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☆ In Bankruptcy, Giuliani Set a $43,000 Monthly Budget. Creditors Are Skeptical.
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-01 | by ( Eileen Sullivan | More About Eileen Sullivan | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

His creditors also do not trust that he is being honest about the assets he does disclose. For example, Mr. Giuliani lists among his assets an undisclosed number of shares in Uber, the ride-share service. Lawyers for the creditors say he provided them a more detailed account, but it was not filed publicly in the court, as missing details typically are. And as of April 26, Mr. Giuliani had not provided details for his Discover card charges in January. One of the two Georgia election workers he defamed, Shaye Moss, was selected by Mr. Giuliani’s creditors to serve on a three-person committee to represent their interests throughout the bankruptcy case.

Persons: Giuliani, “, ”, ” Bruce, Shaye Moss, Noelle Dunphy, Mr, Lindsey Kurtz Organizations: Uber, New York Yankees, Pritzker, American Express, Dominion Voting Systems Locations: U.S, Georgia

The Justice Department plans to forward a recommendation for easing restrictions on marijuana to the White House in what could amount to a major change in federal policy, according to three people familiar with the matter. Even though the move, which if approved would kick off a lengthy rule-making process, does not end the criminalization of the drug, it would be a significant shift in how the government views the safety and use of marijuana for medical purposes. It could also lead to the softening of other laws and regulations that account for the use or possession of cannabis, including sentencing guidelines, banking and access to public housing. One person familiar with the recommendation, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said Attorney General Merrick B. Garland would tell the White House Office of Management and Budget on Tuesday that the government should change the drug’s classification.

Persons: General Merrick B, Garland Organizations: Department, White, Office of Management

☆ Election Workers Face Flood of Threats, but Charges Are Few
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-13 | by ( Eileen Sullivan | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

One week after the 2020 presidential election, Tina Barton, who as the clerk of Rochester Hills, Mich., oversaw voting there, sat down at her desk, coffee in hand, and listened to her voice mail messages. Ms. Barton, whose town is part of Oakland County, which voted for President Biden in 2020, immediately shared the message with the county sheriff. Then she spent nearly three years wondering, wherever she went — grocery shopping, church, community events — whether the caller would make good on his threat and come to kill her. Only last summer, when federal authorities charged the caller, did she learn his identity and begin to feel some sense of relief. Ms. Barton is one of thousands of election workers who have received threats since the 2020 election, a trend fueled by former President Donald J. Trump’s continued baseless assertions about election fraud and what experts say is a broader distrust of institutions and authority.

Persons: Tina Barton, Barton, Biden, Donald J, Trump’s Locations: Rochester Hills, Mich, Oakland County

☆ Trump Co-Defendants Argue for Dismissal of Charges in Documents Case
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-12 | by ( Eileen Sullivan | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Lawyers for co-defendants of former President Donald J. Trump argued in federal court in Florida on Friday to dismiss charges of aiding in the obstruction of efforts to recover classified documents. It was a rare hearing of the documents case in which Mr. Trump did not take center stage. His co-defendants, Walt Nauta and Carlos De Oliveira, are loyal Trump employees, accused of conspiring with the former president to hide boxes containing classified government materials after Mr. Trump left office. Prosecutors also accused them of plotting to destroy security camera footage of the boxes being moved. She also did not announce a date for the trial to begin, despite holding a hearing more than a month ago on the matter.

Persons: Donald J, Trump, Walt Nauta, Carlos De Oliveira, Prosecutors, Aileen M, Cannon Organizations: Trump Locations: Florida, Fort Pierce, Fla

☆ Trump’s Co-Defendants in Documents Case Seek to Dismiss Charges
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-11 | by ( Alan Feuer | Eileen Sullivan | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Almost from the moment former President Donald J. Trump was charged last June with mishandling a trove of highly secret classified documents, the spotlight in the case has been fixed — as it usually is — on him. But on Friday afternoon, the focus will shift, at least briefly, to Mr. Trump’s two co-defendants, Walt Nauta and Carlos De Oliveira. Their lawyers will square off in court with federal prosecutors in an effort to have the charges they are facing dismissed. The men have also been accused of lying to investigators. In some sense, Mr. Nauta, a personal aide who met Mr. Trump while serving as a valet at the White House, and Mr. De Oliveira, who rose at Mar-a-Lago from parking cars to working as the property manager, are merely supporting players in the larger drama starring Mr. Trump.

