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Tag: Washington news

  • G7 finance leaders say global economic uncertainties have worsened, requiring vigilance and flexibility in policies

    G7 finance leaders say global economic uncertainties have worsened, requiring vigilance and flexibility in policies

    G7 finance leaders say global economic uncertainties have worsened, requiring vigilance and flexibility in policies

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  • Former Trump prosecutor mostly mum before Congress on details of hush-money investigation

    Former Trump prosecutor mostly mum before Congress on details of hush-money investigation

    WASHINGTON (AP) — An ex-prosecutor who once oversaw Manhattan’s investigation of former President Donald Trump declined to substantively answer questions at a closed-door deposition Friday of the House Judiciary Committee, according to a Republican lawmaker in the meeting. The prosecutor and his boss said he was merely abiding by grand jury rules.

    Rep. Darrell Issa, a California Republican, exited the meeting after roughly one hour and said Mark Pomerantz, the former prosecutor, repeatedly invoked the Fifth Amendment that protects people from providing self-incriminating testimony.

    Trump faces 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in a scheme to bury allegations of extramarital affairs that arose during his 2016 White House campaign. GOP lawmakers have decried the investigation as a “political persecution” and launched an oversight probe.

    Pomerantz in a written opening statement called the committee’s inquiry itself “an act of political theater.” He also explained he was invoking the Fifth Amendment because the Manhattan District Attorney’s office had previously warned him before he published a book on the investigation that he could face criminal liability if he revealed grand jury material or violated a provision of the New York City Charter dealing with misuse of confidential information.

    Pomerantz, who left Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office after disagreements over the direction of the Trump investigation, was subpoenaed by the Republican-controlled House committee. The panel, chaired by GOP Rep. Jim Jordan, is probing how Bragg handled Trump’s historic indictment.

    “This deposition is for show,” Pomerantz also said in prepared remarks. “I do not believe for a moment that I am here to assist a genuine effort to enact legislation or conduct legislative ‘oversight.’”

    Bragg had sued to halt Jordan’s subpoena of Pomerantz, but last month agreed to Pomerantz’s testimony after a delay and a condition that lawyers from the prosecutor’s office be present. The committee has said it would have allowed the district attorney’s lawyers even without the agreement.

    Pomerantz had argued in court papers that the subpoena left him in an “impossible position” and would potentially require him to violate his ethical obligations.

    Issa, the GOP lawmaker, told reporters, “This is an obstructing witness who has no intention of answering any questions.”

    Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz, another member of the committee, also said lawmakers were “not getting many answers.”

    Jordan exited the meeting room after a deposition that lasted well over five hours and told reporters he was “surprised at some of the answers,” but declined to provide further details, citing committee rules.

    Pomerantz’s attorney, Ted Wells, told reporters that his opening statement explaining why he would not be answering questions made it “very clear as to what happened.”

    Pomerantz is allowed to refuse to answer certain questions that touch on legal privilege and ethical obligations, but Jordan could also rule on those assertions on a case-by-case basis. The Republican lawmaker said he would be conferring with the committee’s attorneys and members about taking legal action against Pomerantz, including holding him in contempt of Congress.

    A contempt of Congress charge would require a full committee vote before going to the floor of the Republican-majority House.

    Pomerantz recently wrote a book about his work pursuing Trump and discussed the investigation in interviews on “60 Minutes” and other shows. But Issa said he was not answering questions even on previous statements he had made.

    Issa suggested the fight over testimony will return to the legal system, saying it would be “for the court to decide when we object to his failure to answer any questions.”

    Bragg’s office said in a statement, “Consistent with the agreement we reached with the committee last month, the District Attorney’s Office is participating in today’s deposition and asserting our rights to oppose disclosure of confidential information protected by law.”

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  • Biden commends Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez for collaboration on migration

    Biden commends Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez for collaboration on migration

    WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden commended Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez for his country’s collaboration with the United States and Canada to establish migration hubs in Latin America where asylum seekers fleeing poverty and violence in their home countries can apply for protection.

    The two leaders sat down at the White House on Friday for wide-ranging talks on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, climate change and other issues. But efforts by the U.S. and Spain to cooperate on asylum processing loomed large over the discussion as the Biden administration rolls out new immigration measures now that COVID-19 immigration restrictions have ended.

    The new efforts are designed to crack down on illegal border crossings while opening legal pathways to give migrants incentives to apply for asylum online where they are, instead of making the dangerous journey to the border.

    Migrants caught illegally crossing the southern U.S. border cannot return for five years, and they face criminal prosecution if they do. And migrants will be barred from seeking asylum at the border if they do not first ask for protection in a country they traveled through or apply online.

    A major piece of the expanded legal pathway is the creation of processing centers in Colombia and Guatemala and up to 100 others in the Western Hemisphere where migrants can go to apply to enter the U.S., Spain or Canada.

    “We’re both facing the challenges of migration in the Western Hemisphere,” Biden told Sanchez at the start of the Oval Office meeting.

    It was a huge step for the White House to get Spain and Canada to agree to take in asylum seekers from Latin America. And it helps reinforce the Biden administration’s argument that the current migration quandary facing the Americas is a global problem that needs a global solution — much like the refugee crises that have impacted Syria, Afghanistan and Ukraine in recent years.

    The State Department on Thursday announced a website where asylum seekers can now find information on the process and will eventually be able to request appointments.

    The U.S. has increasingly seen migrants arrive at its southern border who are from China, Ukraine, Haiti, Russia and other nations far from Latin America and who are increasingly family groups and children traveling alone. Thirty years ago, by contrast, illegal crossings were almost always single adults from Mexico who were easily returned over the border.

    Spain, though it has high overall unemployment, needs workers for agriculture and other hard-to-fill fields, and it will be able to accept migrants who want to go there and have needed skills.

    The Spanish ministry has said the pathway will only apply to those who have already received international protection status. That means the migrants it accepts will need to be considered refugees and will be treated in much the same way that Syrian asylum seekers, traveling via Turkey, have been treated by Spain.

    “Spain and the U.S., we have common interests about democracy, prosperity and safe, regular and orderly migration patterns,” Sanchez said.

    Plans for the processing centers to be established in Guatemala and Colombia were announced last month, but the centers have yet to begin operating. Once up and running, they are expected to process thousands of applicants a month. United Nations organizations will operate the centers, but U.S. officials will be present as well to help with processing of applications.

    White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said the White House expects that the processing centers will open in the “relatively near future.”

    While Biden predicted this week that the situation at the border could be “chaotic for a while,” his administration is looking to discourage migrants from paying smuggling operations to help them journey to the U.S., particularly through the Darien Gap. Officials hope that by cracking down at the border and opening up other ways to the U.S., they will be able to bring a measure of order.

    The coronavirus restrictions, known as Title 42, were a Trump administration endeavor that went into effect in March 2020 amid the global pandemic. Title 42 allowed border officials to turn away migrants to help stop the spread of COVID-19. But there were concerns the policies were put into place merely to keep people out.

    While Title 42 was used to deny asylum more than 2.8 million times, it carried no legal consequences, which encouraged repeat attempts by migrants to enter the U.S. The public health emergency officially ended on Thursday night, and with it the restrictions.

    Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was also high on the agenda for Biden and Sánchez, two NATO allies.

    Sánchez told reporters following the meeting that he and Biden discussed their countries’ continuing efforts to support Ukraine as Russia’s invasion grinds on. Sánchez recently met with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, both of whom have put forward ideas to end the conflict.

    White House officials have dismissed China’s 12-point peace plan, and called on Beijing to use its influence to urge Russian President Vladimir Putin to end the war.

    Sánchez said that Spain, which will assume the rotating presidency of the European Council in July, is committed to a “lasting and just peace” to resolve the Ukraine crisis. He made clear that he sides with Biden and other Western allies in condemning Russian aggression.

    “Make no mistake, in this war there is an aggressor and victim,” Sánchez said. “And in this war the aggressor is President Putin.”

    On another subject, Spain has called on the U.S. to conduct further cleanup of contaminated soil left after a nuclear accident in 1966. A midair collision dumped four U.S. hydrogen bombs near a southern Spanish village. None of the bombs exploded.

    Kirby said the White House anticipates negotiations between the two countries on the matter will begin soon.

    ___

    Associated Press writers Renata Brito in Barcelona, Spain, and Ciarán Giles and Jennifer O’Mahony in Madrid contributed to this report.

