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  • First weeks of Proud Boys sedition trial marked by courtroom drama and fighting | CNN Politics

    First weeks of Proud Boys sedition trial marked by courtroom drama and fighting | CNN Politics

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    CNN
     — 

    The preliminary stage of the trial of five Proud Boys charged with seditious conspiracy related to the 2021 US Capitol attack has been a chaotic wind-up that included contentious fights during jury selection, debates over evidence and defense lawyers threatening to withdraw from the case.

    But while opening arguments are expected Thursday, the bickering in the courtroom is likely to continue.

    Tensions between federal prosecutors, defense lawyers and the judge have grown increasingly hostile and confrontational over the past three weeks, and the judge has repeatedly pushed back the start of the trial to deal with the endless fighting.

    District Judge Timothy Kelly delivered a stark warning to all the lawyers on Wednesday: “Everyone take note – you talk over me, and contempt will be coming down the line. It’s going to be a long trial.”

    The five defendants – Enrique Tarrio, Zachary Rehl, Ethan Nordean, Dominic Pezzola and Joseph Biggs – have all pleaded not guilty.

    The three weeks of courtroom drama began before Christmas with the jury selection process, which was plagued by a constant struggle for prosecutors and defense attorneys to agree on jurors who didn’t have strong opinions on the far-right Proud Boys group.

    Some defense attorneys, like Rehl’s lawyer Carmen Hernandez, fought for the dismissal of nearly every potential juror who mentioned previous knowledge, however slight, of the Proud Boys. Other attorneys, including Tarrio’s lawyers Nayib Hassan and Sabino Jauregui, said they were suspicious that people who claimed to not know much about the Proud Boys could be lying so they can get on the jury and find their client guilty.

    Wednesday, Kelly mediated fights over potential exhibits. During one heated moment, Hernandez said she would withdraw from the case if Kelly allowed prosecutors to show the jury a specific video.

    The video has not been shown publicly, but Hernandez said it was taken before January 6, 2021, and was “highly prejudicial.”

    Kelly was not pleased by the inference the lawyer would quit.

    “You, Ms. Hernandez, had said something like you were going to withdraw from the case if I didn’t make certain decisions,” Kelly said. “And I want to make it clear that I don’t really care about that… it’s not even clear if I would let you out of the case.”

    “It isn’t a threat,” Hernandez replied. “I’m not in the habit from threatening to withdraw from a case.”

    Another defense attorney, Nick Smith, said that he too would leave the case over a video the government wants to play for the jury, though Kelly did not address his threat.

    Kelly did allow prosecutors to use video of a 2020 presidential debate when then-President Donald Trump said the Proud Boys should “stand back and stand by.” The comments, Kelly said, showed “an additional motive to advocate for Mr. Trump (and) engage in the charged conspiracy” to keep Trump in power.

    Roger Roots, a defense lawyer who joined Pezzola’s legal team just before the trial, also got in hot water with the judge. Roots suggested that he planned to tell the jury Pezzola was acting in self-defense on January 6 against police officers who were high on pepper spray.

    “I know you just joined the case last week but there is no evidence of that,” Kelly said, telling Roots the time had passed to make any self-defense arguments.

    Meanwhile, Biggs’ attorney Norman Pattis had his law license suspended last week for six months.

    Pattis, representing right-wing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones in the defamation case brought by parents of victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, had improperly released court documents.

    The files included two years of Jones’ text messages, medical records from some of the Sandy Hook families and other confidential discovery items.

    Kelly has not yet ruled on Pattis’ status, but he did allow two other attorneys who had defended other Proud Boys and therefore had potential conflicts to serve on the case.

    Pattis, however, tweeted Wednesday that “six months off sounds good about now.”

    The constant turmoil has left some defense attorneys repeatedly asking for the trial to be moved to a different courthouse or further delayed, though they don’t all agree (Smith said he wouldn’t consent to delaying the trial for any reason “up to and including a zombie apocalypse”).

    Prosecutors have not been saved from the judge’s scrutiny either – most notably when they claimed they couldn’t provide evidence binders to defense lawyers because their office had run out of dividers, and they hadn’t been authorized to buy new ones.

    In the past three weeks, lawyers for the five defendants have repeatedly criticized government lawyers for how they have handled the case.

    Hernandez said the prosecutors were acting “immature” and said, “it reminds me of when my kids were little.”

    Roots told Kelly that the department was using “cutthroat strategies.”

    By Wednesday evening, Assistant US Attorney Jason McCullough asked the judge to reiterate his “order on decorum” in the courtroom.

    “We are going to be in front of a jury soon and we need to take this up a couple levels,” McCullough said.

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  • Idaho killings suspect Bryan Kohberger is expected back in court today | CNN

    Idaho killings suspect Bryan Kohberger is expected back in court today | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    The man suspected of killing four University of Idaho students is scheduled to appear in court for a status conference Thursday – his second time in an Idaho court since his extradition from Pennsylvania after his arrest late last month.

    Bryan Kohberger, 28, is being held without bail in the Latah County jail in Idaho, where he faces four counts of first-degree murder and one count of burglary in the fatal stabbings of Kaylee Goncalves, 21; Madison Mogen, 21; Xana Kernodle, 20; and Ethan Chapin, 20.

    After a night out, the four undergrads were found dead November 13 in an off-campus home, according to police, fraying nerves in the college town of Moscow, Idaho, along the Washington state border.

    Authorities arrested Kohberger almost seven weeks later, taking him into custody at his parents’ home in Pennsylvania, where an attorney said he had traveled for the holidays. And while it took almost two months for authorities to publicly name a suspect, police – who faced mounting criticism while the investigation outwardly appeared at a standstill – had begun focusing on Kohberger as a suspect weeks earlier.

    Among the most notable pieces of evidence was a witness account from one of the victims’ surviving roommates, who told police she saw a man dressed in black inside the house the morning of the killings, according to a probable cause affidavit released last week. The witness described the man as about 5-foot-10 or taller and not very muscular but athletically built with bushy eyebrows, it said.

    Investigators were also drawn to a white sedan seen in local surveillance footage in the area around the home. By November 25, they had told local law enforcement to look out for the car, by then identified as a Hyundai Elantra.

    Days later, officers at Washington State University, where Kohberger was a PhD student in criminal justice, found such a vehicle and discovered it was registered to Kohberger, the affidavit says.

    When investigators searched for his driver’s license information, they found it consistent with the description of the man dressed in black provided by the roommate, the affidavit says, specifically noting his height, weight and bushy eyebrows.

    Kohberger got a new license plate for his car five days after the killings, the affidavit says. When he was arrested in Pennsylvania last week, a white Elantra was found at his home, according to Monroe County Chief Public Defender Jason LaBar, who represented the suspect in his extradition.

    Other evidence listed in the affidavit included phone records showing Kohberger’s phone had been near the victims’ home at least a dozen times since June. Records also show the phone near the site of the killings hours later, between 9:12 a.m. and 9:21 a.m., the document says.

    Additionally, trash authorities recovered from Kohberger’s family home revealed a DNA profile linked to DNA on a tan leather knife sheath found lying on the bed of one of the victims, the affidavit said. The DNA recovered from the trash is believed to be that of the biological father of the person whose DNA was found on the sheath, it said.

    Kohberger was also surveilled for four days before his arrest, a law enforcement source told CNN. During that time, he was seen putting trash bags in neighbors’ garbage bins and “cleaned his car, inside and outside, not missing an inch,” according to the source.

    A court order prohibits the prosecution and defense from commenting beyond referencing the public records of the case.

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  • Illinois governor signs extensive ban on firearms and high-capacity magazines | CNN Politics

    Illinois governor signs extensive ban on firearms and high-capacity magazines | CNN Politics

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    CNN
     — 

    Illinois’ Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Tuesday signed legislation that enacts an extensive ban on firearms as well as high-capacity magazines in the state.

    The new law caps the sale of high-capacity ammunition magazines, bans “switches” that allow handguns to fire rounds automatically and “extends the ability of courts to prevent dangerous individuals from possessing a gun through firearm restraining orders,” the governor’s office said in a news release.

    The ban goes into effect immediately and will not require those who currently own such weapons to relinquish them, though people who already possess semi-automatic rifles will be required to register their ownership.

    “No Illinoisan, no matter their zip code, should have to go through life fearing their loved one could be the next in an ever-growing list of victims of mass shootings. However, for too long, people have lived in fear of being gunned down in schools, while worshipping, at celebrations or in their own front yards,” Pritzker said in a statement. “This legislation will stop the spread of assault weapons, high-capacity magazines, and switches and make our state a safer place for all.”

    The bill passed in a 34-20 vote in the state’s Senate on Monday and 68-41 in the House Tuesday, largely along party lines, before heading to Pritzker’s desk. Both chambers are controlled by Democrats.

    “This assault weapons ban is a step in the right direction, to improve safety for Illinois’ families and law enforcement but there’s no magic fix, no single law that will end gun violence once and for all. So, we must keep fighting, voting and protesting to ensure future generations will only have to read about massacres like Highland Park, Sandy Hook or Uvalde in their history books,” Pritzker said on Tuesday.

    In the Highland Park shooting, which took place at a Fourth of July parade in the Chicago suburb last year, the suspect allegedly fired more than 70 rounds into a crowd, killing seven people and injuring dozens more. The high-powered rifle that was used in the shooting was described by authorities as “similar to an AR-15” and was legally purchased.

    Several Republicans objected to the new law. State Rep. Dave Severin issued a statement in which he specifically criticized the registration requirement and supported legal challenges, while another representative, Charlie Meier, said the legislation “won’t prevent gang violence from occurring in our cities, however, it will unfortunately diminish law-abiding gun owners the right to protect themselves and their family at home.”

    Pritzker, who marked the start of his second gubernatorial term with Tuesday’s ban, has also signed legislation in the past to combat gun violence.

    In May 2022, the governor signed HB 4383, which prohibits individuals from selling or possessing so-called “ghost guns,” self-assembled firearms often put together with parts sold online, and ensures all firearms are serialized, allowing law enforcement to better trace them.

