Republican Brad Finstad, a former state lawmaker, won the special election for Minnesota’s 1st Congressional District, defeating Democrat Jeff Ettinger in a closely watched race.
The Associated Press called the race Wednesday morning, with Finstad holding a narrow lead of 51.1 percent to 46.9 percent with 98 percent of precincts reporting.
“I’m humbled to receive the support of my fellow southern Minnesotans to represent them in Congress,” Finstad tweeted Wednesday. “Our country faces extraordinary challenges, but I am confident that we can come together to overcome them and ensure the 21st century is yet another great American century.”
The seat had been held by Rep. Jim Hagedorn (R-Minn.), who died in February after a battle with kidney cancer.
A member of a family that has farmed for generations, Finstad is the former director of rural development in Minnesota for the US Department of Agriculture. The 46-year-old Minnesota native was appointed to the position by President Donald Trump.
The seat was labeled “likely Republican” by media outlets, given its demographics and history. But analysts were paying close attention to the race to determine whether a Democratic upset — spurred by the recent Supreme Court decision that overturned Roe v. Wade — would suggest that the political environment is improving for Democrats, who are underdogs in their bid to hold their majority in the House.
On his website, Finstad describes himself as a “strong supporter of the Second Amendment, defending the unborn, and keeping government out of the way so entrepreneurs, farmers, and small businesses can thrive.” He calls himself “a conservative fighter running for Congress to fire Nancy Pelosi as Speaker of the House and put the brakes on the out-of-control Biden/Pelosi agenda that is fueling inflation and hurting Southern Minnesota families.”
A former chief executive of Hormel Foods, Ettinger now oversees the food processing company’s foundation. The 63-year-old lawyer is a California native who joined the Minnesota company as a corporate attorney.
Ettinger boasted that he is “not a politician.” He noted that he had never run for office before and said he joined the race “to address the problems that politicians seem unable or unwilling to fix.”
“The voters of Southern Minnesota have spoken, and I want to congratulate Brad Finstad on winning the Special Election last night,” he tweeted Wednesday. “Though I had hoped to celebrate different news with you all, there is plenty for which to be hopeful.”
WASHINGTON — The Justice Department charged a member of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps on Wednesday with plotting to assassinate John R. Bolton, who served as national security adviser to President Donald J. Trump.
Prosecutors said the Iranian had offered $300,000 to hire someone to kill Mr. Bolton, a conservative foreign policy expert and hard-liner on Iran, in Washington or Maryland.
Officials with the department’s national security division said the planned murder of Mr. Bolton was likely in retaliation for the US military’s killing in January 2020 of Qassim Suleimani, a top commander of the Revolutionary Guard, a branch of Iran’s military that is a power base for the country’s ruling military and political elites.
The man named in the unsealed criminal complaint in federal court in Washington, Shahram Poursafi, 45, is not in custody and remains abroad, department officials said. If captured and convicted, he would face up to 10 years in prison for using interstate commerce facilities in the plot and another 15 years for attempting to provide material support for a transnational murder plot.
Matthew G. Olsen, an assistant attorney general for national security at the Justice Department, said that the case was “not the first time we have uncovered Iranian plots to exact revenge against individuals on US soil, and we will work tirelessly to expose and disrupt every one of these efforts.”
Mr. Bolton — who bitterly opposed the Obama administration’s nuclear deal with Tehran — clashed repeatedly with Mr. Trump during a stormy 17-month tenure as national security adviser. He later wrote a tell-all book detailing the former president’s impulsive and often haphazard foreign policy requests.
“While much cannot be said publicly right now, one point is indisputable: Iran’s rulers are liars, terrorists and enemies of the United States,” Mr. Bolton said in a statement released by his office about the indictment. “Their radical, anti-American objectives are unchanged; their commitments are worthless; and their global threat is growing.”
For months, right-wing agitators with millions of followers have peddled the idea that a moment was coming soon when violence would become necessary — a patriotic duty — to save the republic.
With the FBI search Monday of Donald Trump’s compound in Florida, that moment is now, according to enraged commentators’ all-caps, exclamation-pointed screeds urging supporters of the former president to take up arms. Within hours of the search at Mar-a-Lago, a chorus of Republican lawmakers, conservative talk-show hosts, anti-government provocateurs and pro-Trump conspiracy theorists began issuing explicit or thinly veiled calls for violence.
“Today is war. That is all you will get on today’s show,” right-wing podcaster Steven Crowder Tuesday announced to his nearly 2 million followers on Twitter, referring to the program that goes to his YouTube audience of 5.6 million.
Extremist organizers have tried to hold on to the momentum they built in recent years by finding big-tent causes absurd facts could rally around, such as opposition to pandemic restrictions, “Stop the Steal” election denial, or an imagined socialist “indoctrination” of schoolchildren. With each iteration, analysts say, the networks have grown more sophisticated and more violent, as evidenced by the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021.
The FBI’s search at Mar-a-Lago for classified documents is now presented as a tipping point, an existential threat to the United States that true patriots must thwart.
