Members of the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol.
J. Scott Applewhite/AP
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J. Scott Applewhite/AP
Members of the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol.
J. Scott Applewhite/AP
On Tuesday evening, the panel released more than a dozen exhibits in its contempt report for Clark, including the first publicly released transcript that shows his attorney rejecting responses on his client’s behalf because of executive privilege.
Clark attorney Harry MacDougald repeatedly told the panel his client would assert executive privilege and other immunity with respect to his testimony and documents.
“We do not intend to answer any questions or produce any documents today,” MacDougald told the panel at their Nov. 5 meeting.
MacDougald went on to say that Clark could also claim immunity through law enforcement and attorney-client privileges, as well as other legal shields.
“Mr. Clark finds himself in a position of having worked for a president who has asserted executive privilege, giving him a letter asserting executive privilege,” MacDougald said. “And therefore, as his lawyer, I can’t allow him to be exposed to the risk of guessing where that line is going to be drawn. And so, for now, we are standing on executive privilege.”
Since he declined to answer the panel’s questions, Clark faced challenges in his privilege claims, several legal analysts said.
Jonathan Shaub, a University of Kentucky law professor and a former attorney at the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel, noted the Justice Department already authorized Clark to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee (Clark ultimately did not agree to be voluntarily interviewed in that case).
Clark was a member of the Justice Department on Jan. 6 and not the White House, where executive privilege claims can protect presidential advisers. It’s also unclear if Trump directly told Clark not to cooperate with the Jan. 6 panel as he did with former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and other advisers, Shaub said.
After some back and forth with the committee, Meadows has since said he’ll appear before the committee to answer non-privileged questions.
For Clark, his attorney claimed Trump directed him not to cooperate in a letter, which was attached to a series of immunity claims shared with the panel. However, the committee disagreed, arguing Trump in fact greenlighted Clark’s testimony in that same Aug. 2 letter — sent on Trump’s behalf by attorney and former Georgia Republican Rep. Doug Collins.
MacDougald also confirmed he and his client were in receipt of a July letter from the Justice Department indicating that executive privilege does not apply to his immunity claims.
Norm Eisen, a former House impeachment lawyer, noted that by Clark at least declining to testify in person, he bought himself more time on a contempt referral than Bannon.
“Now, Clark to his credit showed up,” Eisen said. “When you show up — unless you have a legally valid reason not to answer questions — you have to answer the questions. And he didn’t.”
Eisen noted that Clark was somewhat in a similar boat as Meadows.
Over the last decade, Ms. Abrams has risen quickly from toiling voting rights activist and Democratic state legislator in the Republican bastion of Georgia to a household political name nationally.
At the end of 2013, she founded the New Georgia Project, a nonprofit voting rights group, which claimed to have registered more than 200,000 voters in the run-up to her candidacy for governor in 2018. Before the 2020 election, Ms. Abrams leveraged both the New Georgia Project and her second organization, Fair Fight Action, to expand registration efforts.
By last year’s election, the groups said they had registered roughly 800,000 voters in Georgia, and Democrats credited them with helping lay the groundwork for flipping the state blue at the presidential level. Two Democratic victories in Georgia’s Senate runoff in January only enhanced Ms. Abrams’s status among Democratic voters, complete with a new mantra: “Trust Black women.”
“I appreciate the necessity of that battle cry,” she said. “And in my approach, in Georgia in particular, Black women have been instrumental. But I chafe at this idea that we then objectify one group as both savior and as responsible party” if Democrats lose elections.
Voting rights will again become a dominant electoral issue in a state that has a long history of discrimination at the polls, and that has sought to restrict voting access in recent years. From 2012 to 2018, for example, Georgia shuttered more than 214 voting precincts around the state, according to an investigation by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Of the 53 counties that have closed voting locations, more than half have significant African American populations, making up at least 25 percent of residents.
Ms. Abrams sued the state of Georgia after her loss to Mr. Kemp in 2018. The lawsuit is ongoing, and a trial date has been set for next year.
