More on the fight over abortion access in the U.S.
The latest: On Dec. 1, the Supreme Court heard arguments in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Center, a case from Mississippi that legal observers say could weaken or overturn the legal right to an abortion established by Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey. A ruling is expected sometime in 2022.
Amid the spread of the Omicron coronavirus variant, the Biden administration intends to toughen testing requirements for international travelers coming to the US, including both vaccinated and unvaccinated people.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced in a statement on Tuesday that officials are working on a plan that would require international travelers to be tested for Covid-19 within a day before their flight to the US. Currently, fully vaccinated travelers can test for Covid-19 up to three days before their trip.
“CDC is working to modify the current Global Testing Order for travel as we learn more about the Omicron variant; a revised order would shorten the timeline for required testing for all international air travelers to one day before departure to the United States,” said the agency.
Details for the updated testing requirement are still in the works. The new testing protocols will be finalized before Thursday, when Joe Biden will give a speech about the US’s plan to control the Covid-19 spread during the winter months, according to a senior official who added that current details could still change.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the shifting scenario, said additional options that were being considered included testing post-travel and even a possible self-quarantine requirement.
The CDC director, Rochelle Walensky, had said on Tuesday: “CDC is evaluating how to make international travel as safe as possible, including pre-departure testing closer to the time of flight and considerations around additional post-arrival testing and self-quarantines.”
Currently, the CDC recommends post-arrival testing three to five days after landing in the US from overseas and for unvaccinated travelers to self-quarantine, but both actions are voluntary with participation believed to be low.
The changes in international travel requirements come just weeks after the US reopened its borders to more international travelers on non-essential journeys, on 8 November, notably for neighbors Canada and Mexico.
With Omicron cases now confirmed in North America, the US president has been working to temper concern, saying in his Thursday remarks: “I’ll be putting forward a detailed strategy outlining how we’re going to fight Covid this winter – not with shutdowns or lockdowns but with more widespread vaccinations, boosters, testing and more.”
When reporters asked if he would consult with other world leaders before making changes in travel requirements, which his predecessor had not done, Biden said: “Unlike Trump I don’t shock our allies.”
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 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.
“After several months of discussion with our families, we have decided not to seek reelection in 2022,” Baker and Polito wrote. “This was an extremely difficult decision for us. We love the work, and we especially respect and admire the people of this wonderful Commonwealth. Serving as Governor and Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts has been the most challenging and fulfilling jobs we’ve ever had. We will forever be grateful to the people of this state for giving us this great honor.”
Those close to Baker, who just turned 65, 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 one 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 in a Boston-area radio interview earlier this week his calculus wasn’t about “can I win or not” but whether he has “the will, the desire and the agenda that I believe would be in the state’s best interest, and the energy and commitment to follow through and deliver on it.”
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.
Still, the Republican Governors Association wanted 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.”
Three progressive Democrats have already been running for governor for months — 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.
One name who quickly cropped up for lieutenant governor was Dan Koh, a former congressional hopeful who is chief of staff to Labor Secretary Marty Walsh and served under him when he was mayor of Boston. Koh is “seriously considering” a run, according to a source familiar with his thinking.
Other 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.
Donald Trump tested positive for Covid-19 three days before his first debate against Joe Biden, the former president’s fourth and last chief of staff has revealed in a new book.
Mark Meadows also writes that though he knew each candidate was required “to test negative for the virus within seventy two hours of the start time … Nothing was going to stop [Trump] from going out there.”
Trump, Meadows says in the book, returned a negative result from a different test shortly after the positive.
Nonetheless, the stunning revelation of an unreported positive test follows a year of speculation about whether Trump, then 74 years old, had the potentially deadly virus when he faced Biden, 77, in Cleveland on 29 September – and what danger that might have presented.
Trump announced he had Covid on 2 October. The White House said he announced that result within an hour of receiving it. He went to hospital later that day.
Meadows’ memoir, The Chief’s Chief, will be published next week by All Seasons Press, a conservative outlet. The Guardian obtained a copy on Tuesday – the day Meadows reversed course and said he would cooperate with the House committee investigating the deadly Capitol attack of 6 January.
In a statement on Wednesday, Trump called Meadows’ claims “Fake News”.
Meadows says Trump’s positive result on 26 September was a shock to a White House which had just staged a triumphant Rose Garden ceremony for the supreme court nominee Amy Coney Barrett – an occasion now widely considered to have been a Covid super-spreader event.