The FBI searched former president Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club on Aug. 8 as part of an investigation into whether presidential documents were mishandled. (Video: Blair Guild/The Washington Post)
FBI searches Trump safe at Mar-a-Lago for possible classified documents
Extremism researcher Caroline Orr Bueno compiled to collage of dozens of screenshots of tweets calling for violence in response to the search, or “raid” in the parlance of Trump supporters. “I already bought my ammo,” one person boasted in the sampling. “Civil War! Pick up arms, people!” ordered another.
An immediate concern is the safety of the federal judge in Florida who approved the search warrant. Once his name of him made its way to right-wing forums, threats and conspiracy theories soon followed. Online pro-Trump groups spread his contact information and, as of Tuesday afternoon, the judge’s official page was no longer accessible on the court’s website.
Orr Bueno said it was ominous to see “a disturbing number of elected Republicans and influential right-wing figures joining in on the ‘civil war’ rhetoric.”
“This whole situation is red meat for their base. They use events like this to feed into this fantasy they’ve co-created with their supporters, and defusing the situation would require stepping out of that alternate reality,” said Orr Bueno, a postdoctoral research associate at the University of Maryland who studies disinformation . “They’re not going to do that, particularly with 2024 right around the corner.”
Since the search Monday, Telegram channels popular with right-wing militants have been awash with vows to “lock and load” for civil war against what they deem a tyrannical federal government subverting the Constitution and “persecuting” a patriotic leader. NBC News identified one user who referenced civil war on TheDonald, a Reddit-like forum for Trump supporters, as Tyler Welsh Slaeker, who is awaiting sentencing for his role in storming the Capitol.
In mainstream GOP quarters, extremism trackers say, the nudges toward violence are more subtle, with statements delegitimizing the government as a “police state” or a “banana republic” that must be opposed, starting with the dismantling of federal agencies. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) called the search “the weaponization of federal agencies against the Regime’s political opponents.”
At 9:42 pm on Monday, Charlie Kirk, leader of the student conservative group Turning Point USA, which has held its annual gala at Mar-a-Lago, tweeted: “The people who did this want to stoke civil conflict. Don’t fall for it.” Not even an hour later, Kirk had changed his tune from him, adding another tweet at 10:39 pm that read, “They will not stop until they fear a cost for their abuse. That is how it works.” The comments below the post made clear that both his supporters and detractors interpreted the message as a call for militant action.
Far-right Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) tweeted “DEFUND THE FBI!!” She added an image of an upside-down US flag, which many on the right have embraced as a symbol of the nation in distress.
“If this line of thought continues, I suspect we’ll see more far-right chatter about federal government buildings or people being legitimate targets,” warned Casey Cox, a political scientist at Texas A&M University who studies domestic terrorism.
The Mar-a-Lago probe put a spotlight on violent and dehumanizing political speech, but it has been lurking in the background for months. Examples in the past year include Jarome Bell, a Republican running for Congress in Virginia, who tweeted a call to put to death anyone convicted of voter fraud: “Arrest all involved. Try all involved. Convict all involved. Execute all involved.” Wendy Rogers, a far-right state senator in Arizona, told a white nationalist convention in Florida that “we need to build more gallows” to handle “traitors.”
In remarks in Nashville, Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) said “the militant left wing in our country has become the enemy within.” He added: “You may think that’s pretty dramatic, right, calling them the ‘enemy within’? Yes, I am.”
National Archives had to retrieve Trump White House records from Mar-a-Lago
If the goal is to normalize vigilante violence as a political response, studies show that the tactic seems to be working.
A recent Washington Post-University of Maryland poll found that about 1 in 3 Americans say they believe violence against the government can at times be justified, the largest share to feel that way in more than two decades. Other studies have similarly found a growing tolerance of violent ideologies that historically were confined to fringe elements.
Cox, of Texas A&M, has tracked how these ideas were laundered into the mainstream right over decades, creating an “increasing undertone of violence that has been simmering since the early ’90s.” By 2008, coinciding with the right-wing backlash to Barack Obama’s presidency, the messaging was becoming more overt.
“Certainly by 2008 or ’09 we do see more pronounced violence. We see more campaign ads either on TV or online featuring ‘targets.’ You have Ted Cruz cooking bacon on the barrel of a gun. And I do n’t think it’s a big leap to go from that to Eric Greitens and his de él ‘RINO-hunting,’ ”Cox said, referring to a US Senate candidate’s recent campaign ad promoting vigilante violence against people described as“ Republicans in name only.”
Cox said aggressive gerrymandering has created a more extreme electorate, forcing politicians to veer further right to stay in office. Violent rhetoric that once was considered disqualifying is now politics as usual, a shift that began before Trump but was hastened under his presidency. As shown by the Jan. 6 riot investigation, Cox said, veiled calls for violence in political speech move quickly from more mainstream outlets such as Fox News to far-right extremist forums.