    Pritzker later signed HB4729 in June of last year, which requires the Department of Public Health to develop and implement a two-year public awareness campaign focused on safe gun storage.

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  • 4 gun traffickers charged in New York, marking the state’s 1st prosecution under the bipartisan gun safety bill enacted in June | CNN

    4 gun traffickers charged in New York, marking the state’s 1st prosecution under the bipartisan gun safety bill enacted in June | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    Four gun traffickers have been charged with illegally selling over 50 firearms in Brooklyn, marking the first prosecution in New York state under a bipartisan gun safety law enacted last June, law enforcement officials announced at a news conference Wednesday.

    Known as the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, the federal law includes a gun trafficking provision that creates a standalone firearm trafficking conspiracy offense, which New York prosecutors used to charge the gun traffickers. The act also provides increased sentences of up to 15 years in prison for such crimes.

    “Prosecutions of gun trafficking prior to the enactment of the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act relied on statutes concerning unlicensed sale, transport, and delivery of firearms, and false statements made to firearms dealers. By using the new law in the charges today, we’re able to streamline those prosecutions by charging firearms trafficking conspiracy as a standalone federal crime,” US Attorney for the Eastern District of New York Breon Peace said.

    “As the first prosecution to utilize this legislation in New York and one of the first in the country, we are demonstrating that we are prepared to use all the tools at our disposal, new and old, to combat gun violence,” Peace said.

    A seven-count indictment was unsealed in court, charging David Mccann, Tajhai Jones, Raymond Minaya, and Calvin Tabron with conspiring to traffic over 50 illegal firearms, Peace said.

    Prosecutors allege there were multiple illegal firearm purchases between January 2022 and August 2022, with the guns being sold during the day from vehicles in and around housing projects in Brooklyn.

    Two members of the gun trafficking operation allegedly got the firearms in Virginia and transported them to New York to be sold in Brooklyn, prosecutors said in a news release. Some of the firearms allegedly had defaced serial numbers and others were made from ghost gun kits, the release states.

    The group allegedly sold the guns to an undercover New York Police Department officer who recorded many of the transactions. The undercover officer allegedly told the group he was a drug dealer and needed the guns, with the intent to resell some of the weapons, prosecutors said.

    The guns recovered were traced back to several shootings in Brooklyn, prosecutors said, including one incident where eight people were struck by gunfire at a family celebration in Brooklyn in April 2022.

    Mccann, Jones, Minaya and Tabron were all arrested Wednesday morning, Peace said.

    Mccann and Minaya are also charged with conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute cocaine base. Mccann is also charged with conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute fentanyl, prosecutors said.

    Mccann and Minaya are scheduled to be arraigned Wednesday afternoon.

    Jones and Tabron are scheduled to be arraigned in Virginia. They will have their detention hearings on Friday.

    Minaya’s attorney declined to comment. Mccann’s attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Tabron is represented by Federal Public Defenders, who did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Jones will have an attorney appointed to him by Criminal Justice Act, according to an EDNY spokesperson.

    This latest arrest marks one of the first instances where the law was used.

    Last September, a 25-year-old US citizen living in Mexico was charged in connection with trafficking firearms from Texas into Mexico. He was believed to have been the first person charged with part of the Safer Communities Act known as the Stop Illegal Trafficking In Firearms Act, according to a news release from the US Attorney’s Office from the Southern District of Texas.

    The 25-year-old alleged trafficker was caught driving south on Interstate 35 heading to the port in Laredo, Texas, when he was caught with 17 guns in his car, according to Justice Department officials. In all, he bought 231 firearms, investigators said.

    The bipartisan act, signed by President Biden in June 2022, was the first major federal gun safety legislation in decades and a significant bipartisan breakthrough on one of the most contentious policy issues in Washington.

    The legislation came together in the aftermath of mass shootings at an Uvalde, Texas, elementary school and a Buffalo, New York, supermarket in a predominantly Black neighborhood.

    On Wednesday, Peace said the new law makes it easier to prosecute interstate gun trafficking cases.

    Eastern District of New York US Attorney Breon Peace speaks during a news conference.

    “Now we can charge the firearm trafficking itself without the obligation to show that someone was in the business of selling firearms and that’s a significant difference in what proof and evidence we would have to put forward,” Peace said, noting that the penalty has also increased. “Under the other statutes, the maximum penalties would likely be five or ten years. Under this Act, they’ll be facing up to 15 years.”

    NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell also spoke about the flood of illegal weapons from nearby states with more relaxed firearm regulations, commonly known as the “Iron Pipeline,” highlighting how police officers were killed in the line of duty with illegal guns from other cities.

    In December 2014, NYPD officers Wenjian Liu and Rafael Ramos were shot and killed as they sat in their patrol car in Brooklyn, Sewell said. The gun was bought in a Georgia pawn shop before making its way to New York City, according to Sewell.

    A year later, Officer Brian Moore was shot and killed in Queens with a firearm that was stolen from a pawn shop in Georgia, Sewell said.

    Officers Wilber Mora and Jason Rivera were shot and killed last year while responding to a domestic incident with a gun that was stolen from Baltimore in 2017.

    “Every day, NYPD officers, with our partners, will continue to interdict, interrupt, investigate and hold criminals accountable,” Sewell said. “New Yorkers in every neighborhood should be free from fear and tragedy related to gun violence.”

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  • 5 reasons why the Republican claim about 87,000 new IRS agents is an exaggeration | CNN Politics

    5 reasons why the Republican claim about 87,000 new IRS agents is an exaggeration | CNN Politics

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    Washington
    CNN
     — 

    In its first vote on legislation, the new Republican-controlled House approved a bill Monday that would rescind nearly $80 billion for the Internal Revenue Service – with key GOP lawmakers making the exaggerated claim that the money would be used to hire 87,000 auditors who will target hardworking Americans.

    “House Republicans just voted unanimously to repeal the Democrats’ army of 87,000 IRS agents,” tweeted speaker Kevin McCarthy after the vote.

    “This was our very first act of the new Congress, because government should work for you, not against you,” he added.

    But Democrats approved the $80 billion in funding last year as part of the sweeping Inflation Reduction Act, intending to support the troubled IRS crack down on tax cheats and provide better service to taxpayers.

    The bill to rescind the funding, which passed along party lines, has little chance of becoming law, given the Democratic majority in the Senate and a pledge from President Joe Biden to veto the bill if it ever reaches his desk.

    But the vote highlights how funding for the IRS has become a political football. The issue is sure to come up when Daniel Werfel, Biden’s nominee for IRS commissioner, gets a confirmation hearing.

    Here’s why the Republicans’ oft-repeated claim about new IRS agents is exaggerated:

    The 87,000 figure comes from a 2021 Treasury report that estimated the IRS could hire 86,852 full-time employees over the course of a decade with a nearly $80 billion investment – not solely enforcement agents.

    And all those new employees can’t be hired overnight. The money will flow to the IRS over a 10-year period.

    “The reality is the $80 billion boost would be spread throughout the agency, with money flowing to enforcement, taxpayer services, operations, and modernization,” wrote Janet Holtzblatt, a senior fellow at the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center.

    The Inflation Reduction Act dictates that about $45.6 billion will go toward strengthening enforcement activities – including collecting taxes owed, providing legal support, conducting criminal investigations and providing digital asset monitoring. But the IRS has not specified how many auditors will be hired.

    More than $25 billion is allocated to support IRS operations, including expenses like rent payments, printing, postage and telecommunications.

    Nearly $4.8 billion can be used for modernizing the agency’s customer service technology, like developing a callback service.

    Roughly $3 billion is allocated for taxpayer assistance, filing and account services.

    Many of the new hires will be replacing staff that the IRS has already lost or is expected to lose through attrition in coming years.

    Last year, then-IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig told lawmakers that staffing has shrunk to 1970s levels and that the IRS would need to hire 52,000 people over the next six years just to maintain current staffing levels to replace those who retire or otherwise leave.

    The IRS is already using the new funds to ramp up hiring for work outside of its audit operations.

    In October, the IRS announced it had hired 4,000 customer service representatives to answer phones and provide other taxpayer assistance. At the time, the agency said it intended to hire another 1,000 staffers by the end of 2022.

    Many of the new staff will be in place at the start of the 2023 tax season, and nearly all are expected to be trained by Presidents’ Day in February, which is traditionally when the agency sees the highest call volumes.

    National Taxpayer Advocate Erin Collins expects IRS services for taxpayers to improve this year – in part due to the funding increase.

    Taxpayer service, like answering the phones and processing returns in a timely manner, has suffered as the IRS’ budget has shrunk by more than 15% over the last decade. Collins, who heads the independent watchdog organization within the IRS, last year called the IRS service “horrendous.”

    Only about one in eight calls from taxpayers got through to an IRS employee last year, according to her annual report released Wednesday.

    The IRS struggled significantly during the Covid-19 pandemic, allowing backlogs of millions of tax returns to pile up in the past two years.

    “The majority of new hires the IRS makes will be those who answer the phones, work on processing individual tax returns or go after high-end taxpayers or corporations who are avoiding their taxes,” wrote Rettig in an op-ed published by Yahoo!Finance in August.

    A Trump appointee, Rettig called the claim that the IRS is hiring 87,000 agents to harass taxpayers “absolutely false.”

    While audit rates are expected to go up for some taxpayers as the new funding flows to the IRS, the rates have also been declining for some time.

    Audit rates of individual income tax returns decreased for all income levels between tax years 2010 to 2019, according to the Government Accountability Office. They decreased the most for taxpayers with incomes of $200,000 and above, which are generally more complex.

    The Inflation Reduction Act says that the new investment in the IRS is not “intended to increase taxes on any taxpayer or small business with a taxable income below $400,000.”

    Still, there is some uncertainty about how exactly the IRS will decide how to ramp up audits.

    In an effort to shed some clarity, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen affirmed the Biden administration’s commitment to not target low- and middle-income taxpayers.

    “I direct that any additional resources – including any new personnel or auditors that are hired – shall not be used to increase the share of small business or households below the $400,000 threshold that are audited relative to historical levels,” she wrote in a six to Rettig in August.