Despite the president looking “a little tired” and suspecting a “slight cold”, Meadows says he was “content” that Trump travelled that evening to a rally in Middletown, Pennsylvania.
But as Marine One lifted off, Meadows writes, the White House doctor called.
“Stop the president from leaving,” Meadows says Sean Conley told him. “He just tested positive for Covid.”
It wasn’t possible to stop Trump but when he called from Air Force One, his chief of staff gave him the news.
“Mr President,” Meadows said, “I’ve got some bad news. You’ve tested positive for Covid-19.”
Trump’s reply, the devout Christian writes, “rhyme[d] with ‘Oh spit, you’ve gotta be trucking lidding me’”.
Meadows writes of his surprise that such a “massive germaphobe” could have contracted Covid, given precautions including “buckets of hand sanitiser” and “hardly [seeing] anyone who ha[d]n’t been rigorously tested”.
Meadows says the positive test had been done with an old model kit. He told Trump the test would be repeated with “the Binax system, and that we were hoping the first test was a false positive”.
After “a brief but tense wait”, Meadows called back with news of the negative test. He could “almost hear the collective ‘Thank God’ that echoed through the cabin”, he writes.
Meadows says Trump took that call as “full permission to press on as if nothing had happened”. His chief of staff, however, “instructed everyone in his immediate circle to treat him as if he was positive” throughout the Pennsylvania trip.
“I didn’t want to take any unnecessary risks,” Meadows writes, “but I also didn’t want to alarm the public if there was nothing to worry about – which according to the new, much more accurate test, there was not.”
Meadows writes that audience members at the rally “would never have known that anything was amiss”.
The public, however, was not told of the president’s tests.
On Sunday 27 September, the first day between the tests and the debate, Meadows says Trump did little – except playing golf in Virginia and staging an event for military families at which he “spoke about the value of sacrifice”.
Trump later said he might have been infected at that event, thanks to people “within an inch of my face sometimes, they want to hug me and they want to kiss me. And they do. And frankly, I’m not telling them to back up.”
In his book, Meadows does not mention that Trump also held a press conference indoors, in the White House briefing room, the same day.
On Monday 28 September, Trump staged an event at which he talked with business leaders and looked inside “the cab of a new truck”. He also held a Rose Garden press conference “on the work we had all been doing to combat Covid-19”.
“Somewhat ironically, considering his circumstances”, Meadows writes, Trump spoke about a new testing strategy “supposed to give quicker, more accurate readings about whether someone was positive or not.”
Meadows rubs his head as doctors speak about Trump’s health in Bethesda on 4 October. Photograph: Erin Scott/Reuters
The White House had still not told the public Trump tested positive and then negative two days before.
On debate day, 29 September, Meadows says, Trump looked slightly better – “emphasis on the word slightly”.
“His face, for the most part at least, had regained its usual light bronze hue, and the gravel in his voice was gone. But the dark circles under his eyes had deepened. As we walked into the venue around five o’clock in the evening, I could tell that he was moving more slowly than usual. He walked like he was carrying a little extra weight on his back.”
Trump gave a furious and controversial performance, continually hectoring Biden to the point the Democrat pleaded: “Will you shut up, man? This is so unpresidential.”
The host, Chris Wallace of Fox News, later said Trump was not tested before the debate because he arrived late. Organisers, Wallace said, relied on the honor system.
The White House had not said Trump had tested positive and negative three days before.
Three days later, on 2 October, Trump announced by tweet that he and his wife, Melania Trump, were positive.
That evening, Meadows helped Trump make his way to hospital. During his stay, Meadows helped orchestrate stunts meant to show the president was in good health. Trump recovered, but it has been reported that his case of Covid was much more serious than the White House ever let on.
Stacey Abrams, the Georgia Democrat and former candidate for governor of the state who built a national profile as a voting rights advocate, announced on Wednesday that she would run again for governor in 2022, setting up a high-profile clash in next year’s elections.
“I’m running for Governor because opportunity in our state shouldn’t be determined by ZIP code, background or access to power,” Ms. Abrams said in a tweet, which was accompanied by an announcement video with the slogan “One Georgia.”