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  • Biden taps Philip Jefferson to be Fed’s vice chair, Adriana Kugler as first Hispanic on Fed board

    Biden taps Philip Jefferson to be Fed’s vice chair, Adriana Kugler as first Hispanic on Fed board

    WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden has nominated Philip Jefferson, a member of the Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors, to serve as vice chair of the board, the White House announced Friday.

    Biden has also chosen Adriana Kugler, a Georgetown University economist, to join the Fed’s board. If confirmed by the Senate, she would become the first Hispanic American on the Fed’s interest-rate-setting committee.

    The two nominations arrive as the Fed is grappling with an increasingly fraught economy marked by rising interest rates, still-high inflation and a shaky banking system. Since March 2022, the Fed has raised its benchmark interest rate 10 times, to the highest level in 16 years, in an aggressive drive to cool price increases. After a policy meeting last week, Chair Jerome Powell signaled that the Fed may now pause its rate hikes.

    In the coming months, the Fed will face tough decisions about whether to keep rates unchanged for the rest of this year or resume raising them. Fed officials could also come under pressure to cut rates should a recession occur later this year, as many economists expect.

    Jefferson, 61, who first joined the Fed’s board just a year ago, would become the second Black man to serve as the Fed’s No. 2 official if confirmed by the Senate. He would replace Lael Brainard, who left in February to become Biden’s top economic adviser. As vice chair, Jefferson would join an inner circle of policymakers that includes Powell and the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, John Williams.

    Kugler, 53, who has a background in international and labor economics, is on leave from Georgetown to serve as the United States’ representative on the board of the World Bank. During the Obama administration, she was the Labor Department’s chief economist, from September 2011 to January 2013.

    Biden also announced that he plans to re-nominate Lisa Cook to a full 14-year term on the Fed’s board. Cook, 58, who was narrowly confirmed by the Senate, joined the board last May to fill an unexpired term that will end on Jan. 31, 2024.

    “These nominees understand that this job is not a partisan one, but one that plays a critical role in pursuing maximum employment, maintaining price stability and supervising many of our nation’s financial institutions,” Biden said in a statement.

    After the Fed’s policy meeting last week, Powell said that while inflation remains far above the Fed’s 2% target, turmoil in the banking sector could lead to tighter credit for businesses and households and weaken the economy. That could allow the Fed to end its rate-hiking campaign.

    Biden’s choice of Kugler follows long-standing demands by Sen. Robert Menendez, a New Jersey Democrat, that a Latino be chosen for the rate-setting committee for the first time in the Fed’s 109-year history. Menendez voted last year against Biden’s nomination of Powell for a second four-year term to protest the lack of Latino officials at the Fed.

    In a statement, Menendez applauded Kugler’s nomination.

    “We are witnessing history unfold in real time,” he said.

    Jefferson and Kugler have won Senate approval before. Jefferson sailed through the Senate on a 91-7 vote last May. Kugler was confirmed to her World Bank position by a unanimous voice vote last April.

    Both Jefferson and Kugler would vote on financial regulatory policy, an area that has assumed a higher profile after the collapse of three large banks, as well as on interest rate decisions.

    As a Fed governor, Jefferson has voted in favor of every rate hike the central bank has imposed since joining the central bank in May 2022. He has also echoed Powell’s concerns that unemployment will likely have to rise, at least modestly, to bring inflation down to the Fed’s 2% target.

    Jefferson has also emphasized the need to keep Americans’ inflation expectations in check. Like many economists, Jefferson believes that such expectations can become self-fulfilling: If businesses and workers start to expect high inflation to persist, both will seek to offset rising costs by either charging higher prices or demanding higher pay. Both trends can then further intensify inflation.

    Given such concerns, some analysts consider Jefferson to lean slightly “hawkish” in his policy views. Hawks typically prefer higher interest rates to ward off inflation, while “doves” generally support lower rates to boost hiring.

    In recent remarks, Jefferson expressed confidence in the U.S. banking system and said that data showing that banks are tightening credit are consistent with the Fed’s efforts to slow the economy. He added that inflation is declining and that the “economy has started to slow in an orderly fashion.”

    Cook has also supported the rapid pace of rate increases since joining the board the same day last year as Jefferson. But in late April, she offered an equivocal view of the Fed’s next steps: She pointed to a pullback in lending by banks as a reason why the Fed might have to impose fewer rate hikes to conquer inflation.

    If, however, economic data pointed to “continued strength in the economy and slower disinflation, we may have more work to do,” Cook said.

    Jefferson, who grew up in a working-class family in Washington, D.C., according to an interview with the American Economic Association, has focused his economic research on poverty and monetary policy. Before joining the Fed, he was an economist and administrator at Davidson College in North Carolina.

    Kugler has conducted extensive research on worker training in the United States and Colombia. One of her recent papers studied the effects of extended U.S. unemployment benefits during two pre-pandemic recessions. Her study found that the additional aid helped people take more time to find jobs that fit their skills and qualifications, and lifted their wages.

    Kugler earned a Ph.D. in economics from the University of California, Berkeley. Jefferson obtained his doctorate in economics from the University of Virginia.

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  • Air Force One doubles as a campaign jet for Biden’s reelection run. Who pays what?

    Air Force One doubles as a campaign jet for Biden’s reelection run. Who pays what?

    WASHINGTON (AP) — When Joe Biden was running for president three years ago, he flew on a white private jet with his campaign logo painted on the side.

    Now he has a larger, more recognizable ride as he seeks a second term. Like his predecessors, he’ll be crisscrossing the country on Air Force One.

    Every president blends their governmental and political duties, but never more than when they’re running for reelection. “Official” events can sound especially political, while “political” events can delve deeply into the policy initiatives of the day. And decisions on how to divvy up the costs of a president’s travels between taxpayers and the campaign is no simple task.

    Biden made one such trip this week, his first since formally announcing his campaign, when he spoke about his economic agenda at an official event north of New York City before heading to Manhattan for a pair of fundraisers.

    “I’m determined to finish the job,” Biden said to about two dozen donors in an Upper East Side townhouse. Then Biden zipped over to a Fifth Avenue apartment, where more wealthy supporters sat on couches and chairs in a grand living room surrounded by artwork.

    “I want to thank everyone here for the help,” he said. “Without you guys, I wouldn’t be standing here.”

    The massive logistical and security apparatus that surrounds a president continues no matter where they are or whether they’re on government or political business. Even mundane trips require an assortment of helicopters, armored cars and other vehicles and staff to ferry the president, aides, security personnel and journalists from place to place.

    By longstanding practice, the vast majority of those costs are borne by taxpayers, a smaller amount picked up by Biden’s campaign or the Democratic National Committee.

    “It’s well established, and there’s a pretty intricate set of formulas,” said Norm Eisen, who served as a White House ethics lawyer under President Barack Obama.

    Yet piecing together how much taxpayers will be on the hook for to fund a president’s campaign travel is far from clear-cut. Many of the true costs pertaining to transporting and securing the president are classified, and even the formulas used to determine how much the president’s campaign has to reimburse the government are difficult to scrutinize.

    Federal regulations guide the calculations, which look at the share of the president’s time spent on the ground devoted to political and official activities. And rules require that government flights like Air Force One are reimbursed at higher rates for a similar flight aboard a charter airfare instead of commercial flights.

    For every trip, it’s up to the White House counsel’s office to determine what percentage is political and the amount of reimbursement, officials involved with the process said. And it’s a time-honored practice by presidents in both parties to tack official events onto political trips to defray the cost to their campaigns.

    But even official events can get plenty political as presidents push their agenda. On Wednesday, Biden used his official event to criticize “MAGA Republicans” for “holding the economy hostage” in the standoff over the debt ceiling, which could lead to the country defaulting for the first time in history.

    When it comes to paying back the government for travel, “it’s always somewhat of an opaque process for how it’s reimbursed,” said Aaron Scherb, senior director of legislative affairs at the watchdog group Common Cause. “It’s a little bit more of an art than a science.”

    The Democratic National Committee has a special escrow account where it collects travel reimbursements that will eventually be sent to the U.S. Treasury. For example, after Biden went to Florida to attend a fundraiser for Charlie Crist’s ill-fated campaign for governor last year, Crist’s campaign deposited $27,726.95 into the account. Then-Senate candidate Val Demings’ campaign kicked in another $23,610.51 for a joint rally that evening with Crist’s campaign, which came after an official event meant to highlight his efforts to lower drug prices for seniors.

    That combined sum was a small fraction of the cost to send Biden from Washington on Air Force One and by helicopter from near Fort Lauderdale to Miami Gardens.