    Yellen also directed the IRS to produce an operational plan within six months to detail how the new funding will be spent.

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  • Their families survived the Rosewood massacre 100 years ago. Here are their stories | CNN

    Their families survived the Rosewood massacre 100 years ago. Here are their stories | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    They were victims of a racist mob, their families torn apart and dispossessed. But as survivors of the Rosewood massacre, they were united in grief, silence, and resilience.

    In January 1923, a racist mob stormed the town of Rosewood, Florida, after a White woman claimed she was attacked by a Black man. In the massacre’s wake, at least six Black and two White people were killed and the once prosperous town was left decimated. Many Black families fled for safety, leaving their homes, land, and businesses behind.

    Some of the survivors hid for days in swamps and nearby woods. Many families were separated, with historical records saying some women and children were placed on a rail owned by a White store owner and taken to Gainesville, Florida.

    Rosewood was abandoned. Robbed of a more prosperous future, survivors started new lives elsewhere, created new identities, and many did not talk of the carnage again. Their descendants say they grew up watching their parents, grandparents, aunts, and uncles suffer in silence because of fear and distrust.

    “The violence that destroyed a Black community, destroyed families, it prevented families from passing on their legacy and property to their kids and their grandkids,” said Maxine Jones, a historian at Florida State University who was the lead researcher on the Rosewood reparations case. “And no one was held accountable for the violence that took place during that week.”

    The story of the Rosewood massacre lay buried for 70 years, Jones said, until the state of Florida passed a bill in 1994 to compensate survivors and their descendants. It offered $150,000 to survivors who could prove they owned property during the massacre and created a scholarship fund for descendants who attended in-state colleges.

    Despite reparations, the trauma of a week of terror that began on January 1, 1923 has endured through generations.

    This month marks the 100th anniversary of the massacre, and families gathered in Rosewood on Sunday for a wreath-laying ceremony to honor the survivors and lives lost. They are speaking at a series of centennial events at the University of Florida this week.

    Here are the stories of three descendants:

    Gregory Doctor poses for a portrait on January 9, 2023.

    As a child, Gregory Doctor said he knew something wasn’t right when every year at Christmas the adults in his family would send him and other kids outside to play while they gathered in the house and cried together.

    “When we were allowed to come back in the house, I could just see the pain and the tears,” Doctor said. “But you dare not ask the question of why, because it wasn’t a conversation for the kids.”

    Doctor’s grandmother, Thelma Evans Hawkins, was a survivor of the Rosewood massacre. Hawkins, who was in her 20s at the time, escaped the violence with her siblings and moved to Pasco County, Florida, where the family was able to restart its mill. Hawkins settled down there, married a man who had also escaped from Rosewood and had two children.

    His parents didn’t share the story until he was 19 when an article about the massacre appeared in a local newspaper, Doctor said. Hawkins recalls being upset that his family had never told him he was a descendant of a Rosewood survivor and heartbroken at what his grandmother endured.

    “That was a secret that my grandmother did not share with us,” Doctor said. “It was a forbidden conversation.”

    Doctor said he remembers Hawkins being depressed a lot. She would sit on her porch and sing hymns and cry. Hawkins was slow to trust people and carried a pistol everywhere she went, Doctor said. She passed away in 1996.

    As an adult, Doctor has reconnected with the family members his grandparents had lost touch with after the massacre, he said.

    “We grew up not knowing each other,” Doctor said. “So when we reconnected it was like meeting strangers.”

    Doctor spearheaded the centennial events at the University of Florida this week. He hopes honoring the survivors and lives lost will help bring closure to families, he said.

    “Let’s have this conversation so we don’t repeat history,” Doctor said. “We have like-minded people who still believe in racist violence.”

    Raghan Pickett poses for a portrait on January 5, 2023.

    Growing up, Raghan Pickett learned about the Rosewood massacre at family reunions and other gatherings when relatives talked about the family’s history.

    But Pickett, now 20, didn’t understand the severity of it all until the topic came up during a high school lesson.

    “I was like, ‘Oh my gosh,’ so this is what happened to my family?” Pickett said.

    Knowledge of the massacre made her want to dig deeper. She learned that her great-great uncle, Willie Evans, had been visiting family in Rosewood for the holidays when he was forced to flee on a train with other relatives. A lot of details surrounding his escape are unclear, Pickett said, but she knows he settled in Sanford, Florida, with family.

    “It was pretty sad to understand and to know what happened to your family,” Pickett said. “To see that your family had everything that they knew or owned, burned to the ground and having to relocate to new areas.”

    Pickett said she believes the massacre was a financial setback for her family members who survived and the generations that came after.

    “Personally, I think that hadn’t that horrific, horrific tragedy occurred, I think my family would be better off with their own land … owning their own property, having their own Black establishments,” Pickett said.

    Pickett said the reparations bill of 1994 was a step in the right direction. As a direct descendant of the Rosewood massacre, she was able to receive a scholarship that fully covered her tuition at Florida A&M University. She is currently a junior studying political science.

    However, Pickett also wants the state of Florida to return the land back to the descendants of the families who lost it during the massacre, she said.

    Pickett said she hopes the centennial events in Florida will raise awareness of the massacre and recognize the strength and resiliency of her family.

    “Many people like to sweep things under the rug when it comes to racial injustice,” Pickett said. “I’m so glad that we’re being acknowledged.”

    Jonathan Barry-Blocker poses for a portrait at his home on January 6, 2023.

    Jonathan Barry-Blocker has vivid memories of spending spring breaks visiting his late grandfather, Rev. Ernest Blocker, in Sarasota, Florida, where they would go saltwater fishing, dig up fiddler crabs and pick fruit off the citrus trees in his backyard.

    Barry-Blocker, who grew up in Orlando, recalled his grandfather being a stern man who loved to learn, fought for what he believed in, and never let any challenges hold him back. Rev. Blocker was an ordained minister and served as the pastor of an AME church in Sarasota.

    Still, Rev. Blocker never talked about surviving the Rosewood massacre. Barry-Blocker learned of his family’s connection when he was 13, he said, after his father sat him down and told him his grandfather’s story of survival, but forbade him from ever mentioning it.

    “He said, ‘well your grandfather was involved in the event, he is a survivor, but he’s not going to talk about it, so don’t ask him,’” Barry-Blocker recalled. “And so I never asked him during all the years he was alive.”

    Barry-Blocker doesn’t know why his grandfather refused to discuss Rosewood, he said. However, he learned from research that his grandfather had applied for a cash payment after the reparations bill was passed but was denied. According to a 2020 report in the Washington Post, only nine living survivors received the full $150,000 payout. And 143 descendants of survivors received smaller payouts with only half getting more than $2,000.

    “Because my grandfather, from what I can tell, could not prove that his parents owned or his grandparents owned any property at the time of the massacre, I’m assuming that’s why his application was denied,” said Barry-Blocker, who is a civil rights attorney and a visiting law professor at the University of Florida.

    Barry-Blocker said he has little information about his grandfather’s escape from Rosewood. He only knows that Rev. Blocker was a child at the time and that he evacuated with his mother and siblings to South Florida. Rev. Blocker’s father stayed behind and the family was never reunited, Barry-Blocker said.

    He said he often wonders where his family would be if they had not been forced to uproot their lives from Rosewood.

    “Did we own land? Could we have owned land? Could we have amassed land? Could we have built wealth?” Barry-Blocker asked.

    Barry-Blocker said he hopes that recognizing the 100th anniversary of Rosewood will inspire other states to consider reparations packages. He also hopes it encourages more families to speak out about racist violence and generational trauma.

    “We’ve got to share our stories and understand that the living witnesses to such incidents are dying, they are leaving us,” Barry-Blocker said. “And if we don’t transmit their stories, we won’t know our legacies, in some respects.”

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  • Executions aren’t new in Iran, but this time they’re different | CNN

    Executions aren’t new in Iran, but this time they’re different | CNN

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    Editor’s Note: A version of this story appears in today’s Meanwhile in the Middle East newsletter, CNN’s three-times-a-week look inside the region’s biggest stories. Sign up here.


    New York and Amman
    CNN
     — 

    The Islamic Republic of Iran has long ranked among the world’s top executioners. But with the recent death sentences handed down to protesters, critics say the regime has taken capital punishment to a new level.

    Last weekend, Iran executed two more protesters charged with killing security personnel, causing an international outcry. Critics said that the executions were a result of hasty sham trials.

    The regime executed 314 people in 2021, 20% more than the previous year, rights group Amnesty International said in a report from May 2022. Many of those had to do with drug-related crimes.

    This year, a number of protesters are entangled in Iran’s court system, many of whom face a particularly unjust judicial process, according to activists.

    Human rights activists have warned there’s a real risk that many of them could become another number in the growing list of those executed by the Islamic Republic. At least 43 people are currently facing execution in Iran, according to a CNN count, but activist group 1500Tasvir says the number could be as high as 100.

    “Defendants are systematically deprived of access to lawyers of their choice during the trial, are subjected to tortured and coerced confessions and then rushed to the gallows,” Tara Sepehri Far, an Iran researcher at Human Rights Watch, told CNN.

    United Nations human rights chief Volker Türk on Tuesday accused Iran of “weaponizing” criminal procedures, saying it amounts to “state sanctioned killing”

    With this round of protests, critics say, the authorities are using charges that carry the death penalty more liberally than they have before, widening the application of such laws to cover protesters.

    According to Iranian state media, dozens of government agents, from security officials to officers of the basij paramilitary force, have been killed in the protests. Activist groups HRANA and Iran Human Rights say that 481 protesters have been killed.

    Security personnel have died in previous protests as well, Sepehri Far said, “but it is crucial to point out in this (time) round Iranian authorities are using the death penalty way beyond (the) intentional killing of security officers.”

    The regime appears to have capitalized on the executions, using them as a deterrent to people eager to speak out and flood the streets, as was seen after the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Jina Amini in the custody of the nation’s morality police.

    “The trials and executions are yet another piece of the repression machine serving to demonstrate power and control and spread fear and publicize (the) government’s narrative about protesters,” Sepehri Far explained.