If her campaign is successful, Ms. Abrams would become the first Black governor of Georgia and the first Black woman to serve as governor of any state. In 2018, Ms. Abrams, a former minority leader of the Georgia House of Representatives, lost to Brian Kemp, a Republican, by about 55,000 votes.
The decision from Ms. Abrams, who has come to embody the state’s changing racial and political makeup and was previously considered to be President Biden’s running mate, sets up a likely rematch with Governor Kemp, who has already announced his campaign for a second term.
(CNN)School bells were replaced by police sirens Tuesday after a mass shooting at Oxford High School in Oxford, Michigan, left three students dead, officials said.
BERLIN, Dec 1 (Reuters) – Four people were injured when an old aircraft bomb exploded at a bridge near Munich’s busy main train station on Wednesday, police said on Twitter, raising the number of wounded from three earlier.
The Munich fire brigade said one of the people was seriously injured.
More than 2,000 tonnes of live bombs and munitions are discovered each year in Germany, more than 70 years after the end of World War Two.
British and American warplanes pummelled the country with 1.5 million tonnes of bombs that killed 600,000 people. Officials estimate that 15% of the bombs failed to explode, some of which were buried six meters (20 feet) deep in the ground.
The explosion happened as the site was being drilled to build a tunnel, police said, adding the area had been cordoned off.
“There is no danger outside this area,” police said.
Explosives experts were summoned to the site to examine the remains of the bomb, the fire brigade said.
Due to the blast, rail travel to and from the main train station was suspended, according to rail operator Deutsche Bahn. It was not clear when rail traffic would resume.
World War Two bombs are regularly discovered during construction work in Germany and are usually defused by experts or destroyed in controlled explosions. However, there have been cases of deadly blasts in the past.
Three police explosives experts in Goettingen were killed in 2010 while preparing to defuse a 1,000-pound bomb, and in 2014 a construction worker in Euskirchen was killed when his power shovel struck a buried 4,000-pound bomb. In 1994, three Berlin construction workers were killed in a similar accident.
In 2012, a fireball lit up the sky in Munich, causing millions of euros of damage to 17 buildings, when authorities had to detonate a deteriorated 500-pound bomb. In 2015, a 1,000-pound bomb ripped a three-meter-deep hole in a motorway near Offenbach in central Germany.
Gov. Charlie Baker of Massachusetts, a moderate Republican who defied former President Donald J. Trump during his two terms, announced on Wednesday that he would not seek re-election next year.
“After several months of discussion with our families, we have decided not to seek re-election in 2022,” Mr. Baker and his lieutenant governor, Karyn Polito, wrote in a letter to supporters.
Mr. Baker, 65, who is more popular in polling among Democrats and independent voters than he is among fellow Republicans, confronted a Trump-backed primary challenge and a general election in which he could have faced the state’s popular attorney general, Maura Healey, a Democrat.
A former health care executive, Mr. Baker is a popular, even-keeled, nonideological New England Republican who has been a proponent of abortion rights, same-sex marriage and some gun control measures. He would have been the favorite had he decided to run. But he was also a relic of the pre-Trump Republican Party that now exists mostly in television green rooms and Washington think tanks.
(CNN)School bells were replaced by police sirens Tuesday after a mass shooting at Oxford High School in Oxford, Michigan, left three students dead, officials said.
Currently, air travelers to the United States who haven’t recently recovered from the virus – including U.S. citizens – must take a negative viral test before boarding their flight, with fully vaccinated travelers required to take it no more than three days before departure.
But the CDC said Tuesday that it is “working to modify” the global testing order to give all international air travelers just one day to take a pre-departure test, as first reported by The Washington Post.
“This strengthens already robust protocols in place for international travel,” the CDC said in a statement.
CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said during an earlier Tuesday news conference that the CDC was “evaluating how to make international travel as safe as possible,” which could mean shortening the pre-departure testing window or adding additional post-arrival testing and a self-quarantine period.
The agency says it continues to recommend all travelers get a COVID-19 viral test three to five days after arrival, and that any unvaccinated travelers should quarantine upon arrival.
The U.S. is also working to stem the spread of the virus with new travel bans against eight countries that went into effect Monday. The omicron variant has not yet been detected in the U.S.
Also in the news:
►226 omicron cases have been confirmed in at least 21 countries, including Britain, 11 European Union nations, Australia, Japan, Brazil, Canada and Israel.