Persons: Donald J, Trump, Trump’s, Walt Nauta, Carlos De Oliveira, —, Florida —, Nauta, De Oliveira Organizations: Prosecutors, Mar, White Locations: Florida

A 26-year-old man charged with kidnapping and murdering a nursing student at the University of Georgia in Athens will remain in jail after he was denied bond at a hearing on Saturday, the authorities said. Ms. Riley, a student at nearby Augusta University and a former student at the University of Georgia, had been reported missing by friends after she did not return from a run. Mr. Ibarra, a resident of Athens who is not a U.S. citizen, migrated to the United States from Venezuela, the authorities said. That release, or parole, was a practice the administration used when officials were overwhelmed with high numbers of crossings. Some six million Venezuelans have fled their troubled country, the largest population displacement in Latin America’s modern history.

Persons: Jose Antonio Ibarra, Laken Riley, Jeffrey Clark, Riley, Ibarra Organizations: University of Georgia, Augusta University, Border Patrol Locations: Athens, U.S, United States, Venezuela

In analyzing whether Section 3 of the 14th Amendment applied to Mr. Trump, a trial court judge in Denver and Colorado’s top court concluded that his actions met that standard. Mr. Trump’s allies — as well as even some of his critics — tend to argue that “insurrection” is hyperbole. Still, the special counsel, Jack Smith, did not include inciting an insurrection in the charges he brought against Mr. Trump in connection with his attempts to stay in office. Mr. Trump has argued that all his actions were protected by the Constitution, including the First Amendment. But other politicians have faced similar legal challenges in connection with the events of Jan. 6, 2021.

Persons: Donald J, Trump, Trump’s, —, Trump —, Donald Trump, Pete Marovich, Mike Pence, Jack Smith, Marjorie Taylor Greene, “, Couy Griffin, Griffin, ” Organizations: Capitol, Trump, Electoral, Union, United, Capitol ., The New York Times, Justice Department, Washington, Mr Locations: Denver, United States, Georgia, New Mexico, New Mexico’s Otero County

☆ U.S. Hits Back at Iran With More Than Just Airstrikes
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-02 | by ( Eileen Sullivan | David E. Sanger | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

In the hours before the United States carried out strikes against Iran-backed militants on Friday, Washington hit Tehran with more familiar weapons: sanctions and criminal charges. The Biden administration sanctioned officers and officials of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, Iran’s premier military force, for threatening the integrity of water utilities and for helping manufacture Iranian drones. And it unsealed charges against nine people for selling oil to finance the militant groups Hamas and Hezbollah. The timing seemed designed to pressure the Revolutionary Guards and its most elite unit, the Quds Force, at a moment of extraordinary tension in the Middle East. In the 15 years since the United States mounted a major cyberattack on Iran’s nuclear facilities, the country has trained a generation of hackers and struck back at Israel, Saudi Arabia and the United States, among others.

Persons: Biden Organizations: Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, Revolutionary Guards, Quds Force Locations: United States, Iran, Washington, Tehran, Israel, Saudi Arabia

☆ Former Contractor Who Leaked Trump’s Tax Returns Sentenced to 5 Years in Prison
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-29 | by ( Eileen Sullivan | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

A former Internal Revenue Service contractor accused of leaking the tax documents of Donald J. Trump and other wealthy Americans was sentenced on Monday to five years in prison. The former contractor, Charles Littlejohn, known as Chaz, worked for the tax agency from 2017 to 2021, when he stole the tax records of thousands of the country’s wealthiest people, including Mr. Trump, prosecutors said. Mr. Littlejohn then provided the information to The New York Times and ProPublica. “Today’s sentence sends a strong message that those who violate laws intended to protect sensitive tax information will face significant punishment,” Nicole M. Argentieri, the acting assistant attorney general who oversees the Justice Department’s criminal division, said in a statement. Prosecutors said the harm from Mr. Littlejohn’s disclosures were “so extensive and ongoing that it is impossible to quantify.”

Persons: Donald J, Trump, Charles Littlejohn, Chaz, Littlejohn, Prosecutors, Mr, ” Nicole M Organizations: Internal Revenue, New York Times, ProPublica, Justice

☆ Growing Numbers of Chinese Migrants Are Crossing the Southern Border
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-24 | by ( Eileen Sullivan | More About Eileen Sullivan | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The surge of migrants entering the United States across the southern border increasingly includes people from a surprising place: China. Despite the distances involved and the difficulties of the journey, more than 24,000 Chinese citizens have been apprehended crossing into the United States from Mexico in the past year. Once there, they turn themselves in to border officials and many seek asylum. Chinese citizens are more successful than people from other countries with their asylum claims in immigration court. And those who are not end up staying anyway because China usually will not take them back.