    Iran has used Islamic Sharia law to prosecute protesters with crimes carrying the death penalty, namely “waging war against God” or “moharebeh” and “corruption on earth,” according to the UN Office of Human Rights.

    The process has been criticized within the country too.

    Mohsen Borhani, a professor at Tehran University and an expert in Islamic jurisprudence, has also challenged the use of such religiously based charges against protesters. In a television debate last month, he argued that the protesters executed were charged with waging war against God when their role in the protests did not in fact merit such a charge.

    The brandishing of weapons by protesters, he said, was meant to intimidate, not injure security personnel. “This is fundamentally out of the realm of moharebeh because the person’s opposition is towards the government, not civilians.”

    Sepehri Far said that Mohsen Shekari, one of the first protesters to be executed, was accused of injuring an officer. “Others have received the death penalty for extremely vague charges such as destruction and arson of public property or using a weapon to spread terror,” she said.

    Activists say Iranian authorities have developed sophisticated methods of spreading disinformation on how, why and when executions will be carried out. Civil rights activist Atena Daemi said in a tweet, for example, that several Iranian news outlets had reported that activists on death row had been released, news that was refuted by the prisoners’ families.

    Activists have said that condemning the protests is not enough. The European Union has taken note, and as the bloc continues to discuss imposing a fourth round of sanctions on Iran, some members have supported moves to classify its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organization.

    Saudi Arabia to lift restrictions on pilgrim numbers for 2023 Hajj season

    Saudi Arabia aims to host a pre-pandemic number of Muslim pilgrims for the Hajj in 2023, the Saudi Ministry of Hajj and Umrah said in a tweet on Monday. No age limits will be imposed on Hajj pilgrims this season, which starts on June 26.

    • Background: The kingdom had limited the number of pilgrims to 1,000 in 2020 and in 2021 increased the quota to almost 60,000, but only for residents of Saudi Arabia. In 2022, the kingdom authorized one million Muslims to perform the rites. The holy sites in the cities of Mecca and Medina normally host over 2 million people during the pilgrimage.
    • Why it matters: Performing the Hajj is one of the five pillars of Islam which all able-bodied Muslims are required to perform at least once in their lives. Saudi Arabia has identified the pilgrimage as a key component of a plan to diversify its economy. According to Mastercard’s latest Global Destination Cities Index, Mecca attracted $20 billion in tourist dollars in 2018.

    Egypt commits to IMF to slow projects, increase fuel prices

    Egypt committed to a flexible currency, a greater role for the private sector and a range of monetary and fiscal reforms when it agreed to a $3 billion financial support package with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Reuters reported, citing an IMF staff report released on Tuesday. Among its pledges is one to slow investment in public projects, including national projects, so as to reduce inflation and conserve foreign currency, without specifying where cuts might fall. Egypt also said it would allow most fuel product prices to rise until they were in line with the country’s fuel index mechanism to make up for a slowdown in such increases over the last fiscal year.

    • Background: In a letter of intent to the IMF, Egypt said it sought support after the war in Ukraine increased existing vulnerabilities amid tighter global financial conditions and higher commodity prices. Under the support, the IMF will provide Egypt with about $700 million in the fiscal year that ends in June.
    • Why it matters: Egypt is already suffering from economic hardship and rising inflation that has caused discontent at home. The 2011 revolution was partly triggered by economic matters and the cost of living.

    Saudi Arabia plans to use domestic uranium for nuclear fuel

    Saudi Arabia plans to use domestically-sourced uranium to build up its nuclear power industry, Reuters cited Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman as saying on Wednesday. He added that recent exploration had shown a diverse portfolio of uranium.

    • Background: Saudi Arabia has a nascent nuclear program that it wants to expand to eventually include uranium enrichment, a sensitive area given its role in nuclear weapons. Riyadh has said it wants to use nuclear power to diversify its energy mix.
    • Why it matters: Atomic reactors need uranium enriched to around 5% purity, but the same technology in this process can also be used to enrich the heavy metal to higher, weapons-grade levels. This issue has been at the heart of Western and regional concerns about Iran’s nuclear program. It is unclear where Saudi Arabia’s ambitions end, since Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said in 2018 that the kingdom would develop nuclear weapons if Iran did. The neighboring United Arab Emirates has committed not to enrich uranium itself and not to reprocess spent fuel.

    German exports to Iran rose by 12.7% last year, Reuters reported. Despite a significant deterioration in political ties between the two countries due to Iran’s brutal crackdown on protesters, trade ties remained intact, with the value of trade climbing to $1.6 billion between January and November. Berlin is currently pushing for a fourth package of European Union sanctions on Iran.

    The Gulf nation of Oman become the latest in the small group of countries that are considering a move to a four-day workweek.

    The government has said that it is studying the possibility of expanding weekends to three days instead of two, citing other nations’ success in pilots to test the move.

    Salem bin Muslim Al Busaidi, an undersecretary at the labor ministry, told local media that the nation’s workforce has already increased flexibility, adopting remote work, part-time work and other initiatives to modernize the work environment.

    Several countries have experimented with a four-day work week, including Iceland, Spain and Ireland, and the trials suggest that the move improves productivity.

    Oman’s neighbor, the UAE, has seen some of the most dramatic changes to the country’s work environment. Besides shifting the country’s weekend to Saturday and Sunday instead of Friday and Saturday, the country adopted a four-and-a-half-day workweek in 2022.

    The UAE emirate of Sharjah took that a step further by adopting a four-day work week across all government sectors and allowing private companies to do the same.

    The emirate reported a 40% drop in traffic accidents in the first 8 months, a boost in employee productivity, and a drop in gas emissions due to the decrease in commutes, according to local media.

    The onset of Covid-19 drastically changed the working environment of the Gulf region as companies were forced to adapt to new ways of working under restrictions.

    By Mohammed Abdelbary

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  • As University of Idaho students return to classes, they say the arrest of a murder suspect brings peace of mind. But the campus may never feel the same | CNN

    As University of Idaho students return to classes, they say the arrest of a murder suspect brings peace of mind. But the campus may never feel the same | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    Classes resume Wednesday at the University of Idaho, just weeks after many students abandoned the campus amid anxiety over the lack of an arrest in the gruesome stabbing deaths of four students in November.

    The arrest of a suspect over winter break, however, has alleviated many students’ fears, allowing them to walk into classrooms Wednesday with more confidence in their safety. Still, the community’s long-held sense of security has been irrevocably shattered, some university members say.

    “It definitely seems like a different place,” sophomore Shua Mulder said to CNN affiliate KXLY. “I’m hanging out with some more people. Definitely staying in groups.”

    The university is still mourning the loss of the four students – Kaylee Goncalves, 21; Madison Mogen, 21; Xana Kernodle, 20; and Ethan Chapin, 20 – who were found stabbed to death in an off-campus home on November 13.

    Nearly seven weeks passed without an arrest in the case, leaving the tight-knit campus wracked with unease and uncertainty. The university significantly heightened security measures and gave students the option to leave campus and complete the semester remotely.

    So when Bryan Kohberger, 28, was arrested and named the sole suspect on December 30, students like sophomore Ryder Paslay were offered a little peace of mind.

    Paslay was watching the news with his family when he learned of Kohberger’s arrest. “I breathed a sigh of relief and I’m pretty sure my mom did the same thing,” he told KXLY.

    Though some security measures implemented after the killings will be scaled down this semester, campus security will remain heightened, the university’s provost and executive vice president Torrey Lawrence told CNN last week. While students still have the option to attend remotely, he said most have returned to campus.

    Even so, he said, the “very peaceful, safe community” has experienced a “loss of innocence” in the tragedy’s wake. Before November’s stabbings, Moscow hadn’t seen a murder since 2015.

    “I don’t know if it will ever feel the same,” sophomore Paige Palzinski told KXLY, “But I think just being conscious of knowing what’s happened and having more protections in place has been huge.”

    Following his arrest at his parents’ Pennsylvania home, Kohberger waived extradition to Idaho, where he’s been charged with four counts of first-degree murder in each of the killings and one count of burglary.

    Kohberger is set to appear in court Thursday for a status hearing. He has yet to enter a plea and is currently being held without bail in the Latah County, Idaho, jail.

    A court order prohibits the prosecution and defense from commenting beyond referencing the public records of the case.

    Following the killings, students’ anxieties grew as several weeks passed without a publicly named suspect or announcements of significant advances in the case. Moscow police also received backlash after they initially said there was no immediate threat to the community, but later backtracked on their assurance.

    Criticism of police mounted as it appeared the case had stalled with no suspect or discovery of a murder weapon. But behind the scenes, investigators were working meticulously to narrow down on the suspected killer, court documents show.

    Investigators had their sights set on Kohberger weeks ahead of his arrest, the documents show, but decided not to share key developments with the public to avoid compromising the investigation.

    Notably, a crucial witness account was not shared publicly until after Kohberger was in custody, when the probable cause affidavit was unsealed.

    One of the victims’ two surviving roommates told investigators she saw a man dressed in black inside the house the morning of the killings, the affidavit said. She described the man as being 5’ 10” or taller, “not very muscular, but athletically built with bushy eyebrows,” it said. The roommate’s description was consistent with Kohberger’s driver’s license information, which investigators reviewed in late November.

    Armed with the suspect’s driver’s license and plate information, investigators were able to obtain phone records, which indicate Kohberger’s phone was near the crime scene the morning of the killings, according to the affidavit. The records also show his phone was near the victims’ home at least a dozen times between June 2022 and the present day, it said.

    Kohberger had finished his first semester as a PhD student in Washington State University’s criminal justice program in December, the school confirmed. He was living on the school’s Pullman, Washington campus, which is about a 15-minute drive from Moscow, where the killings took place.

    Investigators linked Kohberger to the killings through DNA found on a knife sheath left at the crime scene, according to an affidavit. His car was also seen near the victims’ home around the time of the killings, the document said.

    Law enforcement tracked Kohberger to his family’s home in Pennsylvania, where he was visiting for the holidays.

    He was surveilled for four days leading up to his arrest, a law enforcement source told CNN. During that time, he was seen putting trash bags in neighbors’ garbage bins and “cleaned his car, inside and outside, not missing an inch,” according to the source.

