An Arizona grand jury handed up felony charges against Rudy Giuliani, Mark Meadows and other prominent Trump allies for allegedly attempting to prevent the lawful transfer of power from then-President Trump to Joe Biden.

Seven Trump aides were charged alongside 11 pro-Trump Arizona Republicans who signed documents purporting to be the state’s valid electors in 2020.

The former president himself is not charged but is listed as an unindicted co-conspirator.

Prosecutors accuse the 18 defendants of devising a scheme to raise false claims of election fraud to pressure Arizona election officials to overturn Biden’s narrow victory in the state.

The indictment, which was dated Tuesday but became public on Wednesday, describes lawsuits filed, alleged messages to county and state officials and the signing of the “fake elector” documents in December 2020.

Each of the 11 pro-Trump electors faces nine charges, including conspiracy, fraud and forgery counts.

“In Arizona, and the United States, the people elected Joseph Biden as President on November 3, 2020,” the indictment reads.

“Unwilling to accept this fact, Defendants and unindicted coconspirators schemed to prevent the lawful transfer of the presidency to keep Unindicted Coconspirator 1 in office against the will of Arizona’s voters,” it continued, referring to Trump. “This scheme would have deprived Arizona voters of their right to vote and have their votes counted.”

Only the 11 alternate electors are identified by name, but descriptions contained within the charging documents make clear the other defendants include Giuliani, the former New York City mayor turned Trump attorney; Meadows, Trump’s White House chief of staff; Boris Epshteyn, a longtime Trump adviser; John Eastman, an attorney involved in Trump’s efforts to overturn the election; Christina Bobb, another Trump attorney who now works for the Republican National Committee; and Mike Roman, the director of Election Day operations for Trump’s 2020 campaign.

Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes’s (D) office said their names will be made public after they have been served.

“I understand for some of you, today didn’t come fast enough. And I know I’ll be criticized by others for conducting this investigation at all,” Mayes said in a recorded video announcing the charges.

“But as I have stated before, and we’ll say here again today, I will not allow American democracy to be undermined. It’s too important,” she added.

Mayes said her office is continuing to investigate the alleged scheme to subvert the state’s election results.

The 2020 presidential race in Arizona was one of the nation’s tightest, with Biden prevailing against Trump by just more than 10,000 votes.

Arizona was one of seven battleground states where slates of “alternate electors” convened and claimed without basis that they were “duly elected” electors. The hope was that then-Vice President Mike Pence would recognize those Trump-supporting electors instead of the true electoral votes cast for Biden.

Arizona is now the fourth of those states to bring charges against the slates of pro-Trump electors, following charges brought in Michigan, Nevada and Georgia.

Without naming him, the indictment asserts that Giuliani — often identified as “the Mayor” — spread false claims of election fraud in Arizona. He pressured Arizona officials to change the outcome of the state’s election, and was responsible for encouraging the pro-Trump electors to vote for the former president’s ticket, according to the indictment.

Former Arizona House Speaker Rusty Bowers (R ) implicated Giuliani in his 2022 testimony before the House Jan. 6 committee. Bowers said that, despite repeatedly pushing the New York mayor-turned-Trump-surrogate for proof to back up his 2020 election fraud claims, Giuliani failed to produce any.

“My recollection, [Giuliani] said, ‘We’ve got lots of theories, we just don’t have the evidence,’” Bowers testified.

Meadows, also unnamed in the indictment, allegedly worked with members of Trump’s campaign to “coordinate and implement” the alternate electors’ votes in the battleground states, and was involved in “many efforts to keep Unindicted Coconspirator 1 (Trump) in power despite his defeat at the polls,” the charging document reads.

The other Trump allies allegedly helped implement the scheme, including by pressuring Pence to accept the pro-Trump slate of electors, according to the indictment.

The so-called ‘fake electors’ indicted are former Arizona Republican Party Chair Kelli Ward; her husband, Michael Ward; Tyler Bowyer, the chief operating officer of Turning Point Action; Nancy Cottle, who has held positions on the Maricopa County Republican Committee; Arizona State Sen. Jacob Hoffman; Arizona State Sen. Anthony Kern; former U.S. Senate candidate James Lamon; former Cochise County Republican Party Chair Robert Montgomery; Samuel Moorhead, a former Gila County Republican Party precinct committeeman; former Ahwatukee Republican Women president Lorraine Pellegrino; and Gregory Safsted, the state Republican party’s former executive director.

“It’s unfortunate to see so many so-called ‘leaders’ who are willing to eviscerate our entire justice system in their quest to take down the biggest threat to their grasp on power — President Donald Trump and anyone willing to take on the ruling regime,” Ted Goodman, Giuliani’s political adviser, said in a statement.

Hoffman said in a statement, “Let me be unequivocal, I am innocent of any crime, I will vigorously defend myself, and I look forward to the day when I am vindicated of this naked political persecution by the judicial process.”

Steven Cheung, a spokesperson for Trump’s campaign, said in a statement that the indictment is “another example of Democrats’ weaponization of the legal system.” He defended Bobb, specifically, as having “served our nation and the President with distinction.”

“The Democrat platform for 2024: if you can’t beat them, try to throw them in jail,” Cheung said.

Hundreds of troopers have marched on the University of Texas at Austin before scuffling with pro-Palestine protesters as demonstrations kicked off at campuses across the country.

Police arrested at least four activists – who burst out in tears when they were handcuffed – after warning them they could face criminal charges if they did not disperse.

The rally at the Austin campus was organized by the university’s Palestine Solidarity Committee (PSJ) chapter and quickly descended into anarchy.

The group said it was inspired by their ‘comrades’ at Yale and Columbia University, where in-person classes have been canceled due to the unrest sparked by ‘encampments for Gaza.’

It comes as pro-Gaza groups took to universities across the US and clashed with police and Jewish counter-protesters, with furious demonstrators spotted at USC, Harvard, UC Berkeley, Brown and NYU.

Watch:

UT Austin right now. Protesters and DPS in a standoff on the main drag of campus pic.twitter.com/OipxvXDbWC

— Ryan Chandler (@RyanChandlerTV) April 24, 2024

The PSC chapter at UT Austin said on Instagram: ‘UT administration has called on state troopers in an attempt to scare us into silence.’

They added: ‘get these pics off our campus.’ Texas Department of Public Safety officers were also seen in horses and riot gear at the protest.

Several pro-Palestine demonstrators were seen sobbing as they watched police enter the scene.

BREAKING: Organizers of the Yale divestment encampment have been informed that those at the encampment can expect arrest, likely sometime between now and early morning.

Repeat: ARRESTS ARE EXPECTED AT YALE.

The crowd of hundred of students is sitting in a circle and singing. pic.twitter.com/yjwdxi0hGF

— Thomas Birmingham (@thomasbirm) April 22, 2024

The over 200 protesters are demanding UT-Austin divest from any manufacturers supplying Israel with weapons aid the war against Hamas in Gaza.

They gathered at the university’s Gregory Gym and marched towards the South Lawn, where they planned to sit for the rest of the day.

One of the demonstrators arrested was one of the protest’s organizers, with an officer singling him out saying he would be the first to be arrested, according to the Tribune.

Also on Wednesday, police clashed with protesters at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles.

Officials broke up a tent demonstration after students began camping out for Palestine after a call by USC’s Divest from Death Coalition and National Students for Justice in Palestine.

It comes as the situation in Columbia University in New York City remained tense with campus officials saying it would continue talks with pro-Palestinian protesters for another 48 hours.