Locations: United States, China, Mexico, Ecuador, Central, South America, Colombia, Panama

☆ Asylum in America, by the Numbers
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-21 | by ( Eileen Sullivan | More About Eileen Sullivan | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Under President Biden, the Border Patrol has arrested more people for illegally crossing the southern border into the country than in any other period since the government started keeping count in 1960. More Americans far from the border are witnessing the trend as migrants make their way to cities around the country. Most of these migrants have been told to appear in immigration court, often years from now. Some seek asylum with the goal of staying in the country permanently. Now Democratic officials in parts of the country are asking the Biden administration to do more to help support the hundreds of thousands of migrants who arrive in their cities with nothing.

Persons: Biden Organizations: Border Patrol, United Nations, Republicans, Democrats, Democratic

Israel is preventing some Palestinian Americans from entering the country from the West Bank, an apparent violation of a recent agreement in which citizens from the United States and Israel can travel to the other nation without a visa. The Homeland Security and State Departments, which manage the program, said American officials were trying to resolve the issue. At the time, President Biden was making a push to broker a diplomatic deal between Israel and Saudi Arabia. Under the visa waiver program, Israel would lift restrictions on Palestinian Americans and other Americans of Arab or Muslim descent, easing the way for them to travel to and from Palestinian territories. For decades, Palestinian Americans have faced difficulties traveling to the Israeli-occupied West Bank to see family and friends or to do humanitarian work.

Persons: ”, Erin Heeter, Biden Organizations: West Bank, Homeland Security, State, Department of Homeland Security, Palestinian, Queen Alia International Locations: Israel, United States, Ben, Gurion, Saudi Arabia, Palestinian, Jordan, Amman, Tel Aviv

director, said on Wednesday that the bureau had opened a slew of investigations into Hamas as it tries to thwart potential attacks and stymie financial support for the militant group. He added, “We’ve kept our sights on Hamas and have multiple investigations into individuals affiliated with that foreign terrorist organization.”Among those killed on Oct. 7 were about three dozen American citizens, with another 10 unaccounted for. In a heated exchange, Mr. Wray said neither F.B.I. “The answer is, emphatically not,” Mr. Wray said, his temper rising. “Your day is coming, Mr. Wray,” he said.

Persons: Christopher A, Wray, Mr, “ we’ve, “ We’ve, ” Mr, ”, Clay Higgins, peddled, Higgins Organizations: Homeland Security, Hamas, Islamic, Governmental Affairs, Republican, Capitol Locations: United States, Israel, Islamic State, Al Qaeda, Gaza, Louisiana

☆ The F.B.I. says the Israel-Hamas war raises the potential for an attack against Americans in the U.S.
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-31 | by ( Eileen Sullivan | More About Eileen Sullivan | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Several foreign terrorist organizations have called for attacks against Americans since Oct. 7, when Hamas gunmen carried out a gruesome attack against Israel that killed 1,400 people, Mr. Wray said. Islamic State, also known as ISIS, called for attacks on Jewish communities in the United States and Europe; the Lebanese militant group, Hezbollah, threatened to attack American interests in the Middle East; and Al Qaeda also issued a specific call to attack the United States, Mr. Wray said. Mr. Wray said that the man, who prosecutors identified as Sohaib Abuayyash, 20, had been studying how to build bombs and posted details online about his support for killing Jewish people. Mr. Wray’s testimony came as threats to Jewish, Muslim and Arab communities in the United States have been on the rise since the war began on Oct. 7. Between Oct. 7 and Oct. 23, there were 312 antisemitic acts in the United States, according to the Anti-Defamation League.

Persons: Christopher A, Wray, Mr, Al Qaeda, “, ”, Abuayyash, Wray’s, Glenn Thrush Organizations: U.S, ISIS, Prosecutors, Defamation League, Grand Central, Islamic Relations Locations: Israel, United States, Islamic State, Europe, Lebanese, Houston, Palestinian, New York

An Israeli official said that the government was assessing the data, which was released before Friday’s bombardment. The high number of children reported killed — about 40 percent of the total — is broadly in line with the high share of children in the Gazan population. In total, the list named 2,665 children who have been killed and 2,902 women and girls. The date of death is not listed for each individual, but a separate summary of the deaths from the health ministry indicates that the toll has been increasing in recent days. The ministry said the list did not include an additional 281 people who had been killed but could not be identified, bringing the total number to 7,028.

