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  • Biden campaign launches ad on Trump’s NATO comments

    Biden campaign launches ad on Trump’s NATO comments

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    President Joe Biden’s reelection campaign is hoping former President Donald Trump’s recent comments about NATO countries will turn off voters in key so-called “blue wall” battleground states, launching a new ad seeking to paint his predecessor’s comments as dangerous for American security. 

    The new messaging blitz caps off a week in which the president and his reelection team have sought to highlight Trump’s suggestion that he would encourage Russia to attack delinquent allies, with Biden calling it “dumb,” “shameful,” “dangerous,” and “un-American” from the White House. 

    What You Need To Know

    • President Joe Biden’s reelection campaign is hoping former President Donald Trump’s threats against NATO countries will turn off voters in the key so-called “blue wall” states
    • The campaign on Friday announced it is launching a new ad seeking to paint his predecessor’s comments on the alliance as dangerous for American security
    • The new messaging blitz caps off a week in which the president and his reelection team have sought to highlight Trump’s suggestion that he would tell Russia to attack delinquent allies, a comment that Trump doubled down on this week 
    • The new one-minute spot will run in the battleground states of Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania – areas home to a large population of Americans from NATO countries bordering Russia and three states that flipped from red to blue in 2020 to help send Biden to the Oval Office 

    The new one-minute spot will run in the battleground states of Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania – areas home to a large population of Americans from NATO countries bordering Russia and three states that flipped from red to blue in 2020 to help send Biden to the Oval Office. 

    In total, the states are home to more than 2.5 million people with Polish, Finnish, Norwegian, Lithuanian, Latvian, or Estonian roots, according to the campaign. Biden’s reelection team made the case the countries could be at risk of invasion by Russia if Russian President Vladimir Putin is successful with his goals in Ukraine. 

    “For 75 years, NATO has been the most important military alliance in the world, it’s been the cornerstone of America’s security,” the ad starts. “It’s how we won the cold war and defeated the soviet union.”

    The spot goes on to note the only time Article 5 of the NATO treaty – which stipulates that an armed attack against one member country is an armed attack against all allies –  has been invoked was “to stand with America” after the terrorist attacks on 9/11. 

    “Every president since Truman has been a rock-solid supporter of NATO, except for Donald Trump,” the ad goes on to argue before pledging that Biden would stand up for the alliance. 

    Trump this week twice doubled down on his threat that he would not defend member countries of the alliance that do not meet defense spending targets. 

    The former president set off alarms across Europe when he said he would encourage Russia “to do whatever the hell they want” to NATO member countries that do not contribute enough to military spending. 

    “The bottom line is that the only person Donald Trump is loyal to is Donald Trump – not to our allies and certainly not to the American people. And while he thinks that sucking up to Putin and other dictators will make him strong, the American people know him for who he truly is: a coward and a loser,” Biden-Harris 2024 Campaign Manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez said in a statement. 

    The new ad will run for three weeks through Super Tuesday, when 15 states and one territory will cast 2024 primary ballots. 

    It comes as the future of additional U.S. aid to Ukraine hangs in the balance, hinging on a skeptical GOP House leadership as the country readies to enter its third year of war. 

    The Senate on Tuesday passed a $95 billion package with aid to Ukraine, along with Israel, the Indo-Pacific and more, after a border deal – negotiated over weeks by a bipartisan group of senators and the White House – was dropped from the bill amid GOP opposition. Republicans had initially insisted Biden’s foreign aid request be tied to significant border policy changes. 

    The fate of additional U.S. aid to Ukraine now appears to rest on whether GOP leadership will bring the bill up for a vote in the lower chamber – where many Republicans are against sending more assistance to the country, arguing Washington must address its own problems at the border first, the U.S. cannot keep spending money on the war and the Biden administration has not laid out a clear plan as it how Ukraine wins and the conflict ends. 

    Biden earlier this week urged House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., to put the package up for a vote “immediately,” making the case it will garner enough support from Democrats and Republicans combined to pass. 

    In that speech from the White House on Tuesday, Biden also offered a forceful condemnation of Trump’s comments on NATO, saying they “sent a dangerous and shocking and, frankly, un-American signal to the world.”

    Spectrum News’ Joseph Konig contributed to this report

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    Maddie Gannon

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  • Kylian Mbappe tells PSG he will leave at the end of the season: source

    Kylian Mbappe tells PSG he will leave at the end of the season: source

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    Kylian Mbappe has told Paris Saint-Germain he will leave the club at the end of the season, a person with knowledge of the situation told The Associated Press.

    What You Need To Know

    • A source told The Associated Press that Paris Saint-Germain star Kylian Mbappe informed the club’s owner that he will leave at the end of the season

    • The person said Mbappe did not tell the PSG president which club he will join next

    • Mbappe, who has consistently been linked with a move to Real Madrid, will be a free agent at the end of the campaign after seven years with PSG

    • While Madrid seems like the most probable destination for Mbappe, his departure from PSG is likely to spark a bidding war between a host of other clubs eager to sign the former World Cup winner


    The person said the French forward informed PSG President Nasser Al-Khelaifi on Thursday that he would not stay at the club when his contract expires.

    The person said Mbappe — widely considered one of the best players in the world — did not tell the president which club he will join next.

    Mbappe, who has consistently been linked with a move to Real Madrid, will be a free agent at the end of the campaign after seven years with PSG.

    The France international informed the club last year that he would not trigger an extension to the contract he signed in 2021.

    While Madrid seems like the most probable destination for Mbappe, his departure from PSG is likely to spark a bidding war between a host of other clubs eager to sign the former World Cup winner.

    Mbappe has been at PSG since 2017 after signing from Monaco in a transfer worth a reported $190 million.

    In 2021, PSG turned down a bid of $190 million from Real Madrid for the World Cup-winning forward, who went on to sign his current contract.

    Mbappe will be the latest superstar player to leave the French club in recent times following the departures of Lionel Messi and Neymar last year.

    Mbappe won five French league titles with PSG, but has so far failed to lead it to success in the Champions League.

    He could still go out on a high by winning European club soccer’s biggest prize this season. He scored in PSG’s 2-0 win on Wednesday over Real Sociedad in the first leg of the round of 16.

    Mbappe’s decision brings an end to a drawn-out saga that has overshadowed his final year at the club.

    PSG has already made moves to shift its focus over the past 12 months in light of the exits of Messi and Neymar.

    PSG has been owned by Qatar Sports Investments since 2011 and dominated French soccer with some of the biggest names in the sport, including Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Mbappe, Neymar and Messi. But it has begun to shift away from that model with signings like Randal Kolo Muani last year.

    Mbappe has long been seen as a successor to Karim Benzema at Madrid, who left the Spanish giant for Al Ittihad in Saudi Arabia last year.

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    Associated Press

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  • Super Bowl parade shooting: Police say dispute appears to have led to shooting

    Super Bowl parade shooting: Police say dispute appears to have led to shooting

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    KANSAS CITY, Mo.— A Kansas City radio DJ is dead and police now say 22 others were injured in a shooting following the Super Bowl parade Wednesday in Kansas City honoring the Chiefs, according to the Kansas City Police Chief.

    During a Thursday morning briefing, police said is appears the shooting began as a dispute between several people that ended in gunfire. Three people have been detained and Chief Stacey Graves said two of them are juveniles. She also said the preliminary investigation shows there is no nexus to terrorism.

