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Lawyer: Giuliani won’t testify Tuesday in Ga. election test

Lawyer: Giuliani won't testify Tuesday in Ga. election test

ATLANTA (AP) — Rudy Giuliani will not appear as scheduled Tuesday before a special grand jury in Atlanta that’s investigating whether former President Donald Trump and others illegally tried to interfere in the 2020 general election in Georgia, his lawyer said.

A judge last month had ordered Giuliani, a Trump lawyer and former New York City mayor, to appear before the special grand jury Tuesday.

But Giuliani’s attorney, Robert Costello, told The Associated Press on Monday that Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney, who’s overseeing the special grand jury, had excused Giuliani for the day.

Nothing in publicly available court documents indicates that Giuliani is excused from appearing, but McBurney has scheduled a hearing for 12:30 pm Tuesday to hear arguments on a court filing from Giuliani seeking to delay his appearance. In a court filing Monday, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis asked the judge to deny Giuliani’s request for a delay and to instruct him to appear before the special grand jury as ordered.

Willis opened an investigation early last year, and a special grand jury with subpoena power was seated in May at her request.

Last month she filed petitions seeking to compel testimony from seven Trump advisers and associates, including Giuliani. Because they don’t live in Georgia, she had to use a process that involves getting a judge in the state where they live to order them to appear.

New York Supreme Court Justice Thomas Farber on July 13 issued an order directing Giuliani to appear before the special grand jury on Aug. 9 and on any other dates ordered by the court in Atlanta.

Giuliani’s legal team last week asked Willis’ office to delay his appearance, saying he was unable to travel because of a medical procedure. That request was rejected after Willis’ team found evidence on social media that he had traveled since his medical procedure.

A Giuliani attorney then clarified to Willis’s team that Giuliani is not cleared for air travel, but Willis still refused to postpone his appearance, the motion says.

In her Monday court filing, Willis wrote that her team had obtained records indicating that between July 19 and July 21, Giuliani bought multiple airline tickets, including tickets to Rome, Italy, and Zurich, Switzerland, for travel dates between July 22 and July 29 Willis said her team offered to provide alternative transportation — including bus or train fare — if Giuliani wasn’t cleared for air travel.

Giuliani had also offered to appear virtually, for example by Zoom, his motion says.

“It is important to note here that Mr. Giuliani is no way seeking to inappropriately delay, or obstruct these proceedings or avoid giving evidence or testimony that is not subject to some claim of privilege in this matter,” the motion says, noting that Giuliani had appeared virtually before the committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol and testified for more than nine hours.

“Mr. Giuliani is willing to do the same here under conditions that replicate a grand jury proceeding,” the motion says.

In the petition for Giuliani’s testimony, Willis identified him as both a personal attorney for Trump and a lead attorney for his campaign.

She wrote that he and others presented a Georgia state Senate subcommittee with a video recording of election workers that Giuliani allegedly showed them producing “suitcases” of unlawful ballots from unknown sources, outside the view of election poll watchers.

Within 24 hours of that hearing on Dec. 3, 2020, Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger’s office had debunked the video and said that it had found that no voter fraud had taken place at the site. Nevertheless, Giuliani continued to make statements to the public and in subsequent legislative hearings claiming widespread voter fraud using that debunked video, Willis wrote.

Evidence shows that Giuliani’s appearance and testimony at the hearing “was part of a multi-state, coordinated plan by the Trump Campaign to influence the results of the November 2020 election in Georgia and elsewhere,” the petition says.

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Tucker reported from Washington.

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US

What to watch in Wis., 3 other states in Tuesday’s primaries

What to watch in Wis., 3 other states in Tuesday's primaries

The Republican matchup in the Wisconsin governor’s race on Tuesday features competing candidates endorsed by former President Donald Trump and his estranged vice president, Mike Pence. Democrats are picking a candidate to face two-term GOP Sen. Ron Johnson for control of the closely divided chamber.

Meanwhile, voters in Vermont are choosing a replacement for US Sen. patrick leahy as the chamber’s longest-serving member retires. In Minnesota, US Rep. Ilhan Omar faces a Democratic primary challenger who helped defeat a voter referendum to replace the Minneapolis Police Department with a new Department of Public Safety.

What to watch in Tuesday’s primary elections in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Vermont and Connecticut:

WISCONSIN

Construction company co-owner Tim Michels has Trump’s endorsement in the governor’s race and has been spending millions of his own money, touting both the former president’s backing and his years working to build his family’s business into Wisconsin’s largest construction company. Michels casts himself as an outsider, although he previously lost a campaign to oust then-US Sen. Russ Feingold in 2004 and has long been a prominent GOP donor.

Establishment Republicans including Pence and former Gov. Scott Walker have endorsed former Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefischwho along with Walker, survived a 2012 recall effort. She argues she has the experience and knowledge to pursue conservative priorities, including dismantling the bipartisan commission that runs elections.

With Senate control at stake, Democrats will also make their pick to take on Johnson. Democratic support coalesced around Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes beats in the race, when his three top rivals dropped out and threw their support to him. He would become the state’s first Black senator if elected.

Several lesser-known candidates remain in the primary, but Johnson and Republicans have treated Barnes as the nominee, casting him as too liberal for Wisconsin, a state Trump won in 2016 but lost in 2020.

