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Category: National Politics

  • Indiana Republicans defy Trump and reject his House redistricting push in the states

    Indiana Republicans defy Trump and reject his House redistricting push in the states

    INDIANAPOLIS — Indiana’s Republican-led Senate decisively rejected a redrawn congressional map Thursday that would have favored their party, defying months of pressure from President Donald Trump and delivering a stark setback to the White House ahead of next year’s midterm elections.

    The vote was overwhelmingly against the proposed redistricting, with more Republicans opposing than supporting the measure, signaling the limits of Trump’s influence even in one of the country’s most conservative states.

    Trump has been urging Republicans nationwide to redraw their congressional maps in an unusual campaign to help the party maintain its thin majority in the House of Representatives. Although Texas, Missouri, Ohio, and North Carolina went along, Indiana did not — despite cajoling and insults from the president and the possibility of primary challenges.

    “The federal government should not dictate by threat or other means what should happen in our states,” said Spencer Deery, one of the Republican senators who voted no on Thursday.

    When the proposal failed, cheers could be heard inside the chamber as well as shouts of “thank you!” The debate had been shadowed by the possibility of violence, and some lawmakers have received threats.

    The proposed map was designed to give Republicans control of all nine of Indiana’s congressional seats, up from the seven they currently hold. It would have effectively erased Indiana’s two Democrat-held districts by splitting Indianapolis among four districts that extend into rural areas, reshaping U.S. Rep. André Carson’s safe district in the city. It would’ve also eliminated the northwest Indiana district held by U.S. Rep. Frank Mrvan.

    District boundaries are usually adjusted once a decade after a new census. But Trump has described redistricting as an existential issue for the party as Democrats push to regain power in Washington.

    “If Republicans will not do what is necessary to save our Country, they will eventually lose everything to the Democrats,” Trump wrote on social media the night before the vote.

    The president said anyone who voted against the plan should lose their seats. Half of Indiana senators are up for reelection next year, and the conservative organization Turning Point Action had pledged to fund campaigns against them.

    Inside the state Senate chamber, Democratic lawmakers spoke out against redistricting ahead of the vote.

    “Competition is healthy my friends,” said Sen. Fady Qaddoura. “Any political party on earth that cannot run and win based on the merits of its ideas is unworthy of governing.”

    In the hallways outside, redistricting opponents chanted “Vote no!” and “Fair maps!” while holding signs with slogans like “Losers cheat.”

    Three times over the fall Vice President JD Vance met with Republican senators — twice in Indianapolis and once in the White House — to urge their support. Trump joined a conference call with senators on Oct. 17 to make his own 15-minute pitch.

    Behind the scenes, James Blair, Trump’s deputy White House chief of staff for political affairs, was in regular touch with members, as were other groups supporting the effort such as the Heritage Foundation and Turning Point USA.

    “The administration made a full-court press,” said Republican Sen. Andy Zay, who was on the phone with White House aides sometimes multiple times per week, despite his commitment as a yes vote.

    Across the country, mid-cycle redistricting so far has resulted in nine more congressional seats that Republicans believe they can win and six more congressional seats that Democrats think they can win. However, some of the new maps are facing litigation.

    In Utah, a judge imposed new districts that could allow Democrats to win a seat, saying Republican lawmakers violated voter-backed standards against gerrymandering.

    Despite Trump’s push, support for gerrymandering in Indiana’s Senate was uncertain. A dozen of the 50 senators had not publicly committed to a stance ahead of the vote.

    Republican Sen. Greg Goode signaled his displeasure with the redistricting plan before voting no. He said some of his constituents objected to seeing their county split up or paired with Indianapolis. He expressed “love” for Trump but criticized what he called “over-the-top pressure” from inside and outside the state.

    Sen. Michael Young, another Republican, said the stakes in Washington justify redistricting, as Democrats are only a few seats away from flipping control of the U.S. House in 2026. “I know this election is going to be very close,” he said.

    Republican Sen. Mike Gaskill, the redistricting legislation’s sponsor, showed Senators maps of congressional districts around the country, including several focused on Democratic-held seats in New England and Illinois. He argued other states gerrymander and Indiana Republicans should play by the same rules.

    The bill cleared its first hurdle Monday with a 6-3 Senate committee vote, although one Republican joined Democrats in opposing it and a few others signaled they might vote against the final version. The state House passed the proposal last week, with 12 Republicans siding with Democrats in opposition.

    Among them was state Rep. Ed Clere, who said state troopers responded to a hoax message claiming a pipe bomb outside his home Wednesday evening. Indiana state police said “numerous others” received threats but wouldn’t offer details about an ongoing investigation.

    In an interview, Clere said these threats were the inevitable result of Trump’s pressure campaign and a “winner-take-all mentality.”

    “Words have consequences,” Clere said.

  • Justice Department again fails to re-indict New York Attorney General Letitia James, AP source says

    Justice Department again fails to re-indict New York Attorney General Letitia James, AP source says

    ALEXANDRIA, Va. — A grand jury declined for a second time in a week to re-indict New York Attorney General Letitia James on Thursday in another major blow to the Justice Department’s efforts to prosecute the president’s political opponents.

    The repeated failures amounted to a stunning rebuke of prosecutors’ bid to resurrect a criminal case President Donald Trump pressured them to bring, and hinted at a growing public leeriness of the administration’s retribution campaign.

    A grand jury rejection is an unusual circumstance in any case, but is especially stinging for a Justice Department that has been steadfast in its determination to seek revenge against Trump foes like James and former FBI Director James Comey. On separate occasions, citizens have heard the government’s evidence against James and have come away underwhelmed, unwilling to rubber-stamp what prosecutors have attempted to portray as a clear-cut criminal case.

    A judge threw out the original indictments against James and Comey in November, ruling that the prosecutor who presented to the grand jury, Lindsey Halligan, was illegally appointed U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia.