“By the time you get through some of that, you can really see a lot of the sheen coming off, where ‘We’re going to have a wild rally’ becomes, ‘Bring weapons, we’re going to storm the Capitol, ‘” Cox said.
Extremism analysts said that’s what they fear is happening now, with a burst of inflammatory rhetoric this week telling millions of Republicans that they should abandon trust in the FBI, the electoral system, schools — virtually all functions of government.
Holley Hansen, an assistant professor at Oklahoma State University who researches political violence and conflict mediation, cited a description of democracy as “governance through conflict,” a system that encourages vigorous debate but with mechanisms to resolve disagreements peacefully. The problem, Hansen said, is that the 2020 election denial was a catalyst in the militant movement’s long game to undermine democratic institutions and seize power by force.
“If you can’t trust the institutions that are designed to peacefully resolve disputes and you begin to see the other side as an enemy,” Hansen said, “the desire to act — and the need to act — really becomes more easily justified. ”
An outraged family has accused a Brooklyn funeral home of mishandling their loved one’s body so poorly that she looked like a “mud monster” the day of her wake, a lawyer representing the family told The Post.
The mother and ex-boyfriend of Regina Christophe, who died in her sleep at 37-years-old on June 24, filed a lawsuit Friday in Brooklyn Supreme Court against John J. McManus and Sons Funeral Home after her body was left unrecognizable during a July 9 memorial, attorney Kurt Robertson said in an interview.
Robertson described a nightmarish scene on the day of the wake, with “maggots crawling” from Christophe’s eye and claimed her body was partially wrapped in garbage bags. The lawyer also alleged Christophe’s dress of her was stained.
“The evidence strongly suggests she had not been embalmed, that she had been decomposing over the two weeks she had been at the funeral home,” Robertson said.
“Apart from all it was just the incredible stench of the decomposing body that permeated the funeral home,” he added.
“It doesn’t look like a person at all,” Robertson also said. “It looks like a mud monster.”
Christophe’s mother, Chantal Jean, stopped her daughter’s two children, a 16-year-old and 6-year-old, from seeing their deceased mother for the last time because she didn’t want that to be “the last image they see, Robertson said.
But Jean, who dealt with the order directly, continues to struggle since the incident, the lawyer said.
Regina Christophe’s family filed a lawsuit against John J. McManus and Sons Funeral Home for allegedly not embalming the deceased’s body.Google Earth
“She has been depressed, she has had to seek counseling, she’s had some pretty dark thoughts to put it mildly,” Robertson said. “Ella She’s been in a very dark place as a result of that.”
The day of the service, Jean couldn’t find anyone in charge to speak to about the rotting body and the funeral home didn’t make any attempt to connect with relatives prior to the lawsuit being filed, Robertson said.
Ultimately, the family could not even have a closed casket because of the putrid smell, Robertson said. Only a photo of her was put up during the service.
Jean told News 12 all she could remember was “a monster being in that coffin–not my daughter.”
“Her skin was all off, it wasn’t even connected to face anymore,” she told the television station.
A rep for the John McManus and Sons Funeral Home could not be reached for comment on Tuesday night.
But in an interview with News 12, the funeral manager blamed multiple factors for the condition of the body, including the duration the body was in the heat before it was brought to the medical examiner and the amount of time it was at the examiner’s office.
The funeral home picked up the body from the medical examiner about four days after it was ready to be collected, according to the report.
“I was devastated by this whole thing,” said manager Anthony Tenga. “By what she looked like. It was a real disappointment to me professionally and personally.”
He claims he told the family of the body’s condition the day before the wake and the day of.
“I thought I gave them fair warning,” Tenga told News 12.
A Los Angeles City Council meeting erupted into chaos on Tuesday, with a public speaker climbing over a bench and onto the council floor to confront council President Nury Martinez, prompting police to fill the chamber.
Officers apprehended a second member of the public on the council floor moments later, while activists screamed at police and at least one audience member sprayed water from a bottle on officers. One audience member was arrested, police said.
Martinez abruptly recessed the meeting, leaving dozens of activists in the room chanting “Abolish 41.18!” — a reference to the city law prohibiting homeless encampments at libraries, freeway overpasses and other locations. Shortly after 11 am, an LAPD captain declared an unlawful assembly within the chamber, prompting scores of protesters to file out.
Los Angeles City Councilman Joe Buscaino, second from right, confers with police shortly after homeless advocates and protesters shut down proceedings in the Los Angeles City Council chambers.
(Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)
“I’ve never seen anything like this — ever,” Councilman Joe Buscaino said after the room had cleared.
The incident took place one week after protesters brought another meeting — also dealing with the anti-encampment law — to a halt, chanting “shut it down” repeatedly until council members took an hourlong recess.
Martinez said Tuesday’s episode brought City Hall “one step closer” to the type of behavior that occurred in Washington, DC, on Jan. 6, 2021, when protesters stormed the US Capitol. At least five people died and more than 700 people were arrested in connection with the insurrection.
Around 11:45 a.m., the council reconvened.