Four Democrats are also running in Wisconsin’s 3rd Congressional District, a seat that opened up with the retirement of veteran Democratic US Rep. Ron Kind. The district has been trending Republican, and Derrick Van Orden — who narrowly lost to Kind in 2020 and has Trump’s endorsement — is running unopposed.

MINNESOTA

Democratic Gov. Tim Walz faces a little-known opponent as he seeks a second term. His likely challenger is Republican Scott Jensena physician and former state lawmaker who has made vaccine skepticism a centerpiece of his campaign and faces token opposition.

Both men have been waging a virtual campaign for months, with Jensen attacking Walz for his management of the pandemic and hammering the governor for rising crime around Minneapolis. Walz has highlighted his own support of abortion rights and suggested that Jensen would be a threat to chip away at the procedure’s legality in Minnesota.

Crime has emerged as the biggest issue in Rep. Omar’s Democratic primary. She faces a challenge from former Minneapolis City Council member Don Samuels, who opposes the movement to defund the police and last year helped defeat efforts to replace the city’s police department. Omar, who supported the referendum, has a substantial money advantage and is expected to benefit from a strong grassroots operation.

The most confusing part of Tuesday’s ballot was for the 1st Congressional District seat that was held by US Rep. Jim Hagedorn, who died earlier this year from cancer. Republican former state Rep. Brad Finstad and Democrat Jeff Ettinger, a former Hormel CEO, are simultaneously competing in primaries to determine the November matchup for the next two-year term representing the southern Minnesota district, as well as a special election to finish the last few months of Hagedorn’s term.

CONNECTICUT

It’s been roughly three decades since Connecticut had a Republican in the US Senate, but the party isn’t giving up.

In the GOP primary to take on Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthalthe party has endorsed former state House Minority Leader Themis Klarides. She’s a social moderate who supports abortion rights and certain gun control measures and says she did not vote for Trump in 2020. Klarides contends her experience and positions can persuade voters to oppose Blumenthal, a two-term senator who in May registered a 45% job approval rating, his lowest in a Quinnipiac poll since taking office.

Klarides is being challenged by conservative attorney Peter Lumaj and Republican National Committee member Leora Levy, whom Trump endorsed last week. Both candidates oppose abortion rights and further gun restrictions, and they back Trump’s policies from him.

VERMONT

Leahy’s upcoming retirement has opened up two seats in Vermont’s tiny three-person congressional delegation — and the opportunity for the state to send a woman to represent it in Washington for the first time.

Democratic US Rep. Peter Welch, the state’s at-large congressman, quickly launched his Senate bid after Leahy revealed he was stepping down. Leahy, who is president pro tempore of the Senate, has been hospitalized a couple of times over the last two years, including after breaking his hip this summer.

Welch has been endorsed by Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and is the odds-on favorite to win the seat in November. He faces two other Democrats in the primary: Isaac Evans-Frantz, an activist, and Dr. Niki Thran, an emergency physician.

On the Republican side, former US Attorney Christina Nolan, retired US Army officer Gerald Malloy and investment banker Myers Mermel are competing for the nomination.

The race to replace Welch has yielded Vermont’s first wide-open US House campaign since 2006.

Two women, including Lt. Gov. Molly Gray and state Senate President Pro Tempore Becca Balint, are the top Democratic candidates in the race. Gray, elected in 2020 in her first political bid, is a lawyer and a former assistant state attorney general.

The winner of the Democratic primary will be the heavy favorite to win the general election in the liberal state. In 2018, Vermont became the last state without female representation in Congress when Mississippi Republican Cindy Hyde-Smith was appointed to the Senate.

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Associated Press writers Scott Bauer in Madison, Wisconsin; Doug Glass in Minneapolis; Susan Haigh in Hartford, Conn.; and Wilson Ring in Montpelier, Vermont, contributed to this report.

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Meg Kinnard can be reached at http://twitter.com/MegKinnardAP

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Australia

Launceston’s Albert Van Zetten the 10th major not standing in October poll

A man wearing a suit smiles at the camera.

Launceston mayor Albert Van Zetten is the latest in a string of Tasmanian mayors to announce they won’t run in upcoming local government elections, taking the total quitting to 10.

Most of those who are part of the exodus say they are retiring or stepping down for personal reasons.

Newcomers set to be elected in October face a changing local government landscape as compulsory voting is introduced, non-ratepayers are allowed to have their say for the first time and a state government review of the sector continues.

The majority of the mayors not re-contesting are based in the north and north-west of the state: Annette Rockliff in Devonport, King Island’s Julie Arnold, Flinders Island’s Annie Revie, Waratah-Wynyard’s Robby Walsh, Circular Head’s Daryl Quilliam, Tim Wilson from Kentish, and Central Coast major Jan Bonde.

A man and a woman stand in the sun smiling
Albert Van Zetten announced the decision with his wife Lyndal on Sunday. (ABC News: Jessica Moran )

Albert Van Zetten was first elected as mayor to Tasmania’s second biggest city in 2005, and said he now wants to spend more time with his family.

“I’ve been very thankful for the opportunity I’ve had to serve this beautiful city, and it’s been an amazing time,” he said.