    Chief Graves said prosecutors are working with detectives now on possible charges. The department can only hold people for 24 hours without charging them.

    What You Need To Know

    • A radio DJ is dead and 22 others were shot following Wednesday’s Super Bowl parade in Kansas City
    • Police said is appears the shooting began as a dispute between several people that ended in gunfire
    • Three people have been detained, two are juvniles

    • Police are asking any witnesses, people with video or shooting victims who have not come forward yet to call them at: 816-413-3477

    Police did confirm 43-year-old Elisabeth Galvan died. Chief Graves says they are still learning about the victim but know she is beloved by many.

    “To her friends and family, we are with you and we are working tirelessly to investigate her murder,” said Chief Graves.

    Wednesday evening, Kansas City radio station KKFI posted a message on its Facebook page confirming the death of DJ Lisa Lopez-Galvan. She was a devoted sports fan and went to the parade with her husband and young adult son.

    Among the 22 others injured, were 12 children. Spectrum News has confirmed they were taken to Children’s Mercy Hospital after the incident, according to Stephanie Meyer, the SVP and Chief Nursing Officer. She also said nine of the children were gunshot victims and three suffered “unintentional injuries.’ 

    Meyer said all of the patients are expected to recover from their injuries. She added that the hospital treated this as a mass casualty event and paused other treatment and procedures to mobilize its full staff to these patients.

    Thursday, the police chief said the victims range in age from 8 years old to 47 years old. Chief Graves said half of the victims are under the age of 16. 

    Kansas City Fire Chief Ross Grundyson said eight victims have immediate life-threatening injuries, seven have life-threatening injuries and six have minor injuries. Those with immediate life-threatening injuries were transported to hospitals within 10 minutes, he said.

    “I commend all of our staff working there today, along with PD that did an excellent job in a difficult circumstance,” Grundyson said.

    Police stressed again Thursday that anyone in the vicinity of the parade shooting that directly witnessed it, has any video of the incident or was a victim who has not yet reported being shot to please call 816-413-3477, a dedicated line for this investigation.

    Graves noted that more than 800 police officers, including Kansas City and surrounding agencies, were in the area. 

    “We also know that officers ran towards danger. Officers were there to keep everyone safe,” she said. “I am angry at what happened today. The people who came to this celebration should expect a safe environment.”

    During the Wednesday press conference, Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas, who attended the celebration with his wife and mother, said he was heartbroken and angry.

    “This is absolutely a tragedy. The likes of which we would’ve never expected in Kansas City and the likes of which that we will remember for some time,” he said. “I want to say thank those who are making sure that we were safe today.”

    Lisa Money of Kansas City, Kan. was trying to gather some confetti near the end of the parade when she heard somebody yell, “Down, down, everybody down!”

    At first Money thought somebody might be joking until she saw the SWAT team jumping over the fence.

    “I can’t believe it really happened. Who in their right mind would do something like this? This is supposed to be a day of celebration for everybody in the city and the surrounding area. and then you’ve got some idiot that wants to come along and do something like this,” she said.

    A statement from the Kansas City Chiefs says, “We are truly saddened by the senseless act of violence that occurred outside of Union Station at the conclusion of today’s parade and rally. Our hearts go out to the victims, their families and all of Kansas City.”

    “We are in close communication with the Mayor’s office as well as the Kansas City Police Department. At this time, we have confirmed that all of our players, coaches, staff and their families are safe and accounted for. We thank the local law enforcement officers and first responders who were on scene to assist.”

    Immediately after the shooting, police took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to ask people to clear the area. Police also asked for witnesses to meet them near the scene to gather information.

    Police also established child reunification stations so people could find their missing loved ones. 

    Gov. Mike Parson, who attended the parade, said they are safe and secure. He added state law enforcement are assisting local authorities in response efforts. 

     

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    Spectrum News Staff

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  • Russian efforts to create anti-satellite weapons are cause for U.S. concern

    Russian efforts to create anti-satellite weapons are cause for U.S. concern

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    The U.S. has gathered highly sensitive intelligence about Russian anti-satellite weapons that has been shared in recent weeks with the upper echelons of government, according to four people who have been briefed on the intelligence. The people, who were not authorized to comment publicly, said the capability was not yet operational.

    The intelligence sparked an urgent but vague warning Wednesday from the Republican head of the House Intelligence Committee, who urged the Biden administration to declassify information about what he called a serious national security threat.

    What You Need To Know

    • The U.S. has gathered highly sensitive intelligence about Russian anti-satellite weapons that has been shared in recent weeks with the upper echelons of government
    • That’s according to four people who have been briefed on the intelligence but were not authorized to comment publicly
    • They said the capability was not yet operational
    • The intelligence sparked an urgent but vague warning Wednesday from the Republican head of the House Intelligence Committee, who urged the Biden administration to declassify information about what he called a serious national security threat
    • Administration officials declined to publicly address the nature of the threat. House Speaker Mike Johnson cautioned against being overly alarmed


    Rep. Mike Turner gave no details about the nature of the threat, and the Biden administration also declined to address it. But several leading lawmakers, including House Speaker Mike Johnson, cautioned against being overly alarmed.

    A congressional aide said he understood that the threat relates to a space-deployed Russian anti-satellite weapon. Such a weapon could pose a major danger to U.S. satellites that transmit billions of bytes of data each hour.

    The aide, speaking on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter, said it was not yet clear if the Russian weapon has nuclear capability, but said that is the fear.

    In Moscow, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov described the claims about a new Russian military capability as a ruse intended to make the U.S. Congress support aid for Ukraine.

    “It’s obvious that Washington is trying to force Congress to vote on the aid bill by hook or by crook,” Peskov said in remarks carried by Russian news agencies. “Let’s see what ruse the White House will use.”

    The threat Turner raised concerns about is not an active capability, according to U.S. officials familiar with the intelligence. One added that intelligence officials consider the threat to be significant, but it should not cause panic.

    Turner issued a statement urging the administration to declassify the information so the U.S. and its allies can openly discuss how to respond.

    He also sent an email to members of Congress saying his committee had “identified an urgent matter with regard to a destabilizing foreign military capability” that should be known to all congressional policy makers. He encouraged them to come to a SCIF, a secure area, to review the intelligence.

    Turner has been a voice for stronger U.S. national security, putting him at odds with some Republican colleagues who favor a more isolationist approach. He has called for the renewal of a key U.S. government surveillance tool while some fellow Republicans and liberal Democrats have raised privacy objections.

    And he supports continuing U.S. military aid for Ukraine in its war against Russia at a time that the funding remains uncertain because of opposition in the Republican-led House.

    Johnson said he was not at liberty to disclose the classified information. “But we just want to assure everyone steady hands are at the wheel. We’re working on it and there’s no need for alarm,” he told reporters at the Capitol.

    Democratic Rep. Jim Himes, the ranking member of the Intelligence Committee, said in a statement that the classified information is “significant” but “not a cause for panic.”

    The Senate Intelligence Committee said it has been tracking the issue.

    “We continue to take this matter seriously and are discussing an appropriate response with the administration,” Sen. Mark Warner, the Democratic committee chairman, and Sen. Marco Rubio, the Republican vice chairman, said in a statement. “In the meantime, we must be cautious about potentially disclosing sources and methods that may be key to preserving a range of options for U.S. action.”