    On December 30, a Pennsylvania State Police SWAT team arrested him at his parent’s home, breaking down the door and windows in what is known as a “dynamic entry” – a tactic used in rare cases to arrest “high risk” suspects, the source added.

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  • Missing teenage girls in Pakistan ran away to meet BTS, police say | CNN

    Missing teenage girls in Pakistan ran away to meet BTS, police say | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    Two teenage girls reported missing in Pakistan last week have been found more than 750 miles from home after attempting to travel to South Korea to meet K-pop super band BTS, police in the South Asian country said.

    The two girls, aged 13 and 14, went missing on Saturday from Korangi in Karachi city, said Abraiz Ali Abbasi, a senior police superintendent of the area.

    During a search of their homes, police found a diary that revealed their plans to travel to South Korea to meet the supergroup BTS, Abbasi said in a video statement.

    “From the diary we saw mentions of train timetables and that they had been planning to run away with another friend of theirs … who we then interviewed,” Abassi said.

    “We started tracking them aggressively and found out they were in custody of the police in the city of Lahore where they had traveled by train.”

    Abbasi said arrangements for the girls to be taken back home to Karachi have been made in coordination with police in Lahore.

    And he made an appeal for parents to “please monitor their children’s screen time,” so they’re more aware of what their children are viewing online.

    “It isn’t a surprise that two teenagers took this risk because ‘stans’ are capable of doing this for their idols,” said culture journalist Rabia Mehmood, using a colloquial term for loyal fans. “But if we had more safe organized fan-girling spaces, younger fans could engage openly and freely with each other about their favorites instead of taking such risks.”

    K-pop has a huge following all over the world, including Pakistan, with fans spanning age groups and genders. BTS posters and albums are sold all over the South Asian country, while Korean dramas are gaining popularity as well.

    The seven-member Korean sensation BTS took a hiatus late last year, as its oldest member began mandatory military service last month. Jin, 30, started his military service on December 13, a commitment expected to last 18 months.

    BTS is set to be kept apart until at least 2025 as other members of the group come of age to enter military bootcamps. The band has said they will use this time to pursue solo projects.

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  • Suspect in New Year’s Eve machete attack now facing federal charges of attempted murder | CNN

    Suspect in New Year’s Eve machete attack now facing federal charges of attempted murder | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    The suspect in the New Year’s Eve machete attack on three police officers in New York City has been charged with four counts of attempted murder, according to federal court documents, in addition to several state charges already lodged against him.

    Trevor Bickford, 19, is charged with one count of attempted murder of officers and employees of the US government and three counts of attempted murder of officers and employees of the US government and persons assisting them, according to the complaint.

    The complaint in part contends he intended to kill military-aged men working for the US government and NYPD officers working with the FBI to protect revelers.

    “On this past New Year’s Eve, revelers flocked to Times Square to ring in the New Year with friends and family,” US Attorney Damian Williams said. “But Trevor Bickford allegedly targeted the iconic yearly celebration to carry out a brazen act of violence and hatred in the name of jihad.”

    CNN has reached out to the Federal Defenders of New York, which is representing Bickford, for comment.

    Bickford was previously indicted on more than a dozen state charges, including several terrorism charges, according to the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office.

    Rosemary Vassallo-Vellucci, who represents Bickford in that case, previously told CNN her client should be presumed innocent.

    Federal prosecutors included in the complaint images from body camera footage that purportedly shows Bickford during the attack, striking officers with the knife allegedly used, a kukri.

    If convicted on all counts in the federal case, Bickford could face up to 80 years in prison, according to prosecutors.

    Prosecutors have said the suspect traveled to New York “in order to kill people and carry out jihad.”

    Bickford entered the security area of the Times Square checkpoint on New Year’s Eve, where he allegedly pulled out a machete, struck an officer with the blade and another officer in the head with the handle, authorities have said. He then swung the blade at a third officer, who shot the suspect in the shoulder, according to the NYPD.

    Bickford, according to a criminal complaint, told authorities during his interview that he said “(Allahu) Akbar” before he walked up and hit the officer over the head with the weapon.

    Prosecutors in that case alleged that the suspect said that all government officials were his target, since they “cannot be proper Muslims because the United States government supports Israel.”

    The three officers were hospitalized in stable condition and have since been released.

    The suspect earlier had caught the attention of the FBI, and he was interviewed by federal agents last month in Maine after he said he wanted to travel overseas to help fellow Muslims and was willing to die for his religion, multiple law enforcement officers have said.

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  • New York City man who fatally struck Chinese woman with a rock sentenced to 20 years in prison | CNN

    New York City man who fatally struck Chinese woman with a rock sentenced to 20 years in prison | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    A New York City man who fatally struck a 61-year-old Chinese woman with a rock in an unprovoked attack in November 2021 was sentenced Tuesday to 20 years in prison.

    Elisaul Perez, 33, of Brooklyn, pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter in Queens County Criminal Court last month for the killing of Guiying Ma in Jackson Heights, according to Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz.

    Ma had been sweeping the sidewalk and street outside a friend’s home at about 8 a.m. on November 26, 2021, when Perez picked up a large rock and struck her in the head, the district attorney said. She fell and Perez then struck her in the head again, Katz said.

    Ma was taken to a hospital and had emergency surgery for severe head trauma and brain injuries but died from her injuries in February. Perez was arrested the day after the attack.

    The killing was one of a number of unprovoked attacks on Asian people in the last few years that experts said stemmed from anti-Asian bias connected to the Covid-19 pandemic. The New York Police Department created the Asian Hate Crime Task Force in 2020, and NYPD data shows there 133 anti-Asian bias incidents in 2021.

    In court Tuesday, Perez made no statement. When he walked into the courtroom, he acknowledged someone in the room and made a smirk at them, and when he exited in handcuffs he also looked back at this individual and frowned. Defense attorney David Strachan said he had nothing to note other than they relied on the promise Perez would be sentenced to 20 years in prison.

    Jennifer Wu, an attorney for Ma’s family, read a translated statement in court from Ma’s widower, Zhanxin Gao, saying that they felt at home in New York City prior to the attack.

    “The five years in New York that I lived here gave us a deep affection for the city,” she read. “We felt welcomed by the people here.”

    But the attack on his wife strained his relationship with his son and mother-in-law, and he has since moved back to China. Perez’s actions “took away the love of my life, the mother to my son … and took away, for me, my life in this country.”

    Yihung Hsieh, a family friend and the owner of the Jackson Heights property, also spoke in court and said Gao used to be a happy man, but “the tragedy that happened to Ma hit him very hard,” Hsieh said.

    “When I sent video to him he can’t stop crying … the tears and painful memory couldn’t stop,” he said.

    Last year, Hsieh set up a GoFundMe page to help cover Ma’s medical expenses and posted updates about her health after the attack. Ma had come to New York from Liaoning, China, four years earlier, and her husband worked in a restaurant cleaning, Hsieh wrote. Their son and two grandchildren remained in China, he wrote.

    “She will be remembered as an outgoing, friendly and kind individual who took care of everyone, and insisted on giving to others even when she had very little to give,” Hsieh wrote in the post.

    Katz, the district attorney, said outside court she hoped the case brought closure to the victim’s family.

    “Today was about justice but it was also about closure for the Ma family,” she said. “We were pleased that they were involved, the family friends were involved, and that we were able to keep in constant communication with the family, and with the community that supported them so wholeheartedly.”

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  • They saved refugees stranded at sea. Now they’re on trial | CNN

    They saved refugees stranded at sea. Now they’re on trial | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    A trial of 24 rescue workers has begun in Greece, prompting criticism from human rights groups and the European Parliament, which has called the proceedings “the largest case of criminalization of solidarity in Europe.”

    The trial of Sean Binder, Sarah Mardini and 22 other volunteers from the search and rescue NGO Emergency Response Center International began in Lesbos on Tuesday, according to Grace O’Sullivan, an EU lawmaker who said she accompanied Binder to court.

    The two highest-profile defendants, Binder and Mardini, were arrested in 2018 after they took part in several search and rescue operations around the Lesbos island to assist refugees stranded at sea.

    Binder, a trained diver, is a dual Irish and German citizen, while Mardini is a Syrian refugee who herself arrived to Europe via sea.

    Mardini gained international attention after it emerged that she and her sister saved the lives of fellow asylum seekers when the boat they were traveling on from Turkey to Greece encountered difficulty. Mardini’s sister Yusra went on to swim for the Refugee team at the Olympics. The sisters’ story was recently brought to life in the Netflix film “The Swimmers.”

    Mardini returned to Greece in 2016 to volunteer with Emergency Response Center International where she worked alongside Binder.

    The two have been charged with felonies including espionage, assisting smuggling networks, membership of a criminal organization, and money laundering and could face up to 25 years in prison if found guilty, according to a European Parliament report published in June 2021.

    Mardini’s lawyer Zacharias Kesses in 2018 called the allegations “arbitrary,” adding in a video message that the claims have “nothing to do with real evidence.” Binder has also denied the allegations, warning that their case had “frightened people away from doing this kind of work.”

    The case is “currently the largest case of criminalization of solidarity in Europe,” according to the European Parliament report.

    “All we are asking for, all our lawyers have demanded is that the rule of law is respected. That Greek laws are respected,” Binder told journalists on Tuesday after the court hearing wrapped for the day.

    “We want the rule of law, and we will find out Friday if we will get the rule of law or the rule of flaws” Binder continued, saying the prosecution had made “flaw after flaw” in their case.

    In a December 22 statement, Human Rights Watch called on the Greek prosecutor to drop the charges, saying the case “effectively criminalizes life-saving humanitarian solidarity for people on the move.”

    Nils Muižnieks, Director of Amnesty International’s European Regional Office, said in a January 5 statement that the trial “reveals how the Greek authorities will go to extreme lengths to deter humanitarian assistance and discourage migrants and refugees from seeking safety on the country’s shores.”

    “It is farcical that this trial is even taking place. All charges against the rescuers must be dropped without delay,” Muižnieks added.

