National Politics – New York Daily News https://www.nydailynews.com Breaking US news, local New York news coverage, sports, entertainment news, celebrity gossip, autos, videos and photos at nydailynews.com Thu, 07 Mar 2024 03:45:37 +0000 en-US hourly 30 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.4.3 https://www.nydailynews.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/cropped-DailyNewsCamera-7.webp?w=32 National Politics – New York Daily News https://www.nydailynews.com 32 32 208786248 Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey signs legislation protecting IVF providers from legal liability into law https://www.nydailynews.com/2024/03/06/alabama-gov-kay-ivey-signs-legislation-protecting-ivf-providers-from-legal-liability-into-law/ Thu, 07 Mar 2024 03:45:37 +0000 https://www.nydailynews.com/?p=7565914 MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey signed legislation into law Wednesday shielding in vitro fertilization providers from potential legal liability raised by a court ruling that equated frozen embryos to children.

The decision by the Alabama Supreme Court last month raised concerns about civil liabilities for clinics and prompted an outcry from patients and other groups. Three major IVF providers paused services.

The new law protects providers from lawsuits and criminal prosecution for the “damage or death of an embryo” during IVF services.

Republicans in the state Legislature proposed the lawsuit immunity as a way to get clinics reopened. They refused, however, to take up a bill that would address the legal status of embryos.

The state’s three major IVF providers paused services after the Alabama Supreme Court’s ruling last month.

In vitro fertilization (Shutterstock)
In vitro fertilization (Shutterstock)

The decision prompted an outcry from groups across the country. Patients in Alabama also shared stories about having upcoming embryo transfers abruptly canceled and their paths to parenthood put in doubt.

“I’m just elated to get these ladies back on schedule,” said Republican Sen. Tim Melson, the bill sponsor.

The state Supreme Court ruled that three couples who had frozen embryos destroyed in an accident at a storage facility could pursue wrongful death lawsuits for their “extrauterine children.” The ruling, treating an embryo the same as a child or gestating fetus under the wrongful death statute, raised concerns about civil liabilities for clinics.

Republicans in the GOP-dominated Alabama Legislature looked to the immunity proposal as a solution to clinics’ concerns. But they have shied away from proposals that would address the legal status of embryos created in IVF labs.

House Democrats proposed legislation last week stating that a human embryo outside a uterus can not be considered an unborn child or human being under state law. Democrats argued that was the most direct way to deal with the issue. Republicans have not brought the proposal up for a vote.

Lawmakers pushed the immunity proposal as a way to address clinic’s immediate concerns and get them open. But they did not take up any legislation that would address the legal status of embryos.

“I think there is too much difference of opinion on when actual life begins. A lot of people say conception. A lot of people say implantation. Others say heartbeat. I wish I had the answer,” Melson said. Melson, who is a doctor, said lawmakers may have to come back with additional legislation but said he said it should be based on “science not feelings.”

The court ruled that three couples whose frozen embryos were destroyed when a hospital patient got into the storage unit at a fertility clinic and dropped the embryos could pursue wrongful death lawsuits for their “extrauterine children.” The ruling, treating an embryo the same as a child or gestating fetus under the wrongful death statute, raised concerns about civil liabilities for clinics. A fourth couple filed a similar wrongful death lawsuit last week.

The court ruling recognizing embryos as children drew a backlash and patients saw appointments abruptly canceled or their paths to parenthood put in doubt.

The bill says that “no action, suit, or criminal prosecution for the damage to or death of an embryo shall be brought or maintained against any individual or entity when providing or receiving services related to in vitro fertilization.” The immunity would be retroactive but would exclude pending litigation. Civil lawsuits could be pursued against manufacturers of IVF-related goods, such as the nutrient-rich solutions used to grow embryos, but damages would be capped and criminal prosecution would be forbidden.

Dr. Michael C. Allemand with Alabama Fertility said Tuesday that the legislative proposal would allow the clinic to resume IVF services by returning “us to a normal state of affairs in terms of what the liability issues are.”

He said the past weeks have been difficult on patients and staff as procedures have been postponed.

“There’s been some truly heart-wrenching conversations that have taken place,” Allemand said.

The American Society for Reproductive Medicine, a group representing IVF providers across the country, said the legislation does not go far enough. Sean Tipton, a spokesperson for the organization, said Monday that the legislation does not correct the fundamental problem, which he said is the court ruling “conflating fertilized eggs with children.”

House Democrats proposed legislation that would put in state law or the state Constitution that a human embryo outside a uterus cannot be considered an unborn child or human being under state law. Democrats argued that was the most direct way to deal with the issue. Republicans have not brought the proposals up for a vote.

Republicans are also trying to navigate tricky political waters — torn between widespread popularity and support for IVF — and conflicts within their own party. Some Republicans have unsuccessfully sought to add Louisiana-style language to ban clinics from destroying unused or unwanted embryos.