    The Justice Department asked a grand jury in Alexandria, Va., to return an indictment Thursday after a different grand jury in Norfolk last week refused to do so. The failure to secure an indictment was confirmed by a person familiar with the matter who was not authorized to publicly discuss the matter and spoke on the condition of anonymity.

    It was not immediately clear Thursday whether prosecutors would try for a third time to seek a new indictment. A lawyer for James, who has denied any wrongdoing, said the “unprecedented rejection makes even clearer that this case should never have seen the light of day.”

    “This case already has been a stain on this Department’s reputation and raises troubling questions about its integrity,” defense attorney Abbe Lowell said in a statement. “Any further attempt to revive these discredited charges would be a mockery of our system of justice.”

    James, a Democrat who infuriated Trump after his first term with a lawsuit alleging that he built his business empire on lies about his wealth, was initially charged with bank fraud and making false statements to a financial institution in connection with a home purchase in 2020.

    During the sale, she signed a standard document called a “second home rider” in which she agreed to keep the property primarily for her “personal use and enjoyment for at least one year,” unless the lender agreed otherwise. Rather than using the home as a second residence, prosecutors say James rented it out to a family of three, allowing her to obtain favorable loan terms not available for investment properties.

    Both the James and Comey cases were brought shortly after the administration installed Halligan, a former Trump lawyer with no prior prosecutorial experience, as U.S. attorney amid public calls from the president to take action against his political opponents.

    But U.S. District Judge Cameron McGowan Currie threw out the cases last month over the unconventional mechanism that the Trump administration employed to appoint Halligan. The judge dismissed them without prejudice, allowing the Justice Department to try to file the charges again.

    Halligan had been named as a replacement for Erik Siebert, a veteran prosecutor in the office and interim U.S. attorney who resigned in September amid Trump administration pressure to file charges against both Comey and James. He stepped aside after Trump told reporters he wanted Siebert “out.”

    James’ lawyers separately argued the case was a vindictive prosecution brought to punish the Trump critic who spent years investigating and suing the Republican president and won a staggering judgment in a lawsuit alleging he defrauded banks by overstating the value of his real estate holdings on financial statements. The fine was later tossed out by a higher court, but both sides are appealing.

    Comey was separately charged with lying to Congress in 2020. Another federal judge has complicated the Justice Department’s efforts to seek a new indictment against Comey, temporarily barring prosecutors from accessing computer files belonging to Daniel Richman, a close Comey friend and Columbia University law professor whom prosecutors see as a central player in any potential case against the former FBI director.

    Prosecutors moved Tuesday to quash that order, calling Richman’s request for the return of his files a “strategic tool to obstruct the investigation and potential prosecution.” They said the judge had overstepped her bounds by ordering Richman’s property returned to him and said the ruling had impeded their ability to proceed with a case against Comey.

  • Kilmar Abrego Garcia is freed from immigrant detention center in Pennsylvania after judge’s order

    Kilmar Abrego Garcia is freed from immigrant detention center in Pennsylvania after judge’s order

    Kilmar Abrego Garcia was freed from an immigration detention center in Pennsylvania on Thursday evening following a federal judge’s order earlier in the day that compelled his release, marking a significant development in a case that has served as a test of the deportation powers of President Donald Trump’s administration.

    An attorney for Abrego Garcia confirmed his client’s release, telling the Associated Press that he left the Moshannon Valley Processing Center, where he had been held since late September, just before 5 p.m. Abrego Garcia, whose case gained international attention earlier this year after he was deported to the notorious CECOT prison in his native El Salvador before being ordered returned, will return to Maryland.

    “The government still has plenty of tools in their toolbox, plenty of tricks up their sleeve,” attorney Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg said. “We’re going to be there to fight to make sure there is a fair trial.”

    Abrego Garcia’s release came after Maryland U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis found that Immigration and Customs Enforcement had detained him with no legal basis. In an order issued Thursday morning, Xinis ordered ICE to release him immediately.

    “Since Abrego Garcia’s return from wrongful detention in El Salvador, he has been re-detained, again without lawful authority,” the judge wrote. “For this reason, the Court will GRANT Abrego Garcia’s Petition for immediate release from ICE custody.”

    The Department of Homeland Security was highly critical of the release order, calling it “naked judicial activism” by a judge who was appointed by President Barack Obama, a Democrat.

    “This order lacks any valid legal basis, and we will continue to fight this tooth and nail in the courts,” said Tricia McLaughlin, the department’s assistant secretary.

    Abrego Garcia entered the United States without permission at age 16, then settled in Maryland, and later married and started a family. An immigration judge ruled in 2019 that he could be deported, but not to El Salvador, where he faced threats of gang violence. The Trump administration, which claimed Abrego Garcia was a member of the MS-13 gang, nonetheless deported him to that country in March, and his wife successfully sued to bring him back.

    His case went on to become a rallying point for those who oppose Trump’s immigration crackdown. Upon his return, he was charged with human trafficking — an allegation his lawyers called preposterous and vindictive. Abrego Garcia has pleaded not guilty in that case and filed a motion to dismiss the charges.

    Though Abrego Garcia cannot legally be deported to El Salvador, ICE has sought to deport him to several African countries, including Eswatini, Ghana, and Uganda. In her order, Xinis wrote that “none of these countries were ever viable options” and noted that Costa Rica — where Abrego Garcia indicated he would prefer to be deported should he be removed — never rescinded an offer to accept him, as officials previously alleged.

    “But Costa Rica had never wavered in its commitment to receive Abrego Garcia, just as Abrego Garcia never wavered in his commitment to resettle there,” Xinis wrote.

    A transfer to Pennsylvania

    After being held at a detention center in Virginia following his return to the United States in June, Abrego Garcia was transferred to Moshannon Valley Processing Center in Western Pennsylvania. Known as Moshannon, the facility is run by the Florida-based private prisons giant GEO Group.