Persons: —, Biden, Mr, ”, “, Omar Shakir Organizations: Hamas, Gaza, Ahli Arab Hospital, U.S, Rights Watch, UNICEF Locations: Gaza, Al, Ahli, Israel, Palestine, Afghanistan, Africa

☆ Crossings at the U.S. Southern Border Are Higher Than Ever
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-21 | by ( Eileen Sullivan | More About Eileen Sullivan | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

“It used to be that when there was a migration crisis, it tended to be one — maybe one source country at a time,” Mr. Blinken added. Now it’s all of the above, plus Venezuela, plus Nicaragua, plus Ecuador.”Over the past year, the Biden administration has rolled out new enforcement policies and legal pathways designed to drive down the number of illegal crossings on the southern border. The number of migrant arrests outside ports of entry, however, was down by about two million compared with a year ago. This path is much more orderly and safe than swimming across the Rio Grande, for example. But the demand is far greater than the number of appointments available, and some migrants have been waiting months to get one.

Persons: Antony J, Blinken, ” Mr, Biden Organizations: Baker Institute, Rice University in Locations: Rice University in Texas, Haiti, Cuba, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Venezuela, Nicaragua, Ecuador, United States, Rio

☆ Trump Co-Defendant Says He Wants to Keep Lawyer Despite Possible Conflicts
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-20 | by ( Eileen Sullivan | More About Eileen Sullivan | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Mr. Nauta, who is still employed by Mr. Trump, assured the judge that he understood that in retaining Mr. Woodward, he was waiving his right to appeal a potential conviction on the basis that his defense counsel had a conflict of interest. Mr. Woodward is representing several clients with ties to Mr. Trump and the former president’s supporters. In some cases, Mr. Woodward is being paid through Mr. Trump’s political action committee. Until this summer, one of those clients was an information technology aide at Mar-a-Lago, Mr. Trump’s private club and residence, who is considered a crucial witness in the case. But that disclosure only came to light after Mr. Taveras, facing the possibility of a perjury charge for lying to a grand jury, had fired Mr. Woodward and hired a new lawyer.

Persons: Nauta, Trump, Woodward, Yuscil, Taveras, Carlos De Oliveira, De Oliveira Organizations: Mr, Mar, Trump, White Locations: Mar

The Biden administration also allowed nearly 500,000 Venezuelan migrants who are already in the country to seek work permits and protection from deportation. The administration yielded to pressure from leaders in New York, where the recent arrival of more than 100,000 migrants in New York City has overwhelmed shelters and strained resources. Migrants like Mr. Soto and his mother are arriving on a tailwind of stories of friends and relatives who reached New York or Chicago months earlier. Many also believe false claims from smugglers and social media that migrants would definitely be able to remain in the United States if they could make it in. “The smuggling organizations are spreading misinformation with a global reach that they couldn’t do before,” said John Modlin, the Border Patrol’s Tucson sector chief, who is coordinating the response to border crossings in Arizona and California.

Persons: Biden, Soto, ”, John Modlin, Mr, Modlin Organizations: “ Locations: New York, New York City, United States, Chicago, Tucson, Arizona, California

As the blaze began moving into the neighborhood below, some residents began evacuating on their own. Image The Maui Emergency Management Agency sent a wireless evacuation alert for portions of Lahaina at 4:16 p.m. Credit... Lani PohaikealohaRecords show that it was only at 4:16 p.m., after the fire had begun moving through town, that the county sent an emergency cellphone alert. It was sent to a portion of the town’s residential area east of the commercial district. She went back in the house and flipped through television stations but saw no sign of trouble. The county has said it did not activate its audible warning sirens, fearing that people would think a tsunami was coming.

Persons: Lani Pohaikealoha, Matthews Organizations: Maui Emergency Management Agency, Lani Pohaikealoha Records Locations: Maui, Lahaina

Federal agents arrested a record number of migrant families who crossed the southern border illegally in August, two officials with preliminary data said, highlighting the Biden administration’s most prominent immigration challenge after rolling out new border policies this spring. The roughly 91,000 migrants who crossed together as families exceeded the 84,486 such crossings recorded in May 2019, the height of the border crisis during the Trump administration. The Biden administration ended the practice of detaining migrant families in 2021 for humanitarian reasons. The number of migrant families crossing between official ports of entry started to rise in July, and illegal crossings overall in August increased from the previous month to about 177,000. Illegal crossings increased by 33 percent between June and July and went up another 33 percent in August.