“We cannot legislate in fear,” Martinez said, once the meeting summarized. “I certainly won’t.”
Sabrina Johnson, a co-founder of the activist group People’s City Council, said comparisons to Jan. 6 are “ridiculous.”
“I just want help,” said a crying Tanesha Haynes who is homeless and joined advocates and protesters who shut down proceedings inside the council chambers Tuesday.
(Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)
“It’s not like we’re storming the building. We’re going through security. We’re going through the proper channels,” Johnson said. “This is our only opportunity to give them feedback because they don’t answer phone calls and messages to their office.”
The skirmish on the council floor broke out during the meeting’s public comment period, with a majority of speakers denouncing a proposal to ban encampments next to schools and day-care centers. The council voted in favor of that measure last week, but because the tally was not unanimous, the proposal needed a second vote.
The meeting was tense from the beginning. Audience members hissed and shouted expletives at council members as they entered the room. Martinez told audience members to “grow up,” prompting jeers from the crowd. When Councilman Curren Price attempted to lead the Pledge of Allegiance, audience members booed.
Partway into public comment, one audience member approached the lecture and directly addressed Martinez, peppering those comments with expletives. The audience member attempted to move a bench bolted into the floor, causing a loud crunch, then climbed over it and approached the council dais.
“I live on the f— streets,” the audience member yelled, as three police officers attempted to move the speaker toward the exit. While officers were attempting to detain the speaker, a second audience member entered the council floor. A line of police officers in riot helmets filed into the room.
LAPD officers stand guard after a homeless advocate tried to rush City Council members at City Hall.
(Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)
The second audience member, Ricci Sergienko, was arrested on suspicion of resisting arrest and taking another person from lawful custody, police said in a Tuesday night news release. Police had also listed vandalism as a potential charge earlier in the day, though that was not included in the final news release.
Sergienko is another co-founder of the People’s City Council, which has sharply criticized the city’s policies on homelessness.
Police said earlier in the day that two audience members were arrested but later clarified that only Sergienko was arrested, while another person was briefly detained.
Officers initially intended to arrest the speaker who climbed over the bench and approached council members, but Sergienko “interrupted the detention,” pulling the speaker away from police, LAPD Capt. Elaine Morales said.
The speaker who had been briefly detained then left the building, Morales said.
Sergienko could not be reached immediately for comment.
Once the meeting summarized, the anti-encampment ordinance was approved on an 11-3 vote, with Mike Bonin, Marqueece Harris-Dawson and Nithya Raman opposed. The new restrictions will prohibit people from sitting, sleeping, lying on or storing property within 500 feet of every public and private school, not just the few dozen selected by the council over the last year.
“This is going to make the problem worse,” Bonin said. “This is going to disconnect people from services. This is going to channel our time and our money and our energy into moving people around, not moving people inside.”
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Activist groups contend the ordinance would effectively criminalize poverty, rendering as much as a fifth of the city’s sidewalks off limits to the city’s neediest. Homeless services providers have also objected, saying the new restrictions will make it more difficult to help the unhoused.
Homeless advocates and protesters fill the chamber before the Los Angeles City Council cast its final vote on a law prohibiting homeless encampments near schools and day-care centers.
(Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)
Schools Supt. Alberto Carvalho urged the council to approve the restrictions in May. Parents with children attending the LA Unified School District, many of them Spanish speakers, have also testified in favor of the new restrictions, saying they viewed encampment residents as a potential danger to their children.
“We have parents now that are driving two blocks to drive into a parking lot to drop their kids off to school, or driving even a block just for their safety,” said Councilman Paul Koretz, a supporter of the new limits. “That’s not a circumstance we should be in, and we have to take some action.”
The crackdown comes as the city is putting hundreds of millions of dollars into aid for LA’s unhoused, including bridge home shelters, “tiny home” villages and new affordable housing projects.
On Thursday, a council committee will take up a plan to extend the operations of three hotels being used for Project Roomkey, which provides temporary housing for homeless residents. Those hotels, which have a combined 780 rooms, were originally slated to close over the next several weeks.
Extending the deadline for closing Project Roomkey is expected to cost $28.3 million, according to a report on the proposal. The city has committed $245 million to Project Roomkey so far, the report said.
It was closer than she wanted, but progressive Rep. Ilhan Omar (D) narrowly defeated centrist Minneapolis City Council member Don Samuels in their primary matchup Tuesday night, winning on a margin that indicates a much shakier standing in her Minneapolis district than most expected.
Samuels ran largely on backlash to Omar’s leftist positions, including her support for defunding the police, which has become a hot-button issue in Minneapolis since the murder of George Floyd in 2020. The congresswoman is one of the most liberal members of the House Democratic Caucus, and she has occasionally bucked the party on major policy votes alongside the rest of the so-called progressive “squad.”
Although he ultimately lost, Samuels’ candidacy appears to have struck a chord with some voters’ distaste for Omar’s progressive approach. At the point the AP called her race, she was only about 2 percentage points ahead of her.