    The helicopters that operate as Marine One when the president is on board cost between $16,700 and nearly $20,000 per hour to operate, according to Pentagon data for fiscal year 2022. The modified Boeing 747s that serve as the iconic Air Force One cost about $200,000 per hour to fly. That’s not to mention the military cargo aircraft that fly ahead of the president with his armored limousines and other official vehicles.

    All told, more than $2.8 million has been deposited in the escrow account for travel since Biden took office in January 2021, according to Federal Election Committee records. However, because of the slow pace of government processing, only about $133,000 has been relayed to the government.

    The current generation of Air Force One planes date back to President George H.W. Bush’s administration, and two replacements are currently being built. Even if Biden wins a second term, he’s unlikely to have an opportunity to fly on them before leaving office — they’re scheduled to be delivered in 2027 and 2028.

    Administration officials said that the Biden White House and the campaigns his travel benefits comply with all federal rules and precedents.

    But the cost of presidential travel often becomes a target in an election year.

    For example, then-House Speaker John Boehner complained after Obama spoke to college students during official events in battleground states while running for reelection.

    “His campaign ought to be reimbursing the Treasury for the cost of this trip,” Boehner said.

    President Donald Trump adhered to rules on reimbursements for campaign travel during his failed bid for a second term. However, he drew scrutiny for blurring the lines in other ways. For example, he used Air Force One and Marine One as backdrops for political events, and he would direct the plane to be flown over his rallies to energize supporters.

    Trump also accepted the Republican nomination in a speech from the White House, a controversial use of federal property for political purposes.

    ___

    Associated Press writer Seung Min Kim in New York contributed to this report.

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  • More red ink: Congressional budget agency projects bigger deficits as debt talks continue

    More red ink: Congressional budget agency projects bigger deficits as debt talks continue

    WASHINGTON (AP) — This year’s projected government budget deficit has jumped by $130 billion, due in part to a proposed change to student loan repayment plans and a series of bank rescues organized by federal regulators, the Congressional Budget Office said Friday .

    Revenue collections through April were lower than the agency expected, resulting in a projected budget deficit of $1.5 trillion for 2023, the office’s update to the nation’s 10-year budget outlook says.

    Overall, the nonpartisan office expects deficits to increase by $20 trillion during the 2024 to 2033 period, with a caution that the projections are “subject to a great deal of uncertainty.” That’s about the same as the originally projected shortfall.

    The updated 10-year projection comes as President Joe Biden and congressional leaders try to break an impasse on raising the legal limit on federal borrowing to support the government’s debts. Democrats and Republicans have disagreed on whether and how to raise the ceiling.

    While Democrats have called for a unencumbered increase to the debt limit, Republicans say negotiated spending cuts for the coming fiscal year are necessary to gain their agreement to ensure the government meets its funding obligations.

    The budget office says future spending could vary significantly, based on a case before the U.S. Supreme Court regarding student loan cancellation. In addition, a series of bank failures also prompted the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. to unexpectedly spend money to protect depositors after the f ailures of Silicon Valley Bank and New York-based Signature Bank in March.

    Regulators agreed to protect depositors, even those whose deposits exceeded the federally insured limit of $250,000, with the intent of heading off a broader banking crisis.

    U.S. officials have insisted that no taxpayer money will be used to resolve the crisis.

    Now the larger disagreement over spending is taking place in Congress and the White House.

    Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen had informed Congress that the U.S. would reach its $31.4 trillion statutory spending limit in January. Since then, she has deployed “extraordinary measures” — a series of financial and legal maneuvers— to prevent the U.S. from defaulting. But those are expected to be exhausted within weeks.

    In February, the CBO projected that the U.S. economy would stagnate this year with the unemployment rate jumping to 5.1%. The current unemployment rate is 3.4%.

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  • Commerce Department starts process to fund tech hubs across the US with $500 million in grants

    Commerce Department starts process to fund tech hubs across the US with $500 million in grants

    WASHINGTON (AP) — The Commerce Department on Friday is launching the application process for cities to receive a total of $500 million in grants to become technology hubs.

    The $500 million is part of a $10 billion authorization from last year’s CHIPS and Science Act to stimulate investments in new technologies such as artificial intelligence, quantum computing and biotech. It’s an attempt to expand tech investment that is largely concentrated around a few U.S. cities — Austin, Texas; Boston; New York; San Francisco; and Seattle — to the rest of the country.

    “This is about taking these places on the edge of glory to being world leaders,” Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo told The Associated Press. “My job is to enhance America’s competitiveness.”

    The Biden administration has made it a priority to set an industrial strategy of directing government investment into computer chips, clean energy and a range of other technologies. Officials say that being leaders in those fields will foster economic and national security, reflecting a belief that the best way to compete against China’s ascendance will come from building internal strength.

    The tech hubs are meant to build up areas that already have major research specialties but lack the access to financing that could fuel stronger growth and business formation in those fields. Pockets of the U.S. already have leading-edge tech such as medical devices in Minnesota, robotics in Pittsburgh and agricultural technology in Fresno, California. But the challenge has been finding ways to boost those fields so that government investment leads to more support from private capital.

    To qualify for the tech hub money, each applicant will need a partnership that includes one or more companies, a state development agency, worker training programs, a university and state and local government leaders. Roughly 20 cities are expected to be designated as tech hubs with 10 eventually receiving funding.

    President Joe Biden hopes to broaden the funding over time, requesting in his budget proposal that Congress appropriate another $4 billion for it over the next two years. Raimondo said that she expects a large number of applications from across the political spectrum.

    The tech hubs program, formally the Regional Technology and Innovation Hub Program, ties into a political message that Biden has delivered in speeches. The Democratic president has said that people should not feel forced to leave their hometowns to find good jobs nor should opportunity cluster in just a few parts of the country while other regions struggle.

    “You shouldn’t have to move to Silicon Valley if you’re a scientist with a great idea,” Raimondo said.

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  • Ex-correctional officer charged with sexually abusing 3 inmates in California federal prison cells

    Ex-correctional officer charged with sexually abusing 3 inmates in California federal prison cells

    WASHINGTON (AP) — A former correctional officer at a federal women’s prison in California where inmates say they were subjected to rampant sexual abuse has been arrested and accused of abusing three inmates in his care, the Justice Department said Friday.

    Darrell Wayne Smith, who worked at the Federal Correctional Institution in Dublin, was arrested on Thursday in Florida on a 12-count indictment. He is accused of sexually abusing the three women in their prison cells and in the prison’s laundry room between 2019 and 2021, prosecutors said.

    Smith is at least the sixth employee at the Dublin prison charged with abusing inmates. An Associated Press investigation last year revealed a culture of abuse and cover-up that had persisted for years at the prison, about 20 miles (30 kilometers) east of Oakland. That reporting led to increased scrutiny from Congress and pledges from the federal Bureau of Prisons that it would fix problems and change the culture at the prison.

    The prison’s former warden, Ray Garcia, was convicted in December of molesting inmates and forcing them to pose naked in their cells. He was sentenced to serve six years in prison.

    The charges against Smith include sexual abuse of an inmate, abusive sexual contact and aggravated sexual abuse. A lawyer listed for him in court records did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Friday.

    Since the AP’s investigation, the Justice Department has moved more aggressively in recent months to prosecute federal prison employees who are accused of sexually abusing inmates. Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco and Bureau of Prisons Director Colette Peters visited the Dublin prison in March and met with advocates working to improve conditions there.

    The Bureau of Prisons also has launched new training for prison wardens and created specialized teams aimed at curtailing sexual abuse at the nation’s federal prisons.

    James Theodore Highhouse, a former prison chaplain at Dublin who pleaded guilty to abusing an inmate in his chapel office and lying to authorities, was sentenced in August to seven years in prison. He is appealing the punishment, arguing it exceeded federal guidelines.

    Enrique Chavez, a food service foreman, pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 20 months in prison. Ross Klinger, a recycling technician, has pleaded guilty but has not been sentenced. John Russell Bellhouse, a prison safety administrator, is scheduled to stand trial later this month.

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  • ‘He wanted to live the American Dream’: Honduran teen dies in US immigration custody

    ‘He wanted to live the American Dream’: Honduran teen dies in US immigration custody

    TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras (AP) — The mother of a 17-year-old boy who died this week in U.S. immigration custody demanded answers from American officials Friday, saying her son had no known illnesses and had not shown any signs of being sick before his death.