University President Minouche Shafik had set a midnight deadline to reach an agreement on clearing an encampment of protesters on campus but the school extended negotiations, saying it was making ‘important progress.’

Student protesters had committed to dismantling and removing a significant number of tents, the Ivy League university said in a statement.

On Wednesday morning, the encampment appeared calm and a little smaller than the previous day.

Police first tried to clear the encampment at Columbia last week, when they arrested more than 100 protesters. But the move backfired, acting as an inspiration for other students across the country to set up similar encampments and motivating protesters at Columbia to regroup.

Elsewhere, at the University of Minnesota, Democratic U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar attended a protest late Tuesday, hours after nine protesters were arrested on the campus when police took down an encampment in front of the library. Hundreds had rallied in the afternoon to demand their release.

Omar’s daughter was among the demonstrators arrested at Columbia last week.

Students at some protests were hiding their identities. At an encampment of about 40 tents at the heart of the University of Michigan’s campus in Ann Arbor, almost every student wore a mask, which was handed to them when they entered.

Meanwhile more than 40 protesters were arrested Monday at an encampment at Yale University.

The upwelling of demonstrations has left universities struggling to balance campus safety with free speech rights. Many long tolerated the protests, but are now doling out more heavy-handed discipline, citing safety concerns.

Israel’s military is poised to evacuate Palestinian civilians from Rafah and assault Hamas hold-outs in the southern Gaza Strip city, a senior Israeli defence official said on Wednesday, despite international warnings of humanitarian catastrophe.

A spokesperson for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government said Israel was “moving ahead” with a ground operation, but gave no timeline.

The defence official said Israel’s Defence Ministry had bought 40,000 tents, each with the capacity for 10 to 12 people, to house Palestinians relocated from Rafah in advance of an assault.

Video circulating online appeared to show rows of square white tents going up in Khan Younis, a city some 5 km (3 miles) from Rafah.

Reuters could not verify the video but reviewed images from satellite company Maxar Technologies which showed tent camps on Khan Younis land that had been vacant weeks ago.

The defence official, who requested anonymity, told Reuters that the military could go into action immediately but was awaiting a green light from Netanyahu.

Rafah, which abuts the Egyptian border, is sheltering more than a million Palestinians who fled the half-year-old Israeli offensive through the rest of Gaza, and say the prospect of fleeing yet again is terrifying.

“I have to make a decision whether to leave Rafah because my mother and I are afraid an invasion could happen suddenly and we won’t get time to escape,” said Aya, 30, who has been living temporarily in the city with her family in a school.

She said that some families recently moved to a refugee camp in coastal Al-Mawasi, but their tents caught fire when tank shells landed nearby. “Where do we go?”

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on Wednesday claimed that the military had killed half of Hezbollah’s commanders in southern Lebanon, as the Israel Defense Forces carried out a large wave of strikes against dozens of sites belonging to the terror group.

“Half of the Hezbollah commanders in south Lebanon have been eliminated… and the other half hide and abandon south Lebanon to IDF operations,” Gallant said, after holding an assessment at the Northern Command headquarters in Safed with the chief of the command, Maj. Gen. Ori Gordin, and other top officers.

He said Israel’s main goal in the north was to return tens of thousands of Israelis displaced by Hezbollah’s daily attacks to their homes.

“We are dealing with a number of alternatives in order to establish this matter, and the coming period will be decisive in this regard,” Gallant said.

As the defense minister toured the Northern Command, the IDF said some 40 Hezbollah targets in the town of Ayta ash-Shab were hit within just several minutes by fighter jets and artillery shelling.

The wave of strikes came hours after the terror group fired anti-tank missiles at a community in northern Israel.

The military said the targets included weapon depots and other assets belonging to Hezbollah, and charged that Ayta ash-Shab was used by the group for “terror” and that it places dozens of its sites in the area.

In a statement, the IDF said the strikes were “part of the effort to destroy the organization’s infrastructure in the border area,” and not a response to any specific attack.

Ahead of the strikes, the military issued an unusual statement announcing that it had begun to attack Hezbollah targets in south Lebanon.

Amid the ongoing war, the military has generally announced strikes in Lebanon only after they have been completed. The announcement indicated that the strikes were on a much larger scale than usual.

⚡ In the recent massive strike on Ayta Ash Shab in Southern Lebanon, 40 Hezbollah sites were hit by Airstrikes and Artillery fire, according to IDF. These sites were used by Hezbollah as Weapon depots and other assets to strike against #Israel.#breaking #news pic.twitter.com/imHc0fOB87

— Storyline Global 🔍 (@storylineglobal) April 24, 2024

Hours before the wave of strikes, Hezbollah fired several anti-tank guided missiles at the northern community of Avivim, striking two homes and causing a fire.

The Merom HaGalil Regional Council, which has jurisdiction over Avivim, said the missiles caused no injuries.

Hezbollah claimed the attack in a statement, saying it “targeted a building in Avivim in which ‘enemy soldiers’ were present.”

The missile attack on Avivim came after a wave of overnight Israeli Air Force strikes against Hezbollah positions in Lebanon, following repeated attacks by the Iran-backed terror group on northern Israel.

תיעוד פגיעת טילי הנ”ט באביבים@rubih67
(צילום: מועצה אזורית מרום הגליל) pic.twitter.com/lzglkKF7IJ

— כאן חדשות (@kann_news) April 24, 2024

The overnight strikes targeted a rocket launcher in the town of Tayr Harfa after it was used in an attack on the northern community of Shomera on Tuesday night, the IDF said.

The IDF said additional targets included Hezbollah infrastructure in Markaba, a building in Ayta ash-Shab and an observation post in Marwahin.

Troops also shelled areas near Chihine and Kfarchouba with artillery to “remove threats,” the military added.

Since October 8, Hezbollah-led forces have attacked Israeli communities and military posts along the border on a near-daily basis, with the group saying it is doing so to support Gaza amid the war there.

So far, the skirmishes on the border have resulted in eight civilian deaths on the Israeli side, as well as the deaths of 11 IDF soldiers and reservists. There have also been several attacks from Syria, without any injuries.

Hezbollah has named 287 members who have been killed by Israel during the ongoing skirmishes, mostly in Lebanon, but some also in Syria. In Lebanon, another 54 operatives from other terror groups, a Lebanese soldier and at least 60 civilians, three of whom were journalists, have been killed.

Israel has threatened to go to war to force Hezbollah away from the border if it does not retreat and continues to threaten northern communities, from where some 70,000 people were evacuated to avoid the fighting.

Conservative website The Gateway Pundit is declaring bankruptcy, founder Jim Hoft announced Wednesday.

The site is facing a lawsuit from two election workers over accusations it committed ballot fraud to alter the outcome of the 2020 presidential election in Georgia.

Hoft said in a message that the website’s parent company made the decision “as a result of the progressive liberal lawfare attacks against our media outlet,” though he did not name specific lawsuits.

He added, “This is not an admission of fault or culpability. This is a common tool for reorganization and to consolidate litigation when attacks are coming from all sides.”

But Hoft indicated the site will continue its work and “will not be deterred from our mission of remaining fearless.”

Two Georgia election workers filed a lawsuit in 2021 accusing The Gateway Pundit “of committing ballot fraud to alter the outcome of the 2020 presidential election in Georgia.”

The site published articles claiming that the two election workers, Ruby Freeman and her daughter, Shaye Moss, “were involved in a conspiracy to commit election fraud.”

The website allegedly identified them by name and published their pictures online, claiming they interfered with the election results in favor of President Biden.