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  • ‘Certainly a possibility’ mother could face charges after her 6-year-old allegedly shot Virginia teacher, police chief says | CNN

    ‘Certainly a possibility’ mother could face charges after her 6-year-old allegedly shot Virginia teacher, police chief says | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    The mother of a 6-year-old boy who authorities say shot his teacher at a Virginia elementary school could face charges, Newport News police Chief Steve Drew said Tuesday.

    “I think that is certainly a possibility,” Drew told “CNN This Morning,” a day after police confirmed the boy took the firearm from his home and brought it to school in his backpack Friday before allegedly opening fire in a classroom at Richneck Elementary School in Newport News, wounding a teacher and sending her to the hospital.

    Drew has spoken with the commonwealth attorney multiple times, he said, but emphasized the investigation remains ongoing.

    “We need to check with Child Protective Services on any history. We need to check with the school system on any behavioral issues they might have and put those together,” he said. “There’s still 16, 17 children that we want to work with a child psychologist to get some statement from.”

    “And at the end of the day, when that’s all compiled together and the facts and what the law supports, the Commonwealth’s attorney will make the decision if there are any charges forthcoming … towards the parents,” Drew said.

    Before police revealed the gun was legally purchased by the 6-year-old’s mother, Andrew Block, an associate professor at the University of Virginia Law School, told CNN there was a scenario where the parents could be held criminally liable if the weapon belonged to them and they did not keep it properly locked up. But in Virginia, that’s only a Class 1 misdemeanor, Block said.

    Without more information, “it’s hard to know if there’s criminal liability or not, and who should have it,” said Block, the former director of the Virginia Department of Juvenile Justice.

    The boy was taken into police custody Friday, and Drew said Monday he was under a temporary detention order and was being evaluated at a hospital.

    Police received the call that a teacher had been shot at 1:59 p.m. Friday, Drew said. When officers entered the classroom where the shooting happened five minutes later, they saw the boy was being physically restrained by a school employee.

    The 6-year-old was combative and struck the employee restraining him and officers took control, escorting him out of the building and into a police car, police said.

    The teacher was “providing class instruction when the child displayed a firearm, pointed it at her and fired one round,” Drew said at Monday’s news conference. “There was no physical struggle or fight.”

    The teacher – identified as Abigail Zwerner – has been praised by city officials for her response. Despite being shot in the chest through her hand, she made sure all her students made it out of the classroom just after the shooting, Drew said. She was the last to leave her classroom, making her way to the administration office.

    “Abby was faithful as a teacher,” Newport News Mayor Phillip Jones said. “She ensured that everyone was accounted for and that she was the last one to leave.”

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  • Iran sentences daughter of former president to five years in prison | CNN

    Iran sentences daughter of former president to five years in prison | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    The daughter of former Iranian president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani has been sentenced to five years in prison, her lawyer said Tuesday.

    The verdict against Faezeh Hashemi, who is a known Iranian activist, is “not final,” the lawyer, Neda Shams, said in a tweet. “The client is still in prison and there are other cases against her,” Shams added.

    Hashemi was indicted last year by Tehran’s public prosecutor on charges of “propaganda against the system,” state-aligned news agency ISNA said on Tuesday.

    She was arrested and transferred to Evin prison in September, according to ISNA.

    Iran has detained a number of high-profile activists in recent months, including writer and poet Mona Borzouei, singer Shervin Hajipour and Iranian football player Hossein Mahini, as anti-government protests rocked the country.

    Over the past decade, Hashemi has been jailed several times for making anti-government statements and participating in protests.

    She spent months in prison after a 2012 arrest for making anti-government statements.

    Her father was a revolutionary who fought the Shah’s regime and its Western-leaning social and economic policies but pushed for liberalization and privatization programs when he became president a year after the end of the Iran-Iraq war.

    Rafsanjani died in 2017 aged 82.

    As many as 41 more protesters have received death sentences in recent months as officials attempt to crack down on the swell of angry public sentiment across Iran, according to statements from both Iranian officials and in Iranian media reviewed by CNN and 1500Tasvir, but the true number could be much higher.

    The executions on Saturday of two young men in Iran, one a karate champion, the other a volunteer children’s coach, in connection with the nationwide protests, sparked outrage around the world.

    The total number of people now known to have been executed in connection with the protests, sparked by the death of 22-year-old Kurdish Iranian woman Mahsa Amini in police custody in September, has reached four.

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  • DOJ appeals decision that faulted Air Force for 2017 Texas church shooting | CNN Politics

    DOJ appeals decision that faulted Air Force for 2017 Texas church shooting | CNN Politics

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    CNN
     — 

    The Justice Department on Monday formally appealed a 2021 federal court ruling that found the US government was mostly responsible for the 2017 mass shooting at a church in Sutherland Springs, Texas, arguing that the court erred when it said the government was more at fault for the massacre than the shooter himself.

    During the shooting, the gunman, former US Air Force member Devin Patrick Kelley, killed 26 people and wounded 22 others at the First Baptist Church in the small community of Sutherland Springs. He died later that day from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

    “The attack on innocent victims at the First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs was an inexpressible tragedy and the United States unequivocally does not seek to excuse the Air Force’s failure to submit Kelley’s fingerprints and record of conviction for inclusion in NICS databases,” attorneys for the department wrote in court papers filed Monday evening. “Nonetheless, under settled Texas and federal law, the United States is not liable for Kelley’s actions, and is certainly not more responsible for those acts than the murderer himself.”

    DOJ spokeswoman Dena Iverson said in a recent statement that the government and plaintiffs have been engaged in a months-long effort to resolve the case through an out-of-court resolution.

    “Although the formal mediation has now ended, we remain open to resolving the plaintiffs’ claims through settlement and will continue our efforts to do so,” Iverson said.

    In a July 2021 ruling from US District Judge Xavier Rodriguez for the Western District of Texas, the court found the government 60% responsible for the harm that happened in the shooting and “jointly and severally liable for the damages that may be awarded.”

    Rodriguez concluded the Air Force failed to exercise reasonable care when it didn’t submit the shooter’s criminal history to the FBI’s background check system, which increased the risk of physical harm to the general public.

    “Even if the United States could be liable, the court erred in apportioning 60% of the responsibility to the United States (20% for line employees and 40% for supervisors), leaving only 40% for Kelley,” the DOJ attorneys argued in their filing on Monday.

    “The court committed legal error in apportioning a share of responsibility to the United States under a negligent supervision theory after already imposing liability for the acts of the supervised line employees – under Texas law, these theories are mutually exclusive. Moreover, the court erred by holding the United States more responsible for Kelley’s outrages than Kelley himself,” they wrote.

    In its filing, the DOJ asked the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals to hold oral arguments to hear the appeal, writing: “The record in this case is voluminous and the legal issues are important and complex. Oral argument will be of substantial benefit to this Court in understanding the important issues in the case.”

    Victims of the shooting and families who suffered a loss in the incident have previously voiced opposition to the DOJ’s plan to appeal the decision, with an attorney for some of them saying on Monday that the move “dealt a blow to America’s safety.”

    “The DOJ’s appeal asks the court to hold that flagrantly and repeatedly violating the law – for over thirty years – by allowing child abusing felons and domestic violence offenders’ guns does not risk the safety of the public. The twenty-six dead and twenty-two injured at the Sutherland Springs mass shooting disagree,” Jamal Alsaffar, the lead attorney for the Sutherland Springs First Baptist Church families, said in a statement.

    Kelley was charged in military court in 2012 on suspicion of assaulting his spouse and their child. Kelley received a bad conduct discharge, confinement for 12 months, and was demoted to E-1, or airman basic.

    But despite his history of domestic abuse and questionable behavior involving firearms, Kelley was able to purchase the Ruger AR-556 rifle he allegedly used in the shooting from a store in San Antonio in April 2016, a law enforcement official previously told CNN.

    The failure to relay that information prevented the entry of his conviction into the federal database that must be checked before someone is able to purchase a firearm. Had his information been in the database at the National Criminal Information Center, it should have prevented gun sales to Kelley. Federal law prohibits people convicted of a misdemeanor crime involving domestic violence from owning firearms.

    Rodriguez’s order stated that no other individual – not even the shooter’s parents or partners – knew as much as the government did about his violent history and the violence he was capable of committing.

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  • Giuliani subpoenaed amid special counsel investigation into Trump’s fundraising | CNN Politics

    Giuliani subpoenaed amid special counsel investigation into Trump’s fundraising | CNN Politics

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    Washington
    CNN
     — 

    Special counsel Jack Smith’s team has subpoenaed Donald Trump’s former attorney Rudy Giuliani, asking him to turn over records to a federal grand jury as part of an investigation into the former president’s fundraising following the 2020 election, according to a person familiar with the subpoena.

    The subpoena, which was sent more than a month ago and has not been previously reported, requests documents from Giuliani about payments he received around the 2020 election, when Giuliani filed numerous lawsuits on Trump’s behalf contesting the election results, the person said.

    Prosecutors have also subpoenaed other witnesses who are close to Trump, asking specifically for documents related to disbursements from the Save America PAC, Trump’s primary fundraising operation set up shortly after the 2020 election, according to other sources with insight into the probe.

    Taken together, the subpoenas demonstrate prosecutors’ growing interest in following the money after the 2020 election as part of their sweeping criminal probe around Trump’s efforts to overturn his loss of the presidency.

    Save America was part of broader fundraising efforts by Trump and the Republican Party that raised more than $250 million after the election. Since then, the political action committee has compensated several lawyers who now represent Trump and his allies in January 6-related investigations.

    The subpoenas to other witnesses in addition to Giuliani were sent in late December, according to the other sources.

    The information the prosecutors seek is still being collected, the sources said. With Giuliani, the investigators have prioritized getting financial information from him, one person said.

    The inquiry to Giuliani came from David Rody, a former top prosecutor in New York who specializes in gang and conspiracy cases and is assisting Smith with examining a broader criminal conspiracy after the election, according to some of the sources.