    In a recent Inquirer report, current and former detainees described grim and crowded conditions at the facility, with 75 men sleeping together in a pod, sharing six toilets and three showers among them. The facility is the largest detention center in the northeastern United States, capable of holding nearly 1,900 prisoners, The Inquirer previously reported.

    ICE officials said at the time of Abrego Garcia’s transfer that his detention to Moshannon would allow his lawyers easier access to their client. Abrego Garcia’s attorneys, however, raised concerns about the conditions at the facility, saying there had been reports of “assaults, inadequate medical care, and insufficient food” there.

    In a separate immigration court action filed in August, Abrego Garcia petitioned to reopen his immigration case to seek asylum in the United States. That case remains ongoing.

    In her order releasing Abrego Garcia, Xinis wrote that federal authorities “did not just stonewall” the court: “They affirmatively misled the tribunal.” Xinis also dismissed the federal government’s arguments that the court did not have jurisdiction to rule on a final order of removal, noting that such an order had not been filed.

    “Thus, Abrego Garcia’s request for immediate release cannot touch upon the execution of a removal order if no such order exists,” she wrote.

    Staff writers Jeff Gammage and Max Marin contributed to this article, which contains information from the Associated Press.

  • Senators clash over Trump’s National Guard deployments as military leaders face questioning

    Senators clash over Trump’s National Guard deployments as military leaders face questioning

    WASHINGTON — Members of Congress clashed Thursday over President Donald Trump’s use of the National Guard in American cities, with Republicans saying the deployments were needed to fight lawlessness while Democrats called them an extraordinary abuse of military power that violated states’ rights.

    Top military officials faced questioning over the deployments for the first time at the hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee. They were pressed by Democrats over the legality of sending in troops, which in some places were done over the objections of mayors and governors, while Trump’s Republican allies offered a robust defense of the policy.

    It was the highest level of scrutiny, outside a courtroom, of Trump’s use of the National Guard in U.S. cities since the deployments began and came a day after the president faced another legal setback over efforts to send troops to support federal law enforcement, protect federal facilities and combat crime.

    “In recent years, violent crime, rioting, drug trafficking and heinous gang activity have steadily escalated,” said Mississippi Sen. Roger Wicker, the committee chairman. The deployments, he said, are “not only appropriate, but essential.”

    Democrats argued they are illegal and contrary to historic prohibitions about military force on U.S. soil.

    Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D., Ill.) said domestic deployments traditionally have involved responding to major floods and tornadoes, not assisting immigration agents who are detaining people in aggressive raids.

    “Trump is forcing our military men and women to make a horrible choice: uphold their loyalty to the Constitution and protect peaceful protesters, or execute questionable orders from the president,” said Duckworth, a combat veteran who served in the Illinois National Guard.

    Democrats ask military officials about illegal orders

    Democrats asked military leaders about Trump’s comments about “the enemy within” America and whether service members could be asked to follow orders that violate their oath.

    Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D., Mich.) said Trump’s comments about rigged elections and his rhetoric about political opponents have created a “trust deficit” and fueled suspicions about the domestic use of the military.

    She asked Charles Young III, principal deputy general counsel at the Pentagon, whether Trump could place troops at polling places during next year’s election and whether such an order would be legal.

    The idea “sends a shiver down the spine of every American, and should whether you’re a Democrat or a Republican,” Slotkin said.

    Young said he could not answer such a question without details, calling it “a hypothetical situation.” He said the Supreme Court has ruled that the president has exclusive authority to decide whether an emergency exists that could require a National Guard response.

    Slotkin was one of six Democratic lawmakers who recorded a video calling on troops to uphold the Constitution and defy “illegal orders.” In response, Trump accused the lawmakers, all military or intelligence veterans, of sedition “punishable by DEATH.”

    Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D., Mass.) pressed Young on news reports that the administration had dismissed advice from military lawyers on deploying Guard and bombing alleged drug boats in Latin America.

    “If an attorney raises concerns about the legality of military operations, do you think the appropriate response is to tell them to shut up and get out of the way?” Warren asked Young.

    Young denied those reports, saying leadership is “very attentive” to the concerns of military lawyers.

    When asked about Trump’s statements about an “invasion within” or an “enemy within,” Air Force Gen. Gregory Guillot, commander of U.S. troops in North America, said, “I do not have any indications of an enemy within.”

    Republicans and Democrats see the deployments differently

    In one exchange, Sen. Mazie Hirono (D., Hawaii) noted how former Defense Secretary Mark Esper alleged that Trump inquired about shooting protesters during the George Floyd demonstrations. She asked whether a presidential order to shoot protesters would be lawful.

    Young said he was unaware of Trump’s previous comments and that “orders to that effect would depend on the circumstances.”

    Republicans countered that Trump was within his rights — and his duty — to send in troops.

    Republican Sen. Tim Sheehy of Montana, a former Navy SEAL officer, argued during the hearing that transnational crimes present enough of a risk to national security to justify military action, including on U.S. soil.

    Sheehy claimed there are foreign powers “actively attacking this country, using illegal immigration, using transnational crime, using drugs to do so.”

    Military leaders point to training

    During questioning, military leaders highlighted the duties that National Guard units have carried out. Troops are trained for their specific missions, they said, and are prohibited from using force unless in self-defense.

    Since the deployments began, only one civilian — in California — has been detained by National Guard personnel, Guillot said. He says the troops are trained to de-escalate tense interactions with people, but do not receive any specific training on mental health episodes.

    “They can very quickly be trained to conduct any mission that we task of them,” Guillot said.

    During the hearing, senators also offered their sympathies after two West Virginia National Guard members deployed to Washington were shot just blocks from the White House in what the city’s mayor described as a targeted attack. Spc. Sarah Beckstrom died a day after the Nov. 26 shooting, and her funeral took place Tuesday. Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe remains in a Washington hospital.