A moderate Republican with enduring support among Democrats and independents, Baker was the GOP’s best hope of holding onto the governor’s office in deep-blue Massachusetts and Polito was widely seen as his heir apparent. But Baker, who eschews national politics, has been increasingly at odds with his own party as it coalesced around former President Donald Trump. Running for reelection presented plenty of obstacles, including a conservative primary challenger backed by the former president and attacks from across the political spectrum on his handling of the coronavirus pandemic.
“We both love the work,” Baker said while briefing reporters Wednesday afternoon, adding, “focusing on campaigning and focusing on politics and on all the things that come with that — while certainly appropriate and necessary to anybody who chooses to run in 2022 — just seemed to us like a big step away from what we should be focused on.”
Those close to Baker, who turned 65 last month, had recently described a two-term governor torn over whether to seek what in Massachusetts would be an unprecedented third consecutive term. He kept operatives, donors and observers guessing late into the year even as he ramped up fundraising throughout the fall after pausing those activities for most of the pandemic, holding an event at a Boston restaurant just last week. The governor was actively debating his next move heading into Thanksgiving and huddled with family over the holiday before communicating his decision to allies shortly after, according to a person familiar with his conversations.
Baker said his ability to win a contest wasn’t a fundamental question for him. Instead, he said, “every race I’ve ever entered, I entered because I believe I would be the best person to do the job.”
But the math didn’t look so good for a governor who’s claimed to be a “data guy.”
The stratospheric approval ratings Baker enjoyed throughout most of his seven years in office took a dip during Covid-19, and he faced some of the worst criticism of his gubernatorial career over the state’s initially rocky vaccine rollout. One recent survey showed Baker with higher job approval ratings among Democrats and independents than among members of his own party. Other recent surveys from Democrat-aligned firms showed him trailing Trump-endorsed former state Rep. Geoff Diehl in a Republican primary and suggested the incumbent had a better path forward as an independent rather than continuing with his own party — though Baker repeatedly rejected the idea of deserting his party.
He said he blanked his ballot for president in 2016 and 2020 so as not to vote for Trump, and emerged as a persistent critic of the president’s handling of the pandemic. Baker also supported Trump’s second impeachment and rejected the former president’s false claims that the 2020 election was rife with fraud — prompting direct attacks from Trump and the endorsement of Diehl for governor. Baker has increasingly and publicly clashed with the pro-Trump chair of his state party as well, a bitter intraparty feud that would have muddied the Republican primary waters and provided ample fodder for the Democrats next year.
But Baker was emphatic Wednesday that he wasn’t “shaken” by Trump’s endorsement of Diehl — as state party Chair Jim Lyons had suggested in a statement — “not at all.”
Baker’s decision not to seek reelection left some of his allies in Massachusetts Republican circles “scrambling” to find another candidate to step up as a moderate standard-bearer against Diehl, former Massachusetts GOP Chair Jennifer Nassour said.
The Republican Governors Association had wanted to keep Baker on its team. RGA officials said they hoped Baker would run again as a Republican during the group’s meeting in Phoenix last month. At the event, Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan mentioned himself and Baker as examples of effective Republican leaders in Democratic states. Baker featured prominently in the RGA’s latest video touting GOP governors — right after the party’s star du jour, Virginia Gov.-elect Glenn Youngkin. And the RGA posted a local news clip of Baker supporting small businesses on its YouTube page just last week.
RGA co-chair Gov. Doug Ducey of Arizona said he had “no doubt [Baker] would have easily been re-elected” in a statement Wednesday that also lauded Baker’s management of the pandemic and the state’s economic recovery. He made no mention of Diehl.
Baker’s retirement will likely rocket Massachusetts up the target board for national Democrats, who are eager to reclaim some of the governorships held by Republicans in otherwise deep-blue territory. Democrats argued that the state would be competitive well before Baker announced plans to retire — despite his generally high approval ratings — and are eager to capitalize on the opening.
“Not having to run against an incumbent makes it a really strong likelihood that a Democrat will win,” Massachusetts Democratic Party Chair Gus Bickford said in a phone interview. “But we have to focus on the basics and the fact that the people come first — that’s what the Democratic party stands for.”