Leading up to the primary election, Omar remained seemingly unfazed. Not only did she have the benefit of incumbency, but she was backed by a number of high-profile progressive figures, including Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA).
Samuels did benefit from some last-minute endorsements, including from Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey. But his challenge from him ultimately fell short—and he conceded the race to Omar around 10:30 pm EDT Tuesday night.
Omar isn’t the first member of the squad to survive a close primary challenge this year. Both Reps. Cori Bush (D-MO) and Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) faced centrist primary challengers, though they both prevailed with more comfortable margins.
Omar has received primary challenges in years past—including lawyer Antone Melton-Meaux, who beat her by a healthy margin. But the close call Tuesday night may be an indication that another Democratic challenger could take her down in another primary.
Luckily for Omar, her district is heavily Democratic, meaning she likely has two more years to figure out her eligibility issues, as she faces little chance of losing re-election in the general election this November.
IS LIKELY TO COME NEXT IN ZHUKOVSKY CASE. JEANNE, THAT IMMIGRATION ATTORNEY SAYS LIKELY. WHAT IS HAPPENING NOW IS VLADIMIR SU KOSKI IS BEING PROCESSED BEFORE BEING TAKEN TO STRATFORD COUNTY JAIL, WHERE FEDERAL DETAINEES ARE HEAD INSTEAD OF BEING RELEASED FOLLOWING HIS ACQUITTAL. VLADIMIR TARKOWSKI REMAINS IN CUSTODY. PRIOR TO THE ACCIDENT, RANDOLPH ZOO KOSKI WAS ARRESTED BACK ON MAY 11TH OF 2019 FOR OPERATING UNDER THE INFLUENCE IN CONNECTICUT IN ORDER TO HOLD ZHUKOVSKY AND ATTORNEY WHO SPECIALIZES IN IMMIGRATION LAW, SAYS THAT MUCH LIKE PREVENTIVE DETENTION IN STATE COURTS, THE FEDS WILL HAVE TO DEMONSTRATE THAT ZUKUNFT IS A THREAT TO THE COMMUNITY OR A FLIGHT RISK. EVENTUALLY, THE FEDS WILL HAVE TO RELEASE HIM OR MAKE THEIR CASE BEFORE AN IMMIGRATION JUDGE, NOTING ZHUKOVSKY STATUS. THE IMMIGRATION ATTORNEY BELIEVES IT WAS UNUSUAL FOR THE FEDS TO GET INVOLVED. I REALLY DON’T UNDERSTAND WHY HE’S BEING PUT IN THIS PREDICAMENT, ESPECIALLY WITH THE FACT THAT HE’S A PERMANENT RESIDENT. AND I THINK THAT’S WHAT’S A LITTLE BIT ALARMING TO ME. ATTORNEY MESSER ADDS THAT ZHUKOVSKY IS ALSO A UKRAINIAN CITIZEN WHO NOW ENJOYS TEMPORARY PROTECTION AND STATUS, SO HE CANNOT BE DEPORTED. TARKOVSKY IS SET TO APPEAR IN A CONNECTICUT COURT ON SEPTEMBER 1ST FOR THE AUI CASE. LIVE IN THE STUDIO R
Volodymyr Zhukovskyy in ICE custody after being found not guilty in deadly crash, officials confirm
A Massachusetts man found not guilty in connection with the deaths of seven motorcyclists in a 2019 crash in New Hampshire is in the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, confirmed officials to WMUR. Officials said after Volodymyr Zhukovskyy was found not guilty on 15 charges, including manslaughter, negligent homicide and reckless conduct, he was taken into ICE custody in connection with an immigration detainer issued for him after the crash on Route 2 in Randolph in June 2019. >> Watch video from the courtroom as verdicts were read Zhukovskyy, 26, a citizen of Ukraine, was taken into ICE custody at the Grafton County Department of Corrections facility in North Haverhill and was served a notice to appear.” Zhukovskyy has an extensive criminal history including three prior convictions of charges that included Possession of Cocaine and Heroin, Possession of Drug Paraphernalia, Driving Under Suspension, Furnishing False Information to an Officer and Larceny,” John Mohan, public af fairs officer and spokesperson for the New England Region of ICE, said.>> Timeline: Zhukovskyy’s driving history; see how case has evolvedHe will remain in ICE custody until he appears before an immigration judge, officials said.In order to hold Zhukovskyy, much like preventative detention in state courts, federal officials will have to demonstrate that Zhukovskyy is a threat to the community or a flight risk, according to Enrique Mesa, an attorney who specializes in immigration law. Eventually, the feds will have to release him or make their case before an immigration judge, Mesa said. Noting Zhukovskyy’s status, Mesa said he believes that it was unusual for the feds to get involved.”I really don’t understand why he is being put in this predicament, especially with the fact that he is a permanent resident and I think that’s what’s a little bit alarming to me,” Mesa said. Mesa said Zhukovskyy is likely being processed before being taken to Strafford County Jail, where federal detainees are held. Mesa added that as a citizen of Ukraine, Zhukovskyy enjoys temporary protected status, so he cannot be deported. Zhukovskyy has been in jail for the past three years as the case moved through the court system.