“My case is it’s my time to go. It’s not got anything to do with what the other mayors are doing. If their time is up, then it’s their time up.”

In the south of the state Doug Chipman is retiring as major of Clarence.

He has been in the top job for 11 years and has said “it’s time for a change”.

Bec Enders stepped down as Huon Valley Council Mayor earlier in the year amid the controversy over the hiring of general manager Jason Browne.

Huon Valley Major Bec Enders smiles at the camera.
Huon Valley Mayor Bec Enders quit the role in March after months of community backlash over a controversial recruitment process for general manager.(ABC News: Luke Bowden)

President of the Local Government Association of Tasmania Christina Holmdahl said it was not abnormal to have a large number of mayors leaving.

“It’s something that happens about every second or third council election.”

“The majority have been mayors for quite some time, and almost all of them are standing down for personal reasons. They believe they’ve made a contribution,” she said.

“They also believe that maybe it’s time for new energy, new ideas in their municipality.”

A middle-aged woman standing in front of a window wearing a black shirt and red jacket.
King Island Major Julie Arnold has chosen not to recontest the position after just one term in the top job.(ABC News: Sarah Abbott)

Major voting changes on the way

With the introduction of compulsory voting for the October elections, Minister for Local Government Nic Street said he hoped it would bring more quality candidates to council.

“I hope that compulsory voting leads to more people putting their hand up to run if they think that they’re going to be held accountable by the whole community and not just the people who would normally vote at local government elections.”

“We’re committed to strengthening local government as best we can, and the best way to strengthen it is by having multiple candidates in every municipality so that people have got a legitimate choice to make come October.”

Mr Van Zetten said he welcomes compulsory voting.

“I’m sad I’m not running in a way because of the compulsory voting. I think it’s better for incumbents.”

“The time that I’ve had my closest vote, which was three votes (between him and the next candidate), many people said to me ‘I didn’t vote for you because I thought you were a shoe-in.”

A woman wearing red glasses sits at a desk
Christina Holmdahl, president of the Local Government Association of Tasmania, March 2022.(ABC News: Jessica Moran)

Christina Holmdahl from Tasmania’s Local Government Association said she thought there were still some issues to work through when it came to voting in local government elections.

“It’s still going to be a postal vote, so there are still those issues of letters not being delivered, people have changed addresses and haven’t updated their electoral roll.”

It will also be the first time local government elections are open to everyone over 18, not just ratepayers.

“I think it’s going to be quite interesting as a result of that.”

She was hopeful the changes wouldn’t stop new people from running for older.

“We hope all the new incoming councilors have the commitment and the vision that the retiring mayors have had, and they’ll enjoy what they get out of local government.”

Code of conduct questions

A 12-month local government review is underway, which includes an examination of its code of conduct.

The code has been in the spotlight this year after a number of controversies including when a Kingborough council meeting descended into unrest in June, the fact a council had no power to sack a councilor convicted of sexual offences. and the code of conduct investigation into the Huon Valley general manager’s appointment.

A woman sits at a table, pointing at the door
Kingborough Council deputy Major Jo Westwood attempting to eject Councilor David Grace from a council meeting on June 6. (Supplied: Kingborough Council)

Nic Street says the review is about strengthening local government even further.

“It’s looking at the service, delivery, and functions of local government. What they do well, and perhaps what services should be delivered by a different tier of government.”

“At the end of that, we’ll look at the reforms that have been suggested by the local board of review.”

Ms Holmdahl says the next stage of the review, set to finish at the end of the year, should be extended to allow more people to have their say on local government.

“The community has had an opportunity to express their concerns or their suggestions about how local government could be better, and they have been noted.”

“I guess what’s disappointing is the very low level of input from the community. It was 0.34% of the voting population that actually took part.”

She said she was hoping to come to an arrangement with Mr Street to extend the next stage of the review until March.

“That will also cover the fact that after October this year, there may be new councilors that are not familiar even with the process, so we believe that there’s a period of time needed for the new councilors to familiarize themselves with the process as well. “

Mr Street said there was potential to extend the review.

“That’s a conversation that we’re continuing to have with the local government sector at the moment.”

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US

Federal judge rules that Georgia commission elections discriminate against Black voters

Federal judge rules that Georgia commission elections discriminate against Black voters

A federal judge ruled on Friday that holding statewide elections for a Georgia utility regulatory body discriminates against Black voters and delayed the elections scheduled for November to a later date.

Steven Grimberg, the US district judge for the Northern District of Georgia, said in the ruling that the statewide election for the state’s Public Service Commission, which oversees residents’ access to telecommunications, electric and natural gas services, unlawfully dilutes the votes of Black citizens .

Two seats on the five-member commission were scheduled to be up for election in November. Current state election law requires a candidate for a seat on the commission to live in one of the five districts they are running to represent, but voters from the entire state can vote for all five seats regardless of where they live.

Grimberg wrote that the election system for the commission violates the 1965 Voting Rights Act’s second section, which states that no qualification, standard, practice or procedure can be imposed by any state to deny citizens’ right to vote based on race or color.

The plaintiffs are Black voters in one of the districts where an election was set to take place in November. The ruling states that they testified that they have not been prevented from voting in Georgia because of their race, but that race plays a role in the election.