All eyes quickly turned to state Attorney General Maura Healey, who’s widely considered the Democrats’ best chance to reclaim the corner office. She played coy in a television appearance and in a statement Wednesday, lauding Baker as a “valued partner” and saying her 2022 decision was for “another day.”
The Democratic Governors Association has spoken to Healey and the three other progressive Democrats already in the race — state Sen. Sonia Chang-Diaz, former state Sen. Ben Downing and Harvard professor Danielle Allen.
Healey’s decision is likely to spur movement within the state’s deep Democratic bench for down-ballot races as well, and could attract other candidates for the top of the ticket if she passes on the governor’s race.
Labor Secretary Marty Walsh is weighing whether to return home to run, according to two sources with knowledge of his deliberations. Daniel Koh, his chief of staff, is “seriously considering” a run for lieutenant governor, according to a source familiar with his thinking, setting up the potential for a Walsh-Koh ticket.
Other big names were just as quickly shot down for governor: former Sen. Mo Cowan and former Rep. Joe Kennedy III, both Democrats, among them.
Baker’s retirement will also likely further Trump’s mission to increasingly mold the broader GOP in his own image as he has seeks to squeeze out perceived enemies in the party and install loyalists across the country.
One of his earliest post-presidency endorsements was backing his former press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders in the open race for the Arkansas governor, making her an eventual field-clearer and effectively governor-in-waiting in the deep-red state.
But he has also waded into some of the most competitive races on the map. He made an early endorsement of Kari Lake, a former news anchor who has embraced Trump’s election conspiracies, in Arizona, one of the toughest defensive states for Republicans. Ducey is term-limited, and Trump’s endorsement of Lake was in part a thump to the outgoing governor, who the former president has repeatedly clashed with over not aiding him in overturning his narrow loss in the state in 2020.
Trump has also targeted other incumbent governors seeking reelection. He has made an anti-endorsement of sorts of Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, not yet backing a candidate in the primary to challenge him but repeatedly savaging Kemp for similarly not supporting his bid to install himself for a second term in the White House despite his loss. Trump’s team is trying to goad former Sen. David Perdue into challenging Kemp.
Trump also endorsed Idaho Lt. Gov. Janice McGeachin’s primary challenge against incumbent Idaho Gov. Brad Little. Trump’s endorsement was a shock because Little has not publicly crossed him and Trump had thanked Little at a gala just days before the endorsement. The endorsement against Little could present Republicans across the country with an existential challenge, because deference to the former president might not be enough to stop him from derailing their political futures. The RGA has said it will support its incumbents, regardless of who Trump backs.
Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, another Republican who has prominently bucked Trump, is term-limited, and Trump has already endorsed a state lawmaker who comes from the MAGA wing of the party to try to replace him. Hogan has thrown his support behind Kelly Schulz, his state commerce secretary, to succeed him, but Democrats are bullish about the state despite a crowded primary.
Matt Finn reports the latest on Darrell Brooks at he makes his first court appearance on ‘Special Report’.
WAUKESHA, Wis. – EXCLUSIVE: Darrell Brooks Jr. has spent the last 10 days locked up in a Wisconsin jail cell after allegedly mowing through the barricades and into revelers at the Waukesha Christmas parade, killing six people and injuring 62.
Now he feels “dehumanized,” he told Fox News Digital Wednesday in his first remarks to the media, seemingly surprised that he had visitors.
“I just feel like I’m being monster – demonized,” Brooks, 39, said during a brief video visit in Waukesha County Jail – a stone’s throw from where tragedy struck over a week earlier.
A lineup of multiple mugshots showing Waukesha suspect Darrell Brooks over the years.(Waukesha PD/AP)
Darrell Brooks, charged with killing five people and injuring nearly 50 after plowing through a Christmas parade with his sport utility vehicle on November 21, appears in Waukesha County Court in Waukesha, Wisconsin, U.S. November 23, 2021.(Mark Hoffman/Pool via REUTERS)
Darrell Brooks, center, is escorted out of the courtroom after making his initial appearance, Tuesday in Waukesha County Court in Waukesha, Wisconsin. (Mark Hoffman/Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel via AP)
Waukesha parade suspect Darrell Brooks arrives in court for his arraignment.( )
Wearing a sleeveless green jail jumpsuit and his hair in braids, the soft-spoken accused killer offered no details about what prompted the carnage.
