Anti-Israel protesters swarmed the streets surrounding Saturday evening’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner, shouting at attendees and draping a massive Palestinian flag from one of the windows of the host hotel.

Associated Press reporter Farnoush Amiri commented on the crowds waiting outside the venue, saying that the scene before her was very different than it had been in years past.

“This is my third year covering the WHCD as the designated AP reporter for the WH pool and I’ve never seen anything like this,” she said of the gathered protesters. “President Biden’s motorcade will likely drive by these crowds shortly.”

This is my third year covering the WHCD as the designated AP reporter for the WH pool and I’ve never seen anything like this. President Biden’s motorcade will likely drive by these crowds shortly. https://t.co/ZnJjhCrmly

— Farnoush Amiri (@FarnoushAmiri) April 27, 2024

Amiri also noted that President Joe Biden’s motorcade took a different route to the event than it had in years past — and her assumption was that they were attempting to avoid the protests as much as possible.

In President Biden’s motorcade, which took a different route to the dinner than previous years, likely to avoid protesters. But some still were able to get through on the side streets. pic.twitter.com/3SmhH1YCFh

— Farnoush Amiri (@FarnoushAmiri) April 27, 2024

Protesters carried signs referencing journalists who have reportedly been killed in Gaza.

Scenes from outside the #WHCD where protesters are supporting a boycott called for by the colleagues of journalists killed in Gaza pic.twitter.com/J3kJZUYU3g

— nikki mccann ramírez (@NikkiMcR) April 27, 2024

Protesters attempted to surround attendees — among them Caitlyn Jenner — and confront them as they arrived, calling on journalists to boycott the event.

The protesters claimed they were there “to protest media complicity in genocide,” complaining that Palestinian journalists were being killed “with full U.S. backing” for reporting on the situation in Gaza.

Caitlyn Jenner confronted by protestors at White House Correspondents Dinner.

They’re here “to protest media complicity in genocide” & uplift calls from Palestinian journalists to boycott the event “as they are being targeted & killed for doing their jobs, with full US backing.” pic.twitter.com/OG7QLhl8zM

— Prem Thakker (@prem_thakker) April 27, 2024

“The pro-Hamas crowd has arrived outside the White House Correspondent’s Dinner and is VERY upset about me filming them,” Katie Pavlich posted.

The pro-Hamas crowd has arrived outside the White House Correspondent’s Dinner and is VERY upset about me filming them pic.twitter.com/xEg3a8EPDR

— Katie Pavlich (@KatiePavlich) April 27, 2024

The Palestinian flag, according to witnesses, was draped from a window of the Washington Hilton just before President Joe Biden was expected to arrive at the venue.

Demonstrators draped a massive Palestinian flag from the Washington Hilton just moments before POTUS is due for #WHCD pic.twitter.com/lbEnXlugcy

— Sean Langille (@SeanLangille) April 27, 2024

WUSA9 reporter Alexis Wainwright shared several videos of the protest, confirming that those present were calling for a boycott of the dinner.

Protests still happening right now outside of the White House Correspondents dinner at the Washington Hilton on Connecticut Ave NW.

They are calling for a boycott of this dinner. @wusa9 pic.twitter.com/M7VfYCiloo

— Alexis Wainwright (@AWainwrightTV) April 28, 2024

She also reported that at least one protester had been escorted away by police, prompting other protesters to yell at officers to let the person go.

Now other protesters have come over to call for police to let the person who’s been taken into custody go. pic.twitter.com/3oTHOSUu1K

— Alexis Wainwright (@AWainwrightTV) April 28, 2024

Ousted MSNBC host Mehdi Hasan publicly stated that despite attending the WHCD in the past, he would join with the anti-Israel protesters and sit this one out.

I have attended the White House Correspondents Dinner for the past two years. I decided not to attend today’s dinner (which, to be clear, is hosted by DC journalists not the White House) in solidarity with under-fire Palestinian journalists in Gaza who have called for a boycott. https://t.co/HZ6v1m9RTq

— Mehdi Hasan (@mehdirhasan) April 27, 2024

Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas raised a question Thursday that goes to the heart of Special Counsel Jack Smith’s charges against former President Donald Trump.

The high court was considering Trump’s argument that he is immune from prosecution for actions he took while president, but another issue is whether Smith and the Office of Special Counsel have the authority to bring charges at all.

“Did you, in this litigation, challenge the appointment of special counsel?” Thomas asked Trump attorney John Sauer on Thursday during a nearly three-hour session at the Supreme Court.

Sauer replied that Trump’s attorneys had not raised that concern “directly” in the current Supreme Court case — in which justices are considering Trump’s arguments that presidential immunity precludes the prosecution of charges that the former president illegally sought to overturn the 2020 election.

Sauer told Thomas that, “we totally agree with the analysis provided by Attorney General Meese [III] and Attorney General Mukasey.”

“It points to a very important issue here because one of [the special counsel’s] arguments is, of course, that we should have this presumption of regularity. That runs into the reality that we have here an extraordinary prosecutorial power being exercised by someone who was never nominated by the president or confirmed by the Senate at any time. So we agree with that position. We hadn’t raised it yet in this case when this case went up on appeal,” Sauer said.

In a 42-page amicus brief presented to the high court in March, Meese and Mukasey questioned whether “Jack Smith has lawful authority to undertake the ‘criminal prosecution'” of Trump. Mukasey and Meese — both former U.S. attorneys general — said Smith and the Office of Special Counsel itself have no authority to prosecute, in part because he was never confirmed by the Senate to any position.

Federal prosecutions, “can be taken only by persons properly appointed as federal officers to properly created federal offices,” Meese and Mukasey argued. “But neither Smith nor the position of special counsel under which he purportedly acts meets those criteria. He wields tremendous power, effectively answerable to no one, by design. And that is a serious problem for the rule of law — whatever one may think of former President Trump or the conduct on January 6, 2021, that Smith challenges in the underlying case.”

The crux of the problem, according to Meese, is that Smith was never confirmed by the Senate as a U.S. attorney, and no other statute allows the U.S. attorney general to name merely anyone as special counsel. Smith was acting U.S. attorney for a federal district in Tennessee in 2017, but he was never nominated to the position. He resigned from the private sector after then-President Trump nominated a different prosecutor as U.S. attorney for the middle district of Tennessee.

Meese and Mukasey argued that because the special counsel exercises broad authority to convene grand juries and make prosecutorial decisions, independent of the White House or the attorney general, he is far more powerful than any government officer who has not been confirmed by the Senate.

Sauer and Trump’s other attorneys objected to the legitimacy of Smith’s appointment in the charges against Trump in the classified documents case, also brought by Smith, before a Florida federal court.

In a March court filing in Florida, Trump’s attorneys claimed that the special counsel’s office argues in federal court that Smith is wholly independent of the White House and Garland — contradicting Trump’s arguments that the federal charges against him are politically motivated. But at the same time, the special counsel’s attorneys insist that Smith is subordinate to the attorney general, and therefore not subject to Senate confirmation under the Appointments Clause of the U.S. Constitution.

“There is significant tension between the Office’s assurances to that court that Smith is independent, and not prosecuting the Republican nominee for President at the direction of the Biden Administration, and the Office’s assurance here that Smith is not independent and is instead so thoroughly supervised and accountable to President Biden and Attorney General Garland that this Court should not be concerned about such tremendous power being exercised to alter the trajectory of the ongoing presidential election,” Trump’s attorneys wrote in the filing.

The special counsel’s office, responding to Trump’s claims in the Florida case, argued that the attorney general “has the statutory authority to appoint a Special Prosecutor” and that the Supreme Court even upheld that authority “in closely analogous circumstances nearly 50 years ago” — in a 1974 case that challenged the prosecutor investigating the late President Richard Nixon.