The two elections workers recently won a separate $148 million defamation case against Rudy Giuliani related to his alleged efforts to undermine the results of the 2020 presidential election.

A deranged, woman-hating maniac wanted for more than a half-dozen random attacks on women in the Big Apple is finally in custody, police and sources said Tuesday.

Daquan Armstead, 31, was picked up by cops shortly after midnight and charged with third-degree assault and harassment in eight unprovoked attacks on women this year, the sources said.

That includes an April 17 attack on a 27-year-old administrator at New York University, who was slugged in the face while walking through Washington Square Park around 10:30 a.m., according to police.

The NYPD Hate Crimes Task Force is investigating, although details weren’t released.

Armstead is also being charged in seven other attacks this year.

The violent spree began on Feb. 12, when police said Armstead allegedly walked up to a 30-year-old woman on Elizabeth Street around 11:50 a.m. and punched her without warning, then fled.

On March 24, he allegedly attacked a 30-year-old woman on Delancey Street around 2 a.m., hitting the victim in the back of the head as she turned. He then ran away.

The following day, Armstead is charged with punching a 36-year-old woman in the back as she walked at Chrystie and Rivington streets around 10:15 a.m., police said.

On April 2, he allegedly slugged another woman after he asked the 38-year-old victim for $1 and she replied that she had no cash — so he punched her in the back of the head.

Police said he is also accused of attacking two women in separate incidents on Delancey Street on April 5 — a 25-year-old who was slugged on the right side of her head around 12:25 p.m. and a 44-year-old who was punched in the face just five minutes later, according to cops.

In the last alleged attack before the assault on the NYU administrator, police said Armstead punched a 24-year-old woman on Stanton Street after she also refused when he asked her for $1 shortly before 10 a.m.

Records show his prior busts date to a 2021 misdemeanor assault case.

He is expected to be arraigned on the new charges later Tuesday.

@mikaylatoninato @halley ♬ original sound – mikayla

Police have also been investigating a series of other attacks on women that have not been linked to Armstead, including a 23-year-old woman slugged outside a Union Square McDonald’s last month.

Among the other recent victims was Halley Kate, an influencer with 1.1 million followers on TikTok, who posted a video last week saying she was assaulted so viciously that she blacked out.

@halleykate♬ original sound – halley

Skiboky Stora, 40, a criminal with an extensive criminal record, was busted in that case.

In another random attack, a 57-year-old Brooklyn school bus aide was slugged by an unhinged man — a brutal attack that broke her jaw and knocked out several teeth — in Crown Heights, cops said.

Franz Jeudy, 33 — who has a history of sucker-punch attacks and mental illness — was hit with misdemeanor assault charges in that attack, according to a criminal complaint.

Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright David Mamet certainly has a way with words — and he did not mince any when he delivered a blistering takedown of the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) standards that now limit him and others who share his profession.

Mamet made the comments during an interview with Los Angeles Times deputy entertainment editor Matt Brennan and the outlet’s Festival of Books — hosted by University of Southern California — where he was promoting his memoir, “Everywhere an Oink, Oink.”

“DEI is garbage. It’s fascist totalitarianism,” Mamet told Brennan. His memoir, which was published last fall, tells his life story in a series of anecdotes — and follows his political metamorphosis as well.

Mamet refers to himself as a “red diaper baby,” the child of two communists — and details how he made the journey from the far Left to his current position: supporting former President Donald Trump.

The award-winning playwright and screenwriter — whose works include “Glengarry Glen Ross,” “The Untouchables,” and “Hannibal” — also took issue with the new “inclusion standards” that have been implemented by the Academy of Motion Pictures, noting that for films to even be considered for awards, they had to check certain boxes according to DEI standards.

“I can’t give you a stupid f***ing statue unless you have 7% of this, 8% of that,” Mamet complained. “It’s intrusive.”

He did not spare the feelings of those charged with implementing the new standards either, referring to them in his memoir as “diversity capos” and “diversity commissars.”

Mamet conceded that Hollywood had long been a place where discrimination had thrived — but argued that the executives dictating the new rules were better suited to “selling popcorn” than to creating a less restrictive environment.

“The [film industry] has little business improving everybody’s racial understanding as does the fire department,” he said.

Despite his long career in Hollywood, Mamet said that he’s been shuffled off the main stage in recent years — but he did not blame the shift in his political views for that. Instead, he said that his age was the likely culprit — and younger directors preferred to work with people closer to their own age.

“Nobody’s going to pay me a lot of money anymore. Nobody’s going to let me have a lot of fun,” he said.

An Oklahoma man is facing up to 12 years in prison for having ammunition in his carry-on bag at a Turks and Caicos airport, according to a GoFundMe page for his family.

Ryan and Valerie Watson, the parents of two young children, were flying home from their island vacation, where they were celebrating a friend’s 40th birthday, on April 12 when they were arrested at the airport.

“They had their lives turned upside down when they tried to return home, as local airport security found four rounds of ammunition unknowingly left in a duff[le]bag from a deer hunting trip,” a description on the family’s GoFundMe page states. “It was not noticed by TSA when leaving America. Now, they are facing a legal system that is unfamiliar, daunting, and expensive that operates differently than the American Justice System.”

The U.S. Embassy in the Bahamas issued a travel alert in September 2023 telling Americans not to bring ammunition to the islands.

“TCI authorities strictly enforce all firearms related laws,” the alert states. “The penalty for traveling to TCI with a firearm, ammunition, or other weapon is a minimum custodial sentence of twelve (12) years.”

The embassy further stated that Americans should “carefully check” their luggage “for stray ammunition or forgotten weapons before departing for TCI.”

But the Watsons insist they made a terrible mistake. Valerie Watson was released from jail in Turks and Caicos on Tuesday, but her husband remains in custody “with no current timetable for any possibility of bail or trial date.”

“While we appreciate your support and willingness to help, please do not reach out directly to any of the TCI government officials during this time,” the family wrote on their GoFundMe page.

The Royal Turks and Caicos Islands Police Force on Wednesday confirmed Ryan Watson’s arrest, saying the 40-year-old Oklahoma resident appeared in magistrate court Wednesday, when he was charged with one count of ammunition possession. He was also granted $15,000 bail under the condition that he does not travel outside the islands without the court’s permission, he surrenders his passport, he reports to the Grace Bay Police Station on Tuesdays and Thursdays and he resides at a specific address.

Ryan is due back in court for a “sufficiency” hearing on June 7, officials said.

The Wastson family’s GoFundMe page says the couple faces “mounting legal fees, living expenses, and the overwhelming stress of their situation.”

“The emotional and financial toll is immense, and they are at risk of losing everything,” the page reads.

The Arizona House on Wednesday passed legislation that would repeal the state’s 1864 near-total abortion ban, as several Republicans joined with all the chamber’s Democrats.

It was the third repeal attempt in as many weeks. The previous tries were thwarted when Republicans blocked the bill from coming to the floor.

But this time, the bill passed 32-28. Republican state Reps. Tifm Dunn (R) and Justin Wilmeth (R) joined state Rep. Matt Gress (R) and all Democrats to bypass state Speaker Ben Toma (R) and the rest of the GOP caucus.

Last week, Gress was the only Republican who joined House Democrats in their effort to repeal the abortion ban. Democrats needed at least two Republicans to cross party lines.

The measure now heads to the Senate, where it needs votes from at least two Republicans to pass. But the Senate already has begun moving forward on its identical version of the House repeal bill, suggesting it could pass as soon as the chamber meets next week.