📈Today’s numbers: The U.S. has recorded more than 48 million confirmed COVID-19 cases and more than 780,000 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University data. Global totals: More than 262 million cases and 5.2 million deaths. Nearly 197 million Americans — roughly 59.4% of the population — are fully vaccinated, according to the CDC.
📘What we’re reading: Are travel bans worth it? They could slow the spread of omicron but they have repercussions, experts say.
Omicron variant’s spread shows need to vaccinate the world
As the new omicron coronavirus variant spreads across the world, advocates of more widespread vaccinations are having an “I told you so” moment. For a year since COVID-19 vaccines first became available, a small but vocal group has warned about the need to protect the most vulnerable around the world. People in richer countries will not be safe, even if fully vaccinated, until those in poorer nations – which make up more than half the world’s 8 billion population – also have the benefit of vaccines, they’ve argued.
“The emergence of the omicron variant has fulfilled, in a precise way, the predictions of the scientists who warned that the elevated transmission of the virus in areas with limited access to vaccine would speed its evolution,” Dr. Richard Hatchett, told a special session of the World Health Assembly this week. Read more here.
Evangelist, vaccine doubter Marcus Lamb dies from coronavirus
Marcus Lamb, CEO of the evangelical Christian-based Daystar Television Network who advocated against vaccines, has died following a bout with COVID-19.
“It’s with a heavy heart we announce that Marcus Lamb, president and founder of Daystar Television Network, went home to be with the Lord this morning,” the network tweeted Tuesday. “The family asks that their privacy be respected as they grieve this difficult loss. Please continue to lift them up in prayer.”
Lamb’s wife, Joni, said last week her husband was trying alternative treatments without success. Lamb’s son, Jonathan, had described his father’s illness as “spiritual attack from the enemy” because of his advocacy against vaccines and support for alternate treatments.
Some hospitals reaching full capacity, elective surgeries could be halted
Officials from Rochester Regional Health and the University of Rochester Medical Center in New York state have joined a growing list of hospitals across the U.S. and around the world warning that their facilities had reached full capacity and that emergency departments are stressed. In the Rochester area, hospital leaders said they were weighing whether they could continue performing elective procedures and surgeries. Dr. Michael Apostolakos, Chief Medical Officer for Strong Memorial and Highland Hospitals, said the majority of the COVID-19 patients requiring hospitalization were unvaccinated.
“A significant number of people are refusing the vaccines, and our community is paying the price,” Apostolakos said. “Cases are continuing to rise with no end in sight.
– Sean Lahman, Rochester Democrat and Chronicle
Economy could take slight hit from omicron variant in 2022, experts say
The omicron coronavirus variant could have a moderate impact on the U.S. economy next year as it hurts consumer spending and worsens labor shortages and supply chain bottlenecks, intensifying already-high inflation, top economists say.
It’s too early to pinpoint how omicron will affect economic growth because scientists are just starting to assess the toll it could take on global health. But under one likely middle-ground scenario laid out by some top economists, the strain could be more infectious but not significantly more virulent than the delta variant. And it could lead to fewer government-imposed restrictions on businesses.
If that’s the case, omicron — or another similar variant — would cut economic growth next year by half a percentage point to 4.3% and lead to the creation of several hundred thousand fewer jobs, estimates Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody’s Analytics.
That would be less than Moody’s projected growth of 5.5% this year — highest since the early 1980s — but still a historically strong figure as the nation continues to dig itself out of the pandemic-induced downturn.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average tumbled 905 points, or 2.5%, on Friday, largely on worries over omicron, but it closed up 236 points Monday before sliding again in mid-morning trading Tuesday.
It was an emotional day at the sex-trafficking trial of British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell as one of disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein’s alleged victims testified against Maxwell.
Taking the stand as “Jane” to protect her identity, the first victim to testify in Maxwell’s trial said she was 14 and frozen in fear during her first sexual encounter with Epstein.
She said she met Epstein and Maxwell in 1994 while eating ice cream at a summer arts camp in Michigan. She told a packed court that Maxwell befriended her and then would sometimes be in the room during the sexual abuse that went on for years.
“She seemed very casual, like it was normal,” She said, with Maxwell just a few feet away at the defense table. “But it did not seem normal to me.”
“Jane” fought back tears when she described flying from her Home in Palm Beach to New Mexico, where she said she saw Maxwell and was told Epstein wanted to see her.