Meese and Mukasey wrote in their brief that the Nixon case was irrelevant because it “concerned the relationship between the President and DOJ as an institution, not between the President and any specific actor purportedly appointed by DOJ.”

The pair also said special counsel investigations are necessary and often lawful, but stated that “the Attorney General cannot appoint someone never confirmed by the Senate, as a substitute United States Attorney under the title ‘Special Counsel.’ Smith’s appointment was thus unlawful, as are all actions flowing from it, including his prosecution of former President Trump.”

Smith was a private citizen when Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed him as special counsel to investigate Trump in 2022.

Other recent special counsels — including John Durham’s Trump-Russia probe; David Weiss of the Hunter Biden investigation; and Robert Hur, who investigated Biden’s mishandling of classified documents — were all confirmed by the Senate to various positions before being named as special counsels.

The Florida court has yet to rule on Trump’s motion to dismiss the classified documents case due to claims that Smith was improperly appointed.

The Supreme Court is expected to rule on Trump’s immunity arguments before its term ends in June.

Harvey Weinstein was hospitalized Saturday for a battery of tests after returning to Rikers Island jail ahead of a court appearance next week.

The 72-year-old former Hollywood powerhouse was taken to Bellevue Hospital in Manhattan for a more thorough exam after he was checked out by doctors at Rikers, his attorney, Arthur Aidala, said.

Aidala said it seems Weinstein “needs a lot of help, physically.”

“He’s got a lot of problems,” Aidala said. “He’s getting all kinds of tests. He’s somewhat of a train wreck healthwise.”

On Friday, he was transferred from Mohawk Correctional Facility, about 42 miles from Syracuse, New York, to a medical ward at Rikers in New York City and is scheduled to appear before a judge after New York’s highest court overturned his 2020 rape conviction.

Weinstein was serving a 23-year sentence at Mohawk after he was found guilty of forcibly performing oral sex on a television and film production assistant in 2006 and rape in the third degree for an attack on an aspiring actress in 2013.

He will appear in Manhattan Criminal Court on Wednesday at 2:15 p.m. before Judge Curtis Farber.

In a shocking 4-3 decision Thursday, the New York Court of Appeals overturned Weinstein’s conviction after it found that the judge in the landmark #MeToo trial prejudiced the former film mogul with improper rulings, including a decision to let women testify about allegations that weren’t part of the case.

The court said it “erroneously admitted testimony of uncharged, alleged prior sexual acts” and the “testimony served no material non-propensity purpose.”

Although the conviction was overturned, Weinstein remained in prison after he was convicted in 2022 in Los Angeles of rape. He was acquitted of a count of sexual battery in that case. Weinstein has filed a notice to appeal that verdict as well.

The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office said Thursday that it would do “everything in our power to retry this case, and remain steadfast in our commitment to survivors of sexual assault.”

In an updated statement Friday, the district attorney’s office said its mission was to “center survivors’ experiences and wellbeing in every decision we make, which we will do as we approach the next steps in this case.”

Presumptive 2024 Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump blasted the Independent candidacy of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in a series of TRUTH Social posts Friday night, who hit back with his own broadside Saturday.

Trump said he would even “take Biden” as president over Kennedy, adding that Democrats “deserve” the Independent candidate in the last part of his three-post attack. The former president said he “watched” Kennedy “convince” former Democratic New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo to implement “outright NASTY” environmental policies in the state.

“I lived with RFK Jr. in New York and watched him convince Governor Cuomo to make Environmental moves that were outright NASTY,” Trump wrote. “Upstate New York was not allowed to drill or frack as Ohio, Pennsylvania, and others ripped off New York Energy. Because of this, prices have skyrocketed all over that part of the Country, but especially Upstate New York and New England. Their Energy Costs are the highest in the U.S., with the exception of California, run by Gavin Newscum, the Worst Governor in the State’s History.”

“I’d even take Biden over Junior,” because our Country would last a year or two longer prior to collapse – But it would be dead either way,” Trump wrote. “His Views on Vaccines are FAKE, as is everything else about his Candidacy. Let the Democrats have RFK Jr. They deserve him!”

Trump described Kennedy as a “Democrat ‘Plant’” in his first post, claiming that a vote for Kennedy would be “a WASTED PROTEST VOTE.”

The GOP candidate also slammed Kennedy’s “Liberal” running mate, Nicole Shanahan, in his second post, saying her “business was doing surgery on her husband’s wallet.”

Kennedy responded to Trump’s broadside Saturday on X (formerly Twitter); the Kennedy campaign referred to the tweet when the Daily Caller requested a comment.

When frightened men take to social media they risk descending into vitriol, which makes them sound unhinged. President Trump’s rant against me is a barely coherent barrage of wild and inaccurate claims that should best be resolved in the American tradition of presidential debate.…

— Robert F. Kennedy Jr (@RobertKennedyJr) April 27, 2024

Kennedy recently secured 2024 election ballot access in the key battleground state of Michigan. Kennedy is also on the ballot in Utah and nearing access in North Carolina, New Hampshire, Nevada, Georgia, Arizona, South Carolina, Idaho, Nebraska, Iowa and Hawaii.

Trump leads Biden 49% to 46% in Michigan, according to a recent Quinnipiac poll. Kennedy sits at 9% in Michigan when added for consideration, with “Other” taking more support from Biden, who moves to 40%, than Trump, who moves to 43%.

Kennedy also polled at 11% in Nevada, 10% in Arizona and 7% in Georgia.

Rep. Bill Posey (R-Fla.) announced Friday that he is retiring at the end of this year, adding to a wave of congressional retirements.

“It has been the greatest honor of Katie’s and my life to represent you in Congress,” Posey said in a statement.

“And, polls suggest that because of YOUR support, I could remain in the job forever, and we were looking forward to another spirited campaign for a final term in office.”

“However, earlier this week circumstances beyond my control now require me to suspect my re-election campaign,” he added.

Posey, 76, has represented Florida’s 8th Congressional District since 2008. According to Cook Political Report, the district is solidly Republican.

The Florida lawmaker said he looks forward to helping former President Trump get reelected and said his goal was to see state Senate President Mike Haridopolos replace him in the House.

“For many years, Mike has served as my Congressional Finance Committee Chairman, while I have mentored him to replace me,” Posey said.

“Mike was, and remains, my first choice to represent you, me, and our district in Congress.”

Without going into a lot of personal details, stars aligned during the past week and Mike decided he was ready for Congress,” he continued, highlighting Haridopolos’s conservative values and strong work ethic. “I enthusiastically endorse him and will do everything I can to help him get elected.”

Posey’s announcement comes after a slew of other GOP lawmakers announced they would also not seek reelection in 2024, and others — such as former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (Calif.) and former Reps. Mike Gallagher (Ill.) and Ken Buck (Colo.) — who left Congress before the end of the term.

While Posey didn’t mention what it was like within the House in his announcement, many of the Republicans leaving office voiced a common theme for their departure: the toxicity of Capitol Hill.

Actor and comedian Russell Brand announced Friday that he is going to be baptized this weekend, the culmination of his months-long public wrestling with the tenets of Christianity.

“This Sunday, I’m taking the plunge,” Brand, 48, said in a video he posted to X. “I’m getting baptized.”

Baptism. This Sunday I’m taking the plunge! How was it for you? pic.twitter.com/DnwcUrzoqa

— Russell Brand (@rustyrockets) April 26, 2024

Brand said he had heard baptism explained to him as “an opportunity to die and be reborn; an opportunity to leave the past behind and be reborn in Christ’s name like it says in Galatians — that you can live as an enlightened and awakened person.”