If the bill passes, it would be sent to Gov. Katie Hobbs (D), who has called on the Legislature to repeal the law.

Toma took a dig at Hobbs during the session, calling on her to rescind her executive order barring attorneys general from enforcing the law.

“I’m disappointed, as I’ve said before, it appears that Democrats apparently believe that abortion should occur with no limits and no regulations. I fervently disagree,” Toma said when voting. “Most Arizonans do not support unrestricted abortion.”

Republican lawmakers blasted those in their party who voted with Democrats.

“We’re willing to kill infants in order to win an election. Put in that context, it becomes a little bit harder to stomach, doesn’t it? Besides, legalizing abortion up until birth is not going to help us win an election,” state Rep. Alexander Kolodin (R) said. “Politics is important, but it’s not worth our souls.”

Kolodin’s comments highlight the political conundrum Arizona conservatives have found themselves in since the state Supreme Court revived the 1800s abortion law earlier this month.

Some Republicans, including former President Trump and Senate hopeful Kari Lake, want to see the Civil War-era ban repealed. They recognize that the backlash against the 1864 law could upend conservative majorities in the state and hurt Trump’s campaign in the crucial swing state.

Lake has flipped back and forth on how she speaks about the 1864 measure. In 2022, while she was running for governor of Arizona, she called it a “great law.”

House Speaker Pro Tem Travis Grantham (R) said he was “proud of my Republican caucus that has fought this off as long as it has.”

“This did not need to happen this quickly. This does not even change anything for easily four to five months. I think the timing on this is poor. I disagree with it wholeheartedly,” Grantham said. “I hope people are happy now, and I would encourage them to vote no on any further law that expands abortions in our state.”

If the 1864 ban were repealed, the state would revert to the 15-week ban that was invalidated by the court.

Still, the repeal can’t go into effect until 90 days after the legislative session ends, and the session has no end date. The 1864 law will take effect June 8 at the earliest.

The state Supreme Court’s ruling earlier this month to reinstate the 1864 ban caused a national uproar and forced a political reckoning among Republicans, many of whom have long said abortion is morally indefensible.

The century-old law, which was passed before Arizona became a state, makes abortion a felony punishable by two to five years in prison for anyone who performs or helps a woman obtain an abortion.

Abortion-rights advocates have been gathering signatures to place a referendum on the ballot that would protect access until the point of fetal viability, or roughly 24 weeks of pregnancy.

Republicans now want to introduce their own, to limit abortion at 15 weeks or potentially six weeks. If both chambers of the Legislature can pass the same language, it would automatically get on the ballot in November.

The session was filled with raucous language from GOP lawmakers opposed to the bill.

Arizona state Rep. David Marshall (R) claimed, without evidence, the push to expand abortion access was part of a “hidden racist agenda” targeting Black women to control the population.

State Rep. Barbara Parker (R) compared surgical abortions to “drawing and quartering from the ancient Assyrians” and claimed that the procedure involved “sucking out their brains and selling their baby parts.”

FBI Director Christopher Wray has warned of the heightened possibility of a coordinated terror attack in the US.

Wray told NBC News the FBI is ‘increasingly concerned [about] the potential for some kind of coordinated attack here in the homeland.’

Explaining that such an event ‘may be not that different from what you saw against the concert hall in Russia a few weeks ago from ISIS-K.’

The attack on a Moscow concert hall on March 22 killed at least 144 people, making it the deadliest terror attack in Russia for 20 years.

Wray has previously raised concerns over the elevated terror threat, telling a House of Representatives panel earlier this month that the current terror threat is the highest he can remember in his career.

‘As I look back over my career in law enforcement, I would be hard-pressed to think of a time where so many threats to our public safety and national security were so elevated all at once,’ he told the panel.

The FBI had 4,000 international terrorism investigations open at the end of the 2023 fiscal year, according to Wray’s testimony.

Wray told NBC the terror threat for the US has increased following Hamas’ deadly attack on Israel on October 7.

‘We thought that even before October 7’ he explained ‘that the terrorism threat was already elevated.

‘Post-October 7 it has gone to a whole other level.’

Speaking about the increasingly hostile international environment and the potential spill over of terror Wray added: ‘Whether it’s the threat from China, Russia, Iran, [there are] terrorism threats both foreign terrorism threats and domestic terrorist threats.’

Wray, who was appointed by Trump in 2017, has been campaigning in Congress to receive more funding for his agency.

The FBI’s fiscal 2024 budget fell $500 million short of what was needed to maintain its current functions, Reuters reported.

Islamic State claimed responsibility for the March attack on Crocus City Hall.

IS released shocking footage of the terrorists firing indiscriminately into the crowd of 6,000 inside the concert hall.

Four suspects were arrested hours after the attack and appeared to have been beaten before appearing before a Russian court.

Footage of brutal interrogation sessions by the Russian security forces appeared online with reports that at least one of the suspects suffered electric shocks, the BBC reported.

President Vladimir Putin said ‘we know that the crime was committed by the hands of radical Islamists, followers of an ideology that the Islamic world itself has been fighting against for centuries’.

Hamas published a propaganda video showing Israeli-American hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin on Wednesday on their Telegram channel.

Warning: The content of the video included in this article may be graphic for some viewers. Viewer discretion is advised.

The Jerusalem Post cannot confirm the date or authenticity of the video. The Goldberg-Polin family has given permission to Israeli media outlets to share the video.

Hamas has periodically published videos of hostages in an attempt to increase pressure on the Israeli government to agree to its terms and as a form of psychological warfare. In the past, hostages have been forced to read from scripts prepared by the terrorist organization.

Goldberg-Polin seriously injured in Hamas’s assault on Nova Music Festival

In the video, Goldberg-Polin notes that he was hanging out with friends at the Nova Music Festival when Hamas attacked the festival and kidnapped him and his friends, countering claims that Hamas leaders have made in the past that they did not target civilians.

Warning: The content of the video below may be graphic for some viewers. Viewer discretion is advised.

Watch Hersh Goldberg Polin

pic.twitter.com/QV4CuSl4Oz

— Ayesha S. (@ayeshaSays___) April 24, 2024

Goldberg-Polin was seriously injured by a grenade during the Hamas assault on the Nova Music Festival and lost his left hand.

“On Friday evening, our family gathered to celebrate Simchat Torah,” said John Goldberg-Polin, Goldberg-Polin’s father, in October. “Hersh went to a party around 11:00 at night. We wished him a good time. On Saturday morning, we heard alarms and realized something serious had occurred. My wife checked her phone. At 08:00 in the morning, we received a message from Hersh saying, ‘I love you.’ Ten minutes later, he sent another message ‘I’m sorry.'”

Rachel Goldberg, Goldberg-Polin’s mother, has been a central activist in the worldwide effort to push for the release of the 133 Israelis still being held hostage by Hamas in Gaza.

Hostage Families Forum: ‘We cannot afford to waste any more time’

The Hostages and Missing Families Forum stressed after the publication of the video that “for more than 200 days, 133 hostages have been held captive by Hamas, enduring daily physical, sexual, and psychological torment.”

“Hersh’s cry is the collective cry of all the hostages – their time is rapidly running out. With each passing day, the fear of losing more innocent lives grows stronger,” added the Forum. “We cannot afford to waste any more time; the hostages must be the top priority. All the hostages must be brought home – those alive to begin the process of rehabilitation, and those murdered for a dignified burial.”

“This distressing video serves as an urgent call to take swift and decisive action to resolve this horrific humanitarian crisis and ensure the safe return of our loved ones.”