    The rapidly evolving threat in space was one of the primary reasons that the U.S. Space Force was established in 2019. A lot of that threat has to do with new capabilities that China and Russia have already developed that can interfere with critical satellite-based U.S. communications, such as GPS and the ability to quickly detect missile launches.

    In recent years the U.S. has seen both China and Russia pursue new ways to jam satellites, intercept their feeds, blind them, shoot them down and even potentially grab them with a robotic arm to pull them out of their programmed orbits. One of the key missions of the Space Force is to train troops skilled in detecting and defending against those threats.

    In its 2020 Defense Space Strategy, the Pentagon said China and Russia presented the greatest strategic threat in space due to their aggressive development of counterspace abilities, and their military doctrine calling for extending conflict to space.

    The White House and lawmakers expressed frustration at how Turner raised his concerns. His announcement appeared to catch the Biden administration off-guard.

    National security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters at the White House that he already had been due to brief Turner and other senior congressional leaders on Thursday. Sullivan did not disclose the topic or provide any other details related to Turner’s statement.

    “I’m focused on going to see him, sit with him as well as the other House members of the Gang of Eight, tomorrow,” Sullivan said. “And I’m not in a position to say anything further from this podium at this time.”

    He acknowledged it was not standard practice to offer such a briefing.

    “I’ll just say that I personally reached out to the Gang of Eight. It is highly unusual, in fact, for the national security adviser to do that,” Sullivan said. He said he had reached out earlier this week.

    Johnson said he sent a letter last month to the White House requesting a meeting with the president to discuss “the serious national security issue that is classified.” He said Sullivan’s meeting was in response to his request.

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    Associated Press

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  • Democrat Tom Suozzi flips N.Y. congressional district held by George Santos

    Democrat Tom Suozzi flips N.Y. congressional district held by George Santos

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    Democrat Tom Suozzi has won the special election in the 3rd Congressional District in New York, the Associated Press projects, flipping the seat held by the ousted Republican Rep. George Santos and further narrowing the House GOP’s already razor-thin margins.

    What You Need To Know

    • Democrat Tom Suozzi has won the special election in the 3rd Congressional District in New York, the Associated Press projects

    • Suozzi, a longtime fixture of Long Island politics, previously held the congressional seat for three terms; he relinquished the seat in 2022 to mount an unsuccessful primary challenge to New York Gov. Kathy Hochul

    • The special election was held to replace Republican George Santos, who became the sixth House member to be ousted from Congress in U.S. history after he was indicted on fraud charges and exposed as having fabricated much of his background

    • The race was to fill the remainder of Santos’ term, which expires in January; the seat will be up for grabs once again in November.


    The race was widely viewed as an early barometer for November’s likely rematch between President Joe Biden, a Democrat, and former President Donald Trump, a Republican, and was expected to be a close race, according to recent polling. But 93% of the vote in as of Wednesday morning, Suozzi had nearly 54% of the vote, leading Republican Mazi Pilip (46.1%), a relative newcomer to politics, by more than 13,000 votes. 

    “Despite all the attacks, despite all the lies about Tom Suozzi and ‘the Squad,’ about Tom Suozzi being the godfather of the migrant crisis, about ‘sanctuary Suozzi,’ despite the dirty tricks, despite the vaunted Nassau County Republican machine, we won,” Suozzi said during his victory speech Tuesday night.

    Pilip, a Nassau County legislator who was elected as a Republican despite being a registered Democrat, conceded the election results before Suozzi spoke.

    “We all [worked] so hard every single day in the last eight weeks and we did a great job,” Pilip said. “Yes, we lost, but it doesn’t mean we’re going to end here.”

    The district covers the neighborhoods of Little Neck, Whitestone, Glen Oaks, Floral Park and Queens Village in Queens, as well as large stretches of Long Island’s Nassau County.

    Suozzi, a longtime fixture of Long Island politics, previously held the congressional seat for three terms. He gave up his seat to pursue an unsuccessful run for governor. He previously served as the mayor of Glen Cove and the Nassau County Executive.

    Throughout his campaign in a district that flipped from Democratic to Republican representation in November 2022, Suozzi tried to convince voters that he’s a politician who is not afraid to work with all parties, including leaning into migrant issues and highlighting the times he’s broke with his party on immigration. But his candidacy was also heavily focused on getting to work, a message encapsulated in his campaign slogan, “Let’s Fix This.”

    “Let’s send a message to our friends running the Congress these days,” Suozzi said in his remarks Tuesday night. “Stop running around for Trump and start running the country.”

    The Biden reelection campaign and the White House took a victory lap after Suozzi’s decisive win, calling it a rebuke of Trump and Republican policies.

    “Donald Trump lost again tonight. When Republicans run on Trump’s extreme agenda – even in a Republican-held seat – voters reject them,” said Biden campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez on Tuesday evening. “As we saw in 2020, 2022, 2023, and now tonight, when it comes down to the choice between Donald Trump’s chaos and division and President Biden who wakes up everyday working to get things done and make Americans’ lives better, voters are consistently choosing the leadership of President Biden and Democrats. Trump and the MAGA extremists in the House are already paying the political price for derailing a bipartisan deal to secure our borders and fix our broken immigration system.”

    Biden-Harris campaign communications director Michael Tyler called the race “Republicans’ district to lose,” citing the GOP’s successes in the district in 2022 up and down the ballot, but said that Suozzi’s embrace of a bipartisan bill that would have provided funding to Israel and Ukraine and enacted reforms at the U.S.-Mexico border, as well as Pilip’s “embrace of the former president and Republicans’ support for banning abortion,” cost her the election.

    “Again and again, when it comes time to go to the ballot box, voters are showing up to choose President Biden and Democrats’ agenda of safeguarding freedoms and fighting for working families over the extreme MAGA agenda,” Tyler said. “We are putting in the work every single day to make sure this November will be no different.”

    White House deputy press secretary Andrew Bates said that voters on Long Island proved Biden “right” when the president pledged last week that he would make sure Republicans bore the brunt of the blame for killing the bipartisan border deal.

    Bates said that on Tuesday, “voters proved [Biden] right with a devastating repudiation of congressional Republicans. Tom Suozzi put support for the bipartisan border legislation – and congressional Republicans’ killing of it for politics – at the forefront of his case. The results are unmistakable. And right now, House Republicans are yet again putting politics ahead of national security – siding with Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin, and Tehran, against America’s defense industrial base, against NATO, against Ukraine, and against our interests in the Indo-Pacific. Tom Suozzi was clear about this choice in his campaign as well, siding with President Biden. As we said before, the American people see through congressional Republicans’ elevation of their personal politics over the safety of the country.”

    Republicans, meanwile, sought to downplay the results, with House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., attempting to make the case that he doesn’t believe the results “that Democrats should not celebrate too much,” dismissing Suozzi’s win as being a product of his name recognition and a snowstorm that impacted the area for part of Tuesday.

    “They spent about $15 million to win a seat President Biden won by 8 points, they won it by less than 8 points,” Johnson said. “Their candidate ran like a Republican, sounded like a Republican talking about the border and immigration … the incumbent had been a three-term member of Congress and had a 100% name ID and a deep family history in the district, our candidate was relatively unknown … she ran a remarkable campaign, there was a weather event that affected turnout, there are a lot of factors there, that is in no way a bellwether of what is gonna happen this fall.”