State Republicans are reckoning with an IVF crisis they partly helped create with anti-abortion language added to the Alabama Constitution in 2018. The amendment, which was approved by 59% of voters, says it is state policy to recognize the “rights of unborn children.”

The phrase became the basis of the court’s ruling. At the time, supporters said it would allow the state to ban abortion if Roe v. Wade were overturned, but opponents argued it could establish “personhood” for fertilized eggs.

During debate in the House of Representatives on Tuesday, state Rep. Chris England, a Democrat from Tuscaloosa, said lawmakers were attempting to play “lawsuit whack-a-mole” instead of confronting the real issue — the implications of personhood-like language in the Alabama Constitution.

“The real solution to this is determining the definition of a child and having a real conversation about the implications of some of the decisions we’ve made,” England said.

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7565914 2024-03-06T22:45:37+00:00 2024-03-06T22:45:37+00:00
Four burning questions as Trump and Biden head toward 2020 rematch https://www.nydailynews.com/2024/03/06/four-burning-questions-as-trump-and-biden-head-toward-2020-rematch/ Wed, 06 Mar 2024 23:02:43 +0000 https://www.nydailynews.com/?p=7564709 The election rematch few Americans want started in earnest Wednesday as former President Donald Trump wrapped up the Republican nomination and rival Nikki Haley suspended her campaign.

Trump has been working for months to turn back primary challenges and get Republicans behind his comeback campaign for the White House after four years out of power.

That goal was sealed after he scored a sweeping victory in the Super Tuesday primaries.

President Biden was already the presumptive 2024 Democratic nominee even before he brushed off nominal primary challenges to his reelection bid.

Now, Biden hopes to utilize Thursday night’s State of the Union address to kick off his presidential campaign against Trump, a contrast he hopes will rally voters behind him despite concerns about his age and other potential political weak spots.

Here are some takeaways:

What will Joe say in SOTU?

Biden has a rare national platform to make his opening argument to Americans for why he deserves four more years in the White House.

Look for Biden to boast about his achievements and to pitch himself as uniquely qualified to lead the country and the world through a challenging period — and paint a sharp contrast with the chaos under Trump.

The stakes are quite high.

With voters on both sides of the aisle concerned about Biden’s age, any perceived gaffe could harden pre-existing opinions that he is just too old to serve.

On the other hand, Biden has the opportunity to cut through the political noise and demonstrate his often-underrated political skills.

Who benefits from the general election matchup being set?

Pundits have been puzzled by the persistently high number of Americans who did not believe that Biden and Trump would actually be their parties’ candidates for the White House.

Democratic strategists in particular believe that Biden could benefit from the matchup between the two men now being set in stone.

Team Biden believes that Democratic voters may start focusing on Trump, a candidate many of them loathe and is perhaps the biggest motivator for them to get behind anyone running against him.

Can Trump rally Republican critics who backed Nikki Haley?

For Trump, the immediate challenge is to win over Republicans who supported Nikki Haley in the just-completed primary fight.

“Clearly there are a quarter to a third of the people who voted in the Republican primaries … who simply won’t accept him or don’t wan’t him back in the White House,” Larry Sabato, a University of Virginia political analyst, said on CNN.

If past is prologue, Trump will likely seek to project strength with the Republican base as way to bring “traditional Republicans” back in the fold, Sabato added.

But Republican strategist Doug Heye noted that it won’t be a cakewalk for Trump, given that he deliberately sought to push away Haley supporters by declaring them “permanently banned” from his MAGA movement.

“That is dumb,” Heye told the News. “Anyone wearing a ‘Permanently Banned’ T-shirt is unlikely to return to the fold of the person insulting them.”

It appears that Trump’s mounting legal woes may not be the massive political headache they once seemed certain to pose.

So far, Trump’s indictment on 91 felonies and his four looming criminal trials have not damaged his political standing.

If anything, he has succeeded in using the trials to rally his supporters behind the idea that he is being unfairly targeted by liberal prosecutors.

Can Biden unify a fractured Democratic coalition?

The incumbent president has a unity problem of his own.

Biden is facing serious dissatisfaction with Democratic voters, some of whom are disenchanted over his handling of the economy or blame him for the influx of migrants across the southern border and into northern cities.

The most visible split is over Biden’s handling of Israel’s war in Gaza. Critics have mounted modestly successful campaigns to register opposition to the war in states like Michigan, where 13% of Democrats shunned him to vote for “uncommitted” delegates.

Polls show Biden suffering from relatively low approval with Latinos, Blacks and young voters, all key portions of the Democratic base.

That’s a flashing danger sign for the incumbent. But it’s also an opportunity for Biden to win back voters who traditionally back the Democrat in the end.

Sabato notes that the White House needs to do a much better job communicating his policy achievements on issues like the economy and abortion rights.

“They have got to use the campaign and the State of the Union address to make it clear what they have actually done,” he said.