He also referenced what he suggested were non-Christian reflections on the same theme of embracing death for the sake of life, quoting Stoic philosopher and Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius and the Buddha.

“All of these things seem so inviting and beautiful,” he said.

Brand also suggested that increasing numbers are turning back to Christianity as the empty value system of modernity disintegrates and leaves them wanting more.

“I know a lot of people are sort of cynical about the increasing interest in Christianity and the return to God, but to me, it’s obvious,” he said. “As meaning deteriorates in the modern world, as our value systems and institutions crumble, all of us become increasingly aware that there is this eerily familiar awakening and beckoning figure that we’ve all known all of our lives, within us and around us. And for me, it’s very exciting.”

Brand added that he intends to get baptized in the heavily polluted River Thames, joking that he might be also getting baptized in toxoplasmosis and E. coli.

“I may be leaving behind the sins, but I might be picking up some pretty serious viruses,” he said.

Brand’s baptism comes after other videos he has been making in recent months about his spiritual journey to the Christian faith.

In December, he told followers he was reading the Bible and The Problem of Pain, a 1940 book by C.S. Lewis that explores the role of suffering in the Christian life.

In January, he noted that he was reading Rick Warren’s The Purpose-Driven Life, and that he desired a “personal relationship with God” as he found Jesus Christ increasingly important as he grows older, despite once seeing many churches as either too “old-fashioned” or too modernized.

“The reason I wear a cross is because Christianity and, in particular, the figure of Christ, are, it seems to me, inevitably becoming more important as I become more familiar with suffering, purpose, self, and not-self,” he said at the time.

In March, he posted a video explaining that he had been visiting churches of various denominations with the intention of possibly getting baptized, and asked his followers their opinions on the sacrament.

During an interview with Tucker Carlson last year, Brand said, “Like many desperate people, I need spirituality. I need God, or I cannot cope in this world. I need to believe in the best in people.”

Acknowledging he “didn’t have enough self-discipline to resist the allure of stardom,” he said he “fell face-first into the glitter, and I’m only just pulling myself out now.”

Brand faces multiple allegations of sexual misconduct going back years, including one report that claims he assaulted a 16-year-old girl after pulling her into an “emotionally and sexually abusive” relationship.

Brand has denied the “very serious criminal allegations” and maintained that while he was “very, very promiscuous” in the past, all of his sexual relationships were “always consensual.”

Alexei Navalny’s February death in an Arctic penal colony prompted a new wave of sanctions targeting Russia’s economy, upended delicate negotiations to exchange prisoners between Russia and the West, and left Russia’s limited opposition in disarray.

Russian President Vladimir Putin might not have planned for it to happen when it did.U.S. intelligence agencies have determined that Putin likely didn’t order Navalny to be killed at the notoriously brutal prison camp in February, people familiar with the matter said, a finding that deepens the mystery about the circumstances of his death.

The assessment doesn’t dispute Putin’s culpability for Navalny’s death, but rather finds he probably didn’t order it at that moment. The finding is broadly accepted within the intelligence community and shared by several agencies, including the Central Intelligence Agency, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, and the State Department’s intelligence unit, the people said.

Some European intelligence agencies have been told of the U.S. view. Certain countries remain skeptical that Putin wouldn’t have had a direct hand in Navalny’s death, according to security officials from several European capitals. In a system as tightly controlled as Putin’s Russia, it is doubtful that harm could have come to Navalny without the president’s prior awareness, those European officials said.

President Biden and other world leaders have held Putin ultimately at fault based on years of the Kremlin’s targeting Navalny, including by allegedly attempting to assassinate him in 2020 and sending him to a remote gulag. “Make no mistake. Putin is responsible for Navalny’s death,” Biden said after the world learned of the death.

But the U.S. now believes the timing of his demise wasn’t intended by Putin.

Navalny’s allies insist that his death was orchestrated by the Kremlin. In a statement, Leonid Volkov, a longtime Navalny ally, rejected the U.S. intelligence community’s assessment as naive.

Those who assert that Putin wasn’t aware “clearly do not understand anything about how modern day Russia runs,” he said. “The idea of Putin being not informed and not approving killing Navalny is ridiculous.”

Slawomir Dębski, director of the Polish Institute of International Affairs, a Warsaw think tank close to Poland’s presidency, cast doubt on the U.S. intelligence community’s assessment. “Navalny was a high-value prisoner, politically, and everybody knew that Putin was personally invested in his fate. The chances for this kind of unintended death are low,” he said.

The U.S. assessment is based on a range of information, including some classified intelligence, and an analysis of public facts, including the timing of his death and how it overshadowed Putin’s re-election, some of the people said.

The people who spoke to The Wall Street Journal wouldn’t specify if the U.S. government had assessed how Navalny died, and the exact circumstances of his death might never be fully established. It couldn’t be determined whether intelligence agencies had developed alternate explanations for Navalny’s death.

Because he was the last opposition figure inside Russia with enough political heft to be seen as a possible leader, his death appeared to mark the culmination of a long-running Kremlin campaign to kill or force into exile any possible alternatives to Putin. Since the invasion of Ukraine, a series of other Russians have died in unusual circumstances on three continents.

Intelligence assessments are often based on a mosaic of fragmentary informational components and frequently rely on a mix of classified details and open-source, or publicly available, streams of data.

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence, which oversees U.S. intelligence agencies, declined to comment on the issue. A representative from the Russian Embassy in Washington didn’t respond to a request for comment.

Russia’s prison service said Feb. 16 that Navalny fell unconscious after a walk at the penal colony where he was serving time. The statement said that medics arrived to revive him, but that they failed and he died.

Just one week before his death, Biden and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz had discussed a potential proposal for a prisoner trade that might have freed Navalny, along with Americans being held in Russia. Those include Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and a former U.S. Marine, Paul Whelan, both of whom have been designated as wrongfully detained by the U.S. government, which has said it is working to negotiate their release.

In return, the Kremlin wanted Vadim Krasikov, a Russian intelligence operative convicted in Germany of murdering a Georgian dissident.

The Anti-Corruption Foundation, founded by Navalny, has said he was killed after Putin became aware of that potential prisoner swap and acted to prevent it. The group’s head of investigations, Maria Pevchikh, said the foundation had been involved in efforts to win Navalny’s freedom.

Putin said in comments in March that he had agreed to the idea of a swap between Navalny and people held in the West days before Navalny died. The Russian leader said the only condition was that he never return to Russia.

The Kremlin has denied state involvement in the death and the previous poisoning of Navalny.

Gershkovich, who was accredited as a foreign correspondent by Russia’s Foreign Ministry at the time he was detained, has been held for over a year on an FSB allegation that he engaged in espionage—an accusation the Journal, the U.S. government and he vehemently deny. On Tuesday, a Moscow court rejected an appeal against his detention, meaning he is expected to remain in prison until at least June 30.

Whelan, a corporate security executive from Novi, Mich., has been held in Russia since late 2018 on espionage charges that he, his family and the U.S. government deny. He was convicted of the charges in 2020 and sentenced to serve 16 years in a penal colony.

Navalny, who was 47 when he died and who had been in jail since 2021, was the vocal face of resistance within Russia to what he and his supporters said was Putin’s increasingly authoritarian and corrupt rule. He had been serving three prison sentences amounting to more than 30 years on charges he and his supporters said were fabricated.

Navalny was detained after returning to Russia from Germany, where he had recovered from what German doctors said was poisoning with a Soviet-era nerve agent, Novichok. The U.S. government and independent investigators blamed his poisoning on the Kremlin.

His death came months after he had skipped a series of court dates and appeared to have gone missing, only to turn up at a prison colony known as the Polar Wolf, in the remote Arctic region of Yamalo-Nenets, a bitingly cold, highly isolated and difficult area to reach.