    Despite Johnson’s contentions, the results will no doubt be a cause of concern for his conference’s already razor-thin majority: When Suozzi is sworn in, the makeup of the chamber will shrink to 219-213, meaning he can only lose two votes on major legislation.

    The special election was called to replace Santos, who became the sixth House member to be ousted from Congress in U.S. history after he was indicted on fraud charges and was exposed as having fabricated much of his background.

    Santos, who has pleaded not guilty to 23 federal charges, was only in office for 11 months.

    With days leading up to Election Day, polls showed it was a tight race, with Suozzi slightly in the lead. But it turned out to be a relatively early night with the race call, and Pilip’s concession, coming quickly after the polls closed.

    “We, you, won this race,” he said, “because we addressed the issues and we found a way to bind our divisions.”

    Pro-Palestinian protesters interrupted Suozzi toward the beginning of his speech. The protesters accused Suozzi, a staunch supporter of Israel, of “supporting genocide,” and called for a cease-fire in Gaza.

    Suozzi later referenced the protest, saying there are divisions in the country where people can only yell and scream at each other, and that that “is not the answer to the problems we face in our country.”

    “The answer is to try and bring people of goodwill together to try and find that common ground,” he continued.

    The issue of the war in Gaza between Israel and Hamas was expected to play a large role in the race, particularly because of the district’s significant Jewish population. Pilip, who is an Orthodox Jew, was born in Ethiopia and emigrated to Israel when she was 12, serving in the Israel Defense Force’s Paratroopers Brigade. She moved to the U.S. in 2005 and settled in Great Neck, a town on Long Island with a large Jewish population. 

    But Suozzi also portrayed himself as a staunch defender of Israel and the Jewish people, pledging to break with some progressive members of the Democratic conference who want to curtail aid to the Middle Eastern country and criticizing Republicans in Congress who scuttled the bipartisan border and foreign assistance bill.

    The race was to fill the remainder of Santos’ term in Congress, which expires in January. The seat will be up for grabs once again in November, so despite both candidates and parties pouring millions into the race, they’ll have to hit the campaign trail once again in a few short months.

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    Deanna Garcia

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  • Democrat Tom Suozzi wins N.Y. congressional race in Santos’ former district

    Democrat Tom Suozzi wins N.Y. congressional race in Santos’ former district

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    Democrat Tom Suozzi has won the special election in the 3rd Congressional District in New York, the Associated Press projects.

    According to the AP, with approximately 85% of the expected vote tallied in Queens as of 11:50 p.m. Tuesday, Suozzi had 53.9% of the vote, while Republican Mazi Pilip had 46.1% of the vote.

    “Despite all the attack, despite all the lies about Tom Suozzi and the Squad, about Tom Suozzi being the godfather of the migrant crisis, about ‘sanctuary Suozzi,’ despite the dirty tricks, despite the vaunted Nassau County Republican machine, we won,” Suozzi said during his victory speech Tuesday night.

    The district covers the neighborhoods of Little Neck, Whitestone, Glen Oaks, Floral Park and Queens Village in Queens, as well as large stretches of Long Island’s Nassau County.

    Suozzi previously held the congressional seat for three terms. He gave up his seat to pursue an unsuccessful run for governor.

    Throughout his campaign in a district that flipped from Democratic to Republican representation in November 2022, Suozzi tried to convince voters that he’s a Democrat who is not afraid to work with all parties.

    The special election was called to replace George Santos, who became the sixth House member to be ousted from Congress in U.S. history.

    Santos, who has pleaded not guilty to 23 federal charges, was only in office for 11 months.

    With days leading up to Election Day, polls showed it was a tight race, with Suozzi slightly in the lead.

    “We, you, won this race,” he said, “because we addressed the issues and we found a way to bind our divisions.”

    Pro-Palestine protesters interrupted Suozzi toward the beginning of his speech. The protesters accused Suozzi, a staunch supporter of Israel, of “supporting genocide,” and called for a ceasefire in Gaza.

    Later in his remarks, Suozzi referenced the protest, saying there are divisions in the country where people can only yell and scream at each other, and that that “is not the answer to the problems we face in our country.”

    “The answer is to try and bring people of goodwill together to try and find that common ground,” he continued.

    Pilip, a Nassau County legislator, conceded the election results before Suozzi spoke.

    “We all [worked] so hard every single day in the last eight weeks and we did a great job,” Pilip said. “Yes, we lost, but it doesn’t mean we’re going to end here.”

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    Deanna Garcia

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  • Consumers expect prices to fall this year, Federal Reserve Bank of New York says

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    Americans expect inflation to improve in the coming years, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s January Survey of Consumer Expectations.

    Respondents said they expect inflation to be 3% in one year and 2.5% in five years — the same as they expected at the end of 2023.

    What You Need To Know

    • Consumers expect inflation to be 3% in one year and 2.5% in five years, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s January Survey of Consumer Expectations

    • Survey respondents expect prices to fall in the coming year for gas, food, rent, medical care and college

    • They expect their household spending will increase 5% this year

    • Consumers are optimistic about their earnings increasing and credit availability improving

    In three years, they expect inflation to drop to 2.4%. A 0.2% decrease since December, the three-year projection was the lowest it has been since March 2020.

    Inflation was 3.4% in December, according to the most recent Consumer Price Index. The Federal Reserve will release CPI figures for January on Tuesday.

    While consumer expectations about home price growth were unchanged for a fourth consecutive month at 3%, they are more optimistic about prices falling in the coming year for all other goods, including gas, food, rent, medical care and college educations.

    Despite the falling prices, they expect their household spending to increase 5% — the same expectation as last month.

    They are also more optimistic about earnings growth a year from now. Respondents said they expect their earnings to increase 0.3% to 2.8% in January 2025. The increase was driven largely by people over the age of 40 who do not have a college degree.

    Despite their earnings confidence, more respondents in January thought the U.S. unemployment rate would be higher in a year, though their perceived probability of losing their own job or voluntarily leaving their position both fell.

    Consumers’ expectations of credit availability improved in the January survey, with fewer respondents saying it was harder to get credit now compared with a year ago. Respondents also felt better about their ability pay off debt, with the average perceived probability of missing a minimum debt payment in the next three months decreasing 0.3% — a level similar to 2019.

    A larger share of respondents (76.%) in January’s survey said they expect to be financially the same or better off a year from now — the highest level since September 2021.

    In a statement, a White House official hailed the report as evidence that President Joe Biden’s economic plans are a success — an effort by the Democratic president’s administration to sell his policies to the American people ahead of November’s election.

    “This report is further evidence that the Biden economy is delivering for Americans today and giving them more confidence about where we’re headed tomorrow,” White House Council of Economic Advisers Chair Jared Bernstein said in a statement. “The data show that more Americans think their financial situation will be better a year from now than any time since the pandemic first hit.

    This builds on a recent surge in consumer confidence that makes clear we are on the right path, even as we have more work to do to lower costs,” Bernstein continued. “Meanwhile, Republicans in Congress want to cut taxes for the wealthy and big corporations, while repealing the very measures that are cutting costs and supporting growth.”  