    Hearing follows court setback for Trump

    A federal judge in California on Wednesday ruled that the administration must stop deploying the California National Guard in Los Angeles and return control of the troops to the state. The judge put the decision on hold until Monday, and the White House said it plans to appeal.

    Trump called up more than 4,000 California National Guard troops in June following protests over immigration raids. It marked the first time in decades that a state’s National Guard was activated without a governor’s request and marked a significant escalation in the administration’s efforts to carry out its mass deportation policy.

    Trump also had announced National Guard members would be sent to Illinois, Oregon, Louisiana, and Tennessee. Other judges have blocked or limited the deployment of troops to Portland, Oregon, and Chicago, while Guard members have not yet been sent to New Orleans.

  • Senate rejects extension of healthcare subsidies as costs are set to rise for millions of Americans

    Senate rejects extension of healthcare subsidies as costs are set to rise for millions of Americans

    WASHINGTON — The Senate on Thursday rejected legislation to extend Affordable Care Act tax credits, essentially guaranteeing that millions of Americans will see a steep rise in costs at the beginning of the year.

    As Republicans and Democrats have failed to find compromise, senators voted on two partisan bills instead that they knew would fail — the Democratic bill to extend the subsidies, and a Republican alternative that would have created new health savings accounts.

    It was an unceremonious end to a monthslong effort by Democrats to prevent the COVID-19-era subsidies from expiring on Jan. 1, including a 43-day government shutdown that they forced over the issue.

    Ahead of the votes, Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer of New York warned Republicans that if they did not vote to extend the tax credits, “there won’t be another chance to act,” before premiums rise for many people who buy insurance off the ACA marketplaces.

    “Let’s avert a disaster,” Schumer said. “The American people are watching.”

    Republicans and Democrats never engaged in meaningful or high-level negotiations on a solution, even after a small group of centrist Democrats struck a deal with Republicans last month to end the shutdown in exchange for a vote. Most Democratic lawmakers opposed the move as many Republicans made clear that they wanted the tax credits to expire.

    The deal raised hopes for a compromise on healthcare. But that quickly faded with a lack of any real bipartisan talks.

    “We failed,” said Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski, one of four Republicans who voted for the Democratic bill, after the vote. “We’ve got to do better. We can’t just say ‘happy holidays, brace for next year.’”

    A Republican alternative

    The dueling Senate votes were the latest political messaging exercise in a Congress that has operated almost entirely on partisan terms, as Republicans pushed through a massive tax and spending cuts bill this summer using budget maneuvers that eliminated the need for Democratic votes. In September, Republicans tweaked Senate rules to push past a Democratic blockade of all of Trump’s nominees.

    On healthcare, Republicans similarly negotiated among themselves, without Democrats. The health savings accounts in the GOP bill that they eventually settled on would give money directly to consumers instead of to insurance companies, an idea that has been echoed by President Donald Trump.

    Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R., S.D.) said ahead of the vote that the Democrats’ simple extension of the subsidies is “an attempt to disguise the real impact of Obamacare’s spiraling healthcare costs.”

    But Democrats immediately rejected the GOP plan, saying that the accounts wouldn’t be enough to cover costs for most consumers.

    The Senate voted 51-48 not to move forward on the Democratic bill, with four Republicans — Maine Sen. Susan Collins, Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley and Alaska Sens. Murkowski and Dan Sullivan — voting with Democrats. The legislation needed 60 votes to proceed, as did the Republican bill, which was also blocked on a 51-48 vote.

    An intractable issue

    The votes were the latest failed salvo in the debate over the Affordable Care Act, former President Barack Obama’s signature law that Democrats passed along party lines in 2010 to expand access to insurance coverage.

    Republicans have tried unsuccessfully since then to repeal or overhaul the law, arguing that healthcare is still too expensive. But they have struggled to find an alternative. In the meantime, Democrats have made the policy a central political issue in several elections, betting that the millions of people who buy healthcare on the government marketplaces want to keep their coverage.

    “When people’s monthly payments spike next year, they’ll know it was Republicans that made it happen,” Schumer said in November, while making clear that Democrats would not seek a compromise.

    Even if they view it as a political win, the failed votes are a loss for Democrats who demanded an extension of the benefits during the shutdown — and for the millions of people facing premium increases on Jan. 1.

    Maine Sen. Angus King, an independent who caucuses with Democrats, said the group tried to negotiate with Republicans after the shutdown ended. But, he said, the talks became unproductive when Republicans demanded language adding new limits for abortion coverage that were a “red line” for Democrats. He said Republicans were going to “own these increases.”

    House to try again

    Republicans have used the looming expiration of the subsidies to renew their longstanding criticisms of the ACA, also called Obamacare, and to try, once more, to agree on what should be done.

    In the House, Speaker Mike Johnson (R., La.) has promised a vote next week on some type of healthcare legislation. Republicans weighed different options in a conference meeting on Wednesday, with no apparent consensus.

    Murkowski and other Senate Republicans who want to extend the subsidies expressed hope that the House could find a way to do it. GOP leaders were considering bills that would not extend the tax credits, but some Republicans have launched longshot efforts to try to go around Johnson and force a vote.

    “Hopefully some ideas emerge” before the new year, said Republican Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina, who has been pushing his colleagues for a short-term extension.

    “Real Americans are paying the price for this body not working together in the way it should,” said Alabama Sen. Katie Britt, a Republican.

    Republican moderates in the House who could have competitive reelection bids next year are pushing Johnson to find a way to extend the subsidies. But more conservative members want to see the law overhauled.

    Rep. Kevin Kiley (R., Calif.) has also been pushing for a short extension.

    If they fail to act and healthcare costs go up, the approval rating for Congress “will get even lower,” Kiley said.

  • U.S. sanctions Venezuelan President Maduro’s 3 nephews as pressure campaign ratchets up

    U.S. sanctions Venezuelan President Maduro’s 3 nephews as pressure campaign ratchets up

    WASHINGTON — The U.S. imposed sanctions on three nephews of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, among others, on Thursday as President Donald Trump looks to inflict further pressure on the South American nation.