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7564709 2024-03-06T18:02:43+00:00 2024-03-06T19:55:35+00:00
Sen. Mitch McConnell endorses Trump for president despite long feud https://www.nydailynews.com/2024/03/06/sen-mitch-mcconnell-endorses-trump-for-president-despite-past-objections/ Wed, 06 Mar 2024 17:08:10 +0000 https://www.nydailynews.com/?p=7564160 Sen. Mitch McConnell on Wednesday endorsed former President Donald Trump for election in 2024, setting aside a yearslong feud over Trump’s role in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.

The outgoing Senate GOP leader, who famously called Trump “morally and practically responsible” for the violent attack on the Capitol, said in a statement that it was time for Republicans to unite behind the party’s presumptive nominee.

“Trump has earned the requisite support of Republican voters to be our nominee for president of the United States,” McConnell said in a statement. “It should come as no surprise that as nominee, he will have my support.”

McConnell’s announcement came after Nikki Haley suspended her campaign the day after Trump won a sweeping victory in the Super Tuesday primaries.

McConnell, 82, last week announced he will step down as Republican Senate leader after the fall elections.

“I look forward to the opportunity of switching from playing defense against the terrible policies the Biden administration has pursued to a sustained offense geared towards making a real difference in improving the lives of the American people,” McConnell said.

He bragged about working with Trump during his first term in the White House, especially in remaking the federal judiciary and installing three conservative U.S. Supreme Court justices.

McConnell did not mention Trump’s effort to overturn his loss in the 2020 election, an effort that culminated with the violent Jan. 6 attack by a mob of Trump supporters.

McConnell harshly denounced Trump for engineering what he called an attack on American democracy and the Constitution.

But the iconic leader of the GOP establishment opposed Trump’s impeachment over his incitement of the attack. He effectively blocked Trump’s conviction in the Senate, a decision that opened the door to Trump’s dramatic political comeback.

Trump has viciously derided McConnell for years, branding him an “old crow,” a Republican in name only and worse.

The former president also used anti-Asian nicknames to abuse McConnell’s wife, Elaine Chao, who served as his own transportation secretary but quit after Jan. 6.

After nearly two decades as GOP Senate leader, McConnell says he will step down when the new Congress begins next January.

His two top lieutenants are vying for his spot, but Trump may seek to handpick a more pliant acolyte to the powerful position.

McConnell has said he will serve out the remainder of his term, which runs through the 2026 elections. But some predict he will retire sooner.

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7564160 2024-03-06T12:08:10+00:00 2024-03-06T18:26:44+00:00
Nikki Haley suspends Republican presidential campaign but does not endorse Trump https://www.nydailynews.com/2024/03/06/nikki-haley-will-suspend-her-campaign-leaving-trump-as-last-major-gop-candidate/ Wed, 06 Mar 2024 12:54:21 +0000 https://www.nydailynews.com/?p=7563979 Nikki Haley on Wednesday suspended her Republican presidential campaign Wednesday — but refused to endorse former President Donald Trump for now.

After being crushed from coast to coast on Super Tuesday, the former UN ambassador urged Trump to work to earn the support of her and the coalition of mostly moderate and suburban Republicans who backed her campaign,

“It’s now up to Donald Trump to earn the votes of those who did not support him,” Haley said. “This is now his time for choosing.”

Haley spoke the morning after Trump rolled to an impressive victory on Super Tuesday, winning 14 out of 15 states including giant California and Texas and running up the score with about 80% of the vote in many primary states.

“The time has now come to suspend my campaign,” Haley said. “Although I will no longer be a candidate, I will not stop using my voice for the things I believe in.”

Republican presidential candidate former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley speaks during a news conference, Wednesday, March 6, 2024, in Charleston, S.C. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson)
Republican presidential candidate former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley speaks during a news conference, Wednesday, March 6, 2024, in Charleston, S.C. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson)

Haley doubled down on her unshakable support for a muscular foreign policy and aid to Ukraine, which many fellow Republicans want to abandon in the face of a Russian invasion.

She leaves the race with wins in tiny, deep-blue Vermont and Washington, D.C. along with respectable showings of more than 40% in independent-minded New Hampshire and about the same in her home state of South Carolina.

Haley quoted former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, another trailblazing female politician: “Never just follow the crowd.”

Haley threw in the towel after spending the last several weeks ramping up her once-tepid criticism of Trump.

She has slammed the twice-impeached, four times-indicted ex-president as unelectable and a danger to democracy, barbs that spurred Trump to angrily deride her as a Republican in name only and worse.

Haley refused to commit to backing Trump in the general election even though she joined other GOP candidates in signing a pledge to endorse the eventual party nominee.

Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump speaks at a Super Tuesday election night party, Tuesday, March 5, 2024, at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump speaks at a Super Tuesday election night party, Tuesday, March 5, 2024, at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

In what amounted to a concession speech Wednesday, Haley softened those attacks significantly, suggesting she may be laying the groundwork to endorse Trump at some point.

“I wish him well. I wish anyone well who would be America’s president,” she said. “Our country is too precious to let our differences divide us.”

Haley was the first major candidate to challenge Trump after he announced his run for a third straight Republican nomination.