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    Susan Carpenter

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  • Biden welcomes King of Jordan as hostage deal appears close

    Biden welcomes King of Jordan as hostage deal appears close

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    President Joe Biden is hosting Jordan’s King Abdullah II in Washington on Monday and the two leaders are expected to discuss the ongoing effort to free hostages held in Gaza, and growing concern over a possible Israeli military operation in the port city of Rafah.

    What You Need To Know

    • President Joe Biden is hosting Jordan’s King Abdullah II in Washington and the two leaders are expected to discuss the ongoing effort to free hostages in Gaza and growing concern over a possible Israeli military operation in the port city of Rafah

    • Monday’s meeting is the first between the allies since three American troops were killed last month in a drone strike against a U.S. base in Jordan

    • Biden blamed Iran-backed militias for the fatalities, the first for the U.S. after months of strikes by such groups against American forces across the Middle East since the start of the Israel-Hamas war

    It is the first meeting between the allies since three American troops were killed last month in a drone strike against a U.S. base in Jordan. Biden blamed Iran-backed militias for the fatalities, the first for the U.S. after months of strikes by such groups against American forces across the Middle East since the start of the Israel-Hamas war.

    The meeting with King Abdullah II comes as Biden and his aides are working to broker another pause in Israel’s war against Hamas in order to send humanitarian aid and supplies into the region and get hostages out. The White House faces growing criticism from Arab-Americans over the administration’s continued support for Israel in the face of growing casualties in Gaza.

    It appeared a deal for another pause in the fighting was getting close. A senior U.S. administration official said Sunday that after weeks of shuttle diplomacy and phone conversations, a framework was essentially in place for a deal that could see the release of the remaining hostages held by Hamas in Gaza in exchange for a halt to fighting.

    The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the negotiations, acknowledged that gaps remained but declined to specify what they are. The official said Israeli military pressure on Hamas in Khan Younis over the last several week s has helped bring the militant group closer to accepting an agreement. The potential for an agreement took up the majority of Biden’s call Sunday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

    The official said the two leaders also had a significant back and forth about the potential expansion of Israeli military operations into Rafah and that Biden reiterated U.S. opposition to the idea under the “current conditions” while more than 1.3 million people are sheltering there.

    It was the most forceful language yet from the president on the possible operation. Biden, who last week called Israel’s military response in Gaza “over the top,” also sought “urgent and specific” steps to strengthen humanitarian aid. Israel’s Channel 13 television said the conversation lasted 45 minutes.

    The official said the Israelis “made clear they would not contemplate an operation” in Rafah without safeguarding the civilian population. The official said the U.S. is not sure there is a feasible or implementable plan to relocate civilians out of Rafah to allow military operations to take place.

    Jordan and other Arab states have been highly critical of Israel’s actions and have eschewed public support for long-term planning over what happens next, arguing that the fighting must end before such discussions can begin. They have been demanding a cease-fire since mid-October as civilian casualties began to skyrocket.

    Biden had planned to visit Jordan during his trip to Israel in October shortly after the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas, but the trip was scrapped. On his way home from Israel, Biden announced he’d helped broker the first deal to pause fighting temporarily and to open the crossing in Rafah to humanitarian aid.

    In the months since, members of his administration have made repeated trips to the region to engage with leaders there.

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    Associated Press

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  • First lady questions special counsel’s reference to her son’s death

    First lady questions special counsel’s reference to her son’s death

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    First lady Jill Biden said in an email to campaign donors on Saturday she didn’t know what the special counsel was trying to achieve when he suggested President Joe Biden could not remember when his oldest son died.

    ”We should give everyone grace, and I can’t imagine someone would try to use our son’s death to score political points,” she wrote. “If you’ve experienced a loss like that, you know that you don’t measure it in years — you measure it in grief.”

    What You Need To Know

    • First lady Jill Biden says she doesn’t know what a special counsel was trying to achieve when he suggested President Joe Biden could not remember when his oldest son died
    • She addressed the issue in an email Saturday to campaign donors in an emphatic defense of her husband
    • Biden’s team is working to alleviate Democratic concerns over the special counsel’s alarms about the president’s age and memory
    • Special Counsel Robert Hur’s remarks were in a report that concluded Biden would not be charged with any criminal activity for possessing classified documents after he left office.

    It was an emphatic defense of her husband in a note to supporters as Biden’s team worked to alleviate Democratic concerns over the alarms raised by a special counsel about Biden’s age and memory, in a report determining that Biden would not be charged with any criminal activity for possessing classified documents after he left office.

    Special Counsel Robert Hur, a Republican former U.S. attorney appointed by Donald Trump, found the president should not face charges for retaining the documents, and described as a hypothetical defense that the 81-year-old president could show his memory was “hazy,” “fuzzy,” “faulty,” “poor” and having “significant limitations,” and added that during an interview with investigators that Biden couldn’t recall ”even within years” when his oldest son Beau had died.

    “Believe me, like anyone who has lost a child, Beau and his death never leave him,” Jill Biden said.

    It was an unusually personal observation for a special counsel investigating the president’s handling of classified documents. Beau Biden died in 2015 from a brain tumor. It’s something that Biden speaks of regularly, and cites as both a reason why he didn’t run in 2016 and a later motivator for his successful 2020 run.

    “May 30th is a day forever etched on our hearts,” Jill Biden said in a note to supporters about the day Beau Biden died. “It shattered me, it shattered our family. … What helped me, and what helped Joe, was to find purpose. That’s what keeps Joe going, serving you and the country we love.”

    The references to Beau Biden in Hur’s report enraged the president, who later said: “How in the hell dare he raise that?”

    Biden mentioned that he had sat for five hours of interviews with Hur’s team over two days on Oct. 8 and 9, “even though Israel had just been attacked on October 7th and I was in the middle of handling an international crisis.”

    Voters have been concerned about his age. In an August poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs, 77% of U.S. adults said Biden is too old to be effective for four more years. It was one of the rare sources of bipartisan agreement during a politically polarized era, with 89% of Republicans and 69% of Democrats saying Biden’s age is a problem.

    “Joe is 81, that’s true, but he’s 81 doing more in an hour than most people do in a day. Joe has wisdom, empathy, and vision,” Jill Biden said. “His age, with his experience and expertise, is an incredible asset and he proves it every day.”

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    Associated Press

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  • Israel-Hamas war: Latest updates

    Israel-Hamas war: Latest updates

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    Get the latest updates on the war between Israel and Hamas.

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    Spectrum News Staff

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  • Dems, GOP react to Biden special counsel report

    Dems, GOP react to Biden special counsel report

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    Democrats were on the offensive in the aftermath of the Justice Department’s report about President Joe Biden’s handling of classified documents after his vice presidency, taking particular umbrage with special counsel Robert Hur’s comments about his memory and mental acuity.

    Republicans, on the other hand, seized upon the opportunity to declare the Democratic president unfit for office as he seeks another term in the White House.

    They also used the opportunity to try and paint a picture of a double standard between Biden’s case, which Hur declared was not warranting of criminal charges, and that of former President Donald Trump, who faces 40 felony charges for alleged mishandling of classified documents — though there are key differences in the two cases, namely in that the Republican also faces charges for allegedly trying to hamper the government’s efforts to retrieve them.