In December, he surfaced on social media and flashed his typically acerbic humor, telling his supporters: “I am your new Santa Claus.”

Iranian women are being sexually assaulted, tasered and beaten in a fresh morality police crackdown on those flouting Tehran’s strict dress codes.

Multiple videos posted online show women being bundled into the back of vehicles for infractions as minor as wearing a coat that is too short or too colourful.

Under the code name “Noor” or “light” in Farsi, the Islamic Republic has launched a major new clampdown on anyone violating its draconian female dress codes.

Women in Iran told The Telegraph of sexual abuse and being denied entry to public spaces such as subway stations, universities, and cafes for not complying with headscarf rules or for wearing fitted trousers.

The latest severe measures started on April 13, just hours before Iran launched hundreds of suicide drones and missiles at Israel.

Many Iranians speculate this timing was chosen because global attention was diverted.

“I was approached by a group of plainclothes officers at around 5pm last Wednesday when I was walking on the pavement towards home,” said Taranom, 25, a civil engineering student in Karaj, near the capital Tehran. (Like others in this article, a pseudonym is being used to protect her identity.)

“I had my headscarf loosely draped around my neck, ready to be pulled up if I encountered them but everything unfolded too swiftly for me to react,” she added.

“One of them, with a long beard, made a call and requested a van to be brought to the scene,” she recalled

“Shortly after, he began touching me inappropriately. He was touching my breasts and was telling me ‘Isn’t this what you wanted by coming out like this? Enjoy then’. It was the worst moment of my life,” she said.

“I tried to resist, but another one of them grabbed me by the hair and slammed me onto the ground.

“Feeling helpless, I attempted to scream and call for help but there was no one there. I stood up but another one grabbed my shirt and slammed me to the ground again,” she recalled.

A white van arrived a few minutes later and she was dragged inside while screaming. Four other girls, all crying, were already in the vehicle. They were then taken to a police station where they found dozens of other women.

She waited in a room for five hours.

Eventually, her name was called and she was given papers to sign. She said the documents stated she should not appear without a hijab again and that she would not file a complaint about the officers’ behaviour.

Destructive tornadoes gutted homes as they plowed through Nebraska and Iowa, and the dangerous storm threat could escalate Saturday as tornado-spawning storms pose a risk from Michigan to Texas.

The area of Elkhorn in Omaha, Nebraska, is one of the hardest-hit communities after severe storms barreled through parts of the Plains and South early Friday afternoon, authorities said. A powerful tornado leveled homes, which crews searched for anyone trapped or injured, local authorities said.

Meanwhile in nearby Iowa, a large tornado was reported in the small city of Minden, according to the National Weather Service.

The severe weather threat is expected to continue through Sunday, with Saturday possibly being the most dangerous day. Strong tornadoes are possible from Nebraska to Texas, including Dallas, Austin, Oklahoma City, Tulsa, Kansas City and Wichita.

A tornado watch is in effect for parts of western Oklahoma and northwest Texas until 1 p.m. Saturday, according to the Storm Prediction Center. Hail could grow to the size of tennis balls, with storms harboring winds up to 70 mph and the tornado threat increasing through the morning. The watch includes Altus, Oklahoma, and Childress, Texas.

And 18 million people across Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma and Texas are under flood watches through Sunday afternoon, according to the National Weather Service. Long-track destructive tornadoes and heavy rain are expected, with the worst of the storms during the evening and overnight on Saturday.

Here’s the latest:

Four people in Iowa’s Pottawattamie County suffered storm-related injuries and received medical treatment, county emergency management officials said in a news release early Saturday.

Roughly 120 homes and businesses were damaged in Pottawattamie County, where Minden is located and the home of about 90,000 residents. “Preliminary information indicates varying degrees of damage,” emergency officials said.

Omaha’s Eppley Airfield reopened for aircraft operations Saturday but delays were expected, city officials said. The passenger terminal was not affected by the storm, but damage assessments at the airport were ongoing.

Two people in Omaha received medical treatment for minor injuries after a tornado swept through the Elkhorn area Friday. “We think injuries were so little because the warning systems in the City of Omaha and Douglas County were highly effective,” Omaha Police Chief Todd Schmaderer said. “We were not hit with a sudden storm. People had warned of this, which saved lives.”

Emergency officials in Nebraska’s Shelby and Douglas counties said there were no reports of serious injuries there after several tornadoes hit their communities Friday. However, the officials reported the storms inflicted significant property damage, and residents have been displaced.

On the outskirts of Lincoln, Nebraska, a tornado tore the roofs off homes and crossed part of I-80 as it cut through. Multiple cars of a train derailed near Waverly after it was struck by a tornado, according to a railway spokesperson.

In response to the tornado that tore through Minden, Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds issued a disaster proclamation to support storm recovery efforts in Pottawattamie County.

At least two tornadoes were observed in Texas on Friday afternoon. Video posted to social media showed an apparent twister churning across a large field northeast of Waco.

There were nearly 80 tornado reports Friday across at least five states, many of which have been confirmed by the weather service or through footage from storm chasers.

What to expect Saturday

More than 50 million people are under the threat of severe weather Saturday from the Southern Plains into the Great Lakes region.

“A complex but potentially significant severe weather episode is expected on Saturday,” the Weather Prediction Center said Friday.

The most significant storms are possible starting in the afternoon in parts of the southern and central Plains, where a Level 4 of 5 risk of severe thunderstorms is in place. Widespread damaging wind gusts, hail up to the size of baseballs and strong tornadoes are the storms’ main hazards.

“Several strong tornadoes will be likely, and a few long-track EF3+ tornadoes (winds between 136 and 165 mph) will be possible,” the Storm Prediction Center said.

The tornado threat could ramp up considerably through the late afternoon and evening hours with “multiple strong tornadoes” possible, according to the prediction center.

Damaging storms are possible outside of the greatest risk area in a huge area of the country from the Great Lakes to southern Texas.

Rain could also be a culprit Saturday.

Some areas could see nearly 5 inches of rain in a short period and dangerous flash flooding could result. A handful of locations caught under multiple rounds of gushing rainfall could have totals approach the 8-inch mark.

A Level 3 of 4 risk of excessive rainfall is in place for a large portion of Oklahoma – including Oklahoma City and Tulsa – and smaller parts of Kansas and Texas. Intense rainfall could force streams to overflow their banks and flood roadways.

Sunday could still see storms

Damaging storms also are possible from Texas to Wisconsin Sunday. But the exact timing, extent and strength of these storms will depend heavily on Saturday night’s storms.

Notably, areas from northeastern Texas to southern Iowa and western Illinois face the greatest chance for damaging storms that could bring strong wind gusts and large hail. An isolated tornado or two is also possible.

Heavy, flooding rainfall is possible, especially in parts of the Lower Mississippi Valley.

John Earle Sullivan, the onetime racial-justice BLM activist and provocateur who filmed the deadly shooting of Ashli Babbitt at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, was sentenced to six years in federal prison by a judge in Washington D.C.

Mr. Sullivan, 29, of Tooele, Utah, did not receive the 87 months recommended by federal prosecutors for his role on Jan. 6. But his 72-month sentence was well beyond the 30 months his defense attorney recommended.

The sentence meted out on April 26 by U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth brought to a close the more than three-year prosecution of Mr. Sullivan, one of the most recognizable Jan. 6 figures. He was arrested on Jan. 14, 2021—one of the first Jan. 6 suspects taken into custody by the FBI.

Judge Lamberth sentenced Mr. Sullivan to serve two years of supervised release after his prison term and ordered him to pay $2,520 in restitution and special assessments.