>> Analyst: Jurors likely focused on narrow issue Massachusetts officials confirmed after the verdict was read that Zhukovskyy’s commercial driver’s license is disqualified, and his passenger license is suspended. Zhukovskyy has an unresolved operating-under-the-influence case in Connecticut since May 11, 2019. The case is scheduled to be heard on Sept. 1 in Hartford, Conn. Re-watch the trial:Verdicts read in courtroom Judge gives final instructions to jury before deliberations beginClosings: Jury instructions | Defense | ProsecutionJudge rejects final defense motion to dismiss Day 10 of testimony: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4Day 9 of testimony: 2 troopers testify | Hearing over instructionsDay 8 of testimony: Defense begins caseDay 7 of testimony: Part 1 | Part 2 | Defense motions to dismiss | Judge dismisses some chargesDay 6 of testimony: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 (WARNING: Language used during the Day 6 proceedings contains expletives. Viewer discretion is advised)Day 5 of testimony: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 Day 4 of testimony: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6Day 3 of testimony: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 Day 2 of testimony: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4Day 1 of testimony: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3Opening statements: Prosecution | Defense Jury view instructions: Judge speaks to jurors; both sides give statementsComplete trial coverage:Final day: Volodymyr Zhukovskyy found not guilty in crash that killed 7 motorcyclists in Randolph Day 10: Defense rests in trial of man charged in Randolph motorcycle crash Day 9: Pair of defense witnesses testify at Randolph motorcycle crash trial Day 8: Defense begins case in Randolph motorcycle crash trial Day 7: Judge dismisses 8 charges against Zhukovskyy; 15 charges remain Day 6: Video of police interview with defendant played at Randolph motorcycle crash trial Day 5: Toxicology expert testifies as Randolph motorcycle crash trial continues for second week Day 4: Police interview with man accused of causing crash that killed 7 played in court Day 3: First responders testify about suspect’s behavior after Randolph crash that killed 7 Day 2: Witnesses testify about crash that killed 7 motorcyclists on second day of trial Day 1: Witnesses describe scene of crash that killed 7 motorcyclists as trial begins Jury view: Volodymyr Zhukovskyy trial jurors receive instructions, view crash scene
NORTH HAVERHILL, NH—
A Massachusetts man found not guilty in connection with the deaths of seven motorcyclists in a 2019 crash in New Hampshire is in the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, officials confirmed to WMUR.
Officials said after Volodymyr Zhukovskyy was found not guilty on 15 charges, including manslaughter, negligent homicide and reckless conduct, he was taken into ICE custody in connection with an immigration detainer issued for him after the crash on Route 2 in Randolph in June 2019.
>> Watch video from the courtroom as verdicts were read
Zhukovskyy, 26, a citizen of Ukraine, was taken into ICE custody at the Grafton County Department of Corrections facility in North Haverhill and was served a notice to appear.
“Zhukovskyy has an extensive criminal history including three prior convictions of charges that included Possession of Cocaine and Heroin, Possession of Drug Paraphernalia, Driving Under Suspension, Furnishing False Information to an Officer and Larceny,” John Mohan, public affairs officer and spokesperson for the New England Region of ICE, said.
>> Timeline: Zhukovskyy’s driving history; see how case has evolved
He will remain in ICE custody until he appears before an immigration judge, officials said.
In order to hold Zhukovskyy, much like preventative detention in state courts, federal officials will have to demonstrate that Zhukovskyy is a threat to the community or a flight risk, according to Enrique Mesa, an attorney who specializes in immigration law.
Eventually, the feds will have to release him or make their case before an immigration judge, Mesa said.
Noting Zhukovskyy’s status, Mesa said he believes that it was unusual for the feds to get involved.
“I really don’t understand why he is being put in this predicament, especially with the fact that he is a permanent resident and I think that’s what’s a little bit alarming to me,” Mesa said.
Mesa said Zhukovskyy is likely being processed before being taken to Strafford County Jail, where federal detainees are held.
Mesa added that as a citizen of Ukraine, Zhukovskyy enjoys temporary protected status, so he cannot be deported.
Zhukovskyy has been in jail for the past three years as the case moved through the court system.
>> Analyst: Jurors likely focused on narrow issue
Massachusetts officials confirmed after the verdict was read that Zhukovskyy’s commercial driver’s license is disqualified, and his passenger license is suspended.
Zhukovskyy has an unresolved operating-under-the-influence case in Connecticut since May 11, 2019. The case is scheduled to be heard on Sept. 1 in Hartford, Conn.
House Republicans added one new member to their number Tuesday as former Agriculture Department official Brad Finstad won a special election to serve out the term of the late GOP Rep. Jim Hagedorn, who died of cancer this past February.
Finstad, who emerged from a primary field of eight for the special election in Minnesota’s First Congressional district, led Democrat Jeff Ettinger by 4,920 votes with all precincts reporting.