She was later joined by heavyweights like Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and a raft of other candidates including Sen. Tim Scott, ex-N.J. Gov. Chris Christie and upstart entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy.

DANIEL ISLAND, SOUTH CAROLINA - MARCH 6: Republican presidential candidate, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley announces the suspension of her presidential campaign at her campaign headquarters on March 06, 2024 in Daniel Island, South Carolina. Haley's announcement comes after losing all GOP primaries except Vermont in yesterday's Super Tuesday contests. (Photo by Sean Rayford/Getty Images) ** OUTS - ELSENT, FPG, CM - OUTS * NM, PH, VA if sourced by CT, LA or MoD **
Republican presidential candidate, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley announces the suspension of her presidential campaign at her campaign headquarters on March 6, 2024 in Daniel Island, South Carolina. (Photo by Sean Rayford/Getty Images)

But Trump effectively cleared the field by eviscerating DeSantis with months of withering attacks. None of the other candidates really caught fire with the GOP voters, many of whom had backed Trump twice before.

Trump cleaned up with a big win in the Iowa caucuses, where Haley fell short of DeSantis in third place. Haley also fell short in New Hampshire, a state that looked like her best shot at an upset.

That set up a blowout win for Trump in South Carolina, a result that effectively delivered a knockout blow to Haley even though she soldiered on through Super Tuesday.

 

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7563979 2024-03-06T07:54:21+00:00 2024-03-06T18:20:40+00:00
Live Updates: Trump celebrates Super Tuesday wins; Haley wins Vermont and does not drop out https://www.nydailynews.com/2024/03/05/live-updates-super-tuesday/ Wed, 06 Mar 2024 00:00:34 +0000 https://www.nydailynews.com/?p=7562979 President Biden and former President Donald Trump powered their way to primary victories from coast to coast on Super Tuesday, a symbolic starting gun for their anticipated general election rematch.

As of 11:13 p.m., Trump had won 12 states on Tuesday, according to The Associated Press. Biden had picked up 14 Super Tuesday victories. There were more than 2,000 delegates up for grabs across the two parties.

Trump has steamrolled through the GOP primary, and is seeking to push his lone remaining rival, Nikki Haley, out the race. She had not spoken publicly about Tuesday’s results and did not have a public election night party.

She did score one surprise victory Tuesday, knocking off Trump in Vermont, according to The AP.

A win by Haley in any state would mark a major upset, but the Vermont victory did not change the trajectory of the race. Haley was seeking to score enough delegates to forestall Trump’s national primary victory, which could come as soon as next week. The longer Haley remains in the race, the more resources the Trump campaign must expend on the primary. It is unclear if Haley would endorse Trump if she drops out in the coming days.

Despite the Vermont drama, the broader Super Tuesday results confirmed the expectation going into the day: Biden and Trump are on the cusp of a rerun of the 2020 election.

In the Democratic primary, Biden has had to fend off protest votes from some Americans upset with his handling of Israel’s devastating military campaign in Gaza.

Biden said the Super Tuesday results crystallized the choice America faces.

“Are we going to keep moving forward or will we allow Donald Trump to drag us backwards into the chaos, division, and darkness that defined his term in office?” Biden said in a statement late Tuesday, asserting that Trump is “driven by grievance and grift, focused on his own revenge and retribution, not the American people.”


11:13 pm: Biden and Trump win California 

The delegate-rich Golden State went the way of most of the rest of the map on Tuesday, with Biden and Trump both emerging victors, according to The AP.

11 pm: Biden loses American Samoa

Jason Palmer, a Baltimore resident who campaigned by Zoom call, beat Biden in the tiny Pacific territory of American Samoa, hauling in a reported 51 caucus votes, according to The AP.

10:45 pm: Nikki Haley beats Trump in Vermont

Nikki Haley salvaged a win over Trump in Vermont, The AP projected.

Haley edged out Trump by a narrow margin by rolling up a 3-1 win in Burlington, the biggest city in the deep-blue state.

It’s Haley’s second victory of the nomination quest after a win in the Washington, D.C., primary.


10:30 pm: Trump trashes Biden in Super Tuesday victory speech

Trump celebrated his win by trashing President Biden as he looked ahead to a near-certain general election rematch against the man who beat him in 2020.

“He’s the worst president in the history of our country,” Trump said. “It’s sad to see what’s happening.”

The former president slammed Biden in a rambling speech for mishandling the economy and the situation at the southern border.

“Our country is very divided,” Trump said. “In some ways we’re a Third World country.”

“This is the worst invasion. No country has ever seen anything like it,” he added.

Trump promised a crowd of supporters at his Mar-a-Lago estate that he would win back the White House.

“We’re going to take back our country,” Trump vowed.


9:24: Biden and Trump win Minnesota

The Associated Press said Biden and Trump took home victories in Minnesota. Trump has now won 10 states so far this evening.