Experts testified that there is “strong evidence” of racial polarization in the elections and that Black and white voters are “cohesive” in the candidates they support. But because the number of white voters outnumbers the number of Black voters, the Black-preferred candidates do not win.

One expert said during the case that the candidate supported by white voters won 11 out of 11 times since the current state law went into effect, and another expert testified that only one Black candidate has ever been elected to the commission, despite Georgia’s large Black population. .

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that an attorney for the defendant, Brad Raffensperger, who oversees the election in his capacity as Georgia secretary of state, argued that Black voters have been able to fully participate in the political process. The attorney said Black-supported candidates not winning does not mean that the voting system is discriminatory.

The ruling states that the attorney for Raffensperger said during a preliminary hearing that the state would have the current incumbent commissioners running in the races “holdover” in their positions until a new election can be held.

Nicolas Martinez, the attorney for the plaintiffs, said in a statement that the court’s decision vindicates their argument that Georgia’s statewide election method for the commission unlawfully dilutes Black votes.

“This ruling immediately impacts how millions of Georgians will elect those powerful officials who determine how much everyday folks must pay for basic utilities,” he said. “It is one of the most important decisions to advance voting rights in a generation.”

This story was updated at 4:24 pm

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US

GOP Rep who voted to impeach advances in Washington primary

GOP Rep who voted to impeach advances in Washington primary

OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) — Republican Rep. Dan Newhouse, who voted to impeach Donald Trump, advanced Friday to the general election following days of vote counts in Washington state’s primary, but fellow Republican Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler saw her advantage against an opponent endorsed by Trump rapidly shrink to within recount territory with thousands of votes left to count.

Both drew interparty challenges due to their vote to impeach Trump following the Jan. 6 attack on the US Capitol.

Newhouse, the four-term incumbent in the 4th Congressional District in central Washington and Democrat Doug White were essentially tied, with each capturing about 25% of the vote on a crowded ballot. White also advanced to the fall ballot. Loren Culp, a Trump-endorsed former small town police chief who lost the 2020 governor’s race to Democrat Jay Inslee, was at about 21%.

In the 3rd Congressional District in southwestern Washington, Democrat Marie Perez was the top vote getter, with 31% of the vote. Herrera Beutler, who had about 24% on Tuesday night, dropped to 22.6% Thursday night, 257 votes ahead of Joe Kent – ​​a former Green Beret endorsed by Trump — who was at 22.5%.

A mandatory recount would occur if the margin of votes between the No. 2 and No. 3 candidates is less than half of 1% and closer than 2,000 votes.

Because Washington is a vote-by-mail state and ballots just need to be in by Election Day, it often takes days to learn final results in close races as ballots arrive at county election offices throughout the week.

An estimated 35,000 votes are left to count, and the three counties where votes remain to be counted — the majority of it in the 3rd District’s largest county, Clark, — won’t update their tallies again until late Monday afternoon. Counties have until Aug. 16 to finish their count and for canvassing boards to certify the results, followed by certification by the secretary of state by Aug. 19.

Under Washington’s primary system, all candidates run on the same ballot, and the top two vote getters in each of Tuesday’s races advance to the November election, regardless of party.

Of the 10 House Republicans who voted for Trump’s impeachment, four opted not to run for reelection. Michigan Rep. Peter Meijer was defeated in a primary Tuesday by Trump-endorsed John Gibbs and Rep. Tom Rice of South Carolina lost to a Trump-endorsed challenger in June. Rep. David Valadao of California — which has an open primary like Washington — survived a primary challenge. Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming is bracing for defeat in her Aug. 16 primary against a Trump-backed rival.

In another key match in the 8th Congressional District, incumbent Democratic Rep. Kim Schrier advanced to the November ballot with more than 47% of the vote, and will face former state attorney general candidate Matt Larkin in November.

With about 17% of the vote, Larkin edged out King County Council Member Reagan Dunn, a former federal prosecutor whose mother once held the seat. Dunn granted the race Thursday. The district is a key target of GOP efforts to retake control of the House.

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US

Trump ally Kari Lake wins GOP primary for Arizona governor

Trump ally Kari Lake wins GOP primary for Arizona governor

PHOENIX (AP) — Kari Lake, a former news anchor who walked away from her journalism career and was embraced by Donald Trump and his staunch supporters, won the Republican primary for Arizona governor on Thursday.

Lake’s victory was a blow to the GOP establishment that lined up behind lawyer and businesswoman Karrin Taylor Robson in an attempt to push their party past the chaotic Trump era. Lake said she would not have certified President Joe Biden’s 2020 victory and put false claims of election fraud at the center of his campaign.

“Arizonans who have been forgotten by the establishment just delivered a political earthquake,” Lake said in a statement after the race was called.

Republicans now enter the general election sprint with a slate of nominees closely allied with Trump who deny that Biden was legitimately elected president. Lake will face Democratic Secretary of State Katie Hobbs in the November election.

“This race for governor isn’t about Democrats or Republicans. It’s a choice between sanity and chaos,” Hobbs said Thursday night in a statement on Lake’s victory.