    The report puts the president’s age into the spotlight, a concern among voters, per recent polling, as he makes his case for reelection this fall in a likely rematch against Trump — who despite being only three years Biden’s junior and committing gaffes of his own, does not appear to have the same level of scrutiny from voters on that issue.

    In the report, Hur wrote that in a possible trial, “Mr. Biden would likely present himself to a jury, as he did during our interview with him, as a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.”

    Biden fired back at an impromptu press conference on Thursday evening, declaring that his “memory is fine,” though a gaffe he committed in his comments about the Israel-Hamas war likely did little to quell those concerns. He also took particular umbrage with the report claiming that Biden had trouble remembering details surrounding the death of his son, Delaware attorney general Beau Biden, from brain cancer in 2015.

    “I don’t need anyone, anyone, to remind me when he passed away,” Biden said angrily. “How the hell dare he raise that. Frankly, when I was asked the question, I thought to myself, was it any of their damn business?”

    Biden also sought to emphasize that he sat for hours of interviews in the aftermath of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel, which quickly shifted to all-out war in Gaza: “The simple truth is that I sat for five hours, two days, over events going back 40 years. At the same time I was managing a national crisis.”

    Biden’s lawyers also disputed the portion of Hur’s report about Biden’s memory, saying it “uses highly prejudicial language to describe a commonplace occurrence among witnesses: a lack of recall of years-old events.”

    “The inappropriate criticisms of the President’s memory are inaccurate, gratuitous, and wrong,” Ian Sams, White House spokesman for oversight and investigations, wrote on social media.

    Democrats accuse Hur of partisanship, overstepping mandate

    The president’s fellow Democrats rushed to his defense, with Connecticut Sen. Chris Blumenthal telling HuffPo that “there’s certainly no crime in being a well-meaning elderly man.”

    Of Hur, Blumenthal charged that he appeared to overstep his mandate as special counsel, telling the outlet that his role was “to judge whether a crime was committed,” not to “speculate on what the jury would do, not to speculate on how full or sharp Joe Biden’s mind is.”

    Delaware Sen. Chris Coons told the outlet that the report “went a little far.”

    Former Attorney General Eric Holder said that Hur’s report “contains way too many gratuitous remarks and is flatly inconsistent with long standing DOJ traditions.”

    “Had this report been been subject to a normal DOJ review these remarks would undoubtedly have been excised,” Holder wrote on social media.

    Some critics pointed out Hur’s ties to Republican officials. He was a clerk for the late William Rehnquist, a staunch conservative who was nominated by Richard Nixon to the Supreme Court and, later, tapped by Ronald Reagan to succeed Warren Burger as Chief Justice. In 2017, Hur was appointed by Biden’s predecessor, then-President Trump, to serve as U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland, a role he held until 2021.

    During a Democratic press call on Friday, Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman called Hur a “Trump appointee” and accused him of having an “agenda.”

    “The president was very clear that he is absolutely in full control,” the Pennsylvania Democrat said, later charging that Hur’s report “was just a smear and cheap shots and just taking things out of context.”

    “Clearly there is an agenda there, and what’s true is that the president now is going to be our guy,” Fetterman added. “And he has done an incredible job.”

    New York Rep. Dan Goldman told ABC News that he believes “what everyone will soon realize is that this is a Republican special counsel who completely went out of his way to editorialize, to include material in his report that it unnecessary and irrelevant to what he was tasked with doing.”

    Goldman went on to charge that Hur put “something in there to help his fellow Republicans” because he wanted to avoid Trump’s ire because he did not recommend criminal charges against Biden.

    Jim Messina, who ran President Barack Obama’s reelection campaign in 2012, compared the situation to FBI Director James Comey announcing he was reopening a probe into Hillary Clinton’s emails 11 days before the 2016 presidential election.

    “Let’s be clear–the special counsel isn’t a dummy and we should be very careful not to take the bait after Comey pulled this in 2016,” Messina charged in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter. “Hur, a lifelong Republican and creature of DC, didn’t have a case against Biden, but he knew exactly how his swipes could hurt Biden politically.”

    Longtime Democratic strategist Stephanie Cutter, another Obama administration and campaign alumni, appeared to concur with Messina’s assessment, charging that “Hur knew exactly what he was doing here.”

    “To provide political cover for himself for not prosecuting, he gratuitously leveled a personal (not legal) charge against the president that he absolutely knows is a gift to Trump,” Cutter charged in a post on X. “And, guess what we are all talking about? NOT that the president cooperated, self-reported, testified for two days, and otherwise did the right thing A jury would be hugely sympathetic to a president who respects the law. That’s why he’s not prosecuting. But, too hard for a Trump appointee to throw himself before the wrath and fury of Trump.”

    Republicans call Biden ‘unfit’ for office, call for his removal or resignation

    President Biden’s Republican critics were quick to make the case for a double-standard between the Trump and Biden classified documents probes, and at least one member of the GOP called for his removal from office.

    While Trump — who was coming off of a victory in Nevada’s caucuses on Thursday night — mainly sought to point out the disparity in his facing felony charges for allegedly mishandling classified documents while his opponent will not, he shared posts on his Truth Social platform from several GOP allies in Congress, including Florida Rep. Greg Steube, Alabama Sen. Tommy Tuberville and Tennessee Sen. Marsha Blackburn questioning the Democratic president’s mental fitness.

    Former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, the last remaining candidate running against Trump for the Republican nomination, used the opportunity to attack both presidential frontrunners.

    “It is unbelievably disturbing that they are showing that they see Biden to not have a good memory, that they see him as diminished, that they see that it’s a problem, and they point-blank say that,” Haley said on Fox News’ “Hannity” on Thursday night. “This is actually dangerous.”

    “People make fun of the fact that I say we need to have mental competency tests,” before citing polling that says Americans don’t want a Trump-Biden rematch in November. “The party that gets rid of their 80-year-old candidate is gonna be the party that wins.”

    In a post on social media, Haley called on Biden to “take a mental competency test immediately” and share those results with the American public.

    House Republican Leadership, including Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., wrote in a statement that the findings from Hur’s report about Biden’s memory are “disturbing.”

    “A man too incapable of being held accountable for mishandling classified information is certainly unfit for the Oval Office,” they wrote.

    Several House Republicans, including Majority Leader Steve Scalise, New York Rep. Elise Stefanik, Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene and Texas Rep. Ronny Jackson all echoed the message that they believe Biden to be “unfit” for office.

    “The Special Counsel’s report and Biden’s embarrassing press conference last night make clear: He should either resign as unfit or face criminal prosecution,” Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley wrote on social media. “Can’t have it both ways.”

    New York Rep. Claudia Tenney sent a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland, who appointed Hur as special counsel to lead the probe into Biden, urging the Cabinet to “explore” using the 25th Amendment of the Constitution to remove the Democratic president from office.

    “It is incumbent upon you to explore proceedings to remove the President pursuant to the 25th Amendment to the United States Constitution,” Tenney wrote in a letter obtained by Fox News. “President Biden needs to be charged, or he needs to be removed. There is no middle ground.”

    “After concluding that President Biden knowingly and willfully removed, mishandled, and disclosed classified documents repeatedly over a period of decades, Mr. Hur nevertheless recommended that charges not be brought against him,” she wrote in the letter. “Special Counsel’s reasoning was alarming. He recited numerous instances in which President Biden exhibited dramatically compromised mental faculties and concluded that a jury would be likely to perceive President Biden as a sympathetic and forgetful old man.”