Mr. Sullivan came to the Jan. 6 events in Washington trailed by filmmaker Jade Sacker, who has since published a documentary about the liberal Mr. Sullivan and his conservative activist brother James.

Although media continue to report that Mr. Sullivan dressed as a Trump supporter on Jan. 6, that wasn’t true. On Jan. 5, he posted a widely shared photo of himself to social media donned in a Trump ball cap. He did not wear Trump gear on Jan. 6.

Mr. Sullivan was found guilty by a District of Columbia jury in November 2023 of obstruction of an official proceeding, civil disorder and aiding and abetting, entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds with a dangerous weapon, disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds with a dangerous weapon, unlawful possession of a dangerous weapon on Capitol grounds, disorderly conduct in a restricted building or grounds, and parading, demonstrating, or picketing in a Capitol building.

Judge Lamberth denied Mr. Sullivan’s motion for release from jail pending the U.S. Supreme Court’s forthcoming decision on the constitutionality of the felony obstruction of an official proceeding charge used against at least 353 Jan. 6 defendants.

The High Court heard oral arguments in that case on April 16 and is expected to rule by late June.

‘I’ve Got a Knife’

The weapon that brought Mr. Sullivan enhanced felony charges was a retractable dual-edge Smith & Wesson M&P tactical knife—something Mr. Sullivan boasted about to the crowd outside the Speaker’s Lobby, where Ms. Babbitt was shot at 2:44 p.m.

“Let me through, I’ve got a knife,” Mr. Sullivan said as he moved through the dense crowd, according to his video. “I’ve got a knife.”

Once he reached the left side of the Speaker’s Lobby entrance, Mr. Sullivan lobbied Capitol Police Officer Kyle Yetter to abandon his post—for his own safety.

“Bro, I’ve seen people out there get hurt,” Mr. Sullivan said. “I don’t want to see you get hurt.”

As soon as Mr. Yetter, Capitol Police Sgt. Timothy Lively, and Officer Christopher Lanciano moved away from the door that they had been guarding, Mr. Sullivan urged the men around him, “Go! Go! Let’s go! Get this [expletive],” according to his video.

A short time later, Mr. Sullivan was the first to call out the presence of Capitol Police Lt. Michael Byrd, who crept along the other side of the entrance with his Glock pistol pointed toward the crowded hallway.

“There’s a gun! There’s a gun! There’s a gun!” Mr. Sullivan shouted as the service weapon became visible on his video screen.

Mr. Sullivan’s video showed Mr. Byrd repeatedly placing his finger on the trigger of his gun and removing it before he lunged forward and fired the weapon at Ms. Babbitt, who had just begun climbing into a broken outside window of the doorway.

In an interview filmed moments later by Infowars employee Sam Montoya, a highly agitated Mr. Sullivan said he believed he saw Ms. Babbitt die.

‘I Have the Video’

“She climbed in the window and then she got shot right here in the neck,” Mr. Sullivan told Mr. Montoya. “I got it all. I’ll post the video. I have the video. I have the video of the guy with the gun and then shoot her. …I have it all. I was right at the door.”

As it turned out, Ms. Babbitt was still alive as Capitol Police officers carried her head-first to the ground floor of the Capitol. Even as she was loaded into an ambulance, Ms. Babbitt bled profusely from the upper chest wound caused by Mr. Byrd’s bullet. She was pronounced dead at 3:15 p.m. at MedStar Washington Hospital Center.

Mr. Sullivan was paid $90,000 by several media outlets for the use of his Jan. 6 video, money that was seized by the U.S. Department of Justice.

Prosecutors said Mr. Sullivan’s Jan. 6 conduct was a continuation of the violent rhetoric he expressed during the civil unrest in 2020 after the controversial death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

Mr. Sullivan dubbed himself “Jayden X” and “Activist John,” and operated a website called “Insurgence USA.”

“Going into winter of 2020, Sullivan began to advocate for a violent dismantling of the government,” prosecutors wrote in their 45-page sentencing memorandum. “In one Instagram post, Sullivan posted, ‘We will have live updates on the location for tonight’s purge. Spread the message. Let the electoral purge commence.’

“In December 2020, Sullivan tweeted, ‘Riots are meant to bring change, so purge the world with fire,’ and, ‘An armed revolution is the only way to bring about change effectively.’”

Mr. Sullivan’s sentencing memo said his behavior on Jan. 6 was not reflective of the kind of man he is.

“Those who know him from church, from social interactions, and from his supportive family all enthusiastically commend him as a decent, honest man of integrity, good faith and devotion to those in his world,” defense attorney Steven Kiersh wrote.

“John Sullivan’s conduct on January 6, 2021, was clearly a deviation from the person that is reflected in his background,” Mr. Kiersh wrote. “His conduct on that day is not reflective of the totality of the kind, decent and generous man that he is.”

Mr. Kiersh said his client’s mental health has markedly declined since he was jailed following his jury trial. He asked Judge Lamberth to take that into consideration when crafting a sentence.

“Mr. Sullivan has been held in protective custody and in virtual isolation throughout the duration of his incarceration,” Mr. Kiersh wrote. “Undersigned counsel meets with defendant regularly at the D.C. Jail and has seen a dramatic decrease in his mental stability and his overall physical presence.

“Counsel has repeatedly spoken with the D.C. Jail’s legal counsel regarding defendant’s status but has been told there is nothing that can be done to remove his protective custody housing status due to concern for his physical safety,” Mr. Kiersh said.

Mr. Sullivan was born in Galax, Virginia, in July 1994 and adopted by an Army lieutenant colonel and his wife. He earned the rank of Eagle Scout before graduating from high school in Stafford, Virginia.

He moved to Kearns, Utah, in order to pursue his dream of becoming an Olympic speed skater, according to court records. Injuries forced him to abandon his quest for the Winter Olympics.

Former Rep. Peter Meijer is dropping his bid for Michigan’s open Senate seat, the Republican said in a statement Friday.

“The hard reality is the fundamentals of the race have changed since we launched this campaign. After prayerful consideration, today I withdrew my name from the primary ballot. Without a strong pathway to victory, continuing this campaign only increases the likelihood of a divisive primary that would distract from the essential goal – conservative victories in November,” Meijer said.

One of just 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach former President Donald Trump after the January 6, 2021, riot, Meijer narrowly lost his House primary race in the 2022 midterms to a Trump-endorsed challenger. He entered the state’s Senate race last year despite discouragement from the national party.

The move comes days after Meijer announced that he had turned in enough signatures to qualify for the ballot.

The US Army veteran who served in Iraq leaves a crowded field of candidates vying to replace longtime Democratic Sen. Debbie Stabenow, including former Michigan Rep. Mike Rogers, who Trump endorsed last month. The winner of the GOP primary is likely to take on Rep. Elissa Slotkin, whom Democrats have largely coalesced around in the key battleground state.

Rogers thanked Meijer for “his service to our country & for bringing light to some of the biggest issues facing America and Michigan families” in a social media post on Friday.

“I wish him well, & hope he continues to be a valuable part of the GOP,” he added.

CNN reported last year that the Senate Republican campaign arm privately urged Meijer to sit out of the race out of fear that Meijer could split the primary vote among moderate Republicans and hand the nomination to former Detroit Police chief James Craig, who was disqualified as a gubernatorial candidate in 2022. According to a source familiar with the matter, the campaign arm feared that would take the state off the map for the GOP in 2024. Craig has since suspended his campaign.

Meijer narrowly lost his House primary race in the 2022 midterms to a Trump-endorsed challenger, John Gibbs. Gibbs went on to lose the race to Democrat Hillary Scholten.

The former president slammed Meijer in a social media post Friday following the announcement.