    In response to being informed of CNN’s reporting on Giuliani’s subpoena and asked for a statement, Ted Goodman, his adviser, said, “The mayor is unaware of the specific claims by this so-called ‘anonymous source,’ and therefore is not in position to respond.”

    A spokesman for the special counsel’s office declined to comment.

    A representative for Trump has not responded to a request for comment.

    CNN previously reported the Justice Department in September subpoenaed witnesses for financial details about the Save America PAC, and that a portion of Smith’s office would dig into possible financial and campaign contribution crimes. The Giuliani subpoena and other December subpoenas represent a new round of inquiry, now from Smith’s office, which took shape over the holidays.

    After the election, Trump and the Republican National Committee raked in millions of dollars as they told supporters the election was being stolen, marketing the fundraising effort as election defense. At the time, some officials working on the fundraising effort knew that Joe Biden’s electoral win was legitimate, despite Trump’s insistence it was fraudulent, the House Select Committee found in its own investigation.

    Smith’s office hasn’t brought any charges. Federal prosecutors in New York previously investigated Giuliani for activities in Ukraine during the Trump presidency. While that led to prosecutors accessing his electronic devices, they declined to charge him with any crime.

    Giuliani is likely to be a central figure in any probe of Trump’s close political circles after the election. After serving as Trump’s private attorney during the Mueller investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, the former chief federal prosecutor and mayor of Manhattan dove into Trump’s attempts to claim electoral victory. He unsuccessfully argued a case before a federal judge in Pennsylvania – where Trump sought to throw out the popular vote – and connected with state lawmakers as he tried to convince them of election fraud.

    In the weeks after the 2020 election, Giuliani also held freewheeling press conferences, repeating allegations that he never could prove.

    A Trump campaign attorney told the January 6 committee that Giuliani had asked to be paid $20,000 a day for his post-election work for Trump. The campaign declined to pay him that, according to election and House select committee public records.

    Subpoenas issued last year to a wide swath of Trump-connected witnesses also asked questions about the Save America PAC, including how its funds were used in 2020 and early 2021, and about Giuliani, as CNN previously reported.

    Giuliani hasn’t personally received distributions directly from the PAC, according to campaign finance records. Yet his company, Giuliani Partners, was paid $63,400 for travel reimbursement by Trump’s campaign committee in mid-December 2020. Giuliani’s New York-based security company also received a $76,500 payment from another Trump-backed entity, the Make America Great Again PAC, for travel expenses, in early February 2021, according to the records.

    In addition to the financial inquiry, Smith’s office is also pursuing possible criminal cases around the Trump campaign’s use of fake electors in battleground states and the pressure on Congress and then-Vice President Mike Pence to overturn the election’s result. In all of those schemes, Giuliani was a central player.

    In his House select committee testimony, Giuliani explained that his team working with Trump pivoted to focus on state legislatures that could block the election result after his attempts failed in the courts. The New York state bar suspended him from practicing law because of his 2020 election efforts, and he’s also facing an attorney discipline proceeding in Washington, DC.

    He declined to answer some questions the House asked about his work for Trump after the election, citing attorney confidentiality. Giuliani could try to make similar claims in the federal investigation, though the Justice Department has legal mechanisms in which it can try to overcome witness refusals to answer questions.

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  • Iraqis celebrate their comeback with soccer tournament after decades of isolation | CNN

    Iraqis celebrate their comeback with soccer tournament after decades of isolation | CNN

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    Editor’s Note: A version of this story appears in today’s Meanwhile in the Middle East newsletter, CNN’s three-times-a-week look inside the region’s biggest stories. Sign up here.


    Baghdad and Abu Dhabi
    CNN
     — 

    Iraq is holding its first international soccer tournament in more than four decades, hosting its Gulf Arab neighbors for a two-week competition as it emerges from its worst and longest political deadlock in years.

    The tournament, analysts say, is a glimmer of hope for a struggling population, but also holds a political message – Iraq is signaling to its neighbors and the world that it is ready to move past decades of turmoil.

    After more than 30 years of global isolation due to wars and sanctions, for many Iraqis the Arabian Gulf Cup – the tournament started on Friday and will run until January 19 – is something of a tonic.

    “Iraq is a football-mad country that has been lobbying for years for the right to host competitive international games,” said Patrick Osgood, associate director of the Control Risks consultancy firm in Dubai.

    This is the first time Iraq has hosted the Gulf Cup since 1979, when it was held in the capital Baghdad. This time, the tournament is being held in the southern port city of Basra, with teams from Saudi Arabia, Oman, UAE, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain and Yemen also competing.

    Since it last hosted the Gulf Cup, the nation has faced two devastating wars, a regime change, an occupation and a militant insurgency that impacted the once thriving Basra as it did the rest of the country. Of late, the city’s residents have encountered severe energy and food shortages that have led to unrest.

    “The practical effect in a city in dire need of investment is likely to be small,” Osgood told CNN. “But Iraqis deserve nice things, to participate with others, to be able to exercise hospitality.”

    There is excitement and fervor in Basra about the tournament. Murals adorn the city’s walls and fans were seen joining long queues for tickets. Flags flutter from every participating nation in streets and there are welcoming posters reading, “Basra welcomes you” and “Basra is your home.”

    “We’ve been waiting for this moment for 40 years,” said 29-year-old Mohammed Ali, a taxi driver in Basra, adding that the city feels very secure and its residents are filled with joy for the occasion.

    “We have experienced problems, but we always say that sport unites people,” he told CNN. “We are seeing many people from the Gulf, and we can tell that they too have missed Basra.”

    The last Gulf Cup was held in Qatar in 2019, with Bahrain emerging as the winner.

    Gulf Arabs rarely travel to Iraq for tourism. Of all the Gulf states, only the travel hubs of Doha and Dubai have direct flights to the country, catering largely to connecting passengers and Shiite Muslim pilgrims. Gulf states’ ties with the Iraqi government have warmed over the past few years, but that hasn’t trickled down to the public level. In Saudi Arabia, government permission is required for travel to Iraq, which is only given to men above 40.

    Major General Saad Maan, head of public relations at the Iraqi interior ministry, told CNN that he expects “tens of thousands of fans to arrive in Basra” and that all security measures have been taken to assure the safety of both residents and fans.

    “Iraq is saying that there is great political stability,” said Ihsan Al-Shammari, a politics professor at Baghdad University and head of the Iraqi Centre for Political Thought. “It also speaks to the security situation, especially if the tournament is successfully completed without any security incidents.”

    Iraq also hopes that the event will bolster its image to investors and political partners, said Al-Shammari, as well as bring it closer to its Gulf Arab neighbors with whom it has had frosty relations since Saddam Hussein’s invasion of Kuwait in 1990.

    The opening ceremony on Friday started with a spectacular fireworks display and a theatrical performance chronicling the nation’s 5,000-year history, though the showpiece occasion wasn’t without controversy.

    The Iraqi Football Association apologized to Kuwait for a brawl that took place in the Basra International Stadium’s VIP section that prevented the Kuwaiti ruler’s representative from entering. That prompted the rest of the delegation to leave the event. The Kuwait FA said it will continue participation in the tournament after being given security guarantees from Iraq.

    Iraq drifted into chaos after a 2003 US-led invasion toppled longtime ruler Saddam Hussein, and around the end of 2021 fell into its longest political stalemate as the country’s various political factions – divided mainly between Shiite blocs and their Iran-backed rivals – failed to form a government.

    The deadlock was only broken last October with the election of a new president and premier, but experts remain skeptical about whether the new government can prevent further stability and instill serious reforms.

    The country’s economy is still in crisis, much of its infrastructure is in ruins and its ties with neighboring states are strained as Iran continues to support prominent political factions and their armed militias.

    While not the center of most violence, Basra has its own issues.

    “Basra city experiences security issues around crime and protest activity,” said Osgood, “but neither issue is prohibitive, and the government has surged security provision to mitigate threats.”

    “On balance, there’s unlikely to be major security disruption during the tournament,” he said, adding that “there are significant socio-economic issues in Basra that drive unrest, but there’s also significant goodwill around the tournament – no one wants to spoil it.”

    The tournament is not on the international soccer radar but it is a heated topic in the Gulf region and has often been reflective of the region’s geopolitical scene.

    Iraq last hosted the Gulf Cup 44 years ago, when it won the tournament. The nation was banned from it for about a decade after Saddam Hussein’s invasion of Kuwait and was prevented from hosting it since due to security reasons.

    Despite the hiccups, residents of Basra are optimistic about the tournament in their city.

    “The whole of Basra is joyous, opening its doors to the Gulf and other provinces (of Iraq),” said 46-year-old Ali Salman of Basra.

    “We want to say to visitors from the Gulf and other provinces of Iraq: don’t rent hotels, the doors of our homes are open.”

    Iran executes two more men amid crackdown on protests

    Iran executed two men – one a karate champion, the other a volunteer children’s coach – in connection with nationwide protests, sparking outrage around the world. The European Union said in a statement Saturday that it was “appalled” by the executions, calling it “yet another sign of the Iranian authorities’ violent repression of civilian demonstrations.”

    • Background: The pair were alleged to have participated in anti-regime protests and were convicted of killing a member of the country’s Basij paramilitary force, were hanged early Saturday morning, according to state-affiliated media.
    • Why it matters: The total number of people now known to have been executed in connection with the protests has reached four. As many as 41 more protesters have received death sentences in recent months, according to statements from both Iranian officials and in Iranian media reviewed by CNN and 1500Tasvir, but the number could be much higher.

    Sweden says it can’t meet all of Turkey’s NATO demands

    Sweden is confident that Turkey will approve its application to join the NATO military alliance, but will not meet all the conditions Ankara has set for its support, Reuters cited Sweden’s prime minister as saying on Sunday. “Turkey both confirms that we have done what we said we would do, but they also say that they want things that we cannot or do not want to give them,” Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson told a defence think-tank conference in Sweden.

    • Background: Finland and Sweden signed a three-way agreement with Turkey in 2022 aimed at overcoming Ankara’s objections to their membership of the alliance. They applied to join NATO in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, but Turkey objected and accused the countries of harboring militants. New entrants require the consensus of all existing members.
    • Why it matters: It is unclear if the steps taken by the two candidates will satisfy Turkey, which has delayed the accession of the two countries to extract concessions from them. The move has been seen as benefiting President Recep Tayyip Erdogan ahead of elections this year.