Early election results showing only mail ballots received before Election Day gave Robson a solid lead, but that was whittled down as votes from polling places were added to the tally. Lake’s victory became clear Thursday when Maricopa County released results from thousands of mail ballots dropped off at the polls on Tuesday.

“The voters of Arizona have spoken,” Robson said in a statement conceding to Lake late Thursday. “I accept the results, I trust the process and the people who administer it.”

In a midterm primary season with mixed results for Trump’s favored candidates, the former president came out on top in Arizona, a state that has been central to his efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election and cast doubt on Biden’s victory. In addition to Lake, Trump’s picks for US Senate, secretary of stateattorney general, US House and the state Legislature all won their GOP primaries.

If they win in November, Trump allies will hold sway over the administration of elections in a crucial battleground state as he considers another bid for the White House in 2024. The results also show that Trump remains a powerful figure in the GOP as longtime party stalwarts get increasingly bold in their efforts to reassert control ahead of the next presidential campaign.

Former Vice President Mike Pence, Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie all campaigned for Robson in the days before the election.

Robson, who is married to one of Arizona’s richest men, largely self-funded her campaign. She called the 2020 election “unfair” but stopped short of calling it fraudulent and pushed for the GOP to look toward the future.

Lake now faces the daunting task of uniting the Republican Party after a bruising primary. On Wednesday, as Lake declared victory prematurely, she attempted to reach out to Robson and others she fiercely criticized as RINOs, or Republicans in Name Only, who don’t align with Trump on key issues.

“Frankly, this party needs her to come together, and I welcome her,” Lake said of Robson. “And I hope that she will come over for this.”

Robson said she’s spent her life supporting Republicans, “and it is my hope that our Republican nominees are successful in November.”

Like Trump, Lake courts controversy and confrontation. She berates journalists and dodges questions. She burned masks during the COVID-19 surge in the summer of 2021 and attacked Republicans like Ducey who allowed restrictions on businesses, though as a news anchor she encouraged people to follow public health guidance.

Lake spent the days leading up to her own election claiming there were signs of fraud, but she refused to provide any evidence. Once her victory for her was assured, she said voters should trust her win for her is legitimate.

“We outvoted the fraud,” Lake said. She pointed to problems in Pinal County, which ran out of ballots in some precincts and had to print more, but she and her attorney, Tim La Sota, refused to provide evidence backing up her claims of fraud.

She said she has no plans to stop talking about election fraud even as she needs to broaden her appeal beyond the loyalists her powered her primary victory.

Federal and state election officials and Trump’s own attorney general have said there is no credible evidence the 2020 election was tainted. Trump’s allegations of fraud were also roundly rejected by courts, including by judges he appointed. A hand recount led by Trump supporters in Maricopa County, Arizona’s largest, found no proof of a stolen election and concluded Biden’s margin of victory was larger than the official count.

Hobbs, Lake’s opponent in November, went after the candidate over her opposition to abortion rights and gun control and a proposal she floated to put cameras in every classroom to keep an eye on teachers.

Republicans, moving toward November as a divided party in Arizona, need to make an appeal to the independent voters who decide to close races, said Chuck Coughlin, a longtime Republican strategist who left the party during the Trump era.

“I see it as a challenge the Republicans are going to have: How do they narrate to unaffiliated voters?” Coughlin said.

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US

Gov. Hochul says New York bail law changes off table till after election

Gov. Hochul says New York bail law changes off table till after election

ALBANY — A day after she blamed judges for rising crime in New York City, Gov. Kathy Hochul on Thursday ruled out any serious discussion of changes to state bail laws until January at the earliest.

The decree comes despite ongoing calls for action from Mayor Eric Adams, a fellow Democrat, as well as from small business owners and her Republican challenger amid rampant crime, often committed by repeat offenders.

“I’m willing to revisit everything, but let’s see whether or not the system can start functioning the way we intended,” Hochul told reporters at an Albany press conference.

“The legislature meets again next January and by that time we’ll be able to assess the real impact of our changes,” she added.

That timeline leaves laws current in place ahead of the Nov. 8 election pitting Hochul against Republican Rep. Lee Zeldin, who has made toughening up the state’s criminal justice system a key plank of his candidacy.

Governor Kathy Hochul
Gov. Kathy Hochul has said that a change to New York’s current bail law is off the table until after she’s re-elected in 2023.
Ron Adar/SOPA Images/Sipa USA via AP

Hochul also urged criticism to remain patient following the enactment of slight bail law tweaks that she has previously said hit the “sweet spot,” and which were included in the state budget passed last April.

The situation has even had Democrats like Mayor Adams calling for an extraordinary session of the state Legislature, whose regularly scheduled 2022 session ended in June. But she has rebuffed those calls for action.

Lorenzo Mclucas is arraigned in Manhattan Criminal Court after he was arrested for shoplifting for the 230th time.
Lorenzo Mclucas is arraigned in Manhattan Criminal Court after he was arrested for shoplifting for the 230th time.
Gabriella Bass

“There should be a special session called today to give judges discretion on far more offenses to weigh dangerousness, flight risk, seriousness of the offense and past criminal record,” Zeldin said in a statement to The Post Thursday, echoing the plea made by Adams .