“Once he raised his very little and delicate hand to Impeach President Trump, his Political Career was OVER!” Trump said. “Last time he lost in the Primary to a nice, but unknown, person, and now he lost to a GREAT Candidate, Mike Rogers, who will easily WIN the Nomination, and go on to WIN the Senate, BIG, in Michigan,” Trump added.

The Biden administration has seen evidence of attempts by China to influence the upcoming U.S. elections, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in an interview with CNN published Friday.

Blinken, who is wrapping up a three-day visit to China, said he raised in his meetings with Chinese President Xi Jinping and other officials that any interference in the U.S. election is “totally unacceptable.”

Such action would mark a violation of commitments Xi made to President Biden when the two leaders met in November in Woodside, Calif., a watershed meeting aimed at stabilizing deep mistrust and competition between the U.S. and China.

“We have seen, generally speaking, evidence of attempts to influence and arguably interfere, and we want to make sure that that’s cut off as quickly as possible,” Blinken told CNN when asked if Xi had violated the Woodside commitments.

Blinken did not address any specific evidence of Chinese election interference, and he did not say that the Chinese government had violated the commitment Xi had made to Biden.

But The New York Times reported in early April that covert Chinese accounts are masquerading as supporters of former President Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee.

These accounts are also promoting conspiracy theories, stoking domestic divisions and attacking Biden ahead of the election in November.

“Any interference by China in our election is something that we’re looking very carefully at and is totally unacceptable to us, so I wanted to make sure that they heard that message again,” Blinken said he told Xi and other Chinese officials.

In addition to Xi, Blinken met with senior Chinese officials, including China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi, Minister of Public Security Wang Xiaohong, and Shanghai Party Secretary Chen Jining.

Blinken’s trip was aimed at building on and maintaining open lines of communication with Chinese officials amid tense relations between Washington and Beijing. Blinken said he brought with him the message of the importance of keeping open lines on military-to-military channels to avoid conflict, to make progress on counternarcotics cooperation, and to increase people-to-people ties.

The trip ended with no new announcements on cooperation. Blinken said his trip occurred “at a time of profound tension between our countries” and “with the aim of stabilizing the relationship, reopening and strengthening our high-level channels of communication.”

In a leaked audio recording posted on social media, New Mexico Democrat Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham can be heard expressing deep frustration with Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and threatening to send a letter accusing his department of failing to work with her on border security.

“For the love of god, put [Border Patrol agents] at the border in Sunland Park where I don’t have a single Border Patrol agent — not one. And people pour over. And so I’m cranky with the Secretary,” Grisham is heard saying in the audio, which was first posted by an anonymous account on X.

The conversation appeared to largely revolve around federal government seizures of licensed medical and recreational cannabis at Border Patrol checkpoints in New Mexico.

However, it’s not immediately clear who the governor was speaking with. A spokesman for her office confirmed to the Daily Caller News Foundation that the audio was authentic, but declined to identify who the other individual was, only saying the person was a “high level admin official.”

Her office said the conversation took place sometime this week.

Later on in the audio, the governor can be heard threatening to write a letter accusing Mayorkas of failing to work with her office on the immigration crisis.

“But the press also knows that Border Patrol is taking a hard stance, and the only way is either we have to adjust it or I have to send you a letter saying ‘you’re persecuting the state, you are not using your discretion, you’re not working with me on immigration,’” Grisham said to the official.

“And I don’t want to send out a letter, but I’m, I’m boxed in hard,” she continued.

In a statement to the DCNF, Grisham’s office noted that the conversation was intended to be private.

“This unauthorized and edited recording of the governor’s private phone call reflects what she has already said publicly — that she is frustrated by federal seizures of licensed cannabis products in New Mexico, particularly those from small producers. She has expressed the same concerns in phone calls with Secretary Mayorkas,” said Michael Coleman, communications director for Grisham.

News of the audio leak comes as Mayorkas faces immense criticism of his handling of the southern border crisis.

The Republican-controlled House voted to impeach him in February, making him the first cabinet secretary to be impeached since the 19th century. However, the Democrat-controlled Senate dismissed those impeachment charges earlier this month.

EXCLUSIVE AUDIO pic.twitter.com/WrRqlc6MQc

— Chaos Coordinator (@idontexistTore) April 26, 2024

An upstate New York district attorney refused to stop for cops when she was caught speeding — and instead drove back her house and called the police chief to complain about the “a–hole” officer who pursued her home, bodycam footage shows.

Monroe County District Attorney Sandra Doorley admitted that she was driving 55 mph in a 35 mph zone on Monday on Phillips Road in Webster — less than half a mile from her neighborhood, WHAM reported.

“Once I realized that the intention of the [police car] was to pull me over, I called the Webster Police Chief to inform him that I was not a threat and that I would speak to the Officer at my house down the street,” she said in a statement.

The officer followed her to her home and issued Doorley a ticket, which she accepted. The DA pleaded guilty in municipal court on Tuesday “because I believe in accepting responsibility for my actions and had no intention of using my position to receive a benefit,” she said.

However, bodycam footage released by the Webster Police Department on Friday shows the tense exchange between Doorley and the officer in her driveway, in which the district attorney appears to have been doing just that.

When the cop tells her she was doing 55 in a 35, she tells him “I don’t really care,” clearly irritated.

She gets on the phone and calls Webster Chief of Police Dennis Kohlmeier and asks him “can you please tell them to leave me alone?”

Doorley refuses to step outside her garage to speak with officers. She dismissively hands the cop the phone to speak with the chief and tells him “just go away.” The officer can be heard explaining what happened on the phone.

She then storms inside the house against the officer’s orders.

He explains that he’s trying to conduct a traffic stop, and she shoots back “I know the law better than you,” footage shows.

“What is it your so against me? I’m doing my job. You say you’re a DA?” the cop asks at one point.

“I am THE DA,” she emphatically snaps back, and fetches her badge out of her car as she calls him an “a–hole.”

At one point the officer asks her why she was going so fast she responded that she “didn’t feel like stopping on Phillips Road at 5:30,” to which the officer responded, “That’s not your choice; you know that.”

“What do you want us to do, not do our jobs because it’s you?” the officer then asks Doorley.

She tells him to just write her the ticket, but he reminds her she refused to stop.

“That’s not a traffic ticket; that’s an arrestable offense, Sandra. You know this,” the cop says.

In another clip, Doorley can be heard saying, “I’ve had a really bad day; I’ve been dealing with murders in the city,” and then apologizes.

In a statement after the footage was released provided to WHAM, Doorley said “nobody, including your District Attorney, is above the rule of law, even traffic laws.

“Anybody who knows me understands without a doubt that I have dedicated my entire 33 year career to the safety of this community,” she continued. “My work to ensure the safety and respect of law enforcement is well proven time and time again. I stand by my work and stand by my commitment to the public safety of Monroe County.”

Hamas has released a sick new videoshowing the first proof-of-life footage of American hostage Keith Siegal.

Siegel appears gaunt in the three-minute-long footage, where at one point he wells up with tears, folds his head over and cries.

The Siegal and Miren families approve the use and publication of the video released today by Hamas, after 204 days in captivity

“Continue the protests as we watch you in Tel aviv”. pic.twitter.com/lOTmeVMBD7

— Mossad Commentary (@MOSSADil) April 27, 2024

Seigel and fellow hostage Omri Miran — who also appears in the video — say in Hebrew they are praying for a hostage deal that sees them and other captives returned home, The Times of Israel reported.

The video is undated but Siegel, 64, discusses the Passover holiday and Miran, 46, says he has been held captive for 202 days.