Tikva Forum of hostage families calls on gov’t to increase pressure on Hamas

Tikva Forum, one of the two central groups of hostage families, responded to the video on Wednesday afternoon, saying, “This video is another signal that Hamas is undeterred and wants to abuse us, the families of the hostages.”

“Our hearts go out to the Goldberg-Polin family, and we grieve with them for the cruelty and disgust of Hamas,” said the Forum, urging media outlets “not to cooperate with the Nazi propaganda videos.”

“We expect the prime minister and the War Cabinet to stop shuffling and start using significant levers of pressure that will bring back Hirsch and the rest of the hostages to their homes as soon as possible,” said the Tikva Forum. “There are many pressure levers for the return of the hostages that have not been used, such as the annexation of territories from the Gaza Strip, the cessation of ‘humanitarian’ aid, the occupation of the Philadelphi Corridor, and more.”

Some anti-government protest groups affiliated with friends of Goldberg-Polin announced that they would hold a demonstration in front of the Prime Minister’s Residence in Jerusalem on Wednesday afternoon in order to demand that the government work harder for the release of the hostages.

President Joe Biden on Wednesday signed into law measures to provide aid to Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan, as well as to compel Chinese TikTok parent company ByteDance to sell the social media platform or face a national ban.

Biden’s official approval ends a six-month saga of tense political battles on Capitol Hill that led to a deadlock on the issue of foreign aid.

“The path to my desk was a difficult path. It should have been easier and it should’ve gotten there sooner,” Biden said Wednesday after signing the bill. “But in the end we did what America always does, we rose to the moment.”

Biden had signaled his intention to sign the bill into law after the House passed the proposal on Saturday. The Senate gave its own green light late Tuesday night in an overwhelmingly bipartisan 79-18 vote, sending it to Biden’s desk for his signature.

The law earmarks roughly $60 billion in aid for Ukraine, $26 billion for Israel and $8 billion for security in Taiwan and the Indo-Pacific. It also requires ByteDance to sell TikTok within nine months — or a year, if Biden invokes a 90-day extension — or else face a nationwide ban in the U.S.

TikTok has already vowed to fight the measure.

“This unconstitutional law is a TikTok ban, and we will challenge it in court,” the company wrote in a Wednesday statement on X following Biden’s signing.

“This ban would devastate seven million businesses and silence 170 million Americans,” the company added in its statement.

TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew posted a video response to the enactment of the TikTok bill, calling it a “disappointing moment” and reiterating the company’s commitment to challenge it.

Despite Biden’s official support of the TikTok bill, his 2024 reelection campaign told NBC News Wednesday that it would continue using the social media platform to reach voters for at least the next year. Notably, the nine-month to one-year deadline for ByteDance allows it to maintain ownership of TikTok through the November election.

Along with TikTok’s pushback, the bill had been the subject of heated political attacks, including threats to oust House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., from Republicans like Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga.

Those threats were part of the reason that Johnson stalled the foreign aid even after the Senate, in February, passed a similar $95 billion version of the bill to fund Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan. That bill, however, did not include the TikTok provisions.

But last week, with that pink slip still looming, Johnson decided to end the House’s foreign aid stalemate following Iran’s attempted strike on Israel on April 13, which triggered fresh bipartisan pressure for the U.S. to help its allies.

In the following days, Johnson put four separate bills to a House vote, three of which would provide foreign aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan and a fourth, which would include other foreign policy proposals, such as the TikTok bill.

Though Johnson’s move came with professional risks, the speaker has so far stood by it, boosted by public support from former President Donald Trump.

“I know that history is going to judge this well,” Johnson said Wednesday morning in a radio interview on “The Hugh Hewitt Show.” “It was the right thing to do.”

New video evidence uncovered by CNN significantly undermines two Pentagon investigations, the latest of which was released last week, into an ISIS-K suicide attack outside Kabul airport, during the American troop withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021, CNN reported.

The incident was a gruesome coda to America’s longest war, leaving dead 13 United States military service members and about 170 Afghans who were desperately seeking US help to flee the Taliban takeover of Kabul. For two years, the US military has insisted that the loss of life was caused by a single explosion, and that troops who reported coming under fire and returning it were likely confused in the chaotic aftermath, some suffering from the effects of blast concussion.

But video captured by a Marine’s GoPro camera that has not been seen publicly in full before shows there was far more gunfire than the Pentagon has ever admitted. A dozen US military personnel, who were on the scene and spoke to CNN anonymously for fear of reprisals, have described the gunfire in detail. One told CNN he heard the first large burst of shooting come from where US Marines were standing, near the blast site. “It wasn’t onesies and twosies,” the Marine said. “It was a mass volume of gunfire.”

An Afghan doctor who spoke to CNN on the record for the first time said he personally pulled bullets from the wounded, and with his hospital staff counted dozens of Afghans who died from gunshot wounds.

Combined, the new evidence challenges the credibility of the two US military investigations and raises serious questions for the Pentagon, which has continued to dismiss mounting evidence that civilians were shot dead.

The blast at 5:36 p.m. on August 26, 2021, outside Hamid Karzai International Airport marked the worst casualty incident for Afghan civilians and US troops in Afghanistan in over a decade.

For days, hundreds of desperate Afghans – military aged-men, women, children, and the elderly – had been standing in the blistering heat, hoping to persuade their way into the airport and onto a stream of US cargo planes that flew over a hundred thousand people out to safety.

The scene outside the airport’s Abbey Gate, where crowds were densest, was gruesome even before the blast. Former translators and other Afghans who had assisted the near-20-year NATO presence waded in trash and knee-deep sewage water that filled a concrete drainage canal.

When an ISIS-K suicide bomber detonated a backpack device just above the densely populated concrete canal, the evacuation was drastically curtailed.

The Pentagon has insisted all deaths and injuries were caused by the explosive device and the ball bearings it fired into the crowd. Though it has acknowledged there was gunfire from American and British forces, it says that was limited to three bursts that were near-simultaneous – one of 25 to 30 warning shots from UK troops, and two bursts of fire from US troops aimed at suspected militants, which did not hit anyone.

The US Central Command ordered a supplemental review into the incident in September 2023, after criticism of its investigation’s conclusions, particularly around whether the bombing could have been prevented – in harrowing emotional testimony from survivors on social media and to Congressional hearings.

Those results, which were released on April 15, reaffirmed that a lone ISIS-K bomber carried out the attack, and found that “new information obtained during the review did not materially impact the findings in the November 2021” investigation, and the review “did not recommend any modifications to those findings.” The review did not pursue numerous reports from Afghan survivors of significant gunfire in the wake of the blast.

The Marine’s GoPro footage runs nearly continuously for many minutes before and after the blast. It shows 11 episodes of shooting after the explosion, over nearly four minutes. This is significantly more than the three “near simultaneous” bursts of gunfire that the Pentagon investigations have claimed occurred.

One sustained burst of about 17 gunshots comes just over 30 seconds after the bomb detonates, according to the video, with the other 10 bursts of two to three rounds each. At no point are Marines seen firing on camera or is anyone visibly hit by gunfire. It is unclear where the gunmen are or what they are firing at.

It shows Marines, some on their first deployment to a warzone, race for cover from gunfire, and choke from CS gas released when the blast tore open a canister on a Marine’s flak jacket.

Watch:

Read the full article.

In the first quarter of 2024, the South American country recorded a budget surplus of about 275 billion pesos (some $309 million at the official rate), he told national TV late Monday.