    The new sanctions on Franqui Flores, Carlos Flores and Efrain Campo come a day after Trump announced that the U.S. had seized an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela. Also included in the sanctions are Panamanian businessman Ramon Carretero, six firms and six Venezuela-flagged ships accused of transporting Venezuelan oil.

    Carretero is accused of facilitating oil shipments on behalf of the Venezuelan government, and the Treasury says he has had business dealings with the Maduro-Flores family, including partnering in several companies together.

    The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control published the list of sanctions on Thursday.

    The sanctions are meant to deny them access to any property or financial assets held in the U.S., and the penalties are intended to prevent U.S. companies and citizens from doing business with them. Banks and financial institutions that violate that restriction expose themselves to sanctions or enforcement actions.

    Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement that “Nicolas Maduro and his criminal associates in Venezuela are flooding the United States with drugs that are poisoning the American people.”

    “Under President Trump’s leadership, Treasury is holding the regime and its circle of cronies and companies accountable for its continued crimes,” he said.

    This is not the first time Maduro’s family has been involved in a political tit-for-tat with the U.S.

    In October 2022, Venezuela freed seven imprisoned Americans in exchange for the United States releasing Flores and Campo, who had been jailed for years on narcotics convictions. The pair were arrested in Haiti in a Drug Enforcement Administration sting in 2015 and convicted the following year in New York.

    Carlos Flores had been sanctioned in July 2017 but was removed from Treasury’s list in 2022 during the Biden administration years in an effort to promote negotiations for democratic elections in Venezuela.

    The U.S.’s latest actions against Venezuela follow a series of deadly strikes the U.S. has conducted on alleged drug-smuggling boats in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean, which have killed at least 87 people since early September.

    Trump has justified the attacks as a necessary escalation to stem the flow of drugs into the United States and asserted the U.S. is engaged in an “armed conflict” with drug cartels.

    Putin’s backing

    Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed “solidarity with the Venezuelan people” on Thursday amid growing tensions between Maduro and the Trump administration.

    The Kremlin said in a statement that Putin spoke with Maduro by phone and reaffirmed his support for the Venezuelan leader’s policy of “protecting national interests and sovereignty in the face of growing external pressure.”

    During testimony before Congress on Thursday, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem linked the seizure of the vessel to the Trump administration’s anti-drug efforts in the region. The U.S. has built up its largest military presence in the region in decades and launched a series of deadly strikes on alleged drug-smuggling boats.

    Maduro has insisted the real purpose of the U.S. military operations is to force him from office. Venezuela’s government said the tanker seizure “constitutes a blatant theft and an act of international piracy.”

    The South American country’s government said that Putin had “categorically reaffirmed his support” for Maduro in their call.

    It said in a statement that Putin had told Maduro that direct communication between Moscow and Caracas would “remain permanently open” and Russia would continue to support Venezuela “in its struggle to assert its sovereignty, international law, and peace throughout Latin America.”

    Like his predecessor, the late President Hugo Chávez, Maduro has forged a close relationship with Russia, which has offered Venezuela help, ranging from coronavirus vaccines to the design of a cryptocurrency. In 2018, it also briefly dispatched a pair of nuclear-capable Tu-160 bombers to the airport outside Venezuela’s capital amid soaring Russia-U.S. tensions.

    Last year, two Russian naval ships docked in the Venezuelan port of La Guaira after exercises in the Atlantic Ocean that Moscow said were to “show the flag” in remote, important regions.

    In Belarus, authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko, a Putin ally, met with the Venezuelan ambassador to Russia, Jesus Rafael Salazar Velázquez, on Thursday, for the second time in just over two weeks.

    Details of what was discussed were not revealed, but Belarus’ state news agency Belta quoted Lukashenko as saying that the diplomat was expected to discuss “certain issues” with Maduro after their first meeting on Nov. 25 and to travel to Belarus again, so that they could reach “a certain decision.”

    During the November meeting, Lukashenko extended an invitation to Maduro to visit Belarus, and said that he would try and find the time to visit Venezuela, too.

  • Hundreds are quarantined in South Carolina as measles spreads there, elsewhere

    Hundreds are quarantined in South Carolina as measles spreads there, elsewhere

    Measles outbreaks are growing along the Utah-Arizona border and in South Carolina, where hundreds are in quarantine.

    Between Friday and Tuesday, South Carolina health officials confirmed 27 new measles cases in an outbreak in and around northwestern Spartanburg County. In two months, 111 people have been sickened by the vaccine-preventable virus.

    More than 250 people, including students from nine area elementary, middle and high schools, are in quarantine — some for the second time since the outbreak began in October. Most of the state’s new cases stemmed from exposures at Way of Truth Church in Inman. Church leaders have been “very helpful,” said state epidemiologist Dr. Linda Bell.

    “We are faced with ongoing transmission that we anticipate will go on for many more weeks, at least in our state,” said Bell.

    In Arizona and Utah, an outbreak has ballooned since August. Mohave County, Arizona has logged 172 cases and the Southwest Utah Public Health Department has logged 82 cases. The border cities of Colorado City, Arizona, and Hildale, Utah, are the heaviest hit.

    Overall, Utah has confirmed 115 measles cases this year. Arizona has confirmed 176.

    Nationally, the measles case count is nearing 2,000 for a disease that has been considered eliminated in the U.S. since 2000, a result of routine childhood vaccinations.

    Last month, Canada lost that designation — which applies when there is no continuous local spread of the virus — as did the larger health region of the Americas.

    Experts say the U.S. is also at risk of losing that status. For that to happen, measles would have to spread continuously for a year. A large outbreak in Texas, New Mexico and Oklahoma that started in January sickened nearly 900 and kicked off the United States’ worst measles year in more than three decades.