Siegel was taken hostage along with his wife, Aviva Siegel, 62, at their home in Kibbutz Kfar Aza during Hamas’ murderous attacks in Israel on Oct. 7, which killed 1,200 people.

Aviva was among dozens of hostages released in November as part of a temporary cease-fire agreement between Hamas and Israel.

The Columbia University student who was one of the most vocal students in the anti-Semitic protests at Columbia University in recent days has been thrown out of school after The Daily Wire unearthed video of him stating that “Zionists don’t deserve to live.”

Haaretz journalist Judy Maltz posted on X that Khymani James, the leader of the anti-Israel encampment on the school’s campus, “has been thrown out of school.” The Boston Globe also reported that James had been banned from the school’s campus.

BREAKING: Khymani James, the leader of the anti-Israel encampment who said ‘Zionists deserve to die’ has been thrown out of school

— Judy Maltz (@MaltzJudy) April 26, 2024

James claimed in a statement posted to social media on Friday that he was the victim of “far right agitators” who posted his remarks on social media, which he claimed they did “without context.”

In the stream, he made the case for Zionists to die several times and stated “Zionists don’t deserve to live.”

James said he made the comment because he was feeling “unusually upset after an online mob targeted me because I am visibly queer and Black.”

James, who goes by “he/she/they” pronouns, is the spokesperson of the Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD) group and has been the visible face of the protests that have garnered national attention, including holding a press conference on Wednesday.

The full meeting with Columbia University and his comments afterward on the livestream are below.

Here is the full Khymani James live-stream that includes his disciplinary meeting with Columbia University over making threatening social media posts.

I saved you all the first 30 minutes where he rants with a friend and started with the school meeting. pic.twitter.com/DfN6mKdlbm

— Kassy Akiva (@KassyDillon) April 26, 2024

On Friday, President Biden stated that he is willing to debate former President Donald Trump.

Speaking to radio host Howard Stern, Biden reportedly said, “I am somewhere. I don’t know when. I’m happy to debate him.”

BIDEN says he’ll debate Trump. “I am somewhere. I don’t know when. I’m happy to debate him,” he told Howard Stern.

— Jennifer Jacobs (@JenniferJJacobs) April 26, 2024

In late February, after special counsel Robert Hur’s report stated that Biden exhibited memory problems, Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-SC), a co-chair of Biden’s re-election campaign, responded to the consistent verbal gaffes committed by Biden, saying, “If Joe Biden commits a gaffe, a guy who stuttered all of his childhood, into his adulthood and everybody knows his stuttering is what caused a lot of his speech impediments, and we know that. It has nothing to do with his brain, he stumbles one time and everybody says, ‘He’s too old to be the president.’”

The Hur report stated, “Mr. Biden’s memory was significantly limited, both during his recorded interviews with the ghostwriter in 2017 [with whom he shared classified materials], and in his interview with our office in 2023. We have also considered that, at trial, Mr. Biden would likely present himself to a jury, as he did during our interview of him, as a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.”

Biden responded to Hur’s findings in an impromptu press conference during which he insisted that his memory was “fine” and then mixed up world leaders.

In the days leading up to the report’s unveiling, Biden made headlines for talking about discussions with European heads of state who had died by the time he said the conversations took place.

In 2020, Trump and Biden were scheduled to have three debates, but the middle one was canceled when Trump contracted COVID-19.

Before the first debate, Trump suggested Biden be subjected to a drug test; Biden responded to the request by laughing; his deputy campaign manager, Kate Bedingfield, mocked Trump, telling Politico, “Vice President Biden intends to deliver his debate answers in words.

If the president thinks his best case is made in urine he can have at it. We’d expect nothing less from Donald Trump, who pissed away the chance to protect the lives of 200K Americans when he didn’t make a plan to stop COVID-19.”

Regulators seized the troubled Philadelphia bank Republic First Bancorp and sold it to fellow regional lender Fulton Financial the fourth high-profile bank failure since last spring.

The bank was closed by the Pennsylvania state regulator on Friday and sold after an auction run by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., confirming an earlier report by The Wall Street Journal.

Republic First faced some of the same problems as the three regional banks that failed last year: paper losses on bonds that lost value as interest rates rose, and high proportions of uninsured deposits that can quickly flee.

In the first quarter, Lancaster, Penn.-based Fulton had about $28 billion in assets and around 200 locations throughout Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey and Virginia. A deal with the much smaller Republic First should allow it to scale up some without the increased regulatory scrutiny that comes when banks have more than $50 billion in assets.

Fulton said the deal would nearly double its size in the Philadelphia market, and all the Republic First branches would reopen as Fulton at their regularly scheduled hours.

Regulators had been prepared to seize Republic First late last year, people familiar with the matter said, before the bank announced it had reached a deal with investors to shore up its balance sheet. After that deal collapsed this March, the FDIC resumed efforts to seize and sell the bank.

Republic First operated branches in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York under the name Republic Bank. It had around $6 billion in total assets at the end of 2023.

People familiar with the matter said several banks had been exploring making offers. The most interested were expected to be midsize banks with established beachheads in or near Republic First’s network of branches that dot the Philadelphia suburbs and stretch across the Delaware River into western New Jersey. The lender’s relatively small footprint didn’t move the needle enough for larger regional banks, including PNC Financial Services Group and Citizens Financial, the people said.

This bank failure is distinct from the ones that set off a monthslong crisis in 2023.

Republic First is much smaller than Silicon Valley Bank, Signature Bank and the similarly named First Republic, which each had between roughly $100 billion and $200 billion in assets. Since there is a buyer, the government won’t be left with the decision over whether to backstop deposits over the FDIC limit of $250,000, as it did with SVB and Signature. The long, drawn-out failure also gave depositors more time to prepare, as compared with the rapid collapses of last year.

The FDIC said it expected the failure, even with the deal, to cost its insurance fund about $667 million. The nation’s biggest banks had taken billions of dollars in charges to rebuild the insurance fund for last year’s failures.

A relatively orderly deal should prevent the failure from sparking a wider crisis in confidence.

But regional banks are still on shaky ground. Two years of higher rates have forced them to pay more interest on deposits, which has increasingly eaten into profits. It will be harder for them to absorb the costs of potentially stricter regulatory requirements and technology updates, compared with megabanks like JPMorgan Chase. And some hold high concentrations of loans on offices and other commercial real estate that are under pressure.

A larger regional bank, New York Community Bancorp, fanned concerns about commercial real estate earlier this year after it revealed problems in its multifamily loan book. Those loans are concentrated in a niche area of the market: rent-stabilized buildings in New York that have dropped in value. NYCB got a rescue infusion from investors in March.

Republic First had for months struggled to stay afloat. Around half of its deposits were uninsured at the end of 2023, according to FDIC data.

Its total equity, or assets minus liabilities, was $96 million at the end of 2023, according to FDIC filings. That excluded $262 million of unrealized losses on bonds that it labeled “held to maturity,” which means the losses hadn’t counted on its balance sheet.

Its stock, which was delisted from Nasdaq in August, had been near zero. And it was in a proxy fight with an investor group led by George Norcross III, Philip Norcross and Gregory Braca.

In October, the Norcross group agreed to a deal to inject $35 million as the bank sought additional investors. Republic First disclosed in February that it dismissed its auditor, Crowe, which had flagged “material weaknesses” in bank controls at the end of 2022.

The investor group terminated the agreement last month because Republic First didn’t complete its 2022 annual securities filing with regulators or schedule a required shareholder meeting.

The stock on Friday traded at around 1 cent.

Veteran CNN host Poppy Harlow is leaving the struggling cable news network — two months after the cancellation of “CNN This Morning,” where a slew of on-air meltdowns had sparked last year’s ouster of Don Lemon.