This amounted to a surplus of 0.2 percent of GDP.

“This is the first quarter with a financial surplus since 2008,” said Milei, referring to his left-wing rival Cristina Kirchner’s first year in the presidency.

Milei, who took office in December, boasted of “a feat of historic significance on a global scale.”

“If the state does not spend more than it collects and does not issue (money), there is no inflation. This is not magic,” the self-described “anarcho-capitalist” said.

Milei won elections last November vowing to reduce the deficit to zero — a target even more ambitious than required by the International Monetary Fund, with whom Argentina has a $44 billion loan.

To that end, he has instituted an austerity programme that has seen the government slash subsidies for transport fuel and energy even as annual inflation stands at 290 percent year-on-year, poverty levels have reached 60 percent and wage-earners have lost a fifth of their purchasing power.

Thousands of public servants have lost their jobs.

“Don’t expect a way out through public spending,” Milei warned on Monday.

University students, backed by unions and opposition parties, have called a march for Tuesday to protest financing cuts to higher public education, research and science under the new president.

Universities have declared a budgetary emergency after the government approved a 2024 budget the same as the one for 2023, despite inflation approaching 300 percent and a near 500-percent increase in energy costs that higher learning institutions say has brought them to their knees.

“At the rate at which they are funding us, we can only function between two and three more months,” University of Buenos Aires (UBA) rector Ricardo Gelpi said.

An ex-lobbyist infiltrated Donald Trump’s inner circle, pocketed tens of thousands in a political donation scam, and even faked cancer treatment to swindle the rich and famous of Palm Beach, his alleged victims claim, Daily Mail reported.

Former Idaho lobbyist Jesse Taylor, 38, has now been banned from all Trump properties and the former president’s lawyers have sent him a cease and desist letter.

The ex lobbyist met Trump several times, was close with top campaign officials, and even wheedled his way into parties at Donald Trump Jr. and fiancée Kimberly Guilfoyle’s house, multiple sources told DailyMail.com.

Charming, exuberant and well-connected, he gave members of the ritzy Mar-a-Lago club the impression he was a successful political consultant with a penchant for champagne and flying private – and a tragic ongoing battle with bladder cancer.

But in a twist worthy of AppleTV show Palm Royale, Taylor’s house of cards tumbled when sources close to the Trump campaign say he bounced a $25,000 donation check, and they discovered he had been selling photo opportunities with the hopeful US president for $6,600 and pocketing the proceeds.

He even allegedly offered ambassadorships in a future Trump administration to would-be donors – without the campaign’s knowledge – in exchange for up to $10,000 per month in consulting contracts, one source told Daily Mail.

He convinced a lobbying client, drag racer John Odom of the reality TV show Street Outlaws, to pay him $60,000 for supposed cancer medical bills in 2022, Odom claimed. He got another $20,000 from top GOP donor Greg Mosing for the same.

The Mosings say they never thought that the request could be a scam. Photos Taylor texted to Greg’s wife Donna in October 2022 appeared to be of him from the waist down getting cancer treatment in a hospital bed.

But an investigation by DailyMail.com reveals that Taylor ripped the photo from a 2015 blog by a woman documenting her own cancer treatment, and passed it off as himself.

It is unclear whether Taylor has ever been treated for cancer.

Livid Odom says he will be pressing criminal charges.

‘I am meeting with the [Ada County, Idaho] District Attorney’s office soon and will be asking them to file charges of credit card fraud, grand theft and fraud against him,’ he said.

‘I hope that other individuals he has taken advantage of will do the same. I watched my mom die of cancer and to have someone lie about that for financial gain, there is a special place in hell for them.’

A March 15 ‘cease and desist’ letter from Trump’s lawyer to Taylor accuses him of ‘fraud and extortion’ and ‘shameless and manifest deceit’.

‘You are promising donors a photo with President Trump in exchange for campaign contributions in the amount of $6,600, an offer you are not authorized to make, nor can you fulfill,’ the letter by Dhillon Law Group attorney David Warrington said.

Warrington’s letter claimed Taylor promised donors positions in a future administration in exchange for consulting contracts, and that he ‘threatened’ campaign staff with leaking ‘sensitive information’

Taylor told DailyMail.com: ‘I categorically deny these allegations made and I will take steps to prove they are false.’

‘This is a hit job from several people and at best distorts the truth and at worst is outright lies,’ he said.

‘These allegations and rumors are absolutely unproven and made by three individuals who’ve set out to ruin me, my career and life.’

Taylor claimed that Odom and Mosing will ‘stop at nothing to achieve their goal of ruining my life and career’.

According to his former confidants, Taylor had been racking up tens of thousands of dollars in debt to his Mar-a-Lago member friends since he moved to Florida last January, borrowing from one to pay the other, couch surfing and relying heavily on hospitality from his rich contacts to keep up appearances in Palm Beach.

‘He was trying to live that champagne lifestyle on nickel beer money,’ said Lafayette oil baron Mosing. ‘As far as I’m concerned he was looking for victims.’

Taylor has a criminal record which began at an early age.

Bear Lake County, Idaho court records show that in 2003, 18-year-old Taylor stole more than $1,000 of merchandise from an Alco Discount Store storage container.

He pleaded guilty to the charge, but the judge allowed him to avoid a felony conviction and gave him 15 days in jail, served on weekends.

He was also convicted of two DUIs, in 2014 and 2021.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) voted 3-2 on Tuesday to ban noncompete agreements that prevent tens of millions of employees from working for competitors or starting a competing business after they leave a job.

From fast food workers to CEOs, the FTC estimates 18 percent of the U.S. workforce is covered by noncompete agreements — about 30 million people.

The final rule would ban new noncompete agreements for all workers and require companies to let current and past employees know they won’t enforce them. Companies will also have to throw out existing noncompete agreements for most employees, although in a change from the original proposal, the agreements may remain in effect for senior executives.

“It is so profoundly unfree and unfair for people to be stuck in jobs they want to leave, not because they lacked better alternatives, but because noncompetes preclude another firm from fairly competing for their labor, requiring workers instead to leave their industries or their homes to make ends,” FTC Commissioner Rebecca Slaughter (D) said in prepared remarks.

The new rule is slated to go into effect in 120 days after it’s published in the Federal Register. But its future is uncertain, as pro-business groups opposing the rule are expected to take legal action to block its implementation.

Business groups say noncompete agreements are critical for protecting proprietary information and intellectual property, although the rule would not ban other methods for protecting that information, including nondisclosure and confidentiality agreements. They also question the agency’s authority to issue the blanket, retroactive ban.

Congress has not given the agency explicit authority to ban noncompetes, although there have been several bipartisan bills introduced to reform noncompete agreements, including the Workforce Mobility Act sponsored by Sens. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), Todd Young (R-Ind.), Tim Kaine (D-Va.) and Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), and the Freedom to Compete Act sponsored by Sens. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.).

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the largest pro-business lobbying group in the country, has said it will sue to block the rule.

Chamber President and CEO Suzanne Clark called the FTC vote to ban noncompetes “a blatant power grab that will undermine American businesses’ ability to remain competitive.”

“This decision sets a dangerous precedent for government micromanagement of business and can harm employers, workers, and our economy,” Clark said. “The Chamber will sue the FTC to block this unnecessary and unlawful rule and put other agencies on notice that such overreach will not go unchecked.”

While the dissenting commissioners said they did not support noncompete agreements carte blanche, they did not believe the agency had the authority to issue the rule without an express directive from Congress.