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    Justin Tasolides

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  • Dems, GOP react to Biden special counsel report

    Dems, GOP react to Biden special counsel report

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    Democrats were on the offensive in the aftermath of the Justice Department’s report about President Joe Biden’s handling of classified documents after his vice presidency, taking particular umbrage with special counsel Robert Hur’s comments about his memory and mental acuity.

    Republicans, on the other hand, seized upon the opportunity to declare the Democratic president unfit for office as he seeks another term in the White House.

    They also used the opportunity to try and paint a picture of a double standard between Biden’s case, which Hur declared was not warranting of criminal charges, and that of former President Donald Trump, who faces 40 felony charges for alleged mishandling of classified documents — though there are key differences in the two cases, namely in that the Republican also faces charges for allegedly trying to hamper the government’s efforts to retrieve them.

    The report puts the president’s age into the spotlight, a concern among voters, per recent polling, as he makes his case for reelection this fall in a likely rematch against Trump — who despite being only three years Biden’s junior and committing gaffes of his own, does not appear to have the same level of scrutiny from voters on that issue.

    In the report, Hur wrote that in a possible trial, “Mr. Biden would likely present himself to a jury, as he did during our interview with him, as a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.”

    Biden fired back at an impromptu press conference on Thursday evening, declaring that his “memory is fine,” though a gaffe he committed in his comments about the Israel-Hamas war likely did little to quell those concerns. He also took particular umbrage with the report claiming that Biden had trouble remembering details surrounding the death of his son, Delaware attorney general Beau Biden, from brain cancer in 2015.

    “I don’t need anyone, anyone, to remind me when he passed away,” Biden said angrily. “How the hell dare he raise that. Frankly, when I was asked the question, I thought to myself, was it any of their damn business?”

    Biden also sought to emphasize that he sat for hours of interviews in the aftermath of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel, which quickly shifted to all-out war in Gaza: “The simple truth is that I sat for five hours, two days, over events going back 40 years. At the same time I was managing a national crisis.”

    Biden’s lawyers also disputed the portion of Hur’s report about Biden’s memory, saying it “uses highly prejudicial language to describe a commonplace occurrence among witnesses: a lack of recall of years-old events.”

    “The inappropriate criticisms of the President’s memory are inaccurate, gratuitous, and wrong,” Ian Sams, White House spokesman for oversight and investigations, wrote on social media.

    Democrats accuse Hur of partisanship, overstepping mandate

    The president’s fellow Democrats rushed to his defense, with Connecticut Sen. Chris Blumenthal telling HuffPo that “there’s certainly no crime in being a well-meaning elderly man.”

    Of Hur, Blumenthal charged that he appeared to overstep his mandate as special counsel, telling the outlet that his role was “to judge whether a crime was committed,” not to “speculate on what the jury would do, not to speculate on how full or sharp Joe Biden’s mind is.”

    Delaware Sen. Chris Coons told the outlet that the report “went a little far.”

    Former Attorney General Eric Holder said that Hur’s report “contains way too many gratuitous remarks and is flatly inconsistent with long standing DOJ traditions.”

    “Had this report been been subject to a normal DOJ review these remarks would undoubtedly have been excised,” Holder wrote on social media.

    Some critics pointed out Hur’s ties to Republican officials. He was a clerk for the late William Rehnquist, a staunch conservative who was nominated by Richard Nixon to the Supreme Court and, later, tapped by Ronald Reagan to succeed Warren Burger as Chief Justice. In 2017, Hur was appointed by Biden’s predecessor, then-President Trump, to serve as U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland, a role he held until 2021.

    During a Democratic press call on Friday, Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman called Hur a “Trump appointee” and accused him of having an “agenda.”

    “The president was very clear that he is absolutely in full control,” the Pennsylvania Democrat said, later charging that Hur’s report “was just a smear and cheap shots and just taking things out of context.”

    “Clearly there is an agenda there, and what’s true is that the president now is going to be our guy,” Fetterman added. “And he has done an incredible job.”

    New York Rep. Dan Goldman told ABC News that he believes “what everyone will soon realize is that this is a Republican special counsel who completely went out of his way to editorialize, to include material in his report that it unnecessary and irrelevant to what he was tasked with doing.”

    Goldman went on to charge that Hur put “something in there to help his fellow Republicans” because he wanted to avoid Trump’s ire because he did not recommend criminal charges against Biden.

    Jim Messina, who ran President Barack Obama’s reelection campaign in 2012, compared the situation to FBI Director James Comey announcing he was reopening a probe into Hillary Clinton’s emails 11 days before the 2016 presidential election.

    “Let’s be clear–the special counsel isn’t a dummy and we should be very careful not to take the bait after Comey pulled this in 2016,” Messina charged in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter. “Hur, a lifelong Republican and creature of DC, didn’t have a case against Biden, but he knew exactly how his swipes could hurt Biden politically.”

    Longtime Democratic strategist Stephanie Cutter, another Obama administration and campaign alumni, appeared to concur with Messina’s assessment, charging that “Hur knew exactly what he was doing here.”

    “To provide political cover for himself for not prosecuting, he gratuitously leveled a personal (not legal) charge against the president that he absolutely knows is a gift to Trump,” Cutter charged in a post on X. “And, guess what we are all talking about? NOT that the president cooperated, self-reported, testified for two days, and otherwise did the right thing A jury would be hugely sympathetic to a president who respects the law. That’s why he’s not prosecuting. But, too hard for a Trump appointee to throw himself before the wrath and fury of Trump.”

    Republicans call Biden ‘unfit’ for office, call for his removal or resignation

    President Biden’s Republican critics were quick to make the case for a double-standard between the Trump and Biden classified documents probes, and at least one member of the GOP called for his removal from office.

    While Trump — who was coming off of a victory in Nevada’s caucuses on Thursday night — mainly sought to point out the disparity in his facing felony charges for allegedly mishandling classified documents while his opponent will not, he shared posts on his Truth Social platform from several GOP allies in Congress, including Florida Rep. Greg Steube, Alabama Sen. Tommy Tuberville and Tennessee Sen. Marsha Blackburn questioning the Democratic president’s mental fitness.

    Former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, the last remaining candidate running against Trump for the Republican nomination, used the opportunity to attack both presidential frontrunners.

    “It is unbelievably disturbing that they are showing that they see Biden to not have a good memory, that they see him as diminished, that they see that it’s a problem, and they point-blank say that,” Haley said on Fox News’ “Hannity” on Thursday night. “This is actually dangerous.”

    “People make fun of the fact that I say we need to have mental competency tests,” before citing polling that says Americans don’t want a Trump-Biden rematch in November. “The party that gets rid of their 80-year-old candidate is gonna be the party that wins.”

    In a post on social media, Haley called on Biden to “take a mental competency test immediately” and share those results with the American public.

    House Republican Leadership, including Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., wrote in a statement that the findings from Hur’s report about Biden’s memory are “disturbing.”

    “A man too incapable of being held accountable for mishandling classified information is certainly unfit for the Oval Office,” they wrote.

    Several House Republicans, including Majority Leader Steve Scalise, New York Rep. Elise Stefanik, Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene and Texas Rep. Ronny Jackson all echoed the message that they believe Biden to be “unfit” for office.