The two Fox News reporters on the other side of the video screen marked the first visitors he’s seen since the Nov. 21 night of horror. Brooks appeared calm, lucid and took time to answer each question – even repeating reporters’ questions and answers at times.
“I just feel like I’m being monster – demonized…”
Not even his mother has dropped by, he said. Earlier in the day, she released a statement on behalf of the family decrying Wisconsin’s criminal justice system for failing her son, a longtime felon with a 50-page rap sheet detailing domestic violence, firearms, drugs and other convictions in Wisconsin, according to documents obtained by Fox News Digital.
Brooks is also a registered child sex offender in Nevada and served time in Georgia for beating his ex, records show.
Still, Brooks said he was “very” close with his mother. He hasn’t spoken to any family since the parade attack but they talked earlier that day, he said. He said he was no longer staying at the address listed in city records as being his residence.
Just over one mile from the jail, Brooks allegedly plowed his red Ford SUV through a throng of paradegoers out taking part an annual holiday celebration that had been canceled last year due to the coronavirus pandemic.
After a few minutes of conversation, shortly after he learned his mother had released a statement on his mental health, Brooks put down the phone and rose from his chair. Two flanking corrections officers shielded him from view, but the sound of what may have been sobbing rattled the receiver.
Brooks allegedly plowed his red Ford SUV through a throng of paradegoers out taking part an annual holiday celebration.(Jim Vondruska/Getty Images)
Deadly Christmas parade in Waukesha, Wisconsin (Credit: @J_Woynilko)(@J_Woynilko)
A police car is seen at Main Street in downtown Waukesha, as it’s blocked off after a car plowed through a holiday parade in Waukesha, Wisconsin, U.S., November 22, 2021. REUTERS/Cheney Orr( )
People hold candles and embrace during a vigil in Cutler Park on November 22, 2021 in Waukesha, Wisconsin. (Photo by Jim Vondruska/Getty Images)( )
(Photo by Jim Vondruska/Getty Images)
(Photo by Jim Vondruska/Getty Images)
People hold candles and embrace during a vigil in Cutler Park on November 22, 2021 in Waukesha, Wisconsin. (Photo by Jim Vondruska/Getty Images)( )
People hold candles during a vigil in Cutler Park on November 22, 2021 in Waukesha, Wisconsin. (Photo by Jim Vondruska/Getty Images)( )
People hold candles during a vigil in Cutler Park on November 22, 2021 in Waukesha, Wisconsin. (Photo by Jim Vondruska/Getty Images)( )
People hold candles during a vigil in Cutler Park on November 22, 2021 in Waukesha, Wisconsin. (Photo by Jim Vondruska/Getty Images)( )
People hold candles and embrace during a vigil in Cutler Park on Monday in Waukesha, Wisconsin. (Jim Vondruska/Getty Images)
Waukesha Police officials have said they were responding to what they believe was a related report of a domestic incident nearby, but were not able to fully respond before being diverted to early reports of the parade tragedy.
The six victims range in age from 8 to 81 years old, and have been identified as Jackson Sparks, 8; Tamara Durand, 52; Jane Kulich, 52; LeAnna Owen, 71; Virginia Sorenson, 79; and Wilhelm, 81.
During his Nov. 23 court appearance in connection with the alleged crimes, Brooks cried, and at times sobbed audibly, as Court Commissioner Kevin Costello and District Attorney Susan Opper recounted the night’s horrific events.
Five adult victims and one child were killed in the Waukesha parade attack.
Prosecutors have charged him with six counts of intentional first-degree homicide. He is being held on $5 million cash bail and faces up to life in prison if convicted on all counts.
Only the top half of his face was visible until he ended the call and stood up. He returned to his cell. The guards shut down the monitor. Brooks had nothing more to say, but he peered out from behind his cell door until the feed cut out.
A spokesperson for Brooks’ attorney declined to comment.
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