9:09 pm: Biden and Trump pick up delegates in Colorado

In Colorado, Biden and Trump both won, according to the Associated Press. The state’s top court had knocked Trump off the ballot, but was overruled by the U.S. Supreme Court. It’s the westernmost state called so far.


9 pm: Vermont’s GOP race too close to call

In the only competitive state so far, the Republican race in Vermont was too close to call. Trump had a 2-point lead with about half the vote in, but most of the vote had not been reported in Burlington, Vermont’s largest city and the home of the flagship state university. Haley could score a large haul of votes from the city.


9 pm: Biden and Trump win Texas

Biden and Trump both notched victories in delegate-rich Texas, according to the Associated Press. The AP called the victories as soon as polls closed in West Texas. Shortly after, The AP also called Arkansas for Trump.


8:49 pm: Trump wins Massachusetts

The 45th president hit New England turbulence in Vermont, but Massachusetts — which has some Republican strongholds outside the Boston area — went for Trump, according to the Associated Press. The AP called the race with little of the vote counted, suggesting Haley was not competitive in the Bay State.


8:45 pm: Biden and Trump win Alabama; Biden wins Arkansas

The president and his predecessor scored wins in Alabama, according to the Associated Press. Biden also scored a quick AP victory call in Arkansas.


8:27 pm: Biden wins Massachusetts, Maine; Trump wins Maine

The Associated Press has called Massachusetts for both Trump and Biden. Trump also won Maine, The AP said.


8:16 pm: Trump and Biden win Oklahoma.

Both Trump and Biden picked up victories in the Sooner State, according to the Associated Press. Early results showed both candidates romping.


8:05 pm: Trump and Biden roll in Tennessee

Trump wins the Tennessee primary as expected with the Associated Press projecting him as the winner just after polls close.

Biden also won.


7:45 pm: Trump projected to win North Carolina

Trump is projected as the winner of the North Carolina Republican primary, according to the Associated Press.

Biden won the Democratic contest.


7:25 pm: Biden and Trump projected to win Virginia

Trump is projected by the Associated Press as the winner the Republican primary in Virginia. President Biden, meantime, has also won Virginia.

Trump was running up wide margins over Haley in Virginia, which was considered one of the former South Carolina governor’s best chances for an upset.


7:05 pm: No immediate calls for Trump in Virginia, Vermont

There was no immediate call of the Republican primaries in Virginia and Vermont by major networks as polls closed at 7 pm. The two states were considered among the best possibilities for Haley to pull off upsets of former Trump.

NBC News noted that Trump was leading in Virginia.

An immediate call for Trump in either state would have signaled a looming landslide over Haley in the remaining 13 primary states with results rolling in later Tuesday night.


6:50 pm: Haley has no public schedule

Haley’s schedule on Super Tuesday is a blank slate, raising questions about her future plans in the Republican presidential primary.

The former South Carolina governor has no events on her public schedule and did not respond to inquiries about whether she plans to speak after results are announced.

Haley has said she plans to stay in her long-shot race against Trump for as long as she can be “competitive.”

That sounds a lot less definitive than what Haley said about Super Tuesday in recent weeks, which was that she was 100% going to stay in the race until the biggest raft of primary states went to the polls.


5:50 pm: Biden wins Iowa’s Democratic race: The AP has called Iowa for Biden in the first primary result of the night. The election was held by mail beginning last month; Biden scored more than 90% of the vote, according to incomplete results.

Tuesday morning: Taylor Swift told her Instagram followers to vote in Super Tuesday states, but did not say who they should support. She endorsed Biden in 2020.

 

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7562979 2024-03-05T19:00:34+00:00 2024-03-06T10:32:32+00:00
NYC Council Immigration Committee demands Adams spend more on migrant legal services, education https://www.nydailynews.com/2024/03/05/nyc-council-immigration-committee-demands-adams-spend-more-on-migrant-legal-services-education/ Tue, 05 Mar 2024 22:29:23 +0000 https://www.nydailynews.com/?p=7562273 New York City Councilwoman Alexa Aviles demanded at a budget hearing Tuesday that Mayor Adams restore cuts to immigrant legal and language services, and criticized his administration for relying too heavily — and paying too much for — for-profit contracts in the city’s response to the asylum seeker crisis.

Aviles, who heads the Council’s Immigration Committee, said the administration must put $150 million to “enhanced” immigrant legal services and add an additional $10 million to “adequately fund” adult education for immigrants.

“This defunding of literacy and legal services undermines opportunities that we seek to create in our civil society, and it just doesn’t make sense. It must be addressed immediately,” she said. “This is about sustainability of services for immigrant New Yorkers — 40% of the city’s population.”

The hearing — one of several the Council will hold as part of vetting the mayor’s preliminary budget and negotiating a final spending plan — came one day after the Council released a new revenue projection forecasting $3.3 billion more in tax receipts than a projection by Mayor Adams’ budget director, Jacques Jiha, a development first reported by the Daily News.

As part of her demand to restore cuts, Aviles grilled Manuel Castro, the commissioner of the Mayor’s Office of Immigration Affairs, about new spending requests his office has made of the administration and what specific services he believes deserve more funding.