    The teenager was identified as Ángel Eduardo Maradiaga Espinoza, according to a tweet from Honduran foreign relations minister Enrique Reina. Maradiaga was detained at a facility in Safety Harbor, Florida, Reina said, and died Wednesday. His death underscored concerns about a strained immigration system as the Biden administration manages the end of asylum restrictions known as Title 42.

    His mother, Norma Saraí Espinoza Maradiaga, told The Associated Press in a phone interview that her son “wanted to live the American Dream.”

    Ángel Eduardo left his hometown of Olanchito, Honduras, on April 25, his mother said. He crossed the U.S.-Mexico border some days later and on May 5 was referred to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, which operates longer-term facilities for children who cross the border without a parent.

    That same day, he spoke to his mother for the last time, she said Friday.

    “He told me he was in a shelter and not to worry because he was in the best hands,” she said. “We only spoke two minutes, I told him goodbye and wished him the best.”

    This week, someone who identified himself only as one of her son’s friends at the shelter called her to say that when he had awakened for breakfast, Ángel Eduardo didn’t respond and was dead.

    His mother then called a person in the U.S. who was supposed to have received Ángel Eduardo, asking for help verifying the information. Hours later, that person called her back saying it was true that her son was dead.

    “I want to clear up my son’s real cause of death,” she said. He didn’t suffer from any illnesses and hadn’t been sick as far as she knew.

    “No one tells me anything. The anguish is killing me,” she said. “They say they are awaiting the autopsy results and don’t give me any other answer.”

    No cause of death was immediately available nor were circumstances of any illness or medical treatment.

    HHS said in a statement Friday that it “is deeply saddened by this tragic loss and our heart goes out to the family, with whom we are in touch.” A review of health care records was underway, as was an investigation by a medical examiner, the department said.

    White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre called the news “devastating” and referred questions about the investigation to HHS.

    The asylum restrictions under Title 42 expired Thursday, with President Joe Biden’s administration announcing new curbs on border crossers that went into effect Friday. Tens of thousands of people tried to cross the U.S.-Mexico border in the weeks before the expiration of Title 42, under which U.S. officials expelled many people but allowed exemptions for others, including minors crossing the border unaccompanied by a parent.

    This was the first known death of an immigrant child in custody during the Biden administration. At least six immigrant children died in U.S. custody during the administration of former President Donald Trump, during which the U.S. at times detained thousands of children above the system’s capacity.

    HHS operates long-term facilities to hold children who cross the border without a parent until they can be placed with a sponsor. HHS facilities generally have beds and facilities as well as schooling and other activities for minors, unlike Border Patrol stations and detention sites in which detainees sometimes sleep on the floor in cells.

    Advocates who oppose the detention of immigrant children say HHS facilities are not suited to hold minors for weeks or months, as sometimes happens.

    More than 8,600 children are currently in HHS custody. That number may rise sharply in the coming weeks amid the shift in border policies as well as sharply rising trends of migration across the Western Hemisphere and the traditional spike in crossings during spring and summer.

    Ángel Eduardo had studied until eighth grade before leaving school to work. Most recently he had been working as a mechanic’s assistant. He had been a standout soccer player in Olanchito in northern Honduras since he was 7 years old, his mother said.

    The teenager had hopes of reuniting with his father, who left Honduras for the U.S. years ago, and earning money to support her and two younger siblings still in Honduras, his mother said.

    He had migrated with his mother’s approval and financial support from his father in the United States, she said.

    “Since he was 10 years old he wanted to live the American Dream to see his father and have a better life,” she said. “His idea was to help me. He told me that when he was in the United States he was going to change my life.”

    ___

    Merchant reported from Washington. AP White House Correspondent Zeke Miller and AP writers Colleen Long in Washington and Christopher Sherman in Mexico City contributed to this report.

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  • G7 finance leaders say global economic uncertainties have worsened, requiring vigilance and flexibility in policies

    G7 finance leaders say global economic uncertainties have worsened, requiring vigilance and flexibility in policies

    G7 finance leaders say global economic uncertainties have worsened, requiring vigilance and flexibility in policies

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  • Honduran teen dies in US immigration custody, weeks after crossing southern border

    Honduran teen dies in US immigration custody, weeks after crossing southern border

    A 17-year-old boy from Honduras died this week in U.S. immigration custody

    ByNOMAAN MERCHANT Associated Press

    WASHINGTON — A 17-year-old boy from Honduras died this week in U.S. immigration custody, American and Honduran officials said Friday, underscoring concerns about a strained immigration system as the Biden administration manages the end of asylum restrictions known as Title 42.

    The teenager was identified as Ángel Eduardo Maradiaga Espinoza, according to a tweet from Honduran foreign relations minister Enrique Reina. Maradiaga was detained at a facility in Safety Harbor, Florida, Reina said.

    He entered the U.S. several weeks ago and died Wednesday, according to a U.S. official familiar with the matter who was not authorized to speak publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

    No cause of death was immediately available nor were circumstances of any illness or medical treatment.

    The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, which is responsible for the facility where Maradiaga was held, said in a statement that a review of health care records was underway as was an investigation by a medical examiner.

    HHS “is deeply saddened by this tragic loss and our heart goes out to the family, with whom we are in touch,” the department’s statement said.

    The asylum restrictions under Title 42 expired Thursday with President Joe Biden’s administration announcing new curbs on border crossers that went into effect Friday. Tens of thousands of people tried to cross the U.S.-Mexico border in the weeks before the expiration of Title 42, under which U.S. officials expelled many people but allowed exemptions for others, including minors crossing the border unaccompanied by a parent.

    This was the first known death of an immigrant child in custody during the Biden administration. At least six immigrant children died in U.S. custody during the administration of former President Donald Trump.

    HHS operates long-term facilities to hold children who cross the border without a parent until they can be placed with a sponsor. HHS facilities generally have beds and facilities as well as schooling and other activities for minors, unlike Border Patrol stations and detention sites in which detainees sometimes sleep on the floor in cells.

    Advocates who oppose the detention of immigrant children say HHS facilities are not suited to hold minors for weeks or months as sometimes happens.

    More than 8,600 children are currently in HHS custody. That number may rise sharply in the coming weeks amid the shift in border policies as well as sharply rising trends of migration across the Western Hemisphere and the traditional spike in crossings during spring and summer.

    ___

    AP White House Correspondent Zeke Miller contributed to this report.

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  • GOP lawmaker: Former Trump prosecutor declines to provide details on hush-money investigation

    GOP lawmaker: Former Trump prosecutor declines to provide details on hush-money investigation

    WASHINGTON — An ex-prosecutor who once oversaw Manhattan’s yearslong investigation of former President Donald Trump repeatedly declined to substantively answer questions at a closed-door deposition Friday of the House Judiciary Committee, according to a Republican lawmaker in the meeting.

    Rep. Darrell Issa, a California Republican, exited the meeting after roughly one hour and said Pomerantz, the former prosecutor, repeatedly invoked the Fifth Amendment that protects people from providing self-incriminating testimony.

    Trump faces 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in a scheme to bury allegations of extramarital affairs that arose during his 2016 White House campaign. GOP lawmakers have decried the investigation as a “political persecution.”

    Pomerantz said in a written opening statement that he was invoking the Fifth Amendment because the Manhattan District Attorney’s office had previously warned him before he published a book on the investigation that he could face criminal liability if he revealed grand jury material or violated a provision of the New York City Charter dealing with misuse of confidential information.

    Pomerantz, who left Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office after disagreements over the direction of the Trump investigation, was subpoenaed by the Republican-controlled House committee. The panel, chaired by GOP Rep. Jim Jordan, is probing how Bragg handled Trump’s historic indictment.

    “This deposition is for show,” Pomerantz also said in prepared remarks. “I do not believe for a moment that I am here to assist a genuine effort to enact legislation or conduct legislative ‘oversight.’”

    Bragg had sued to halt Jordan’s subpoena of Pomerantz, but last month agreed to Pomerantz’s testimony after a delay and a condition that lawyers from the prosecutor’s office be present. The committee has said it would have allowed the district attorney’s lawyers even without the agreement.

    Pomerantz had argued in court papers that the subpoena left him in an “impossible position” and would potentially require him to violate his ethical obligations.

    Issa told reporters, “I think it’s very appropriate to say this is an obstructing witness who has no intention of answering any questions.”

    Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz, another Republican on the committee, also said lawmakers were “not getting many answers.”