Major crimes like murders and shootings have increased by 40% over the past year, according to the NYPD, with some high-profile cases involving alleged repeat offenders like 10 “worst of the worst” recidivists accounting for nearly 500 arrests since new limits on pre -trial detention took effect in 2020.

“When asked about overhauling the far-left, pro-criminal cashless bail law, Hochul says there is no data to support that action, and when confronted with the data she still punts and refuses to act. She could not be more wrong, ”Zeldin said in the statement.

The GOP standard-bearer is hardly the only notable pol calling on Hochul to back legislative action on bail laws months after Albany Democrats made additional offenses bail eligible while loosening some rules on how judges could jail repeat offenders.

Adams, who has endorsed Hochul for a full term in office, on Wednesday highlighted stats showing more than 80% of people charged with carrying guns in New York City over the past year were released after their arrests.

Harold Gooding has been busted a total of 101 times, with 88 coming since bail reform was enacted.
Harold Gooding has been busted a total of 101 times, with 88 coming since bail reform was enacted.
Facebook

“The judges have tools that they are not using, but they do need more tools,” he told reporters at a press conference, when asked about Hochul’s deflection to judges.

“This conversation is about that small number of dangerous people who are repeated recidivists who have made up their mind that ‘we can do whatever we want in this city and nothing is gonna happen to us,’” Adams added.

Such arguments have not convinced Hochul – whose strongest support lies with liberal-leaning voters in New York City, according to recent polling – to back calls to agree lawmakers to deal with bail laws.

“How much longer will the Governor and Legislature wait? We need a special session to repeal their disastrous bail laws and restore public safety to our state NOW,” state Senate Republican Minority Leader Robert Ortt tweeted Thursday after Hochul said an extraordinary session was a no-go.

Members of the state Senate and Assembly are not slated to return to Albany until next year, but they could reconvene if Hochul and legislative leaders called them back.

That happened earlier this summer when Albany Democrats, who have supermajorities in both chambers, struck a deal with Hochul on tightening state laws on carrying concealed weapons following a controversial decision by the US Supreme Court.

Kathy Hochul
Mayor Adams and Hochul’s Republican opponent in the upcoming election have both expressed desires to change the law.
Spencer Platt/Getty Images

Hochul claimed Thursday that current bail laws could prove their worth with more time, especially alongside other initiatives aimed at reducing crime like an ongoing anti-gun effort overseen by state police that has seized 795 illegal weapons this year.

“It’s not a simple this over that. That’ll never be my strategy,” Hochul said while noting crime increases in other areas of the country.

She also insisted that even if she wanted to change bail laws in the short-term her hands are tied by state Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins ​​and Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie — who both support the current laws.

“You bring back the special session when the legislature is willing and an agreement going into certain changes. Otherwise, they gavel in, they gavel out. OKAY?. That’s the reality. I have to deal with realities here,” she told The Post Thursday.

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Categories
US

Gov. Hochul says New York bail law changes off table till after election

Gov. Hochul says New York bail law changes off table till after election

ALBANY — A day after she blamed judges for rising crime in New York City, Gov. Kathy Hochul on Thursday ruled out any serious discussion of changes to state bail laws until January at the earliest.

The decree comes despite ongoing calls for action from Mayor Eric Adams, a fellow Democrat, as well as from small business owners and her Republican challenger amid rampant crime, often committed by repeat offenders.

“I’m willing to revisit everything, but let’s see whether or not the system can start functioning the way we intended,” Hochul told reporters at an Albany press conference.

“The legislature meets again next January and by that time we’ll be able to assess the real impact of our changes,” she added.

That timeline leaves laws current in place ahead of the Nov. 8 election pitting Hochul against Republican Rep. Lee Zeldin, who has made toughening up the state’s criminal justice system a key plank of his candidacy.

Governor Kathy Hochul
Gov. Kathy Hochul has said that a change to New York’s current bail law is off the table until after she’s re-elected in 2023.
Ron Adar/SOPA Images/Sipa USA via AP

Hochul also urged criticism to remain patient following the enactment of slight bail law tweaks that she has previously said hit the “sweet spot,” and which were included in the state budget passed last April.

The situation has even had Democrats like Mayor Adams calling for an extraordinary session of the state Legislature, whose regularly scheduled 2022 session ended in June. But she has rebuffed those calls for action.

Lorenzo Mclucas is arraigned in Manhattan Criminal Court after he was arrested for shoplifting for the 230th time.
Lorenzo Mclucas is arraigned in Manhattan Criminal Court after he was arrested for shoplifting for the 230th time.
Gabriella Bass

“There should be a special session called today to give judges discretion on far more offenses to weigh dangerousness, flight risk, seriousness of the offense and past criminal record,” Zeldin said in a statement to The Post Thursday, echoing the plea made by Adams .

Major crimes like murders and shootings have increased by 40% over the past year, according to the NYPD, with some high-profile cases involving alleged repeat offenders like 10 “worst of the worst” recidivists accounting for nearly 500 arrests since new limits on pre -trial detention took effect in 2020.

“When asked about overhauling the far-left, pro-criminal cashless bail law, Hochul says there is no data to support that action, and when confronted with the data she still punts and refuses to act. She could not be more wrong, ”Zeldin said in the statement.