    Israel arrests two teens over Jerusalem Christian cemetery vandalism

    Israel Police arrested two teenagers suspected of vandalizing at least 28 tombstones and damaging a Protestant cemetery near Jerusalem’s Mount Zion, they announced on Friday. The suspects, aged 18 and 14, from central Israel, will be brought before a judge to decide on an extension of their detention following their arrest late on Thursday. “The investigation continues with the aim of bringing them to justice,” a statement from Israel’s police spokesperson in Jerusalem said.

    • Background: The Episcopal Church in Jerusalem and the Middle East said in a statement earlier last week that “vandals” had “purposely and relentlessly smashed more than thirty gravestones, many of them historic,” in the cemetery. The church said there was clear indication that “these criminal acts were motivated by religious bigotry and hatred against Christians.” Israel Police said the vandalism took place on Sunday, January 1.
    • Why it matters: The attack on the cemetery and Israel’s handling of it is likely to be in the spotlight after the country swore in the most right-wing government in its history last month. Police did not name the suspects or comment on a possible motive, but Chief Superintendent Assaf Harel said: “Any damage to religious institutions and sites is serious and damages the unique and delicate fabric of life that exists in the city for members of all religions and denominations.”

    London’s first Arabic bookstore bid farewell as it closed its doors in 2023, marking the end of a 44-year-old era for Arabic literature in Europe.

    Citing economic difficulties, the advent of electronic reading and logistical challenges brought on by Brexit, the founders of Al Saqi Bookstore found the burden of keeping its doors open too heavy.

    Regarded as Europe’s leading Arabic bookstore, Al Saqi, which means water seller in Arabic, was founded in 1978 by lifelong friends André Gaspard and Mai Ghoussoub. They opened the store after fleeing the Lebanese Civil War that started in 1975 and lasted until 1990.

    The shop at first only carried books in Arabic, later expanding its collection to English, for Europeans who wanted to learn about Arabic culture. It also runs a publishing house in London and Beirut, which will continue to operate.

    “It was home for us misfits” the founder’s daughter and publisher Lynn Gaspard told the BBC in an interview.

    London is home to a large Arab diaspora. For decades, the city has been a refuge for Arabs fleeing war, economic turmoil and political persecution. But it is also a major hub for tourists, with many Gulf Arabs keeping summer homes in the city.

    For many, Al Saqi was the place to find books banned in the Middle East, with Arab travelers to Europe often making a stop in London to stock up.

    But as Al Saqi’s door closes, another one may open as the store’s legacy has inspired one of its own employees to carry the torch.

    Mohammad Masoud, a bookseller at the store, is now crowdfunding for a new initiative called “Maqam” that aims to open a similar shop.

    “This is what Maqam is about. It exists for people who are in need of Arabic content and are searching for belonging,” he told Al Jazeera.

    By Mohammed Abdelbary

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  • House GOP select panel will target DOJ and FBI and their ‘ongoing criminal investigations’ | CNN Politics

    House GOP select panel will target DOJ and FBI and their ‘ongoing criminal investigations’ | CNN Politics

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    CNN
     — 

    House Republicans are gearing up to investigate the Department of Justice and the FBI, including their “ongoing criminal investigations,” setting up a showdown with the Biden administration and law enforcement agencies over their criminal probes, particularly those into former President Donald Trump.

    The new House GOP majority has proposed that a new select subcommittee be formed – a result of one of the key concessions House Speaker Kevin McCarthy made to his opposition to secure the gavel.

    In addition to having the power to investigate all ongoing criminal probes of the executive branch, the Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government would also “be authorized to receive information available to the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence,” giving it access to the most highly classified information in Congress, according to the proposal.

    An earlier draft of the select subcommittee proposal gave it less power and was much narrower in scope: It would have only been able to focus on the FBI, DOJ and the Department of Homeland Security, and made no mention of getting access to ongoing criminal investigations.

    Republican Rep. Chip Roy of Texas, an early holdout against McCarthy who became a key negotiator for the hard-liners, said on Fox News that changes made to the select subcommittee proposal, particularly seeking a budget as big as the January 6 select committee, was key to getting those initially opposed to McCarthy on board.

    “So we got more resources, more specificity, more power to go after this recalcitrant Biden administration,” Roy said Friday. “That’s really important.”

    The select subcommittee would be under the jurisdiction of the House Judiciary Committee, which is partly why Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan, the committee’s incoming chairman, was crucial to the negotiations last week that led to the proposal. As Judiciary chair, Jordan would oversee the subpoenas of the select panel. By contrast, the House select committee that investigated the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol made subpoena decisions unilaterally. Jordan has foreshadowed that he will make investigating assertions that the FBI and DOJ have been politicized a key focus of the House Judiciary Committee as chairman.

    “We’re going to get into what’s going on at the FBI,” Jordan said Sunday on Fox.

    If the proposal passes, McCarthy would be able to select 13 lawmakers to serve on the subcommittee, five of whom would be chosen in consultation with House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries. McCarthy would also pick the subcommittee chair. This was similar to the setup of the January 6 select committee, for which then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi gave then-Minority Leader McCarthy five spots to fill. But when Pelosi rejected two of McCarthy’s picks, the California Republican pulled all his members from serving on the panel.

    Republican Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky said Friday on Fox, “It looks like I will probably be on that committee but I can’t say that I will run it.”

    Another Republican, Pennsylvania Rep. Scott Perry, who is being investigated by federal prosecutors for his role in trying to impede the transfer of presidential power in 2020, would not rule out serving on the select panel.

    “Why should I be limited? Why should anybody be limited just because someone has made an accusation?” Perry, who chairs the hard-line conservative Freedom Caucus, said Sunday in an interview on ABC’s “This Week.” “Everybody in America is innocent until proven otherwise.”

    The proposal for the subcommittee panel is included in the House rules package, which establishes the rules and committees for the 118th Congress, and is set to receive a vote on Monday.

    The select subcommittee would be required to issue a final report by January 2, 2025, and dissolve shortly after.

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  • El Paso shelter says video of officer slamming person on ground shows ‘excessive force’ | CNN

    El Paso shelter says video of officer slamming person on ground shows ‘excessive force’ | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    A homeless shelter in El Paso, Texas, released a video showing what the group said was Customs and Border Protection officials apprehending a person outside of its welcome center.

    The Opportunity Center for the Homeless posted the surveillance video, which shows someone who appears to be in law enforcement pushing the person up to the teal windows at the entrance of the building and then slamming the person to the ground and handcuffing them.

    Another person who appears to be in law enforcement stands over them.

    The group says the surveillance video was taken at 11:50 a.m. on January 6.

    It is unclear what led up to the incident. CNN reached out to the Opportunity Center for the Homeless Sunday night to inquire about the person’s whereabouts or condition following the January 6 incident and whether there was any additional video taken before or after the footage that was shared on social media.

    Opportunity Center for the Homeless founder Ray Tullius issued a statement saying, “Through the years, the Opportunity Center for the Homeless has had a respectful and long-standing working relationship with law enforcement officials in the community.

    “[On Friday], an individual receiving services at the Welcome Center, located at 201 E. 9th Avenue, was apprehended in front of the facility by Customs and Border Protection officials with what seems to us to be excessive force.

    “To our knowledge, this is an isolated incident. However, it raises our concerns for the well-being of the individual taken into custody and all the guests receiving services in our homeless programs. As we have done it for the last twenty-nine years, the Opportunity Center for the Homeless will continue to extend a helping hand to those in need of help,” the statement reads.

    In a statement, US Customs and Border Protection said its Office of Professional Responsibility is reviewing the incident.

    “Although, at the moment we do not have all the details of what occurred during this incident, CBP takes all allegations of misconduct seriously, investigates thoroughly, and holds employees accountable when policies are violated,” the agency said.

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  • Husband of missing Massachusetts mother arrested for misleading investigators, district attorney says | CNN

    Husband of missing Massachusetts mother arrested for misleading investigators, district attorney says | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    The husband of the Massachusetts mother of three who has been missing since New Year’s Day was arrested for misleading police investigators, the Norfolk District Attorney’s office announced Sunday.

    Cohasset and Massachusetts State Police “developed probable cause” to believe that Brian Walshe misled police investigators when they took him into custody to investigate his wife Ana Walshe’s disappearance, according to a news release from the DA’s office.

    The two police departments continued searching Ana Walshe’s residence for evidence of her disappearance Sunday morning, the press officer for the Norfolk DA’s office, David Traub, told CNN Sunday.

    Brian Walshe is expected to be arraigned Monday, according to the DA’s office.

    The DA’s office and the Cohasset Police declined to comment on the custody status of the Walshe’s three children. CNN has reached out to Massachusetts State Police for comment on the custody status.

    Ana Walshe, 39, was meant to use a ride share service to catch a flight from Boston Logan International Airport for work on New Year’s Day, Cohasset Police Chief William Quigley said at a news conference Friday. It was unclear if Walshe actually took the ride share, he said at the time, but authorities confirmed Walshe never boarded the flight.

    Walshe’s husband and her employer reported her missing several days later, when Walshe did not arrive for her work commitments in Washington, DC, the police chief said.

    On Saturday, Cohasset and Massachusetts State Police said in a joint statement that investigators have “concluded” their ground search for Walshe.

    The decision to suspend search efforts in the wooded area surrounding Walshe’s home was made after two days of searching with “negative results,” the statement said.

    The ground search will not resume unless new information warrants, it added, though detectives “continue to undertake various investigative actions to determine Ms. Walshe’s whereabouts.”

    The two-day search of the area surrounding Walshe’s home in Cohasset – a town on Massachusetts Bay, 20 miles southeast of Boston – involved 20 state troopers from the MSP Special Emergency Response Team, described as a “specialized unit trained in search and rescue operations,” the statement Saturday said.

    Three K-9 teams and the State Police Air Wing also participated, the release said, and state police divers searched a small stream and a pool but found nothing.

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