“Beginning with policy puts the cart before the horse,” FTC Commissioner Andrew Ferguson (R) said. “No matter how important, conspicuous and controversial the issue, and no matter how wise the administrative solution, an administrative agency’s power to regulate must always be grounded in the valid grant of authority from Congress. Because we lacked that authority, the final rule is unlawful.”

The lawsuit would be the latest battle between the business community and President Biden’s administration, with agencies including the FTC rolling out measures to crack down on corporate price gouging, junk fees and alleged anticompetitive behavior. Last month, the Chamber led a lawsuit challenging a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau rule that caps credit card late fees at $8 for the largest issuers.

The Biden administration, Democrats and labor advocates have argued noncompete agreements limit workers’ mobility, depress their wages and harm entrepreneurship and competition in the U.S. economy.

When the FTC first proposed the rule in January 2023, it estimated the rule would increase earnings by almost $300 billion each year. FTC Chair Lina Khan told reporters Tuesday morning that around 25,000 of the 26,000 public comments the agency received supported the proposal, with health care workers making up “a pretty significant chunk.”

These policy battles are playing out against the backdrop of the 2024 presidential election, as Biden aims to draw distinctions between himself and the presumed Republican nominee, former President Trump.

Biden and Trump are neck and neck in the race for the White House, according to national polling averages analyzed by The Hill and Decision Desk HQ. But the incumbent has been trying to turn around negative perceptions of his handling of the economy, with voters saying his predecessor handled it better.

Only 38 percent of surveyed voters rated the economy as good under Biden, compared to 65 percent who said it was good under Trump, according to a CBS News poll of 2,159 American adults released in March.

While inflation has fallen significantly from its 9 percent peak in June 2022 to around 3 percent in recent months, high prices are top of mind for many voters. The CBS News poll found just 17 percent of surveyed voters believe Biden’s policies will help bring prices down, compared to 44 percent who think Trump’s will.

The Tennessee legislature passed a bill allowing teachers to carry guns, causing protesters to scream their disapproval and cause chaotic scenes on the state House floor.

The bill was passed just over a year after the Covenant school shooting when a former student killed three students and three adults. It was strongly objected to by Democrats and gun control activists, who made a scene in the state Capitol building. “Blood. On. Your. Hands,” the crowd in the gallery shouted, brandishing protest signs.

It’s chaos in the House as protesters have derailed session.

Representatives all over the floor, Democrats and Republicans going after each other for breaking rules, etc.@WKRN #TNLeg24 pic.twitter.com/3KiPI80q5z

— Chris O’Brien (@THEChrisOB) April 23, 2024

Republican and Democratic state representatives conversed and argued on the floor, accusing each other of breaking rules.

Republican House Speaker Cameron Sexton kicked out at least one protester for being too disruptive, according to the Washington Post.

House Democrats, a clear minority in the deep red state, protested the measure.

Democratic state Rep. Bo Mitchell shared his outrage over the passage of the bill in light of the Covenant tragedy. “This is our reaction to students and teachers being murdered in a school? Our reaction is to throw more guns at it. What’s wrong with us?”

At one point, Sexton appeared to mute Mitchell’s microphone, after he drifted off topic in apologizing to the parents in attendance.

During debate on a bill to arm teachers, Tennessee House Speaker Cameron Sexton (R-Crossville) mutes and laughs at State Rep. Bo Mitchell (D-Nashville) as he tries to apologize for Covenant School shooting victims for what the legislature is doing.

SEXTON: “His mic’s not on.” pic.twitter.com/CeN3viAdm9

— Heartland Signal (@HeartlandSignal) April 23, 2024

Also in attendance was Democratic state Rep. Justin Jones, who was expelled last year for disregarding House rules before being quickly reinstated. He joined a “die-in” protest, where activists pretended to be dead.

The Tennessee House just passed a bill that allows teachers and staff to carry a gun to protect the students. Staff who want to carry must go through 40 hours of gun training and have a psychological evaluation.

Left wing activists including Rep. Justin Jones staged a “die in”… pic.twitter.com/i0XbzuUuPg

— Robby Starbuck (@robbystarbuck) April 23, 2024

“This is what fascism looks like,” he said in a post about the bill on X.

Tennessee Republicans just cut off debate and passed a bill to arm teachers in our schools.

The public chanted “Blood on your hands!” as the Speaker ordered troopers to clear the gallery.

This is what fascism looks like. pic.twitter.com/9mg67oWMxM

— Rep. Justin Jones (@brotherjones_) April 23, 2024

Other gun control activists were quick to condemn the bill.

“RECKLESS: The Tennessee House just passed a bill that would allow more teachers to carry guns in schools without notifying parents, despite overwhelming constituent opposition,” Everytown for Gun Safety said in a statement. “This comes one week after Iowa’s governor signed a similar bill. Both Iowa and Tennessee experienced tragic school shootings — and both failed to do the right thing to prevent further gun violence and keep kids safe.”

RECKLESS: The Tennessee House just passed a bill that would allow more teachers to carry guns in schools without notifying parents, despite overwhelming constituent opposition. This comes one week after Iowa’s governor signed a similar bill.

Both Iowa and Tennessee experienced… https://t.co/apCKrIG74p

— Everytown (@Everytown) April 23, 2024

The bill is expected to be signed by Gov. Bill Lee (R-TN). It allows teachers and school staffers to carry concealed handguns if the school’s top administrators approve, but parents, students, and other teachers will not be allowed to know who is armed.

David Pecker, the former publisher of the National Enquirer, testified at Donald Trump’s trial Tuesday that the tabloid completely manufactured a negative story in 2016 about the father of Sen. Ted Cruz, of Texas, who was then Trump’s rival for the GOP presidential nomination.

The paper had published a photo allegedly showing Cruz’s father, Rafael Cruz, with Lee Harvey Oswald handing out pro-Fidel Castro pamphlets in New Orleans in 1963, not long before Oswald assassinated President John F. Kennedy.

Trump repeatedly referred to the story on the campaign trail and in interviews.

“I mean, what was he doing — what was he doing with Lee Harvey Oswald shortly before the death? Before the shooting?” Trump said in an interview with Fox News in May 2016. “It’s horrible.”

Manhattan prosecutor Joshua Steinglass asked Pecker about the story’s origins during the trial Tuesday in Manhattan. Pecker said that then-National Enquirer editor-in-chief Dylan Howard and the tabloid’s research department got involved, and Pecker indicated that they faked the photo that was the foundation for the story.

“We mashed the photos and the different picture with Lee Harvey Oswald. And mashed the two together. And that’s how that story was prepared — created I would say,” Pecker said on the witness stand.

Asked by Steinglass whether Cruz had gained popularity in the presidential race at the time, Pecker said, “I believe so.”

The revelation came up as the prosecution focused on negative articles that were published by the tabloid about Trump’s Republican opponents at the time. Pecker explained that it was Michael Cohen, Trump’s personal lawyer, who would orchestrate the planting of these stories.

Pecker said Cohen would call and say they’d like his publication to run an article on a certain candidate, adding that Cohen would then send him a piece about Cruz, for example, and the National Enquirer “would embellish it from there.”

Pecker suggested that Trump was directly involved in the process, too. He said that the negative stories about Trump’s opponents were published as part of an arrangement that was struck in 2015 at a Trump Tower meeting that also included a directive to write positive stories about the real estate mogul.

Steinglass also entered into evidence National Enquirer headlines published during the 2016 race about Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., who was also running for president. They suggested that he had a love child and had a connection to cocaine.

