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Donald Trump calls for Iowa supporters to caucus, says ‘nothing’s over’ for 2024 – Iowa Capital Dispatch

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Donald Trump calls for Iowa supporters to caucus, says ‘nothing’s over’ for 2024 – Iowa Capital Dispatch


CEDAR RAPIDS — With six weeks left until the Iowa caucuses, former president Donald Trump largely spent his time in Iowa criticizing President Joe Biden instead of going after his Republican rivals — but told supporters to not listen to claims that the primary is already “over.”

“Don’t listen to that, don’t listen,” Trump said. “Nothing’s over. I’ve seen things that are over and bad things can happen. You got to get to the polls, you’ve got to get in the caucus and you’ve got to do your job and we’re going to win.”

The former president addressed a crowd at Kirkwood Community College in Cedar Rapids Saturday afternoon, taking over the college’s basketball court and bleachers for the rally.

He accused the current administration of weaponizing the government and justice system against a political opponent — himself. Trump currently faces criminal and civil cases in multiple states, and some state courts are deliberating whether Trump can be kept off the ballot in 2024.

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“This campaign is a righteous crusade to liberate our republic from Biden and the criminals in the Biden administration,” Trump told the crowd.

Trump waved off comments from national media claiming Democrats want him to become the GOP nominee because they believe Biden would win in a 2020 rematch.

“If they wanted to run against me, they wouldn’t have indicted me four times,” Trump said.

According to aggregated poll data from Real Clear Politics, Trump leads the Republican field at 47% in Iowa, and 62% nationally. But other candidates hope to use the Iowa caucuses to stop Trump from coasting to the nomination. At the same time as Trump’s event in Cedar Rapids, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis held an event in Newton, completing the s0-called “full Grassley” by holding events in all 99 Iowa counties.

DeSantis, who holds a distant second place to Trump in some national and early state polls, is hoping to pull an upset at the Iowa caucuses. He has the support of influential Iowa Republicans like Gov. Kim Reynolds, Family Leader President and CEO Bob Vander Plaats and state lawmakers like House Majority Leader Matt Windschitl, who joined him at the Saturday event.

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Vander Plaats has said DeSantis’ caucus performance will set the stage for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination cycle. If Trump wins Iowa, Vander Plaats said, it likely means Trump will easily win the nomination. But if a rival like DeSantis wins, he said, it means there’s appetite among Republicans for a serious race.

“If one of these others rises up to be the alternative to Trump, and they win the Iowa caucuses, I think now America’s gonna see game on,” Vander Plaats said. “And they’re going to have to make a choice, of who do they want to be their nominee? So they got Iowa is very crucial in this go-around.”

Trump’s campaign hopes to stave off a potentially more competitive 2024 nominating cycle by winning big in Iowa.

Before the president took the stage, campaign videos explaining how to caucus for Trump on Jan. 15, 2024 played on a screen above the stage. A panel of Iowa GOP leaders and Trump caucus captains answered common questions about Iowa Republicans’ caucus process.

Trump has also focused on combatting Reynolds’ endorsement specifically — he has criticized both Reynolds and DeSantis for “disloyalty” on social media, as he endorsed both of their gubernatorial reelection campaigns in 2022.

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On Friday, his campaign launched a six-figure TV ad buy in Iowa that included a commercial featuring previous footage of Reynolds praising the Trump administration, ABC News reported. But in Iowa Saturday, the former president repeated his criticisms of Reynolds’ support for DeSantis.

““I mean, that was her choice to do this,” Trump said. “But I believe in loyalty.”

Bill Stilich, a retired teacher from Cedar Rapids area, said he believes Trump will easily win the Iowa caucuses, regardless of DeSantis’ Iowa endorsements or recent voter interest in former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley. Stilich said he believes Republicans going against Trump will do more to hurt their own political prospects than Trump’s 2024 campaign.

Stilich said he was a big supporter of Reynolds until her endorsement of the Florida governor in November.

“It definitely hurt her …. yet, by the same token, she’s done a lot for the state,” he said. “But I just don’t appreciate her as much.”

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Trump’s campaign also featured Iowa endorsers, including Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird and former acting U.S. Attorney General Matt Whitaker, who called for Iowans to show up to the  caucuses.