    All but eight states have logged at least one measles case this year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC has confirmed 47 outbreaks this year, compared with 16 in 2024. Three people — two of them Texas school children — have died.

    The measles, mumps and rubella vaccine is safe and provides 97% protection against the disease after two doses. Most children in the U.S. are required to get the shot to attend school. But vaccination rates have declined as more parents waive the shots or have fallen behind on recommended vaccination schedules.

  • Why these red state Republicans are resisting Trump’s efforts to expand GOP power

    Why these red state Republicans are resisting Trump’s efforts to expand GOP power

    INDIANAPOLIS — In 44 years in Indiana’s legislature, Vaneta Becker had never before had a call with the White House.

    President Donald Trump was on the line that day in October, urging her and her GOP colleagues to redraw the state’s congressional map to help Republicans in next year’s midterm elections. She told the White House she opposed the idea, and a week or so later got a voice message from an aide asking for a follow-up conversation. Becker called back to leave a message of her own.

    “I’m not going to change my position,” Becker, 76, recalled saying. “You’re wasting your time on me, so just focus on somebody else.”

    Indiana, a state Trump won by 19 percentage points last year, is serving up an unusual amount of resistance to his plan to carve up congressional districts around the country. Since this summer, Republicans in four other states have rejiggered their maps to give their party as many as nine more seats – part of a larger plan aimed at retaining power in Congress after next year’s elections.

    But in Indiana, a contingent of GOP state senators has politely but persistently said no. The GOP opponents told Trump and Gov. Mike Braun (R) they weren’t on board and last month 19 of them voted with Democrats to end a legislative session without acting on redistricting. Trump and his allies kept pressing, and the state House passed a plan last week that would likely give Republicans all nine of the state’s congressional districts, two more than they have now.

    The leader of the State Senate, Rodric Bray, agreed to bring the senators back to the state capitol to take up the issue even though he was among those who had voted to end the session. They are expecting to vote Thursday.

    Opponents include longtime Republican lawmakers like Becker who got involved in politics years before the rise of Trump and his Make America Great Again movement. Hoosiers bristle at meddling from Washington, even when it comes from allies, the opponents say.

    The state senators have been increasingly on edge in recent weeks as they endured intimidation — political and physical — and a stream of hoax police reports that seemed designed to draw large law enforcement responses to their homes.

    States draw their congressional districts after the census, and lawmakers from both parties often try to maximize their advantage. Years of litigation sometimes follow, but state lawmakers typically don’t redraw their lines in the middle of the decade unless a court orders it. Trump has rejected the usual way of doing business, demanding Republican-led states make immediate changes.

    So far, Republicans have not netted as many seats as they’d hoped because Democrats have counteracted them by adopting a new map in California and are trying to do the same in Virginia and other states. Opponents of a new GOP-friendly map in Missouri submitted more than 300,000 signatures to the state to try to block it from going into effect until a referendum on it can be held.

    But the GOP resistance in Indiana stands apart, in large part because Republicans across the country have readily acquiesced to Trump’s demands and threats on a range of issues.

    Trump may yet prevail. But the rare instance of pushback here could offer warning signs to Trump that his grip on the party may be loosening amid slides in his public approval rating. A vote against a new map in Indiana would add to his woes as Republicans fret over their ability to hold onto the House next year.

    What happens in Indiana will have effects elsewhere. If Republicans reject the map here, Trump may put more pressure on officials in other states. If they go along with the plan, Democrats in Illinois and Maryland who have resisted redistricting may feel they need now to jump into the fight.

    Time is running short because election officials, candidates and voters need to know where the lines are well ahead of next year’s primaries. But the fight over maps will continue for months. Republicans in Florida are poised to draw a new map and GOP lawmakers in Utah are trying to reverse a court decision that is expected to give Democrats one of the state’s districts.

    In Indiana, lawmakers have been debating whether to redraw the lines since August, but they didn’t see the proposed map until the House unveiled it last week. The map would break Marion County, the home to Indianapolis and the state’s largest African American population, into four districts, diluting Democratic votes. It would likely doom the reelection chances of Democratic Reps. Frank J. Mrvan and André Carson, the only Black member of Indiana’s congressional delegation.

    Trump has hosted Indiana officials at the White House. He’s dispatched Vice President JD Vance to the state twice. In October, he and his aides held their conference call with Indiana state senators to talk up redistricting. At the end of the call, the senators were told to press a number on their phone to indicate whether they supported redrawing the map, even though they were yet to see how the lines would change.

    On Wednesday night, Trump lashed out at the State Senate leader on Truth Social, calling Bray “the only person in the United States of America who is against Republicans picking up extra seats” and warning that lawmakers who oppose the changes were at risk of losing their seats.

    A White House official said earlier that Trump’s team is “not arm twisting. Just outlining the stakes and reminding them western civilization stands in the balance of their decision.”

    About 800 of Becker’s constituents in southwestern Indiana have told her they are against the plan and about 100 have told her they’re for it, she said. Sitting in her wood-paneled cubicle Tuesday in the state capitol, she slid a constituent’s letter out of its envelope.

    “Mid-decade redistricting at the request of President Trump will unnecessarily intensify the already deep partisan divisions in our country,” the man wrote. “Even bringing this topic up in the Indiana legislature will ratchet up the antagonism.”

    Voters know the push is coming from Trump, and many are not afraid to criticize him for it, even if they otherwise support the president, she said. Becker declined to say whether she’d voted for Trump but said she’s “not crazy about him,” especially after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.

    Trump is not letting up on his push. Last month the president called out State Sen. Greg Goode (R) in a post on Truth Social, saying he was “very disappointed” that he opposed redistricting even though Goode had not taken a position. Later that day, Goode said, someone falsely told police he had murdered his wife and barricaded himself in his house. Police kicked in the door just after Goode got out of the shower, while his wife and son were getting Christmas decorations in the basement, and officers pointed their guns at Goode’s chest, he said.