In a victory statement released by his campaign, Finstad said the election was about the “direction of the country,” and he promised to fight the “extreme” agenda of President Biden and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in Congress.
“I will work to slash inflation, get control of the border, restore American energy independence, and put our families first. You have my commitment that I will bring our Southern Minnesota values to Washington, DC and work hard for you every single day,” he said.
Agriculture Department official Brad Finstad said he would focus on issues like inflation and supply chain shortages.Mark Zdechlik/Minnesota Public Radio via AP, File
While Finstad won the special election, the results of a separate primary election ensured he’ll face Ettinger again in November to decide who will represent the redrawn First District for a full two-year term.
Ettinger, the former CEO of Hormel Foods and a first-time candidate, expressed optimism that he would pull off a surprise win next time.
“We both knew going into this that there was going to be a rematch in November,” he said, according to the Star Tribune. “A November race typically gets four times the turnout of an August race in Minnesota.”
Former Hormel CEO Jeff Ettinger accused his opponents of focusing on President Biden and not the race.Mark Zdechlik/Minnesota Public Radio via AP
In the Republican primary, Finstad defeated state Rep. Jeremy Munson, while Ettinger beat financial CEO George Kalberer and attorney James Rainwater on the Democratic side. In the days before the special election, Finstad told Minnesota Public Radio that he will concentrate on issues close to regular Americans whom he says have been ignored by the Biden administration.
“Everywhere I go in southern Minnesota, I’m hearing the exact same thing,” said Finstad, who spent six years in the Minnesota legislature before working in the Trump USDA.
“It’s family pocketbook issues. It’s gas prices. It’s food prices. It’s grocery store shelves being half full. It’s disruption in supply chain things like baby formula and other necessities that we’re just not normal to have shortages with. And people are just frustrated with it,” he said to MPR.
Rep. Jim Hagedorn passed away from cancer in February. Photo By Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call
Ettinger defended the Biden White House as it struggles with high prices caused by the global supply chain backlog, and wondered why Finstad is focusing on the national political environment instead of him.
“I feel like he’s apparently running against Joe Biden and Nancy Pelosi, and not me,” Ettinger told MPR.
He said voters he talked with are worried about the logjam in Congress.
“I’m receiving great feedback from Democrats, independents and moderate Republicans who are sick of the gridlock and hostility in Washington and recognize that I have a long track record of getting things done,” Ettinger said. “And that’s what they’re looking for.”
Finstad’s win means the House now has 220 Democrats and 211 Republicans, with four vacancies. Three of the vacancies will be filled by special elections later this month.
Voters in Indiana’s Second District will choose the replacement for Rep. Jackie Walorski, who died in a car crash last week, on Election Day.
Troops in military vehicles take part in the military parade marking the 70th founding anniversary of the People’s Republic of China, on its National Day in Beijing, China October 1, 2019. REUTERS/Thomas Peter
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BEIJING, Aug 10 (Reuters) – China has withdrawn a promise not to send troops or administrators to Taiwan if it takes control of the island, an official document showed on Wednesday, signaling a decision by President Xi Jinping to grant less autonomy than previously offered .
China’s white paper on its position on self-ruled Taiwan follows days of unprecedented Chinese military exercises near the island, which Beijing claims as its territory, in protest against US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit last week. read more
China had said in two previous white papers on Taiwan, in 1993 and 2000, that it “will not send troops or administrative personnel to be based in Taiwan” after achieving what Beijing terms “reunification”.
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That line, meant to assure Taiwan it would enjoy autonomy after becoming a special administrative region of China, did not appear in the latest white paper.
China’s ruling Communist Party had proposed that Taiwan could return to its rule under a “one country, two systems” model, similar to the formula under which the former British colony of Hong Kong returned to Chinese rule in 1997.
That would offer some autonomy to democratically ruled Taiwan to partially preserve its social and political systems.
All mainstream Taiwanese political parties have rejected the “one country, two systems” proposal and it enjoys almost no public support according to opinion polls. Taiwan’s government says only the island’s people can decide their future.
A line in the 2000 white paper that said “anything can be negotiated” as long as Taiwan accepts that there is only one China and does not seek independence, is also missing from the latest white paper.
Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council condemned the white paper, saying it was “full of lies of wishful thinking and disregarded the facts” and that the Republic of China – Taiwan’s official name – was a sovereign state.
“Only Taiwan’s 23 million people have the right to decide on the future of Taiwan, and they will never accept an outcome set by an autocratic regime.”
The updated white paper is called “The Taiwan Question and China’s Reunification in the New Era.” The “new era” is a term commonly associated with Xi’s rule. Xi is expected to secure a third term at a Communist Party congress later this year.
Taiwan has lived under the threat of Chinese invasion since 1949, when the defeated Republic of China government fled to the island after Mao Zedong’s Communist Party won a civil war.