Mark Lucas, the founder of the Iowa chapter for Americans for Prosperity, endorsed Trump at the Cedar Rapids event. Lucas, who is no longer affiliated with AFP, said he was disappointed that the Koch-backed Americans for Prosperity PAC put their support behind Haley. Though Lucas said he was a big proponent of the Iowa caucuses, he believed the 2024 primary was “done.”

He said Trump was the biggest threat to President Joe Biden in the 2024 presidential election, claiming that Biden was “weaponizing” government to hurt Trump’s election, pointing to the former president’s legal battles and efforts to remove Trump from state ballots.

“The stakes in this election cycle are just too high for me to stand on the sidelines,” Lucas said.

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Iowa

Dog and deer take stroll through Iowa town before police intervene: ‘All good walks must come to an end’

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Dog and deer take stroll through Iowa town before police intervene: ‘All good walks must come to an end’


In a scene out of a Disney movie, a dog and a deer were seen wandering the streets of an Iowa town together.

The adorable dynamic duo was spotted on Wednesday taking a stroll seemingly without a care through the streets of Tipton, a small town of roughly 3,000 people about 40 miles northwest of Davenport.

“Sometimes a dog just wants to take his deer for a walk,” the Tipton Police Department quipped on its Facebook page.

The unlikely pair were spotted walking around Tipton, Iowa on Wednesday. ABC 9

The post included a photo of the two pals walking along the sidewalk side-by-side. The dog, which appears to be a large golden retriever, looks back in one photo at the police officer creeping up behind them. 

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The deer even looked like it might be window shopping in one picture, a user commented.

The dog and deer took a stroll through the town before they were eventually captured by police. ABC 9
The dog and deer’s walk ended in the back of a police car. ABC 9

Another image shows the deer walking across a lawn towards the dog, who had stopped for a rest on the grass.

But the unlikely pair’s day out on the town ended soon afterwards. About an hour later, Tipton police posted an update with the animals loaded up in police cruisers after they were rounded up.

“All good walks must come to an end. The pair was too close to traffic,” police said.

“The dog is clearly remorseful but the deer was muttering something about breaking free and doing it all again tomorrow,” the department joked.

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U.S. Justice Department threatens court challenge to Iowa immigration law • Iowa Capital Dispatch

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U.S. Justice Department threatens court challenge to Iowa immigration law • Iowa Capital Dispatch


The U.S. Department of Justice intends to file a lawsuit against an Iowa law making illegal immigration a state crime if the law remains in effect, a top official wrote in a letter to Gov. Kim Reynolds and state Attorney General Brenna Bird.

First reported by the Des Moines Register, Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brian Boynton said in a letter to the Republican state officials that the federal department “intends to bring a lawsuit to enforce the supremacy of federal law” and enjoin Senate File 2340, blocking it from being enforced.

The Iowa law, signed by Reynolds in April, allows state law enforcement officers to charge people with an aggravated misdemeanor if they have been deported, denied admission or removed from the U.S., or if they have an order to leave the country. People with a criminal history can be charged with higher penalties for being in the country unlawfully under the new measure.

Additionally, state courts are able to order the deportation of people charged, with state agencies and law enforcement having the ability to transport migrants to U.S. ports of entry to ensure they leave the country. People who do not leave as ordered can be charged with a felony for failure to comply.

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The law is set to go into effect July 1. However, the federal justice department plans to stop the law from being enforced before that date. In the letter, Boynton gave Reynolds and Bird a deadline of Tuesday to suspend enforcement of the law or the Department of Justice will take action.

“If you have not confirmed by May 7, 2024, that Iowa will forbear such enforcement, the United States intends to pursue all appropriate legal remedies to ensure that Iowa does not interfere with the functions of the federal government,” the letter states.

In the message, Boynton said the Iowa law is “preempted by federal law and violates the United States Constitution,” and that the measure is “contrary” to the federal government’s goal of processing undocumented immigrants in the U.S. in a way that is consistent with the Immigration and Nationality Act.

The state measure conflicts with federal immigration law in several ways, he wrote, including “various provisions of federal law permitting noncitizens to seek protection from removal to avoid persecution or torture,” Boynton wrote, in addition to undermining U.S. foreign relations.