“I felt my heart sinking into my stomach because I didn’t want to see him,” she said as her voice cracked.
Maxwell is charged with grooming underage girls to be sexually abused by Epstein. She denies the charges.
Maxwell’s attorney has sought to portray “Jane” as merely out to collect money from Epstein’s victim fund.
Earlier on Tuesday, Epstein’s longtime pilot, Lawrence Viskoski Jr., testified that he flew powerful and famous men on Epstein’s private plane, including Prince Andrew, actor Kevin Spacey and former Presidents Bill Clinton and Donald Trump.
He said he never witnessed “any sexual activity.”
He also testified that Epstein introduced him to a young woman as they boarded, since identified as “Jane.” He described her as a mature woman.
She was a teenager at the time.
The defense will continue its cross examination of “Jane” on Wednesday.
The US politician Ilhan Omar played a harrowing death threat left recently on her voicemail, as she implored House Republican leaders to do more to tamp down “anti-Muslim hatred” in their ranks and “hold those who perpetuate it accountable”.
The Democratic Minnesota representative, one of only a handful of Muslim members of Congress, has been the subject of repeated attacks by conservative pundits and some Republicans in Congress, which she says have led to an increase in the number of death threats she receives.
Recently a video of the first-term Colorado representative Lauren Boebert calling Omar a member of the “jihad squad” and likening her to a bomb-carrying terrorist went viral.
“When a sitting member of Congress calls a colleague a member of the ‘jihad squad’ and falsifies a story to suggest I will blow up the Capitol, it is not just an attack on me but on millions of American Muslims across the country,” Omar said during a news conference on Tuesday.
“We cannot pretend this hate speech from leading politicians doesn’t have real consequences.”
She then played the voicemail, laden with profanity, racial epithets and a threat to “take you off the face of the fucking earth”, which she said was among hundreds of such messages she has reported since joining Congress. Omar said the voicemail was left for her after Boebert released another video on Monday criticising her.
In the grainy recording, a man can be heard saying: “You will not be living much longer, bitch,” and that “we the people are rising up”. He calls Omar a “traitor” and says she will stand trial before a military tribunal.
Omar said: “It is time for the Republican party to actually do something to confront anti-Muslim hatred in its ranks and hold those who perpetuate it accountable.”
Boebert’s remarks were the latest example of a Republican lawmaker making a personal attack against another member of Congress, an unsettling trend that has gone largely unchecked by House Republican leaders.
A video posted to Facebook last week showed Boebert speaking at an event and describing an interaction with Omar – an interaction that Omar maintains never happened.
In the video, Boebert claims that a Capitol police officer approached her with “fret on his face” shortly before she stepped into a House elevator and the doors closed. “I look to my left and there she is, Ilhan Omar. And I said: ‘Well, she doesn’t have a backpack. We should be fine,’” Boebert says with a laugh.
Omar called on the House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi, and the Republican minority leader, Kevin McCarthy, to “take appropriate action”. But so far McCarthy, who is in line to become Speaker if Republicans retake the majority next year, has been reluctant to police members of his caucus whose views often closely align with those of the party’s base.
Boebert initially took steps to ease the situation, apologising last week “to anyone in the Muslim community I offended”. But after declining to apologise directly to Omar during a tense phone call on Monday, which Omar abruptly ended, Boebert again went on the attack.
“Rejecting an apology and hanging up on someone is part of cancel culture 101 and a pillar of the Democrat party,” Boebert said in an Instagram video.
So far, McCarthy is taking her side. When asked on Tuesday what he would do if Democrats tried to censure Boebert, McCarthy said: “After she apologised personally and publicly? I’d vote against it.”
“I am just thinking of all the women in this fight. And I am sending them all love and appreciation,” said Lindsey Boylan, a former executive staffer to the governor who was the first to accuse Andrew Cuomo of harassment.
“That is where I find strength,” Boylan tweeted. “You have sustained and guided me from the beginning.”
Media critics, meanwhile, said CNN’s benching of Chris Cuomo should have occurred months ago, when investigative reports first revealed the anchor was deeply involved in aiding his brother’s response to harassment accusations — including strategy sessions with Andrew Cuomo’s inner circle.
“The ability to be trusted is a journalist’s most important attribute. The public must trust that the news they watch or read is factual and not geared towards advancing the journalist’s personal interests in order to believe it. Chris Cuomo violated this trust by actively and secretly working for his brother’s interests, instead of the public’s interests,” said Ben Bogardus, associate professor of journalism at Quinnipiac University.