    Pomerantz is allowed to refuse to answer certain questions that touch on legal privilege and ethical obligations, but Jordan can rule on those assertions on a case-by-case basis.

    Pomerantz recently wrote a book about his work pursuing Trump and discussed the investigation in interviews on “60 Minutes” and other shows. But Issa said he was not answering questions even on previous statements he had made.

    Issa suggested that the fight over Pomerantz’s cooperation may return to the legal system, saying it would be “for the court to decide when we object to his failure to answer any questions.”

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  • US Abrams tanks for training Ukrainian forces arrive in Germany ahead of schedule

    US Abrams tanks for training Ukrainian forces arrive in Germany ahead of schedule

    WASHINGTON — The U.S. Abrams tanks needed for training Ukrainian forces have arrived in Germany slightly ahead of schedule and are on their way to the Grafenwoehr Army base where the training will begin in two to three weeks, U.S. officials said Thursday.

    Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told the Senate Appropriations defense subcommittee that the U.S. had moved “a number of tanks over into theater” so the Ukrainians could begin training on them. By the time they complete the training, expected to last about 10 weeks, the Abrams tanks currently being built for the Ukrainian forces will be ready, he said.

    A U.S. official said the 31 M1A1 Abrams tanks needed for the training arrived at the port in Bremerhaven, Germany, last weekend and they will get to the base by early this coming week. Their arrival at Grafenwoehr is a couple of weeks ahead of the schedule that was mapped out when military leaders from around Europe and elsewhere met in Germany last month to discuss Ukraine‘s needs for the war against Russia.

    The tanks the U.S. is providing Ukraine are being built to its military’s specifications and will get to Ukraine by early fall, just as the troops are finished with their instruction. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to provide details of the delivery not publicly released.

    The tank training will be the latest and most lethal new layer of combat instruction the U.S. is providing Ukraine’s troops to give them the best chance to overwhelm and punch through Russia’s battle lines. Over the past few months U.S. troops have trained more than 8,800 Ukrainians, including on how to use Stryker and Bradley fighting vehicles and M109 Paladins together on the battlefield. The Bradleys and Strykers are armored and armed vehicles used to ferry troops, and the Paladin is a self-propelled howitzer gun.

    During Thursday’s hearing, Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, pressed Austin to move quickly to get the tanks into Ukrainian troops’ hands and onto the battlefield.

    “We are doing everything possible to accelerate the delivery of these tanks, and early fall is a projection,” Austin said.

    Collins and others noted the urgency of the fight in Ukraine, and she told Austin and Army Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, to be blunt about Ukraine’s needs. Defense leaders should not let budget concerns dissuade them from seeking more weapons if that’s what Kyiv needs to be successful in a counteroffensive, said Collins, the ranking Republican on the panel.

    “It is critical that the administration provide Ukraine with what it needs in time to defend and take back its sovereign territory,” she said. “We expect the administration not to wait until the 11th hour if the Ukrainians seek more before the end of the fiscal year.”

    Sen. Lindsay Graham, R-S.C., noting the broader implications of the war, questioned Milley on the impact a Russian victory could have on China and its deliberations on whether to move to take the self-governing island of Taiwan, which Beijing claims.

    “I think that the Chinese are watching the war between Russia and Ukraine very carefully,” Milley said, adding that if Russian President Vladimir Putin succeeds, “China will learn certain lessons.”

    “It may not be the single decisive point, but I think it will calculate into their decision-making process as to whether or not they attack to seize the island of Taiwan. So I think the outcome of Ukraine is critical to much broader issues than just Ukraine,” Milley said.

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  • Debt limit fight: Biden meeting with Congress leaders put off until next week as staff talks proceed

    Debt limit fight: Biden meeting with Congress leaders put off until next week as staff talks proceed

    WASHINGTON — WASHINGTON (AP) —

    President Joe Biden’s follow-up meeting with congressional leaders on averting a potential default was postponed on Thursday to next week, the White House said, presenting the news as positive as staff-level talks on raising the debt limit continue.

    The meeting was originally set for this Friday after Biden met Tuesday with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. Since then, their staffs have been meeting on finding a way forward to ensure the government can meet its funding obligations — while also considering deficit cuts for the coming fiscal year.

    The White House said staff would continue to hold discussions through the weekend, and the delay was billed as a sign of positive exchanges between the two parties.

    THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. THE PREVIOUS STORY IS BELOW.

    In the search for a budget deal to resolve the government’s debt limit crisis, billions of dollars of unspent COVID money is on the table. So are ideas as far-ranging as easing permits for energy projects and simply ordering broad spending caps — all still in the mix as negotiators from the White House and Congress hunkered down Thursday for the latest round of closed-door talks.

    The gears of Washington are beginning to move, not smoothly but determinedly, on resolving the crisis, a turn of events in itself after months of stalemate between President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy as the deadline looms to avert an economy-fracturing national default.

    Biden is to meet again with McCarthy and other congressional leaders Friday as talks intensify. Washington is staring down a June 1 deadline to raise the debt limit to allow continued borrowing to cover already accrued bills or risk the nation’s first modern-day debt default.

    Then there’s one more development thrown into the works: Donald Trump is urging fellow Republicans to let America default on its debts if they don’t get the budget cutting deal they want from Biden.

    “I say to the Republicans out there — congressmen, senators — if they don’t give you massive cuts, you’re going to have to do a default,” Trump said at a CNN town hall Wednesday night as part of his campaign to return to the White House.

    It’s unclear whether the sudden outburst from Trump will affect negotiations. The former president continues to have sky-high influence with many in his party, and Trump-aligned lawmakers in Congress may heed his advice to engage in brinkmanship that could lead to a debt default that economists say could be catastrophic.

    So far, Republicans on Capitol Hill appear to be ignoring the former president’s counsel. They’re working behind the scenes pursuing the priorities in their recently House-passed bill that would raise the debt ceiling in exchange for steep but less than “massive” budget cuts and other future spending restrictions.

    Negotiators spent two hours in a Capitol basement room Wednesday as they raced to develop the contours of a deal. They were back at it again Thursday.

    Democrats, meanwhile, responded vigorously to Trump’s outburst. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer declared Trump was calling on his Republican Party to “destroy the economy.”

    Said Schumer: “Donald Trump is about as qualified to run the country as a broken brick. But the danger here is he holds enormous sway over Speaker McCarthy and the hard right.”

    McCarthy downplayed the closed-door talks underway at the Capitol as producing “nothing new.”

    The Republican speaker owes his gavel to Trump’s support during a grueling in-House election. McCarthy, who is taking the lead in negotiations with Biden, has also held firm in his opening bid in talks, saying his staff has put no new ideas on the table beyond the legislation the House approved last month — which the White House has already said Biden would veto.

    “I passed a bill — what more should I have to do?” McCarthy told reporters.

    Economists warn a debt default would be devastating, rippling across the economy. The nation’s credit would likely be downgraded, which would surely spike borrowing costs that would end up hitting not only businesses and government, but American households.

    Trump said during the town hall he didn’t think the situation would come to such extremes. Fielding questions from the audience, he predicted that “Democrats will absolutely cave” to the Republican demands.

    But the former president, who had signed bills to raise the debt limit during his own presidency, said a debt default this time would be worth it.

    “It’s better than what we’re doing right now because we’re spending money like drunken sailors,” he said.

    The U.S. debt, which grew from $20 trillion when Trump took office in 2017 to $28 trillion when Biden took over in 2021, is now $31 trillion.

    Meanwhile, Democratic Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said the staff level talks have been “very productive.”

    While the White House insists it wants a clean debt bill, it is engaged in talks around the broader budget.

    The White House has rejected the Republican proposal to roll back federal spending to fiscal 2022 levels and impose a 1% cap on annual spending for the next decade. But there could be room for further discussions, much the way Congress and the White House agreed to spending caps in past budget showdowns.

    Biden himself suggested that the unspent COVID-19 funds could be “on the table.” And a person familiar with the negotiations said rules on permits are part of the discussion over the budget. The person was granted anonymity to talk about private conversations.

    A top McCarthy ally, Rep. Garret Graves, R-La., said during a roundtable with reporters Thursday there are four areas of bipartisan interest that he thinks “would be a good foundation for negotiations.”

    Among them, Graves outlined the COVID rescissions, spending caps, reform of permitting rules, and bolstered work requirements on some government aid recipients as topics with bipartisan interest.

    “I think there is pretty good opportunity there,” Graves told reporters.

    He said the White House is pushing for a shorter spending cap than the 10 years Republicans proposed in their legislation.