MIGRANTS
Commissioner Manuel Castro (Luiz C. Ribeiro/for New York Daily News)
Luiz C. Ribeiro/for New York Daily News
Commissioner Manuel Castro (Luiz C. Ribeiro/for New York Daily News)

“We have yet to request funding,” Castro said in response, adding that his office is “in conversation” with the mayor’s budget office about its needs.

Aviles continued to press Castro on the needs of his office, and specifically touched on its ability to provide legal services to immigrants. But Castro declined to put a specific dollar figure to his office’s spending needs.

“I can’t seem to get an actual concrete number from you,” Aviles said. “I don’t know if that’s because you don’t know it, or you don’t want to put it on the table, or you haven’t quite decided.

“I would just love for you to have the opportunity to say: ‘This is what we need. This is what we’re fighting for.'”

The Council focused not just on what Castro’s office needs, but also on how the city’s immigration apparatus spends the money it has on hand.

The questions come amid several controversies stemming from for-profit, private contractors the city has hired to handle the influx of about 180,000 migrants into the city since 2022.

One of those companies is DocGo, which Attorney General Letitia James began probing last August over accusations that the company mistreated migrants. Another is Mobility Capital Finance, a company that will provide debit cards to 500 migrant families with children as part of a pilot program designed to lower food costs.

Molly Schaeffer, interim director of Adams’ Office of Asylum Seeker Operations, testified that she “would get back to” the Council about how many for-profit companies and entities based outside the city are providing migrant services to city, as opposed to nonprofits.

(Right) Molly Schaeffer, interim director of Adams' Office of Asylum Seeker Operations. (John McCarten/NYC Council Media Unit)
(Right) Molly Schaeffer, interim director of Adams’ Office of Asylum Seeker Operations. (John McCarten/NYC Council Media Unit)

“We want to get more nonprofits involved,” she said.

Schaeffer estimated that the debit card pilot program would save the city about $600,000 a month in costs associated with buying and delivering food to migrants.

“If this works out, it would replace DocGo deliveries,” Schaeffer noted, but she would not say whether the city could claw back money from its DocGo agreements when Aviles questioned her about it.

Aviles also questioned why the city is agreeing to higher hourly rates charged by for-profit contractors as opposed to paying less for nonprofits that charge less.

“We’re seeing this over and over again — obviously not simply with [Immigration Affairs], but in this entire space we are seeing a prioritization of corporations and for-profit corporations and not for not-for profit, competent organizations that have been here,” Aviles said.

Schaeffer responded that it’s “a point well taken,” but stressed that there was a mandate to provide services to migrants as quickly as possible.

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7562273 2024-03-05T17:29:23+00:00 2024-03-05T17:39:01+00:00
Sen. Bob Menendez hit with new obstruction charges alleging he fed lies to feds before arrest https://www.nydailynews.com/2024/03/05/menendez-superseder-qatar-senate-sdny-gold-bars/ Tue, 05 Mar 2024 21:45:18 +0000 https://www.nydailynews.com/?p=7562647 New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez was hit Tuesday with new criminal charges in his Manhattan bribery case that allege he lied to the feds in the leadup to his arrest.

The embattled senator is newly accused of obstruction of justice and plotting to obstruct justice for allegedly claiming through his lawyers that he thought thousands of dollars in bribes given to his wife, Nadine Menendez, were loans.

Feds in the Southern District of New York say that Menendez relayed the bogus information to prosecutors in June and September of last year — right before he was indicted.

He allegedly claimed he’d initially been in the dark about thousands paid to his wife toward a new Mercedes-Benz and another payout of more than $23,000 issued by his co-defendant Wael Hana toward the company holding the mortgage on the couple’s New Jersey home.

“In truth and in fact, and as [Menendez] well knew, [Menendez] had learned of both the mortgage company payment and the car payments prior to 2022, and they were not loans, but bribe payments,” reads the indictment.

Menendez, 70, slammed the new charges as “a flagrant abuse of power” and doubled down on his claims his co-defendants had merely lent money to his wife, not bribed her.

“The government has long known that I learned of and helped repay loans — not bribes — that had been provided to my wife,” he said in a statement. “Not content — or capable — of meeting those facts fairly at trial, the government has now falsely alleged a coverup and obstruction. The latest charge reveals far more about the government than it says about me.”

FILE - Fred Daibes, one of three businessmen named as co-defendants with Sen. Bob Menendez, arrives at federal court, Sept. 27, 2023, in New York. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File)
Fred Daibes, one of three businessmen named as co-defendants with Sen. Bob Menendez, arrives at Manhattan Federal Court on Sept. 27 in New York. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File)

Menendez has pleaded not guilty to a host of charges accusing him, among other allegations, of conspiring to act as a foreign agent for the Egyptian government in his powerful role as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He’s also accused of abusing his position to advance lucrative Qatari interests in exchange for gold bullion bars, flashy watches and Formula 1 tickets, along with other lavish gifts.