“His suspension from CNN is the correct move, and something that should have happened sooner. The longer it dragged on, the more credibility CNN lost. Regaining that trust will take a lot of time and effort from other journalists at CNN, whose reputations have been unfairly tarnished by Cuomo’s selfish actions.”
“CNN has suspended @ChrisCuomo indefinitely, pending further evaluation.’ The problem with this statement is the assertion that CNN wasn’t `privy” to the documents that were released by NY AG Letitia James,” tweeted Washington Post media critic Erik Wemple.
Chris Cuomo was suspended indefinitely from CNN.Cindy Ord/Getty Images for SiriusXM
“Technically, that’s true. However, it suggests that, somehow, CNN lacked the authority or the leverage to do an investigation of its own. But it did, all along: Chris Cuomo, after all, is a CNN employee,” Wemple tweeted.
“The problem wasn’t access to documents. It was CNN’s willingness to investigate a famous prime-time host in whom it had invested millions — and who had a close relationship with CNN President Jeff Zucker. So that’s what I think about all this `privy nonsense.”
Tweeted Washington Post politics writer Dave Weigel: “If some news channel intern did what Chris Cuomo did they’d have been fired one second after these docs were published.”
Karen Hinton, a former aide to Andrew Cuomo when he was federal HUD secretary and who accused him of inappropriately touching her years ago, tweeted, “Suspended; ousted; outed, and Andrew Cuomo just resigned. They followed their leader until he pushed them all off the cliff, collecting a book deal and pension in the meantime.”
Janice Dean was one of Andrew Cuomo’s fiercest critics after both of her in-laws died of the coronavirus last spring in elderly care facilities.Fox News Corp via AP
Janice Dean, a nursing home advocate who accused the former governor of enacting policies that contributed to coronavirus-related deaths to frail elderly residents tweeted, “Now that he’s suspended indefinitely, @ChrisCuomo still needs to apologize to everyone. Especially the women his brother abused, harassed and assaulted. ”
“It’s been clear from the beginning that Chris Cuomo used his position as CNN anchor to boost Andrew Cuomo’s political stature while thousands of New Yorkers in nursing homes were dying from COVID because of his fatal decisions,” said state Assemblyman Ron Kim (D-Queens).
“I have long suspected that he also used his power and influence to also help his brother escape accountability for sexual misconduct, and this new information further confirms it: instead of being a journalist who spoke truth to power, he went above and beyond to undermine, shame, and silence his brother’s victims.”
Chris Cuomo not only participated in numerous strategy sessions with his brother’s senior team and checked with journalistic sources to sniff out if and when damaging stories about the governor would appear — including a piece by Pulitzer prize winning reporter Ronan Farrow in the New Yorker magazine.
Chris Cuomo’s own testimony contradicts what he told his CNN viewers back in August when he said, “I never made calls to the press about my brother’s situation.”
CNN’s action against Chris Cuomo came on the heels of a withering criticism that they were condoning unethical journalistic behavior because of his powerful family name.
“Andrew Cuomo’s resignation as governor of New York might have been a godsend for CNN. The network faced a nearly intractable conflict of interest,” said David Graham of the Atlantic magazine.
“The governor was a major national figure, but his brother, Chris, was also one of CNN’s prime-time stars. Instead, the fallout from Andrew Cuomo’s departure has made Chris Cuomo’s position untenable. He should resign; if he doesn’t, CNN should sack him.”
Karen Hinton accused Andrew Cuomo of inappropriately touching her years ago.Robert Miller
Margaret Kimberly, editor of the Black Agenda Report noted how CNN allowed Chris Cuomo to do softball interviews with Andrew during the early days of the coronavirus pandemic.
“CNN allowed Chris Cuomo to interview his governor brother and give him a tongue bath. He still works at CNN. Will they fire him now?” Kimberly asked in a tweet.
Other journalists claimed Chris’ significant strategic role in his brother’s war room response breached ethical boundaries.
New York Attorney General Letitia James released documents that included text messages and transcripts showing how Chris Cuomo helped his brother Andrew.David Dee Delgado/Getty Images
CNN rival Fox News found a plethora of other journalists who agreed it’s time for CNN to give Chris Cuomo the heave-ho.