The GOP standard-bearer is hardly the only notable pol calling on Hochul to back legislative action on bail laws months after Albany Democrats made additional offenses bail eligible while loosening some rules on how judges could jail repeat offenders.

Adams, who has endorsed Hochul for a full term in office, on Wednesday highlighted stats showing more than 80% of people charged with carrying guns in New York City over the past year were released after their arrests.

Harold Gooding has been busted a total of 101 times, with 88 coming since bail reform was enacted.
Harold Gooding has been busted a total of 101 times, with 88 coming since bail reform was enacted.
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“The judges have tools that they are not using, but they do need more tools,” he told reporters at a press conference, when asked about Hochul’s deflection to judges.

“This conversation is about that small number of dangerous people who are repeated recidivists who have made up their mind that ‘we can do whatever we want in this city and nothing is gonna happen to us,’” Adams added.

Such arguments have not convinced Hochul – whose strongest support lies with liberal-leaning voters in New York City, according to recent polling – to back calls to agree lawmakers to deal with bail laws.

“How much longer will the Governor and Legislature wait? We need a special session to repeal their disastrous bail laws and restore public safety to our state NOW,” state Senate Republican Minority Leader Robert Ortt tweeted Thursday after Hochul said an extraordinary session was a no-go.

Members of the state Senate and Assembly are not slated to return to Albany until next year, but they could reconvene if Hochul and legislative leaders called them back.

That happened earlier this summer when Albany Democrats, who have supermajorities in both chambers, struck a deal with Hochul on tightening state laws on carrying concealed weapons following a controversial decision by the US Supreme Court.

Kathy Hochul
Mayor Adams and Hochul’s Republican opponent in the upcoming election have both expressed desires to change the law.
Spencer Platt/Getty Images

Hochul claimed Thursday that current bail laws could prove their worth with more time, especially alongside other initiatives aimed at reducing crime like an ongoing anti-gun effort overseen by state police that has seized 795 illegal weapons this year.

“It’s not a simple this over that. That’ll never be my strategy,” Hochul said while noting crime increases in other areas of the country.

She also insisted that even if she wanted to change bail laws in the short-term her hands are tied by state Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins ​​and Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie — who both support the current laws.

“You bring back the special session when the legislature is willing and an agreement going into certain changes. Otherwise, they gavel in, they gavel out. OKAY?. That’s the reality. I have to deal with realities here,” she told The Post Thursday.

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US

Autocratic Hungarian leader Orban hailed by US conservatives

Autocratic Hungarian leader Orban hailed by US conservatives

DALLAS (AP) — Hungary’s autocratic Prime Minister Viktor Orban urged cheering American conservatives on Thursday to “take back the institutions,” stick to hardline stances on gay rights and immigration and fight for the next US presidential election as a pivotal moment for their beliefs.

The exuberant cheers and standing ovations at the Conservative Political Action Conference for the far-right prime minister, who has been criticized for undermining his own country’s democratic institutions, demonstrated the growing embrace between Orban and Republicans in the US

I have mocked the media in this country and in Europe. And in a speech he titled “How We Fight,” Orban told the crowd gathered in a Dallas convention ballroom to focus now on the 2024 election, saying they had “two years to get ready,” though he endorsed no candidate or party.

“Victory will never be found by taking the path of least resistance,” he said during one of the keynote slots of the three-day CPAC event. “We must take back the institutions in Washington and Brussels. We must find friends and allies in one another.”

Referring to liberals, he said: “They hate me and slander me and my country, as they hate you and slander you for the America you stand for.”

His entrance drew a bigger welcome than the governor of Texas, Republican Greg Abbott, received moments earlier on the same stage. From there, the cheers continued as Orban weaved through attacks on LGBTQ rights, boasted about reducing abortions in Hungary and celebrated hardline immigration measures back home.

Other speakers will include former President Donald Trump — who met with Orban earlier this week and will address the gathering on Saturday — Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia and Republican candidates fresh off GOP primary election victories Tuesday.

Orban’s visit to the US came amid backlash back home and in Europe over anti-migrant remarks in which he railed against Europe becoming a “mixed race” society. One of his closest associates compared his comments to Nazi rhetoric and resigned in protest. Orban told the crowd in Texas the media would portray him as a racist strongman and dismissed those who would call his government racist as “idiots.”

His invitation to CPAC reflects conservatives’ growing embrace of the Hungarian leader whose country has a single-party government. Orban is also considered the closest ally in the European Union to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said Thursday that President Joe Biden had no plans to speak with Orban while he’s in the US Asked if the administration had any concerns about CPAC inviting such a leader to speak at the high-profile conference, Kirby demurred .

“He’s coming at a private invitation,” Kirby said. “Mr. Orban and the CPAC, they can talk about his visit from him.”

Trump praised Orban, who has been prime minister for 12 years, after their meeting this week in Florida.

“Few people know as much about what is going on in the world today,” the former president said in a statement after the meeting.

To some attending the three-day conference, Orban is a model leader who makes an impression beyond Hungary because of his policies and personality.

They praised him for his border security measures and for providing financial subsidies to Hungarian women, which Orban has called an effort to counter Hungary’s population decline. Lilla Vessey, who moved to Dallas from Hungary with her husband, Ede, in the 1980s, said what she hears back in Hungary is that Orban is not anti-democratic.