    Goode, who serves as the state director for U.S. Sen. Todd Young (R., Ind.), said he didn’t blame Trump for the incident. He got a call from Trump the next day, which he described as polite. Trump called Goode again on Monday, as the state senator was listening to the redistricting debate in committee.

    “It was not a pressured call at all,” Goode said. “The overarching message really from day one is the importance for the Republican Party to maintain control of the United States House of Representatives.”

    Goode said he won’t decide how he’s voting until he hears the final debate among the senators. He’s voted for Trump three times and takes his opinion seriously, but also is listening closely to his constituents, who have overwhelmingly told him they oppose redistricting, he said.

    On Friday, hours after the State House passed the map, Trump named Goode and eight other state senators in a social media post as needing “encouragement to make the right decision.” The conservative group Turning Point Action has claimed it will team up with other Trump-aligned organizations to spend $10 million or more on primaries in 2026 and 2028 against GOP state senators in Indiana who vote against the map. Several Republicans, including Becker, said they’re skeptical the groups would spend so much against members of their own party.

    State Sen. Travis Holdman (R) got a call from the White House a couple of weeks ago asking if he would come to Washington to talk about redistricting, but he declined because he couldn’t miss work as a banking consultant. Adopting a new map now would be unfair, he said, and he doesn’t think the president’s team could change his mind.

    “I voted for Donald Trump in every election,” he said. “I really agree with his policies. We just disagree on this issue.”

    Republicans control the State Senate 40-10, and at least 16 of them would need to vote with Democrats to sideline the map.

    Supporters of the altered map said they want to ensure Republicans hold onto Congress and are responding to districts Democrats drew favoring their party years ago in states they control. Indiana State Sen. R. Michael Young told his colleagues on Monday that the Supreme Court had blessed letting states draw districts for partisan advantage, holding up a recent decision that upheld a new map in Texas.

    “For all those people who think they’re lawyers in Indiana, who think it’s against the law or wrong, the Supreme Court of the United States says different,” he said.

    Others have made their opposition clear, with some saying they’re pushing back on what they call bullying. State Sen. Mike Bohacek (R) grew incensed last month when Trump called Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) “seriously retarded” in a social media post. Bohacek, who has a daughter with Down syndrome, said in a social media post that Trump’s “choice of words have consequences.”

    “I will be voting NO on redistricting, perhaps he can use the next 10 months to convince voters that his policies and behavior deserve a congressional majority,” Bohacek wrote in his post.

    In the State House, Rep. Ed Clere was among 12 Republicans to vote against the map. He believes Trump’s MAGA movement is starting to crack, but doesn’t think that’s what’s behind the GOP resistance to redistricting in Indiana. It stems from a sense of independence that is, he said, “part of Indiana’s DNA.”

    Becker agrees.

    “Hoosiers are very independent,” she said. “And they’re not used to Washington trying to tell us what to do.”

    GRAPHIC

    https://washingtonpost.com/documents/2234b663-f69c-45fa-876d-e937e9bb1854.pdf
  • Zelensky says U.S.-led peace talks wrestling with Russian demands for Ukrainian territory

    Zelensky says U.S.-led peace talks wrestling with Russian demands for Ukrainian territory

    KYIV, Ukraine — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Thursday that negotiators are wrestling with the question of territorial possession in U.S.-led peace talks on ending the war with Russia, including the future of Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region and the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, one of the world’s 10 biggest atomic plants.

    Zelensky revealed details of the ongoing discussions before he headed into urgent talks Thursday with leaders and officials from about 30 countries that support Kyiv’s efforts to obtain fair terms in any settlement to halt nearly four years of fighting.

    Zelensky said Ukraine submitted a 20-point plan to the U.S. on Wednesday, with each point possibly accompanied by a separate document detailing the settlement terms.

    “We are grateful that the U.S. is working with us and trying to take a balanced position,” Zelensky told reporters in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv. “But at this moment it is still difficult to say what the final documents will look like.”

    Russia has in recent months made a determined push to gain control of all parts of Donetsk and neighboring Luhansk, which together make up Ukraine’s valuable Donbas industrial region.

    Ukraine doesn’t accept the surrender of Donbas, Zelensky said, saying that both sides remaining where they currently stand along the line of contact would be “a fair outcome.”

    American negotiators have put forward the possibility of a “free economic zone” in the Donbas, with the Russians terming it a “demilitarized zone,” according to Zelensky.

    Russian officials have not publicly disclosed their proposals.

    U.S. negotiators foresee Ukrainian forces withdrawing from the Donetsk region, with the compromise being that Russian forces do not enter that territory, Zelensky said.

    But he said that if Ukraine must withdraw its forces, the Russians should also withdraw by the same distance. There are many unanswered questions, including who would oversee the Donbas, he added.

    The Russians want to retain control of the Zaporizhzhia plant in southern Ukraine, which is not currently operating, but Ukraine opposes that.

    The Americans have suggested a joint format to manage the plant, and negotiators are discussing how that might work, Zelensky said.

    Ukraine’s allies discuss peace plan with Zelensky

    The leaders of Germany, Britain and France were among those taking part in the meeting of Ukraine’s allies, dubbed the Coalition of the Willing, via video link.

    Zelensky indicated the talks were hastily arranged as Kyiv officials scramble to avoid getting boxed in by President Donald Trump, who has disparaged the Ukrainian leader, painted European leaders as weak, and set a strategy of improving Washington’s relationship with Moscow.

    In the face of Trump’s demands for a swift settlement, European governments are trying to help steer the peace negotiations because they say their own security is at stake.

    German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Thursday that he, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron suggested to Trump that they finalize the peace proposals together with U.S. officials over the weekend. There may also be talks in Berlin early next week, with or without American officials, he said.

    The talks are at “a critical moment,” European leaders said Wednesday.