    Biden senior advisor John Podesta drew attention this week when he revived White House interest in permit reform — a major issue in the fight against climate change — including support for a proposal from Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., who has been instrumental in bipartisan deals in Congress.

    But on another subject, Republicans said Thursday that any proposals from the White House for tax increases to cut deficits are a nonstarter for the House GOP.

    “If the White House is looking for revenue increases, they are looking in the wrong direction,” said Rep. Dusty Johnson, R-S.D., a leader of the conservative Main Street Caucus.

    About Trump’s comments, Johnson said: “Early candidates talk differently than people who are trying to get a deal. And I just think most members of Congress, Republican members, understand that the jobs are a little different.”

    Democratic leader Jeffries sad Trump’s comments about a default were “unfortunate,” and all part of the Republicans’ “hostage-taking” — using the debt ceiling as leverage to push far-right priorities.

    “A default would be catastrophic, a default would be dangerous, a default would be devastating for everyday Americans,” he said.

    Jeffries said a debt default would crash the stock market, hurt the retirement accounts of seniors “and must be avoided at all costs.”

    __

    Associated Press writers Kevin Freking, Stephen Groves and Mary Clare Jalonick contributed to this report.

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  • Supreme Court rules against Puerto Rican journalists seeking records from financial oversight board

    Supreme Court rules against Puerto Rican journalists seeking records from financial oversight board

    The Supreme Court has ruled against an organization of Puerto Rican journalists in its quest for documents from the financial oversight board created to deal with the island territory’s bankruptcy

    WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court ruled Thursday against an organization of Puerto Rican journalists in its quest for documents from the financial oversight board created to deal with the island territory’s bankruptcy.

    The justices by an 8-1 vote reversed an appeals court ruling in favor of the Centro de Periodismo Investigativo, which has reported extensively on Puerto Rico‘s fiscal crisis and debt restructuring.

    In 2016, Congress passed a law that created the control board that continues to oversee Puerto Rico’s finances. The reporters’ group is seeking an array of documents, including communications between the board’s members and U.S. and Puerto Rican officials.

    The board contends it is a part of the government of Puerto Rico and enjoys the same shield from federal lawsuits as the government.

    But the Boston-based 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which includes Puerto Rico, ruled that the 2016 law, known as PROMESA, eliminated the immunity from lawsuits, and allowed the claims of the reporters’ group to proceed.

    Writing for the court, Justice Elena Kagan said Congress has to speak clearly on this subject and nothing in PROMESA makes clear “that Congress deprived the board of sovereign immunity.”

    Justice Clarence Thomas dissented.

    Lourdes Rosado, president of the civil rights advocacy group LatinoJustice PRLDEF, said in a statement that the court’s decision “allows this anti-democratic body to continue to withhold vital information on their decisions and actions affecting Puerto Rico’s economy and the lives of millions of people.”

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  • Expel George Santos? GOP leaders aren’t ready to take that step

    Expel George Santos? GOP leaders aren’t ready to take that step

    WASHINGTON — Protecting a narrow, four-vote majority, Republican leaders in the House are making clear that they intend to let the legal process play out with New York Rep. George Santos before they take steps to force his resignation or expel him.

    The freshman congressman was accused Wednesday by federal prosecutors of embezzling money from his campaign, falsely receiving unemployment funds and lying to Congress about his finances and could face up to 20 years in prison if convicted. Santos pleaded not guilty.

    Republican leaders, who for months have faced mounting questions about Santos after most of his campaign biography was exposed as a lie, were unmoved and brushed aside calls — including from some colleagues — that they take immediate action to push Santos out of Congress.

    “In America, there’s a presumption of innocence. But they’re serious charges. He’s going to have to go through the legal process,” said House Majority Leader Steve Scalise of Louisiana.

    Scalise was seconded by Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York, the No. 3 House Republican, who sidestepped the question of whether Santos should resign.

    “As I’ve said from the very beginning on questions on this subject, this legal process is going to play itself out,” she said.

    The position Republican leaders have staked out generally follows the precedent that Congress has set in similar criminal cases over the years. The House has expelled just two members in recent decades, and both votes occurred after the lawmaker had been convicted on federal charges. But many say the narrow majority that Republicans won in the House is surely another factor in the GOP leadership’s thinking.

    “There are a few members of the New York delegation and a few others calling for his immediate expulsion on the Republican side, which could tilt the leadership’s hand. But given where we’re at with the debt limit and a four-vote majority, they don’t want to lose any of those votes right now,” said Casey Burgat, an assistant professor who leads the legislative affairs program at George Washington University.

    Santos is adamant that he will stay in Congress and seek reelection. In a press conference outside a Long Island federal courthouse, he spoke Wednesday of getting back to Washington so he could vote on a top House GOP priority, a border bill that would restrict some asylum seekers and boost border enforcement. It’s expected to be a close vote.

    Santos also voted last month for the House GOP bill that ties a debt limit extension to an estimated $4.8 trillion in deficit reduction over 10 years. In a dramatic flourish, Santos was the last Republican to cast a vote in favor of that bill, helping it win passage by a paper-thin margin — 217-215.

    While GOP leaders say the legal system needs to run its course, a few Republicans have seen enough.

    “The people of New York’s 3rd district deserve a voice in congress,” tweeted Rep. Tony Gonzales, R-Texas. “George Santos should be immediately expelled from Congress and a special election initiated at the soonest possible date.”

    The House and the Senate have the power to punish members of their chamber for misconduct, including through expulsion. To date, according to the Congressional Research Service, 20 members have been expelled, but the large majority of them occurred at the outset of the Civil War. Half of the 20 expulsions were the result of a single vote in the Senate involving senators who represented states that had seceded from the Union, but had not formally resigned.

    The two most recent expulsions followed convictions on public corruption charges were:

    —Rep. Michael J. “Ozzie” Myers, D-Penn., was convicted of bribery and conspiracy for taking money from FBI agents who posed as Arab sheiks. He was expelled in 1980 following his conviction and served more than a year in prison.

    —Rep. James Traficant, D-Ohio, was expelled in 2002, three months after he was found guilty of 10 federal charges, including racketeering, bribery and fraud for taking bribes and kickbacks from businessmen and his own staff.

    Some lawmakers have also resigned upon being convicted of a crime, pre-empting an expulsion vote.

    Last year, Rep. Jeff Fortenberry, R-Neb., resigned from office after a California jury convicted him of lying to federal authorities about an illegal campaign donation from a foreign national.

    Two years earlier, Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., submitted his resignation about a month after pleading guilty to a charge of conspiring with his wife to steal about $250,000 in campaign funds to pay for a lavish lifestyle, from vacations to outings with friends and private school tuition. Then-President Donald Trump pardoned Hunter shortly before he left office.

    Trump also pardoned former Rep. Chris Collins, R-N.Y., who resigned in 2019 ahead of admitting to helping his son and others dodge $800,000 in stock market losses when he learned that a drug trial by a small pharmaceutical company had failed.

    More than three dozen Democratic lawmakers have signed onto a bill from Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Calif., that would expel Santos from the House.

    “It’s pretty clear to everyone, including his constituents, that he is a complete fraud and shouldn’t be in Congress,” Garcia said.

    Garcia said McCarthy is not pushing to expel Santos because he needs his vote. He urged the several Republicans from New York who have criticized Santos to sign on to the expulsion legislation.

    “He can barely keep his caucus together on votes, so it’s clear that he’s using George Santos’ support to keep him in leadership,” Garcia said.

    Republicans deny that Santos has been a distraction and say they are focused on other issues.

    “This place is bigger than any one member,” said Rep. Kevin Hern, R-Okla., the chairman of the powerful Republican Study Committee.

    Despite the reports that Santos was facing federal charges, and a crush of media attention at his arraignment in New York, Republicans said there was no discussion of him during their weekly, closed-door caucus meeting on Wednesday morning.

    “I never heard his name mentioned once,” said Rep. Andrew Clyde, R-Ga.

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  • Idaho man who dangled from Senate balcony during Capitol riot receives 15-month prison sentence

    Idaho man who dangled from Senate balcony during Capitol riot receives 15-month prison sentence

    An Idaho man who traveled to Washington in a car loaded with weapons and was photographed dangling from the Senate balcony during the Capitol riot was sentenced Wednesday to 15 months in prison.

    Josiah Colt, one of the first rioters to reach the Senate floor on Jan. 6, 2021, later pleaded guilty that year to obstructing Congress’ certification of Joe Biden’s White House victory.