“This is an embarrassment to journalism,” said Los Angeles Times reporter Matt Pearce.
“If this story is accurate, it describes a series of shocking ethical breaches — fireable offenses at any other news outlet,” Rolling Stone editor-in-chief Noah Schachtman tweeted.
Jeff Zucker is the president of CNN.J. Countess/Getty Images
Columbia Journalism School professor Bill Grueskin also wagged his finger at CNN.
“It’s hard to imagine any news executive keeping Chris Cuomo on staff after today’s revelations. Then again, as CNN likes to say, ‘THIS is CNN,’” Grueskin tweeted.
“How many second/third/fourth chances is this guy going to get?” The Times-Picayune, The New Orleans Advocate columnist Stephanie Grace asked.
A 15-year-old Oxford High School sophomore, armed with a semiautomatic handgun, is accused of a shooting at his school Tuesday afternoon, killing three students and injuring seven others and a teacher.
Those killed were: Tate Myre, 16; Hanna St. Julian, 14, and Madisyn Baldwin, 17.
The incident unfolded in about five minutes and police said the shooter, who was not injured, was arrested after deputies stopped him coming down a hall with a 9mm handgun with seven rounds of live ammunition.
Oakland County Sheriff Mike Bouchard late Tuesday said the suspect’s father purchased the handgun just four days ago. The sheriff said he would not be identifying the juvenile at this time..
The teen was under suicide watch, County Executive David Coulter said Tuesday night, and Prosecutor Karen McDonald said she planned to issue “appropriate charges quickly” and that the community has her commitment and promise that she “will seek justice.”
Michael McCabe, the Oakland County undersheriff who lives about 1½ miles from the school, said at a prior news conference it appeared the suspect worked alone and investigators are interviewing students and scouring social media for clues to a motive.
The boy who was fatally wounded died in a patrol car as a deputy rushed to a hospital, Bouchard said. He noted that an employee at the emergency dispatch center also had a loved one die in the attack.
Of those injured, the 47-year-old teacher with a grazing bullet wound had been discharged, while the children ages 14 through 17 years old were in conditions ranging from stable to critical, with injuries to extremities, chests, necks and heads. One 14-year-old girl was on a ventilator Tuesday night..
Additionally, other students were injured in the evacuation, but had non-life threatening injuries, the sheriff said.
It was unclear whether the suspect had targeted anyone. Some said he was bullied.
Meanwhile, pastors and religious leaders organized two prayer vigils, one at Kensington Church in Lake Orion and the other at Lake Point Community in Oxford, for the mourning survivors. A Mass was organized at St. Joseph, also in Lake Orion.
As the nation’s latest mass shooting draws national media attention, it puts questions of what to do about guns and renews political debates about gun control, violence and school safety.
At a 5 p.m. news conference, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer called mass shootings a “uniquely American” problem that needs to be addressed. Later, responding to a reporter’s question about how she felt, her voice wavered.
Near tears, she added: “I think this is every parent’s worst nightmare.”
Police said they were unaware of any warning signs, but some parents and students said they had heard rumors before Tuesday that something bad might happen at the school.
Earlier this month, Oxford schools published a note to parents that it was aware that “numerous rumors” had “circulated throughout our building this week,” and the school was reviewing the concerns.
Bouchard said they need to get those tips. He called the shooting “unspeakable and unforgivable.”
“We’re here for the worst kind of tragedy we’ve seen across the country and we hoped and prayed it would never come to Oakland County but it has,” he said.
He touted the training the community had done to prepare for such a day, commended the deputies who took the suspect into custody and discussed the massive response by law enforcement partners.
For most of Tuesday afternoon, law enforcement officers surrounded the school, helicopters swirled over the snow-covered parking lots and worried parents took to social media to find out what was going on.
“As Michiganders, we have a responsibility to do everything we can to protect each other from gun violence,” Whitmer said in a statement, ordering flags to be lowered. “No one should be afraid to go to school, work, a house of worship, or even their own home.”
President Joe Biden — who was briefed by Jake Sullivan, his national security adviser, while traveling in Minnesota — said: “My heart goes out to the families that are enduring the unimaginable grief of losing a loved one.”
Meanwhile, students — those at the school or just in the community on Tuesday — were reeling.
Middle schoolers reported worry for their older siblings.
Others said they lost friends. One said it will take time to feel safe at school again.