Asked why the tabloid ran stories about the senators and candidate Ben Carson, Pecker said, “After the Republican debates, and based on the success that some of the other candidates had, I would receive a call from Michael Cohen, and he would direct me and direct Dylan Howard which candidate and which direction we should go.”

When asked for his response Tuesday, Cruz told NBC News he’s “not interested in revisiting ancient history.”

When the story about Cruz’s dad was published, the senator told reporters that Trump was a “pathological liar” after he promoted the story.

“He doesn’t know the difference between truth and lies,” he said. “He lies practically every word that comes out of his mouth. And in a pattern that I think is straight out of a psychology textbook, his response is to accuse everyone else of lying.”

No ruling yet on whether Trump violated a gag order

Tuesday wasn’t all about David Pecker.

The morning was largely given over to exchanges about whether Trump had violated the terms of a gag order in the case.

Judge Juan Merchan has yet to rule on the question.

The gag order Merchan issued last month bars Trump from attacking people involved in the case, including witnesses, court officials and members of the judge’s family — the last stipulation an apparent reaction to Trump’s attacks on Merchan’s daughter Loren, for her work relating to political consultancy for Democrats.

Prosecutors allege Trump has breached the order 10 times. They are seeking a fine of $1,000 for each violation. Trump’s team argue he is replying to the comments made about him, which he has a right to do.

In the process of the legal tangling over the issue, Trump’s legal team acknowledged that other people sometimes post stories onto Trump’s Truth Social account.

Sens. Josh Hawley and Tom Cotton called on President Biden to mobilize the National Guard to protect Jewish American college students in response to anti-Israel, pro-terrorist demonstrations on campuses.

Mr. Hawley, Missouri Republican, wrote in a letter sent to Mr. Biden Monday:

“On college campuses across the United States, Jewish Americans are at risk. … In your statement on Passover, you stated that ‘in recent days, we’ve seen harassment and calls for violence against Jews. This blatant antisemitism is reprehensible and dangerous — and it has absolutely no place on college campuses, or anywhere in our country.’ Now you must take action to match those words.”

He continued, “You must immediately mobilize the National Guard and any other authorities necessary to ensure the safety of Jewish American students and citizens.”

Mr. Hawley referenced President Dwight Eisenhower’s 1957 Executive Order 10730, which deployed the Arkansas National Guard and 101st Airborne Division to ensure the safety of Black students attending Central High School in Little Rock.

“I urge you to similarly mobilize the National Guard and other necessary authorities to protect Jewish American students on Columbia University’s campus and any other campus where Jewish students are at risk,” the senator said. “’Never again’ means never again,” a phrase often associated with the lessons of the Holocaust.

Mr. Cotton, Arkansas Republican, said on X that the “nascent pogroms at Columbia have to stop.”

Referring to the mayor and governor, Mr. Cotton added, “If Eric Adams won’t send the NYPD and Kathy Hochul won’t send the National Guard, Joe Biden has a duty to take charge and break up these mobs.”

Mr. Biden on Monday stated he condemned the antisemitic campus protests as the tensions have increased amid pro-Palestinian demonstrations at Columbia University and other colleges.

“I condemn the antisemitic protests; that’s why I set up a program to deal with that. I also condemn those who don’t understand what’s going on with the Palestinians,” he said.

Mr. Hawley noted that campus police and local law enforcement have failed to secure the campus of Columbia University for several days after anti-Israel action erupted at the school.

On Sunday, Rabbi Elie Buechler, the director of the university’s Orthodox Union-Jewish Learning Initiative on Campus, said those authorities “cannot guarantee Jewish students’ safety” and recommended that Jewish students “return home as soon as possible.”

The following day, on Passover, Columbia University President Minouche Shafik canceled in-person classes, citing “too many examples of intimidating and harassing behavior on our campus.”

Mr. Hawley noted that demonstrators have “illegally established a ‘Gaza Solidarity Encampment’ on the university’s campus and engaged in shocking displays of antisemitism” as well as assaults on Jewish students, theft and attempted burning of an Israeli flag.

He also wrote in his letter to Mr. Biden that campus rioters are shouting “violent, genocidal rhetoric” such as “Never forget the 7th of October. That will happen not 1 more time, not 5 more times, not 10 more times, not 100 more times, not 1,000 more times, but 10,000 times.”

Last October, the Senate unanimously passed Mr. Hawley‘s resolution condemning Hamas and the antisemitic rhetoric emanating from campus student groups, which have continued to celebrate the Oct. 7 terrorist attack against Israel.

Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) attempted to run defense for the anti-Israel protesters — a group that includes her daughter, Barnard student Isra Hirsi — and got hit with an immediate wave of backlash.

Omar, whose daughter was among the students who were suspended and detained for their participation in anti-semitic protests on Columbia University’s campus, defended the protests in an X post, claiming that the protests had been “co-opted” and that was the real reason they looked bad.

“Throughout history, protests were co-opted and made to look bad so police and public leaders would shut them down. That’s what we are seeing now at Columbia University,” Omar said. “The Columbia protesters have made clear their demands and want their school not to be complacent in the ongoing Genocide in Gaza. Public officials and media making this about anything else are inflaming the situation and need to bring calmness and sanity back.”

Throughout history, protests were co-opted and made to look bad so police and public leaders would shut them down. That’s what we are seeing now at Columbia University. The Columbia protesters have made clear their demands and want their school not to be complacent in the ongoing…

— Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) April 22, 2024

Omar’s efforts to spin the anti-semitic protests were quickly met with rebuttals from critics, many of whom pointed out the fact that protesters were on camera shouting and chanting slogans that called for the genocide of the Jews and the destruction of Israel.

“Inventing a conspiracy to blame the antisemitism and terror support of the protestors on police and others doesn’t work when everyone can see the truth …” AG (@aghamilton29) posted, adding, “It’s almost hilarious the extent to which the defenders of the antisemitic mobs at Columbia are completely reliant on pretending the numerous videos and the witness testimony from Jewish students simply don’t exist to preserve their narratives.”

Rep. Anthony D’Esposito (R-NY) added, “Ilhan, there’s video. Lots of it. These antisemites don’t need police & public leaders to make them look bad. They’re doing that all by themselves. Only demands should be: Hamas, surrender; Release the hostages.”

Ilhan, there’s video. Lots of it.

These antisemites don’t need police & public leaders to make them look bad.

They’re doing that all by themselves.

Only demands should be:
-Hamas, surrender.
-Release the hostages. https://t.co/o6QUnNpFPZ

— Anthony P. D’Esposito (@ANTHONYDESPO) April 22, 2024

Referencing Columbia’s move to remote learning on Monday due to the increased tensions on campus, Erielle Azerrad pointed out: “Jews are studying remotely because of Omar’s daughter.”

Jews are studying remotely because of Omar’s daughter. https://t.co/Z1wgdsOT4t

— Erielle Azerrad (@politicalelle) April 22, 2024

“Nothing was co-opted here,” Pradheep Shankar said. “These idiots were always fascists and antisemites (including her daughter). Nothing has changed since the evening of 10/7. The Columbia protester demands are irrelevant, because they are nonsense, and they should ignored. Kick them out.”

Nothing was co-opted here.

These idiots were always fascists and antisemites (including her daughter). Nothing has changed since the evening of 10/7. The Columbia protester demands are irrelevant, because they are nonsense, and they should ignored. Kick them out. https://t.co/j1cBe7DCM8

— Pradheep J. Shanker, M.D. (@neoavatara) April 22, 2024