    Also Wednesday, a man who accompanied Colt to the District of Columbia in a rental car with two pistols, knives, a stun gun, body armor and other gear was sentenced to about three years in prison, according to court records. Las Vegas resident Nathaniel DeGrave, who also entered the Senate gallery, pleaded guilty to conspiracy and assault charges last year.

    Both men had agreed to cooperate with investigators as part of their plea deals.

    Prosecutors say Colt, DeGrave and a third man, Ronald Sandlin, came to Washington prepared for violence and were intent on stopping lawmakers from certifying the results of the 2020 election as they joined the angry mob of then-President Donald Trump supporters in storming the Capitol.

    On Dec. 31, 2020, the men had discussed in a Facebook chat a plan for “shipping guns” to Sandlin’s home in Tennessee. Days later, Sandlin posted on social media a photo of Colt, who was lying in bed with his eyes closed and holding a handgun, with the caption: “My fellow patriot Josiah Colt sleeping ready for the boogaloo Jan 6th.” Boogaloo is a term some extremists use to refer to a second civil war. Colt replied to the post, “Ready for any battle,” followed by a laughing emoji.

    Colt, a 34-year-old from Meridian, Idaho, brought his pistol to a rally the day before the riot, but decided to leave it at a hotel on the morning of Jan. 6, authorities said. The three men watched on TV as Trump told his supporters in a speech before the riot to “fight like hell” or they were “not going to have a country anymore.”

    After the riot erupted, the men entered the Capitol through the Upper West Terrace doors. They went to a hallway outside the Senate gallery, where Sandlin led a charge against police officers as Colt entered, according to prosecutors.

    Colt shouted, “This is our House! This is our country! This is for the people!” before he jumped to the Senate floor. Sitting in a chair reserved for then-Vice President Mike Pence, as president of the Senate, Colt raised his fist as rioters cheered him on, prosecutors said. Colt opened a door and allowed dozens of other rioters to join him.

    DeGrave, who carried a can of bear spray in his pocket, called on others on the Senate floor to “take laptops, paperwork, take everything,” according to court papers

    Sandlin, of Millington, Tennessee, was sentenced in December to five years and three months in prison after he pleaded guilty to conspiracy and assault charges.

    Colt’s lawyers said in a court filing that Colt “is a good person who made a series of very bad choices based on misinformation and the emotional oratory of a demagogue.”

    Prosecutors accused DeGrave of trying to capitalize on his participation in the attack by selling video footage of the riot to media outlets.

    “He has even profited off of his unlawful conduct on January 6 since being incarcerated — to the tune of over $120,000 — by seeking donations on crowd-funding websites claiming that he is a ‘political prisoner’ of a ‘corrupt Biden regime,’” prosecutors wrote.

    DeGrave’s lawyer said in court papers that DeGrave regrets “allowing himself to be drawn into the world of those claiming ‘political persecution’ as a result of their actions on January 6.”

    “Nathaniel recognizes the intellectual dishonesty of admitting the criminality of his own conduct on January 6 on the one hand, and complaining about unfair treatment by the criminal justice system on the other,” defense lawyer William Shipley added.

    More than 1,000 people have been charged with Capitol riot-related federal crimes. Nearly 500 of them have been sentenced, with more than half receiving terms of imprisonment ranging from seven days to 14 years and two months.

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  • Georgia’s Smart says declining invitation for White House visit was not political

    Georgia’s Smart says declining invitation for White House visit was not political

    Georgia coach Kirby Smart insists there was no political motivation behind the decision for his national championship football team to decline an invitation to visit the White House in June

    ATHENS, Ga. — Georgia coach Kirby Smart insisted Wednesday there was no political motivation behind the decision for his national championship team to decline an invitation to visit the White House in June.

    Instead, Smart says scheduling issues, including a youth camp in June at the Georgia facility, made it impossible for the Bulldogs to accept the invitation to attend a June 12 event with other college teams at the White House. The event is described by President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden as “College Athlete Day.”

    Smart told the Athens Banner-Herald on Wednesday the inability to accept the invitation is “a tough deal” and added, “Timeline-wise it didn’t work.”

    Smart, the former Alabama defensive coordinator, said he enjoyed making White House visits with the Crimson Tide, which he called educational opportunities for his players. He noted those visits usually were scheduled for January, immediately following the season, when players were still on campus.

    Many players from Georgia’s undefeated championship team are now beginning professional careers and in June will be preparing for their first NFL training camp. Smart told the Athens paper his coaches will be busy recruiting and hosting the youth camp in June.

    “We didn’t have a date set and we’ve got 700 kids at a camp at our place June 6, 7, 8,” Smart said. “It’s the number one time for recruiting for football coaches. You’ve got 600 to 700 kids coming to your campus, you can’t leave to go to the White House and have no one on your campus. So the time just didn’t work out. There was nothing political about it. I’ve been before. It’s very educational. It’s a great experience.”

    The tradition of having college championship teams visit the White House was discontinued during the coronavirus pandemic. The last championship team to make a White House visit was Clemson, which won the 2018 title and visited on Jan. 14, 2019.

    This year’s NCAA men’s and women’s championship basketball teams from Connecticut and Louisiana State, respectively, are scheduled to visit the White House on May 26. Georgia’s athletic association said in a statement released on Tuesday the invitation for the June 12 visit was made on May 3.

    “Unfortunately, the date suggested is not feasible given the student-athlete calendar and time of year,” the athletic association said in the statement. “However, we are appreciative of the invitation and look forward to other opportunities for Georgia teams moving forward.”

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    AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/college-football and https://twitter.com/AP_Top25

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  • Biden pressures House Republicans on debt limit in campaign-style speech

    Biden pressures House Republicans on debt limit in campaign-style speech

    VALHALLA, N.Y. — President Joe Biden on Wednesday blasted Republican-demanded spending cuts as “devastating,” making his case in a campaign-style speech to voters as lawmakers met in Washington on raising the government’s borrowing limit to avoid a potentially catastrophic U.S. default.

    The president is showing an increased willingness to discuss possible budget restraints, yet he insisted anew that any talks on that should occur without the risk of the federal government being unable to pay its bills. As he spoke, negotiators from the White House and Congress met for two hours privately at the Capitol to discuss a path forward.

    “America is the strongest economy in the world, but we should be cutting spending and lowering the deficit without a needless crisis,” Biden said Wednesday.

    His words were a challenge to House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, who met Tuesday with Biden at the White House, declaring afterward that sharp spending cuts were required for House Republicans to increase the debt limit and stave off the risk of default.

    Biden laid into that GOP proposal on Wednesday in Valhalla, New York, saying spending cuts recently passed by the Republican House could hurt schools and the country’s “sacred” obligations to military veterans.

    The faceoff comes as the government is rapidly bumping up against its legal borrowing authority, meaning that it may not be able to pay its bills as early as the start of next month unless lawmakers agree to lift the limit.

    Wednesday’s events marked a preview of what the coming 18 months will look like for Biden as he performs his presidential duties while also trying to campaign in the 2024 election. He went to a region represented by first-term Republican Rep. Mike Lawler, whose district Biden won in 2020. Yet the president was gracious to the congressman, saying that Lawler is “the kind of Republican I was used to dealing with.”

    Biden used the trip to trumpet recent economic progress — pointing to the 12.7 million jobs created during his term and a fresh focus on domestic manufacturing — while warning that an unprecedented debt default would threaten millions of jobs and raise the prospect of a recession. Yet GOP lawmakers blame his coronavirus relief spending for the high inflation that has many voters already worrying about the U.S. economy.

    Back in Washington, senior White House officials and congressional aides were starting to discuss a path to avert a painful debt default that could come as soon as June 1. Negotiators are racing to strike a budget deal that could unlock a vote on separate debt ceiling legislation. Biden and Capitol Hill leaders are to meet again on Friday.

    But McCarthy has shown few signs that he and other House Republicans were willing to budge from their debt limit proposal, leaving Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer to warn the speaker is being “reckless.”

    Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, who has stepped aside as McCarthy tries to negotiate with the White House, has assured, “America is not going to default.”

    McConnell has said that the past several times the debt ceiling has been raised, Congress has attached priorities that were agreed to with the White House, including a deal negotiated between then-President Donald Trump and former Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

    “There has to be an agreement between the speaker and the president — and there will be,” McConnell said.