    Next week, Ukraine will coordinate with European countries on a bilateral level, Zelensky said late Wednesday, and European Union countries are due to hold a regular summit in Brussels at the end of next week.

    Russia has new proposals on security

    Trump’s latest effort to broker a settlement is taking longer than he wanted. He initially set a deadline for Kyiv to accept his peace plan before Thanksgiving. Previous Washington deadlines for reaching a peace deal also have passed without a breakthrough.

    Russia is also keen to show Trump it is engaging with his peace efforts, hoping to avoid further U.S. sanctions. Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Thursday that Russia has relayed to Washington “additional proposals … concerning collective security guarantees” that Ukraine and Europe say are needed to deter future aggression.

    NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said Thursday that so far this year Russia has launched over 46,000 drones and missiles against Ukraine.

    He warned his European audience at a speech in Berlin: “We are Russia’s next target.”

    He also described China as “Russia’s lifeline” for its war effort in Ukraine by providing most of the critical electronic components Moscow needs for its weapons. “China wants to prevent its ally from losing in Ukraine,” Rutte said.

    Russia claims battlefield progress

    Putin claimed Thursday in a call with military leaders that Russian armed forces are “fully holding the strategic initiative” on the battlefield.

    Russian troops have taken the city of Siversk, in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine where fighting has been fierce in recent months, Lt. Gen. Sergei Medvedev told Putin.

    Ukrainian officials denied Siversk had been captured.

    Putin wants to portray himself as negotiating from a position of strength, analysts say, although Russia occupies only about 20% of Ukraine. That includes Moscow’s 2014 illegal annexation of Crimea and the seizure of territory in the east by Russia-backed separatists later that year, as well as land taken after the full-blown invasion in 2022.

    Ukrainian drones hit Russian oil rig, disrupt Moscow flights

    Meanwhile, Ukrainian long-range drones hit a Russian oil rig in the Caspian Sea for the first time, according to an official in the Security Service of Ukraine who was not authorized to talk publicly about the attack and spoke on condition of anonymity.

    The oil rig in the northern part of the Caspian Sea, about 600 miles from Ukraine, belongs to Russia’s second-biggest oil company, Lukoil, the official told The Associated Press. The rig took four hits, halting the extraction of oil and gas from over 20 wells, he said.

    Russian officials and Lukoil made no immediate comment on the claim.

    Ukraine also launched one of its biggest drone attacks of the war overnight, halting flights in and out of all four Moscow airports for seven hours. Airports in eight other cities also faced restrictions, Russian civil aviation authority Rosaviatsia said.

  • Philly federal court judge Emil Bove attended Trump’s Poconos rally. Now he faces an ethics complaint.

    Philly federal court judge Emil Bove attended Trump’s Poconos rally. Now he faces an ethics complaint.

    Emil Bove, a judge in Philadelphia’s federal appeals court and a staunch defender of President Donald Trump, faces an ethics complaint over his decision to attend the president’s rally in Pennsylvania earlier this week.

    The complaint, written by Gabe Roth, who leads the advocacy group Fix the Court, was filed Wednesday with the chief judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, based in Philadelphia. It alleges that Bove’s attendance at the campaign-style rally — which was billed as the first stop on an economic tour but went off-script with partisan attacks on immigrants and his critics — violated parts of the Code of Conduct for United States Judges.

    That code includes provisions that a judge “should avoid impropriety and the appearance of impropriety in all activities” and “should refrain from political activity,” the complaint noted.

    “I believe Judge Bove has violated multiple Canons of the Code of Conduct, should be admonished for his behavior and should be subject to any other discipline under the Judicial Conduct and Disability Act that the Chief Judge and the Judicial Council deem fit,” Roth wrote in the complaint, questioning whether Bove’s attendance hindered his impartiality as a judge.

    A spokesperson for the Third Circuit, where Bove has been serving since his contentious confirmation in July, declined to comment. White House communications director Steven Cheung wrote in a post on X that it is not unusual for a judge, like Bove, to be at a rally.

    “Stop your pearl-clutching,” Cheung wrote in response to another user. “An American citizen is at an event listening to the President of the United States speak. In your world, you’d rather give rights to illegal criminals over Americans.”

    At Tuesday’s event, Bove said that he was “just here as a citizen coming to watch the president speak,” according to a reporter from MS NOW, formerly MSNBC.

    Trump nominated Bove, who had worked as his personal criminal-defense attorney before the president chose him for a prestigious Justice Department role, in May to fill a vacant seat on the Philadelphia-based court. He was confirmed 50-49 by the U.S. Senate in July, with two Republicans voting with Democrats to oppose his appointment. The confirmation solidified Bove, whose career highlights have been defined by his loyalty to Trump, in a lifetime appointment on the bench.

    Soon after coming into office in January, Trump tapped Bove to serve a key role in his administration’s plans to revamp the Justice Department. Bove oversaw swaths of firings and resignations, threatened consequences for officials who did not comply with the Trump administration’s immigration agenda, and secured the vexed dismissal of corruption charges against New York City Mayor Eric Adams.

    He has also been the subject of whistleblower allegations. In June, a former high-ranking department lawyer accused Bove of saying U.S. officials should consider resisting court orders blocking deportations of alleged gang members.

    Bove denied these allegations during a confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee by saying, “I did not suggest that there would be any need to consider ignoring court orders.”

    In July, new whistleblower accounts emerged from organizations representing former Justice Department employees. One alleged that an employee was concerned about Bove “actively and deliberately undermining the rule of law” when it came to court orders in an immigration case.

    Another whistleblower said they had evidence that Bove was not truthful to the Senate Judiciary Committee during his confirmation hearing.

    As to what could happen to Bove next when it comes to the misconduct complaint, the chief judge of the Third Circuit could conduct a “limited inquiry” into the allegations, according to the U.S. Courts website. Then, after considering, the chief judge would dismiss or conclude the complaint or appoint a special committee of judges to investigate.