    “The Special Counsel’s report and Biden’s embarrassing press conference last night make clear: He should either resign as unfit or face criminal prosecution,” Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley wrote on social media. “Can’t have it both ways.”

    New York Rep. Claudia Tenney sent a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland, who appointed Hur as special counsel to lead the probe into Biden, urging the Cabinet to “explore” using the 25th Amendment of the Constitution to remove the Democratic president from office.

    “It is incumbent upon you to explore proceedings to remove the President pursuant to the 25th Amendment to the United States Constitution,” Tenney wrote in a letter obtained by Fox News. “President Biden needs to be charged, or he needs to be removed. There is no middle ground.”

    “After concluding that President Biden knowingly and willfully removed, mishandled, and disclosed classified documents repeatedly over a period of decades, Mr. Hur nevertheless recommended that charges not be brought against him,” she wrote in the letter. “Special Counsel’s reasoning was alarming. He recited numerous instances in which President Biden exhibited dramatically compromised mental faculties and concluded that a jury would be likely to perceive President Biden as a sympathetic and forgetful old man.”



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    Justin Tasolides

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  • Trump sweeps Nevada Republican caucuses

    Trump sweeps Nevada Republican caucuses

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    Donald Trump swept Nevada’s caucuses on Thursday, The Associated Press projected, a widely expected result for the former president in a race where he faced no real competition.

    Nevada’s caucuses were an unusual contest that also featured a nonbinding primary in the state earlier this week.

    What You Need To Know

    • Former President Donald Trump, as expected, swept Nevada’s caucuses on Thursday, according to a projection from The Associated Press

    • The caucuses were held just two days after Nevada held a nonbinding primary, which saw Trump’s only remaining major competition, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, lose to the option of “none of these candidates” by more than 30 points

    • The dual contest stems from a split between recent state law requiring primary elections and Nevada’s Republicans wanting to keep their caucuses they have been holding since the 1980s

    • On the Democratic side, meanwhile, President Joe Biden cruised to an easy victory on Tuesday, winning the contest and the state’s 36 delegates with nearly 90% of the vote
    • The Nevada contest came after Trump clinched a win in the U.S. Virgin Islands’ Republican caucus earlier Thursday


    Trump’s supporters waited in long lines on Thursday to cast their votes for the GOP frontrunner. One site, a Reno-area elementary school, saw nearly 1,000 people waiting in line to try and help the former president win another primary contest on his road to a third Republican presidential nomination.

    At a watch party in Las Vegas, Trump hailed “tremendous turnout” and the “enthusiasm” of his supporters in the Silver State contest.

    “Is there any way we can call the election for next Tuesday? That’s all I want,” he added.

    The contest came after Trump clinched a win in the U.S. Virgin Islands’ Republican caucus, giving him another four delegates. Trump beat his only remaining major GOP rival, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, with nearly 74% of the vote.

    “I want to thank you all. We had a tremendous victory,” he said by phone to supporters in St. Thomas. “We expected to win, but we didn’t expect to win by that much. You are incredible people I will never forget.”

    The nature of the Silver State’s dueling contests stems from a split between recent state law requiring primary elections and Nevada Republicans wanting to keep their caucuses they have been holding since the 1980s.

    The result? A pair of contests, one which sees the frontrunner Trump in the caucuses — with just little-known long shot candidate Ryan Binkley on the ballot with all 26 of the state’s delegates at stake — and the other a state-sanctioned primary on Tuesday that yielded no delegates.

    Haley, who participated in Tuesday’s contest, sought to downplay the results, which saw her lose to the option of “none of these candidates” by more than 30 points.

    “Nevada, it’s such a scam,” she said in an interview with FOX 11 Los Angeles in California on Wednesday, adding: “We knew months ago that we weren’t going to spend a day or a dollar in Nevada because it wasn’t worth it.”

    “We didn’t even count Nevada,” she said. “That wasn’t anything we were looking at. We knew it was rigged from the start, our focus is on South Carolina, Michigan and Super Tuesday.”

    Haley campaign manager Betsy Ankney echoed those claims earlier this week: “We have not spent a dime nor an ounce of energy on Nevada. We aren’t going to pay $55,000 to a Trump entity to participate in a process that is rigged for Trump. Nevada is not and has never been our focus.”

    Nevada State Republican National Committeeman Jim DeGraffenreid pushed back on those criticisms, per ABC News, calling Haley’s remarks “baseless allegations.”

    Haley, DeGraffenreid said, “deliberately chose to not compete with the leading candidates and now wants a scapegoat,” per the outlet.

    On the Democratic side, meanwhile, President Joe Biden cruised to an easy victory, winning the contest and the state’s 36 delegates with nearly 90% of the vote over “none of these candidates” (5.8%) and Marianne Williamson, who suspended her campaign on Wednesday after her loss in Nevada.

    While Republicans could vote in both contests, Trump recently urged his supporters to keep their eyes on the prize: “Don’t worry about the primary, just do the caucus thing.”

    Republicans are increasingly converging behind Trump while he faces a deluge of legal problems, including 91 criminal charges in four separate cases. Trump is flexing his influence both in Congress — where Republicans rejected a border security deal after he pushed against it — and at the Republican National Committee, as chairwoman Ronna McDaniel could resign in the coming weeks after he publicly questioned whether she should stay in the job.

    Trump still faces unprecedented jeopardy for a major candidate. A federal appeals panel ruled this week that Trump can face trial on charges that he plotted to overturn the results of the 2020 election, rejecting his claims that he is immune from prosecution. The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday heard arguments in a case trying to keep Trump from the 2024 presidential ballot over his efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss. The justices sounded broadly skeptical of the effort.

    But none of those developments seem to be hurting his standing among Republicans, including in Nevada.

    Spectrum News’ Joseph Konig and The Associated Press contributed to this report.



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    Justin Tasolides

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  • This year’s Iowa caucuses will be the coldest ever

    This year’s Iowa caucuses will be the coldest ever

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    Iowans are used to cold weather, but the arctic blast that’s spread across much of the country is the biggest one to happen at the same time as the caucuses.

    What You Need To Know

    • The coldest Iowa caucuses before this year were in 2004

    • Most have had highs in the 30s and 40s

    • This year, wind chills will be in the -20s throughout Iowa on caucus night



    The Iowa caucuses began in 1972. That year, the high in Des Moines was 25 degrees and scattered snow fell around the state.

    Since then, the warmest caucus day was 49 degrees on Feb. 20, 1984. The coldest, in 2004, had a high of just 16 degrees with wind chills in the single digits.

    That’ll seem almost tropical compared to what’s coming on Monday.

    Highs throughout Iowa will struggle to even get close to 0 degrees–and that’s just the actual temperature. Caucus-goers are going to face frigid wind chills in the -20s while they’re heading to and from their local precincts in the evening.

    Here’s a snapshot of the conditions people had to brave through to caucus.

    If there’s any good weather news in the Hawkeye State, it’s that they’ll have dry weather on Monday. That’ll be a welcome change after two powerful winter storms socked parts of the state with heavy snow in the days before. The bad weather forced Republican candidates to cancel some events.

    Our team of meteorologists dives deep into the science of weather and breaks down timely weather data and information. To view more weather and climate stories, check out our weather blogs section.

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    Meteorologist Justin Gehrts

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