    In his remarks Tuesday, Biden raised the specter of cuts to veterans’ care, an issue that has become particularly sensitive in the back-and-forth rhetoric between the White House and congressional Republicans. When the president suggested during the meeting on Tuesday that the House GOP plan could end up cutting benefits to veterans, McCarthy told reporters that he shot back that was a “lie.” But Biden disputed that it was a lie, saying that the across-the-board cuts would affect veterans’ care and other vital domestic programs.

    The president has countered the GOP plan with his own budget proposal, which could save $800 billion through changes to government programs. Of that sum, Biden said that $200 billion over 10 years would come from expanding Medicare’s ability to negotiate on prescription drug prices. He said by contrast that the House Republican bill could jeopardize medical care for U.S. families, while his deficit savings would lower costs.

    “Would you rather cut Big Pharma or cut health care for Americans?” Biden asked. “These are real world choices.”

    After his speech, Biden told reporters he was still holding out hope for a long term debt limit increase. He said he hadn’t been briefed yet on what lawmakers were discussing on the budget. But when he meets with them on Friday, he said he wants specifics of what spending cuts Republicans hope to make. “What are they going to cut?” he asked.

    Biden is also scheduled to spend a week abroad on a trip to Japan, Australia and Papua New Guinea later this month. He said postponing his travel is “possible but not likely.”

    With debt talks showing minimal progress, the White House hopes that Biden’s public outreach — starting in a congressional district that will be key for Democrats seeking to wrest House control back from Republicans next year — increases pressure on GOP lawmakers who can’t afford politically to alienate moderate voters.

    Rep. Lawler, as one of 18 House Republicans hailing from a congressional district won by Biden, is a prime target for the White House.

    Still, Lawler accepted the invitation from the White House, “maybe to their surprise,” the lawmaker said in an interview Tuesday. He said it was a “little disappointing” that Biden was spending his time traveling to his district rather than negotiating with other leaders in Washington.

    “He told me he wasn’t here to put any pressure on me,” Lawler told reporters after the president spoke. “Look, I showed up because I believe very strongly that we all have an obligation to work together.”

    House Republicans, in their debt measure that passed in April, are aiming for $4.5 trillion in deficit savings through cuts in spending, eliminating tax breaks for investing in clean energy, and undoing the Biden administration’s proposal that would forgive student loan debt. The White House has made it clear that Biden would veto that legislation.

    Democrats, who control the Senate by 51-49, are calling for a “clean” debt limit hike without any conditions such as spending cuts, but any such measure would require the support of at least nine Republican senators, and most of them say they will oppose doing so.

    While in New York on Wednesday, Biden, who formalized his reelection campaign on April 25, also was holding a pair of fundraisers.

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    AP Writer Josh Boak reported from Washington. AP Congressional Correspondent Lisa Mascaro and White House Correspondent Zeke Miller contributed to this report.

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  • Rep. George Santos pleads not guilty to charges alleging fraud, theft at heart of campaign

    Rep. George Santos pleads not guilty to charges alleging fraud, theft at heart of campaign

    CENTRAL ISLIP, N.Y. — U.S. Rep. George Santos, the New York Republican infamous for fabricating his life story, pleaded not guilty Wednesday to charges he duped donors, stole from his campaign and lied to Congress about being a millionaire, all while cheating to collect unemployment benefits he didn’t deserve.

    Santos’ 13-count federal indictment was a reckoning for a web of fraud and deceit that prosecutors say overlapped with his fantastical public image as a wealthy businessman — a fictional biography that began to unravel after he won election last fall.

    Santos, 34, was released from custody on a $500,000 bond following his arraignment at a Long Island federal courthouse, about five hours after turning himself in to face charges of wire fraud, money laundering, theft of public funds and making false statements to Congress. He could face up to 20 years in prison if convicted.

    Santos spoke only a few words in court, answering “yes, ma’am” to the judge presiding over the hearing, which lasted about 15 minutes. His lawyer, Joseph Murray, said Santos plans on continuing his reelection campaign and asked the judge for permission to travel freely, though he did surrender his passport.

    “We finally get to address all of these allegations,” Murray told reporters as he entered court.

    Among the allegations, prosecutors say Santos induced supporters to donate to a company under the false pretense that the money would be used to support his campaign. Instead, they say, he used the money for personal expenses, including designer clothes and his credit card and car payments.

    Santos also is accused of lying about his finances on congressional disclosure forms and applying for and receiving unemployment benefits while he was employed as regional director of an investment firm that the government shut down in 2021 over allegations that it was a Ponzi scheme.

    The indictment “seeks to hold Santos accountable for various alleged fraudulent schemes and brazen misrepresentations,” U.S. Attorney Breon Peace said. “Taken together, the allegations in the indictment charge Santos with relying on repeated dishonesty and deception to ascend to the halls of Congress and enrich himself.”

    Reached by The Associated Press on Tuesday, Santos said he was unaware of the charges.

    Santos has defied calls to resign — some from fellow Republicans — as details of his fictitious resume came to light, though he did decline his committee assignments. He has given no indication that he plans to step aside because of his indictment. In the past, members of Congress in both parties have remained in office while facing charges.

    Santos, 34, was elected to Congress last fall after a campaign built partly on falsehoods. He told people he was a wealthy Wall Street dealmaker with a substantial real estate portfolio who had been a star volleyball player in college, among other things.

    In reality, Santos didn’t work at the big financial firms he claimed had employed him, didn’t go to college and struggled financially before his run for public office. He claimed he fueled his run largely with self-made riches, earned from brokering deals on expensive toys for wealthy clients, but the indictment alleges those boasts were also exaggerated.

    In regulatory filings, Santos claimed he loaned his campaign and related political action committees more than $750,000, but it was unclear how he would have come into that kind of wealth so quickly after years in which he struggled to pay his rent and faced multiple eviction proceedings.

    In a financial disclosure form, Santos reported making $750,000 a year from a family company, the Devolder Organization, but the charges unsealed Wednesday allege that Santos never received that sum, nor the $1 million and $5 million in dividends he listed as coming from the firm.

    Santos has described the Devolder Organization as a broker for sales of luxury items like yachts and aircraft. The business was incorporated in Florida shortly after Santos stopped working as a salesman for Harbor City Capital, the company accused by federal authorities of operating an illegal Ponzi scheme.

    In November 2021, Santos formed Redstone Strategies, a Florida company that federal prosecutors say he used to dupe donors into financing his lifestyle. According to the indictment, Santos told an associate to solicit contributions to the company and gave the person contact information for potential donors.

    Emails to prospective donors falsely claimed that the company was formed “exclusively” to aid Santos’ election bid and that there would be no limits on how much they could contribute, the indictment said. Santos falsely claimed that the money would be spent on television ads and other campaign expenses, it said.

    Last October, a month before his election, Santos transferred about $74,000 from company coffers to bank accounts he maintained, the indictment said. He also transferred money to some of his associates, it said.

    Many of Santos’ fellow New York Republicans called on him to resign after his fabricated life story was revealed. Some renewed those calls after news of his indictment.

    “Sooner or later, whether he chooses to or not, both the truth and justice will be delivered to him,” said U.S. Rep. Marc Molinaro, a Republican representing parts of upstate New York.

    Sen. Mitt Romney, a Utah Republican who confronted Santos at President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address in February, said Santos should have resigned a long time ago.

    “I think we’re seeing that the wheels of justice grind slow, but they grind fine,” Romney said.

    House Republican leaders Kevin McCarthy and Steve Scalise were more circumspect, saying Santos deserved a presumption of innocence until proven guilty.

    Santos has faced criminal investigations before.

    When he was 19, he was the subject of a criminal investigation in Brazil over allegations he used stolen checks to buy items at a clothing shop. Brazilian authorities said they have reopened the case.

    In 2017, Santos was charged with theft in Pennsylvania after authorities said he used thousands of dollars in fraudulent checks to buy puppies from dog breeders. That case was dismissed after Santos claimed his checkbook had been stolen, and that someone else had taken the dogs.

    Federal authorities have separately been looking into complaints about Santos’ work raising money for a group that purported to help neglected and abused pets. One New Jersey veteran accused Santos of failing to deliver $3,000 he had raised to help his pet dog get a needed surgery.

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    Farnoush Amiri in Washington and Alanna Durkin Richer in Boston contributed to this report.

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    On Twitter, follow Jake Offenhartz at twitter.com/jangelooff and Michael Sisak at twitter.com/mikesisak and send confidential tips by visiting https://www.ap.org/tips/

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    Follow the AP’s coverage of U.S. Rep. George Santos at https://apnews.com/hub/george-santos.

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