CNN boss Mark Thompson told staffers of Harlow’s departure during CNN’s 9 a.m. editorial call Friday — and Harlow confirmed her exit in an email to colleagues.

“When I walked in the door at CNN in 2008, I was 25 years old and had never been on live TV. Green is an understatement!” Harlow wrote in the email, which was first reported by Vanity Fair. “I grew up here: as a journalist and as a person.”

Harlow, 41, thanked Thompson, as well as Amy Entelis — the executive vice president for talent, CNN originals, and creative development — writing that the two have “been wonderful and have given me the space to make this decision.”

She will officially exit CNN next week.

Harlow, who has held various reporting and anchor gigs at CNN, most recently served as a co-host on “CNN This Morning,” the ill-fated morning show launched in 2022 under ousted CEO Chris Licht.

She was teamed with Kaitlan Collins and Lemon, who was fired after a series of missteps, including blowing up at Collins off camera and infamously declaring on air that Nikki Haley, then a GOP presidential candidate, was “not in her prime.”

“A woman is considered to be in their prime in [their] the 20s and 30s and maybe 40s,” the 56-year-old Lemon said.

Harlow immediately called out the failed primetime host: “What are you talking about, wait … Prime for what?”

Lemon quickly tried to save himself by claiming he wasn’t stating his personal beliefs — and that his bizarre rant was based on facts that could be gleaned from an internet search.

“That’s not according to me,” he said. “It’s like, prime. If you look it up. If you Google when is a woman in her prime, it’ll say 20s, 30s, and 40s.”

Harlow ended up storming off the set. Lemon was briefly pulled off the air and apologized after receiving backlash.

Lemon was fired last April and soon after Collins was moved to primetime, leaving Harlow to host the morning show with Phil Mattingly, CNN’s chief White House correspondent.

The morning show’s ratings, which were never strong, failed to improve.

In January, “CNN This Morning” averaged 322,000 total viewers, while MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” drew 988,000 and Fox’s “Fox & Friends” pulled in 1.07 million.

Thompson announced a shakeup in February, which entailed axing the morning show and replacing the hosts with anchor Kasie Hunt, who now anchors the early-morning newscast from Washington, DC, from 5 a.m. to 7 a.m.

Weeks later, Mattingly was named chief domestic correspondent, but Harlow’s future was uncertain.

Harlow was offered a new role at the same time as Mattingly but eventually turned it down, Vanity Fair reported.

Both Thompson and Entelis raved about Harlow’s professionalism as she heads out the door.

“Poppy is a unique talent who combines formidable reporting and interviewing prowess with a human touch that audiences have always responded to,” Thompson said in a statement to VF. “She’s been a wonderful colleague at CNN, and we know she will have much success in her future endeavors.”

Entelis gushed: “Poppy leaves CNN after more than 16 memorable years, thousands of hours in the anchor chair, and hundreds of reports from the field. She made a mark on numerous major stories including financial crises, the Paris terror attacks and the Boston bombing, but most notably enlightening interviews with the world’s top business leaders, who trusted her because she was tough, fair, and well-prepared. Poppy is a brilliant journalist who sets the standard for reporting with compassion and humanity, and we will miss her.”

Here’s Harlow’s full statement to her colleagues:

When I walked in the door at CNN in 2008, I was 25 years old and had never been on live TV.

Green is an understatement! I passed those three iconic red letters in the hall on day one and thought how lucky I was to be here.

The nearly two decades since have been a gift. I have been inspired by you and learned so much from you – who are (and will remain) dear friends. I grew up here: as a journalist and as a person. I was allowed to stumble, to falter, and then to try again with the support and care of this CNN family. This place has shaped me as a leader, taught me resilience, shown me the value of perspective and how to make hard decisions.

It is for those reasons that I take this leap and leave CNN with a full heart and deep gratitude.

Mark, Amy and the CNN management team have been wonderful and have given me the space to make this decision. I am very grateful to them.

CNN gave me the opportunity to travel across this country and around the world — often at the worst of times, but when humanity also shows the best of itself.

I got to experience what makes this country great. I sat with people in their best moments and in their hardest. They taught me about the human condition and what binds us. Whether it was covering the impact of the financial crisis from Wall Street to Detroit, or spending time with young women in jail in East Tennessee or on Rikers Island, or listening to grieving parents who lost their children to the opioid crisis in Ohio, or the repeated heartbreak of mass shootings, it is the human side of the story that has always moved me, motivated me, and made me appreciate this work so much.

Above all, it is the teams of journalists behind each of these stories – producing at all levels – that make it all possible.

They are everything.

They are the heart of CNN.

There’s been plenty written about what’s wrong with journalism, and the challenges our industry faces. And it does. But there is also so much right with it. At the heart of everything we do is the pursuit of truth – it is the core of CNN. I remain CNN’s biggest fan and I’ll be watching and cheering you on every day.

For now, my plan is to walk our children to school and pick them up (hopefully they won’t get sick of me!), and to support the evolution of journalism in every way I can, while preserving the human(ity) in it.

I’m excited for what is ahead – and I will be rooting for CNN always.

With gratitude and love.

Poppy

The fertility rate in the United States has been trending down for decades, and a new report shows that another drop in births in 2023 brought the rate down to the lowest it’s been in more than a century.

There were about 3.6 million babies born in 2023, or 54.4 live births for every 1,000 females ages 15 to 44, according to provisional data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics.

After a steep plunge in the first year of the Covid-19 pandemic, the fertility rate has fluctuated. But the 3% drop between 2022 and 2023 brought the rate just below the previous low from 2020, which was 56 births for every 1,000 women of reproductive age.

“We’ve certainly had larger declines in the past. But decline fits the general pattern,” said Dr. Brady Hamilton, a statistician with the National Center for Health Statistics and lead author of the new report.

The birth rate fell among most age groups between 2022 and 2023, the new report shows.

The teen birth rate reached another record low of 13.2 births per 1,000 females ages 15 to 19, which is 79% lower than it was at the most recent peak from 1991. However, the rate of decline was slower than it’s been for the past decade and a half.

“The highest rates have, over time, been shifting towards women in their 30s whereas before it used to be with women in their 20s,” Hamilton said. “One factor, of course, is the option to wait. We had a pandemic, or there’s an economic downturn, let’s say – women in their 20s can postpone having a birth until things improve and they feel more comfortable. For older women, the option of waiting is not as viable.”

Meanwhile, births continued to shift to older mothers. Older age groups saw smaller decreases in birth rates, and the birth rate was highest among women ages 30 to 34 – with about 95 births for every 1,000 women in this group in 2023. Women 40 and older were the only group to see an increase in birth rate, although – at less than 13 births for every 1,000 women – it remained lower than any other age group.

These annual reports offer a snapshot in time, he said, but rates can change dramatically depending on the unique situations of the year.

2023 marked the first full year after the US Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision that revoked the federal right to abortion. This provisional data does not show geographic trends, which may obscure some effects that state abortion bans have had on state-level birth trends. However, an analysis from November suggests that states with abortion bans had an average fertility rate that was 2.3% higher than states where abortion was not restricted in the first half of 2023, leading to about 32,000 more births than expected.

As maternal mortality rates continue to rise in the US, so do rates of cesarean deliveries, which Hamilton notes are “major abdominal surgeries.”

Nearly a third of all births (32.4%) were C-sections, a share that is now the highest it’s been in a decade, according to the new CDC report. But C-sections are becoming more common among low-risk births too, such as those among women having their first birth with pregnancies that have reached term and single fetuses that are facing head-first.

Provisional births data is based on birth records received and processed by the National Center for Health Statistics as of January 25. Trends capture more than 99% of all birth records for the year, but data is subject to change once all records are reviewed.