Oxford High School students who were interviewed by reporters described a chaotic and confused scene in which a voice came on over the intercom to announce an active shooter.
At first, they said, they didn’t know whether it was a drill.
But, when they realized it wasn’t, they were struck by fear and panic.
They said teachers locked and barricaded doors, covered windows — and some students hid. Those with cellphones quietly texted to alert their parents and friends what was happening. Students were in tears.
Some students said they could hear loud bangs.
By early afternoon, the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office said it had taken the suspect — and the handgun — into custody. Officials said they were shocked and devastated and asked for prayers.
The suspect, police said, asked for an attorney.
Some parents later said, even before the shooting, rumors had been circulating that a school shooting was going to happen, and some students even said that they had decided not to attend.
Robin Redding, the parent of a 12th-grader, told the Associated Press that there had been rumblings of trouble at the school.
“He was not in school today,” she said. “He just said that ‘Ma I don’t feel comfortable. None of the kids that we go to school with are going today.’ “
Jody Job, chair of the Oakland County Democratic Party and a candidate for the state house in 2020, said her son didn’t go to school Tuesday because “he felt like something was going to go down.”
“I think there was just a level of discomfort with some of the students,” she said. “I don’t know what they’re communicating to each other. That’s a whole other world I’m not a part of.”
Gun violence in schools, she said, “feels like it’s something that’s going to hit every school eventually if we don’t really start to crack down on guns and especially kids’ access to guns.”
Victims rushed to hospitals
A public school in northern Oakland County about 45 minutes from downtown Detroit, Oxford High has about 1,800 students and draws from Oxford, Oxford Township and parts of Orion, Dryden, Metamora and Addison townships.
The initial 911 call about the shooting, authorities said, came in about 12:51 p.m., and was followed by many more. More than 100 police officers, including the FBI special agent in charge, and paramedics responded.
Ambulances took victims to three local hospitals.
Shortly before 1:45 p.m., a long line of students could be seen walking west on Ray Road to a nearby Meijer store. Police vehicles, fire trucks and ambulances surrounded the school, while officers in tactical gear went in and out.
Abbey Hodder, a 15-year-old sophomore, was in chemistry class when she thought she heard glass breaking.
“My teacher kind of ran out and was scrambling,” she said. “The next thing I knew I saw he was pushing tables. It’s part of school protocol to barricade, so we all knew, barricade, barricade down. And we all started pushing tables.”
They then lined up along a wall and grabbed something to throw, also part of the active shooter training they’ve had, Hodder said. But not long after, she added, her teacher told them to jump out a window and run.
Authorities said there didn’t appear to be other threats, but were double and triple checking the school, where some students were reportedly hiding, according to parents who were in contact with them.
Students with transportation were allowed to leave.
Others were told to gather at the Meijer, which is within walking distance of the school.
State Rep. Gary Howell, R-North Branch, tweeted that his son is a teacher at the high school. Howell said it was the “scare of his life” when he heard the news of the shooting.
“Thank God we have received word from John that he and his students are safe,” he added in his tweet. “Please join us in praying for the other students and staff at Oxford.”
Throughout metro Detroit, residents and public officials expressed condolences.
“We are deeply saddened by today’s tragic events in Oxford,” the Detroit Tigers tweeted. “Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims, their families, and the entire community impacted by this tragedy.”
Attorney General Dana Nessel, the state’s top law enforcement officer, said her department reached out to local law enforcement to offer assistance as the investigation continues.
“We must act to properly address gun violence in our schools and the ongoing threat of another unconscionable tragedy if we continue to only offer thoughts and prayers,” she said. “Our kids deserve better.”
U.S. Rep. Lisa McClain said she “can’t imagine the pain their families are going through.”
“This is an incredibly sad day for Oxford and our entire state,” she added. “I want to thank our first responders for their bravery during this tragedy and ask you all to keep Oxford in your prayers.”
U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin praised the first responders and level-headed teachers.
“In this moment of tragedy, there are heroes showing who they are,” she tweeted. “Thank you to everyone who is stepping up to help in our community’s time of need.”
Staff writers Nushrat Rahman, Dave Boucher, Todd Spangler, Elisha Anderson, Kristen Jordan Shamus, Adrienne Roberts and the Associated Press contributed to this report. Contact Frank Witsil: 313-222-5022 or fwitsil@freepress.com.
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