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Reporting by Yew Lun Tian; Editing by Robert Birsel and Raju Gopalakrishnan
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
Three buses packed with migrants from Texas arrived in New York City early Wednesday — welcomed by supporters who thrust $20 bills in their hands.
The buses arrived at the Port Authority Bus Terminal in Midtown, days after Mayor Eric Adams blasted Texas Gov. Greg Abbott as “anti-American” for relocating the asylum-seekers, which Abbott says he is doing to emphasize the crisis being created by the Biden administration allowing asylum seekers to stay in the US while their applications are processed.
The migrants appeared to be a mix of asylum seekers aided with bus tickets by the administration and by independent charities in addition to any shipped up here by the Republican Texas governor. Some had claims that could potentially qualify for asylum being granted while others were simply seeking a better life, which, depending on other circumstances, would not qualify them to stay in the US
Three buses packed with migrants from Texas arrived in New York City early Wednesday.Georgette RobertsSupporters thrust $20 bills into the migrants’ hands as they exited the bus.Georgette RobertsAbbott says he is relocating the migrants to emphasize the crisis being created by the Biden administration.Georgette Roberts
John Torres, who migrated from Colombia as a boy, took a four-hour bus ride from Maryland to New York to greet the new arrivals — with $200 in cash to give away.
“Because it’s the right thing to do,” Torres, 45, told The Post as to why he came. “It’s something that somebody would do for me if I’m in poverty, if I am starting out, someone would do that for me.”
Torres said he empathized with the migrants who arrived with few or no prospects for a job and no family or friends.
“You know, if I’m coming in a bus, if I’m scared, I don’t know where I am going, I don’t know what’s going on or nothing,” Torres said. “at least you know, if somebody gives me something for breakfast, at least I could start out that way, and then buy me a shirt, buy me clothes and then, I don’t know… figure it out from there.”
A City Hall official said Tuesday at least three more buses carrying migrants from Texas would arrive in the Big Apple by Wednesday and keep showing up “basically daily.”Georgette RobertsMajor Eric Adams blasted Texas Gov. Greg Abbott as “anti-American” for relocating the asylum-seekers.Ken Lopez/FreedomNewsTV
One migrant who got off at the Port Authority told The Post he started his trek to America from Venezuela on July 8.
Jairo Gamardo said he crossed into the US via Texas and then spent two days being processed by immigration officials before he was taken to a church in a city where he got onto a bus that headed directly for the Big Apple – stopping only for bathroom breaks.
Gamardo said the government-funded trip was provided to him and other migrants hailing from Texas at no cost. He said he previously worked for the military in Venezuela and was seeking political asylum in the United States.
“It’s a beautiful city,” Gamardo said when asked why he wanted to come to New York.
Gamardo, who doesn’t know anyone in the Big Apple, traveled alone and is now searching for work and better days ahead, he said.
Another native of Venezuela said he worked several jobs back home, but could only earn about $30 monthly — far less than needed to support his family.
“That’s everyone’s dream, to help their families,” Ernesto Bose, 41, told The Post, adding that he hopes to eventually bring his parents and sons to the United States.
Bose said the trip he endured was “horrible,” but thanked the city officials who greeted him in New York.
“Everyone has been so nice and welcoming,” Bose said. “Everyone is so willing to help.”
Ernesto Bose, a 41-year-old native of Venezuela, arrived Wednesday in New York. He told The Post the trip was “horrible,” but he had a warm welcome in the Big Apple. George Roberts
Heading to New York became an option for Bose upon getting bus tickets destined for the city or the nation’s capital from a church in Eagle Pass, Texas, Bose said.
“And it’s the only place that accepts us here like this,” Bose continued.
A City Hall official said Tuesday at least three more buses carrying migrants from Texas would arrive in the Big Apple by Wednesday and keep showing up “basically daily.”
Abbott hired a charter bus company to send the migrants across the country, but the company signed a non-disclosure agreement preventing the city from obtaining details on its itineraries, Immigrant Affairs Commissioner Manuel Castro told reporters Tuesday.
Some 45 migrants got off a bus that arrived in the city on Friday, as Abbott said he planned to continue the program indefinitely, claiming New York City is the “ideal destination” for the migrants due to its services for homeless people.
Adams said Sunday that only 14 migrants had gotten off the bus that officials were “led to believe” held about 40 people. It’s unclear what happened to the others, but Adams said Monday some were sent to “new locations.”
Abbott began relocating migrants to Washington, DC, in April in response to what he calls President Biden’s “open border policies.” City Hall officials estimate around 4,000 migrants in all have arrived in recent weeks.Georgette Roberts
Abbott began relocating migrants to Washington, DC, in April in response to what he calls President Biden’s “open border policies.” City Hall officials estimate around 4,000 migrants in all have arrived in recent weeks.
Torres said he believed Abbott was “trying to do the best he can” by busing the migrants to New York, a sanctuary city.
“But there’s only so many people you can help,” Torres said. “There are thousands of people every day, so I mean I respect his opinion of him but I think you gotta do some reform in each state to help out.”