“I don’t know how it happened that the conservatives kind of discovered him,” said Ede Vessey, 73. “He supports the traditional values. He supports the family.”

Scott Huber, who met Orban along with other CPAC attendees at a private event hours before the speech, said the prime minister expressed hope the US would “moderate a little bit from the far-left influences” in November’s midterm elections. The 67-year-old Pennsylvanian said he would not disagree with descriptions of Orban as autocratic and that he has upset democratic norms, but said he thought it would change in time.

As to why Orban is winning over so many conservatives, Huber noted Orban’s attacks on George Sorosthe American-Hungarian billionaire and philanthropist who is a staunch critic of Hungary’s government and a supporter of liberal causes.

“That’s why I was so interested in seeing him,” Huber said.

Through his communications office, Orban declined an interview request by The Associated Press prior to his speech in Dallas.

The AP and other international news organizations also were prohibited from covering a CPAC conference held in Budapest in May, the group’s first conference in Europe. During that gathering, Orban called Hungary “the bastion of conservative Christian values ​​in Europe” and urged conservatives in the US to defeat “the dominance of progressive liberals in public life.”

He has styled himself as a champion of what he calls “illiberal democracy.”

Orban served as prime minister of Hungary between 1998 and 2002, but it’s his record since taking office again in 2010 that has drawn controversy and raised concerns about Hungary sliding into authoritarian rule. He has depicted himself as a defender of European Christendom against Muslim migrants, progressives and the “LGBTQ lobby.”

Last year, his right-wing Fidesz party banned the depiction of homosexuality or sex reassignment in media targeting people under 18. Information on homosexuality also was forbidden in school sex education programs, or in films and advertisements accessible to minors.

Some of the biggest applauses during Orban’s speech came when he described Hungary’s family framework.

“To sum up, the mother is a woman, the father is a man, and leave our children alone, full stop,” he said.

Orban has consolidated power over the country’s judiciary and media, and his party has drawn legislative districts in a way that makes it very difficult for opposition parties to win seats — somewhat similar to partisan gerrymandering efforts for state legislative and congressional seats in the US That process currently favors Republicans because they control more of the state legislatures that create those boundaries.

Orban’s moves have led international political observers to label him as the face of a new wave of authoritarianism. The European Union has launched numerous legal proceedings against Hungary for breaking EU rules and is withholding billions in recovery funds and credit over violations of rule-of-law standards and insufficient anti-corruption safeguards.

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Associated Press writer Aamer Madhani in Washington contributed to this report.

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US

Dick Cheney rips ‘coward’ Trump in election ad for daughter Liz

Dick Cheney rips 'coward' Trump in election ad for daughter Liz

Former Vice President Dick Cheney looks on as his daughter Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., takes the oath of office on the House floor on Tuesday, Jan. 3, 2017.

Bill Clark | CQ-Roll Call, Inc. | Getty Images

Former Vice President Dick Cheney assailed ex-President Donald Trump as a “coward” and a prime threat to the United States in a new campaign ad for his daughter, Rep. Liz Cheney, days before her Republican primary election in Wyoming.

“In our nation’s 246-year history, there has never been an individual who has posed a greater threat to our republic than Donald Trump,” the elder Cheney said in a straight-to-camera ad, which was shared online Thursday afternoon.

“He tried to steal the last election using lies and violence to keep himself in power after the voters had rejected him,” said Cheney, 81, who served for eight years as vice president in the George W. Bush administration.

“He is a coward. A real man wouldn’t lie to his supporters,” Cheney said. “He lost his election and he lost big. I know it, he knows it, and deep down, I think most Republicans know it.”

The 60-second spot, titled “He Knows It,” will run across Wyoming and online starting Friday, the Cheney campaign said. The ad comes less than two weeks before the Wyoming Republican primary, where the incumbent Cheney appears to be in trouble.

Cheney is Trump’s biggest Republican critic in Congress and a leading member of the House select committee investigating him over the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot. For her refusal of her to back down from her criticisms of the former president, she has been largely ostracized by her party of her and condemned by Trump’s loyal base of Republican voters.

Polls of the Aug. 16 Wyoming primary show Cheney trailing her top Republican opponent, Trump-backed Harriet Hageman, by wide margins. Hageman has echoed Trump’s false claims that his loss of him to President Joe Biden in the 2020 election was “rigged” by widespread fraud.

Yet Cheney, unlike some other House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump for inciting the Jan. 6 riot, has kept up her vocal attacks on Trump over the “Big Lie.”

Her persistence may have damaged her standing among some Republican voters, but it has not hampered her fundraising efforts: She has far outraised her competitors while assuring key donors and supporters that she will continue to hold Trump accountable. Dick Cheney has been involved in these talks as well, CNBC previously reported.

“Lynne and I are so proud of Liz for standing up for the truth, doing what’s right, honoring her oath to the Constitution when so many in our party are too scared to do so,” Dick Cheney said in the ad.

“Liz is fearless. She never backs down from a fight. There is nothing more important she will ever do than lead the effort to make sure Donald Trump is never again near the Oval Office. And she will succeed,” he said in the ad .

“I’m Dick Cheney. I proudly voted for my daughter. I hope you will too,” he said.

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