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☆ Panel Calls for Secret Service Overhaul in Report on Trump Shooting Attempt
▼ + stars: | 2024-10-17 | by ( Eileen Sullivan | More About Eileen Sullivan | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

An independent panel reviewing the failures that led to the attempted assassination of former President Donald J. Trump in July called on the Secret Service to replace its leadership with people from the private sector and focus almost exclusively on its protective mission. Those include the failure of the Secret Service to secure a nearby building where a rooftop would-be assassin fired eight shots toward Mr. Trump. That and other security lapses, members of the panel said, result from an absence of “critical thinking” among agents and supervisors. The panel was particularly struck by a “lack of ownership” conveyed by the agents it interviewed. A panel convened in 2014 after a man scaled the White House fence and entered the mansion made similar proposals.

Persons: Donald J, Trump Organizations: Service, Department of Homeland Security Locations: Butler, Pa

The Secret Service has assigned five agents to administrative duties as a result of its investigation into the failures that led to the assassination attempt on former President Donald J. Trump on July 13, according to two people familiar with the situation. The agents have not been fired, and are still being paid. The Secret Service declined to comment, citing rules against publicly discussing personnel matters. Four agents placed on administrative duties are from the Pittsburgh office, and one is from Mr. Trump’s personal detail. Placement on administrative duties is different from being placed on administrative leave, which typically requires agents to turn in their badges and guns until an investigation is completed.

Persons: Donald J, Trump Locations: Pittsburgh

The acting Secret Service director told senators on Tuesday that the agency failed on July 13 by not having a countersniper focused on the roof where a would-be assassin fired eight shots at former President Donald J. Trump, injuring him and others and killing a rally attendee. While Ronald L. Rowe Jr., the acting director, provided a more complete account of what happened that day than his predecessor did a week ago, he failed to answer a critical question about that day: Who was supposed to be watching that roof? In one of his first actions as acting director, Mr. Rowe said he went to the site of the shooting in Butler, Pa., and specifically to the warehouse roof that the gunman used, which had been unmanned and apparently unwatched. Mr. Rowe said he climbed onto the building and lay on the roof so he could see the direct line that the shooter, later identified as Thomas Crooks of Bethel Park, Pa., had to Mr. Trump.

Persons: Donald J, Trump, Ronald L, Rowe Jr, Rowe, Thomas Crooks Locations: Butler, Pa, Bethel Park

The speed of the verdict took nearly everyone by surprise — including the first lady, Jill Biden. As the verdict was read aloud — guilty on all three felony counts — Hunter Biden stood with arms crossed, grimly surveying the jury. After jurors left the courtroom, Mr. Biden hugged his lawyers. Jill Biden, the first lady and Mr. Biden’s stepmother who attended most days of the trial, was not able to get to the courtroom in time for the verdict because of security delays. But she held Mr. Biden’s hand as he left the courthouse and got into a waiting vehicle without speaking to reporters.

Persons: Jill Biden, — Hunter Biden, Biden, Melissa Cohen Biden, “, Biden’s Locations: Wilmington, Del

☆ Driver of Truck That Hit White House Security Barriers Pleads Guilty
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-13 | by ( Eileen Sullivan | More About Eileen Sullivan | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

A Missouri man who crashed a box truck carrying Nazi paraphernalia into White House security barriers last year agreed to plead guilty on Monday to damaging property. The man, Sai Varshith Kandula, faces up to 10 years in prison on the charge. Prosecutors say Mr. Kandula, who was 19 at the time of the incident, caused more than $4,300 in damage to National Park Service property. At about 9:30 p.m., he drove the truck into metal bollards near Lafayette Square, in front of the White House, sending nearby pedestrians running. Then he put the truck in reverse and slammed into the barriers a second time.

Persons: Sai Varshith, Kandula, ”, Louis Organizations: National Park Service, White, Washington Dulles International Airport Locations: Missouri, House, India, Nazi, St, Lafayette

☆ 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

☆ 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

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

☆ 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

☆ 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

☆ Lawyers Say Helping Asylum Seekers in Border Custody Is Nearly Impossible
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-22 | by ( Eileen Sullivan | More About Eileen Sullivan | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

In the first weeks after President Biden’s new border policies were put in place, his administration recorded a sharp drop in the number of people allowed to apply for asylum after crossing into the United States illegally. But lawyers who counsel migrants seeking asylum say the changes make it nearly impossible for them to do their jobs and leave the people most in need of protection struggling to find help. Lawyers cannot meet with clients who are in the custody of Border Patrol. There is no system to find out where a client is being held. And the government sets the schedules for key meetings when a lawyer should be present and changes dates and times often without notification.

Persons: Biden’s Organizations: Border Patrol Locations: United States

☆ This Agency Was Created With a Terrorism Focus. Now It Also Has to Care for Migrants.
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-13 | by ( Eileen Sullivan | More About Eileen Sullivan | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

On a 90-degree day in early May, hundreds of migrants were gathered on American soil near a border gate in El Paso. Many had waited for days, without food, shelter or enough water and bathrooms, before Border Patrol agents allowed them through the gate and took them to holding facilities. The contrast in scenes illustrates a central challenge of Customs and Border Protection’s mission. The agency, which includes the Border Patrol, was created after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Even as few pose security threats, the American government has been sending the biggest law enforcement agency in the country to arrest and subsequently care for refugees.

Organizations: Border Patrol, El Paso Convention Center, Customs, Patrol Locations: El Paso, United States

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