Persons: Trump, Biden Organizations: Biden, Washington Post

☆ Why Biden Can’t Expedite Work Permits for Migrants
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-31 | by ( Eileen Sullivan | More About Eileen Sullivan | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Kathy Hochul of New York has blamed the White House for failing to respond to her call to expedite work permits for the influx of migrants arriving in the state. Under federal law, migrants have to wait about six months after they file their asylum application before they can apply for permission to work in the United States legally. This has forced asylum seekers to rely on communities to support them and has led to more people entering the illegal work force. For New York, the costs to support the asylum seekers are in the billions. Other governors and local officials have made similar requests to the Biden administration, as they too have struggled to assist the influx of migrants.

Persons: Kathy Hochul, Hochul, Biden Organizations: White House Locations: New York, New York City, United States, York

They raced away from the wildfire tearing through the town of Lahaina last week with just what they could carry, then survived anywhere they could on Maui: in their cars, on friends’ couches, in shelters or in tents by the side of the road. The hotel rooms are covered by state and federal temporary housing programs at no cost to the survivors. The American Red Cross, which is running the mostly FEMA-funded hotel program, said it has secured 750 rooms where survivors can live for as long as they need. The shelters, which housed more than 2,000 people the day after the fires broke out, now hold a few hundred people a day. “We will be able to keep folks in hotels for as long as it takes to find housing solutions.”

Persons: “, Brad Kieserman Organizations: FEMA Locations: Lahaina, Maui, West Maui

Many wildfires in the United States occur when poles owned by utilities or other structures carrying power lines are blown down, or when branches or other objects land on power lines and cause them to produce high-energy flashes of electricity that can start fires. Image Nearly a week after the wildfire tore through Lahaina, state and local officials have not determined a cause for the blaze. Like most other utilities, Hawaiian Electric operates under the scrutiny of public commissioners who have to approve its spending plans. Power lines have caused catastrophic wildfires in California in recent years, prompting lawsuits that have led to multibillion-dollar payouts by the state’s utilities. Hawaiian Electric in a regulatory filing last year detailed measures aimed at reducing the risk of its equipment causing fires.

Persons: Hurricane Dora, “, ”, James Frantz, Frantz, There’s, Max Whittaker, Shahriar Pourreza, Shelee Kimura, ” Ms, Kimura, Pourreza, Michael Wara, Philip Cheung, Bob Marshall, Jim Kelly, Ken Pimlott, Anne Lopez, Mr, Wara, Kellen Browning, John Keefe, Susan C, Beachy, Alain Delaquérière Organizations: Wildfire, National Weather Service, Frantz Law, Hawaiian Electric, The New York Times, Guggenheim Securities, Maui Electric, Pacific Gas, Pacific Gas and Electric, Federal Emergency Management Agency, Pacific Disaster Center, Stanford University, The New York Times Lightning, Western, NASA, Whisker Labs, Labs, California Department of Forestry, Stanford, U.S . Energy Information Administration Locations: Lahaina, West Maui, Maui, California, United States, Northern California, Paradise, Hawaii, Western United States, Maui County, Germantown, Md, San Francisco

☆ FEMA Outlines Maui Wildfire Support as Victims Critique Government Response
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-14 | by ( Eileen Sullivan | More About Eileen Sullivan | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

“We understand that connectivity is still scarce in some areas,” Deanne Criswell, the FEMA administrator and one of about 300 agency employees on the ground in Hawaii, told reporters on Monday. There are questions about whether wildfire warnings were loud enough and early enough and whether government officials were adequately prepared to deal with the fires. FEMA is typically the first agency to face intense scrutiny after disasters. It is most often associated with its role responding to hurricanes, particularly because of its history of bungled reactions to previous disasters. While the federal agency plays a critical role in disaster response, it is not meant to be the first on the scene.

Persons: Deanne Criswell, Andrew, Hurricane, Hurricane Maria Organizations: FEMA, Hurricane, Defense Department Locations: Hawaii, Lahaina, Florida, Orleans, Puerto Rico

A federal judge struck down on Tuesday a stringent new asylum policy that officials have called crucial to managing the southern border, dealing a blow to the Biden administration’s strategy after illegal crossings by migrants declined sharply in the last few months. The rule, which has been in effect since May 12, disqualifies most people from applying for asylum if they have crossed into the United States without either securing an appointment at an official port of entry or proving that they sought legal protection in another country along the way. Immigrant advocacy groups who sued the administration said that the policy violated U.S. law and heightened migrants’ vulnerability to extortion and violence during protracted waits in Mexican border towns. They also argued that it mimicked a Trump administration rule to restrict asylum that was blocked in 2019 by the same judge, Jon S. Tigar of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California.

Persons: Biden, Trump, Jon S Organizations: United States, Court, Northern, Northern District of Locations: United States, Northern District, Northern District of California

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