The new charges come days after Jose Uribe — a former Garden State insurance broker charged alongside Menendez, his wife and two others last fall — on Friday pleaded guilty to conspiring to bribe the senator in exchange for the powerful Democrat’s help quashing criminal investigations into two associates, honest services wire fraud, tax evasion, obstruction of justice and related charges. Under the terms of his plea agreement, Uribe has agreed to cooperate against the senator and testify at his trial slated to begin May 6.

Details revealed during Uribe’s Friday plea hearing were included in the rewritten indictment filed against Menendez, his wife and businessmen Fred Daibes and Hana in Manhattan Federal Court, including a conversation Uribe allegedly had with the spouse the day he got a subpoena.

Uribe claimed Friday that he met Menendez’s wife at a Marriott Hotel to discuss a cover story in June 2022 after the feds requested information about large sums of cash he gave her.

Nadine Menendez asked “Uribe what he would say if law enforcement asked him about the payments he had made for the Mercedes-Benz Convertible. Uribe responded that he would say those payments had been a loan, and [Nadine Menendez] said that sounded good,” prosecutors wrote in Tuesday’s new filings.

Following his indictment, Menendez stepped down from his role on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee but has refused to resign from office. On Monday, a judge shot down his arguments challenging the lawfulness of search warrants executed on his home last year when the feds turned up almost half a million dollars in cash and gold bullion bars.

Lawyers for Nadine Menendez, Daibes and Hana did not immediately respond to requests seeking comment.

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5 takeaways in Supreme Court’s ruling to keep Trump on 2024 ballot https://www.nydailynews.com/2024/03/04/5-takeaways-in-supreme-courts-ruling-to-keep-trump-on-2024-ballot/ Mon, 04 Mar 2024 21:10:01 +0000 https://www.nydailynews.com/?p=7560353 The Supreme Court unanimously ruled that Donald Trump cannot be kept off the 2024 presidential ballot in Colorado — or any other state.

The justices voted 9-0 that Colorado did not have the right to act on its own to bar him for violating the 14th Amendment’s so-called insurrection clause.

But they split along ideological lines about the legal meaning of the ruling and what should happen if Trump would be found to have led an insurrection by inciting the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

Here are five takeaways:

Trump will be on the ballot in 2024 everywhere

All nine Supreme Court justices agreed that individual states like Colorado do not have the right to bar Trump from the Republican presidential primary or general election ballots, assuming he is the GOP nominee.

A five-judge majority of the court also further ruled that only Congress could pass legislation barring an accused insurrectionist from becoming president.

But such legislation is unlikely to be passed anytime soon given the divided Congress, where the House is led by Republicans and Democrats lead the Senate.

States cannot use 14th Amendment to bar candidates for federal offices

All the justices agreed that individual states should not be permitted to decide whether a presidential candidate is ineligible for office.

The unanimous decision said allowing states to do so would create a “chaotic patchwork” of rules for electing the person to serve America’s highest office.

The justices did not address the fact that such a patchwork already exists when it comes to ballot access for third-party and independent candidates, not to mention voting rules like those covering voting by mail and barring felons from voting.

Four dispute idea that only Congress can enforce insurrection clause

The court’s three liberal justices disputed the majority’s contention that the only way for a candidate accused of being an insurrectionist to be barred from the ballot would be for Congress to pass legislation.

The trio’s concurring opinion suggested that the Supreme Court could bar a presidential candidate under the 14th Amendment if that person had been categorically found to have participated in an insurrection, perhaps by his or her own admission.

The liberals also slammed the court for going beyond what was required to decide the matter at hand, a key judicial principal that the top court’s conservative majority has regularly invoked in recent decisions. Those include its controversial decision to overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade ruling that legalized abortion.

Conservative Justice Amy Coney Barrett agreed with the legal point made by the three liberals, but declined to join their opinion. She criticized the “stridency” of their views.

Ruling sidesteps whether Trump led insurrection on Jan. 6

Everyone knows the ruling is about Trump.

But neither the unanimous ruling of the court nor the concurring opinions actually mention the former president by name.

That could be because the Supreme Court is generally not called upon to determine the facts of a particular case.

And in the Colorado case, the state Supreme Court found that Trump’s actions amounted to inciting an insurrection.

So there was no need for any of the justices to opine on whether they agreed with that assessment or not.

Few clues for Trump presidential immunity case

Some legal analysts believe the Supreme Court might be planning a so-called “grand bargain” on Trump: allowing him access to the ballot but refusing to block his criminal trials.

The ruling gave few signs of such a deal, which would involve rejecting his plea for blanket presidential immunity against prosecution, a very different legal issue.

A possible bread crumb about the immunity decision could be gleaned from the timing of the ballot decision, which was issued a month after oral arguments.

If the justices act at a similar pace in the immunity case, they could issue a decision by Memorial Day after hearing arguments in late April.

That timing would permit a trial to start by Labor Day in Trump’s federal election interference case if the court rejects Trump’s appeal.

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7560353 2024-03-04T16:10:01+00:00 2024-03-04T17:47:33+00:00
Read the Supreme Court’s ruling keeping Donald Trump on the 2024 ballot https://www.nydailynews.com/2024/03/04/read-the-supreme-courts-ruling-keeping-donald-trump-on-the-2024-ballot/ Mon, 04 Mar 2024 18:03:19 +0000 https://www.nydailynews.com/?p=7560154 The Supreme Court ruled 9-0 on Monday that Donald Trump can remain on the primary election ballot in Colorado, reversing a state court ruling and ensuring the former president’s access to ballots nationwide.

In an unsigned, 13-page majority opinion, the Supreme Court said that Congress, rather than the states, carries the responsibility of enforcing a constitutional provision — Section 3 of the 14th Amendment — that bars insurrectionists from returning to office.

Four justices signed on to opinions concurring with the outcome, but based on different justifications.

Read the opinions here:

Justices of the US Supreme Court pose for their official photo at the Supreme Court in Washington, DC on October 7, 2022. (Photo by OLIVIER DOULIERY/AFP via Getty Images)
Justices of the US Supreme Court pose for their official photo at the Supreme Court in Washington, DC on October 7, 2022. (Photo by OLIVIER DOULIERY/AFP via Getty Images)

The ruling from the conservative high court overrules orders removing Trump from ballots in three Democratic-leaning states: Colorado, Maine and Illinois. Courts in Colorado and Illinois had moved to remove Trump from their state’s ballots. An election official in Maine had sought to push Trump off the ballot there.

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7560154 2024-03-04T13:03:19+00:00 2024-03-04T13:38:21+00:00
Trump poised for blowout wins over Nikki Haley on Super Tuesday https://www.nydailynews.com/2024/03/04/trump-poised-for-blowout-wins-over-nikki-haley-on-super-tuesday/ Mon, 04 Mar 2024 16:25:17 +0000 https://www.nydailynews.com/?p=7560133 Former President Donald Trump is poised for a fresh round of blowout wins over Nikki Haley on Super Tuesday that could all but wrap up the Republican nomination, even as Haley vowed to stay in the race following her win in the Washington, D.C., primary.

With 15 states prepared to vote, Trump leads Haley in all of them, although the former UN ambassador is within striking distance in a few, such as Massachusetts, Minnesota, Virginia and Vermont, that are strongholds of more moderate suburban Republicans.

Haley boasted some momentum from a lopsided win in Sunday’s Washington, D.C., GOP primary, her first win after Trump swept all the traditional early voting states like Iowa, New Hampshire and her home state of South Carolina.

President Joe Biden speaks during a meeting with Congressional leaders in the Oval Office of the White House, Tuesday, Feb. 27, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
President Joe Biden speaks during a meeting with congressional leaders in the Oval Office of the White House on Tuesday, Feb. 27, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Haley beat Trump by a nearly 2-1 margin in the D.C. contest, where Republicans are outnumbered by Democrats by a 10-1 margin and most GOP voters are moderate, affluent and well educated, demographics that have favored her.

But Trump remains the overwhelming favorite to romp to a lopsided victory in populous, delegate-rich states such as California and Texas, which will likely all but seal his win in the Republican nomination fight.

He could win a majority of the GOP delegates, effectively wrapping up the nomination, as early as next week, before he faces any of four expected criminal trials on a total of 91 felonies.

On the Democratic side, President Biden is facing only nominal opposition and is expected to cruise to overwhelming victories in all the states on tap.

Biden could face some pockets of resistance from progressive opponents of his stance on Israel’s war in Gaza, some of whom may vote for uncommitted delegate slates after about 13% did so in last week’s Michigan primary.

The vast coast-to-coast map on Super Tuesday seems tailor-made for Trump to keep rolling on his way to an insurmountable lead over Haley.

Haley rallied supporters on Monday in Texas, the second-biggest delegate prize next to California.

The ex-president, who remains the most popular and powerful leader in the GOP, has been ramping up pressure on Haley to drop out, and another big win could be the final straw for her.

Haley still boasts a significant campaign war chest and has said she wants to stay in the race until the Republican National Convention in July in case delegates there have second thoughts about formally nominating Trump amid his legal woes.

But Haley had been most adamant about staying in the race through Super Tuesday, raising the possibility she might not soldier on if she endures another round of punishing defeats.

One big question for Trump will be if he continues to perform relatively poorly with affluent college-educated Republican primary voters, a onetime reliable GOP voting bloc that has swung hard to Democrats since he burst onto the political scene.

Nikki Haley wins Washington, D.C., GOP primary — first victory over Donald Trump

Key tests of his weakness with those voters could come in Virginia, a state that Sen. Marco Rubio nearly won in the 2016 race when he ran against Trump as  a moderate, and Minnesota, which Rubio won. Massachusetts and Vermont, where Republicans elected moderate GOP Gov. Phil Scott, might also give Haley stronger than expected showings.

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