Boynton said the Iowa law “effectively creates a separate state immigration scheme by imposing state criminal penalties for violating the federal prohibition on unlawful reentry into the United States,” and is intruding on the federal government’s oversight of immigration law and enforcement.

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However, Reynolds and Bird argued the law is necessary because President Joe Biden and his administration are not enforcing current immigration laws.

“The only reason we had to pass this law is because the Biden Administration refused to enforce the laws already on the books. I have a duty to protect the citizens of Iowa,” Reynolds said in a statement. “Unlike the federal government, we will respect the rule of law and enforce it.”

Bird also criticized Biden in a post on social media about the lawsuit, saying that Iowa “will not back down.”

 

On Wednesday, immigrant advocacy groups rallied across the state in opposition to the new law. Immigrants and allies expressed concerns about the law breaking up families, as well as potentially leading to discrimination against Latino Iowans.

Some law enforcement officers have also brought up concerns about enforcing the law. Des Moines Police Chief Dana Wingert told the Associated Press in March that Des Moines police forces are “not equipped, funded or staffed” to take on enforcement of immigration laws.

Iowa is not the only state to pass a state-level immigration law. The Iowa law is modeled after a similar 2023 Texas measure also allowing state law enforcement and courts to take action on illegal immigration. The Texas law is currently under a preliminary injunction, having been challenged in federal appeals court by the U.S. Justice Department and civil rights organizations.

Reynolds has sent personnel with Iowa National Guard and Iowa Department of Public Safety to Texas to support the state’s law enforcement efforts along the U.S.-Mexico border in both 2021 and 2023. In March, the governor announced plans to deploy 115 National Guard troops and 10 DPS officers to Texas, taking on duties like assistance with “the Texas Military Department’s security objectives.”

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Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt also signed a similar measure into law earlier this week that went into effect immediately. The Oklahoma law establishes a crime for “impermissible occupation,” the act of entering the state without legal authorization to be in the country. The first offense is a misdemeanor charge with an order to leave the state within 72 hours, and a second offense would charge someone with a felony, with up to two years in prison if convicted.





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Live updates: Students in Iowa City, University of Iowa lead protests supporting Palestinians

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Live updates: Students in Iowa City, University of Iowa lead protests supporting Palestinians


A day of organized Israel-Hamas war protests is planned in Iowa City Friday, beginning with a demonstration outside of City High School, followed by a three-day rally on the University of Iowa campus.

The demonstrations take place as student-led protests and encampments have swept across college campuses in America, with participants calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and for their respective universities to stop investing endowment money in Israel, among other demands.

This week, protestors at a rally at Iowa State University on May 1 demanded the school cut financial ties with companies that profit from the Israel-Hamas war.

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Organizers of the three-day demonstration on the Pentacrest in Iowa City said they are not planning an encampment, and that they are “standing in solidarity” with other student protests — which have been the sites of increasingly hostile confrontations between protestors and police resulting in hundreds of arrests and injuries — and to facilitate “education and cultural exchange.”

The demonstration, which is planned from noon to 7 p.m. Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, is said to include musical performances, artist demonstrations, and areas for prayer and study.

Refresh your browser to see the latest updates to this article.

More: Iowa City student group prepares for weekend Israel-Hamas war rally on Pentacrest

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A student group at Iowa City High School organized a strike from 8:30 a.m. to 3:15 p.m. on Friday, May 3, encouraging students and community members to join them “in solidarity with students at Columbia University and across the country in standing up for the human rights of all Palestinians and denouncing the US-funded genocide.”

About a dozen participants were setting up the demonstration outside the high school before 9 a.m. The students plan to head to the Pentacrest at 3:30 p.m. Friday.

High school administration acknowledged a “student walkout” and that “students have the right to participate in organized protests,” in principal John Bacon’s email to the City High Community on Thursday, May 2.

In the email obtained by the Iowa City Press-Citizen, Bacon said that students who leave class to attend the demonstration will be marked with an unexcused absence unless parents excuse it by notifying the school.

Students who return to school after participating will have to check in at the main office.

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More: Why are college students protesting across US for Palestinians? What about in Iowa?

Iowa City Press-Citizen reporters Jessica Rish and Julia Hansen contributed to this article.

Paris Barraza is a trending and general assignment reporter at the Des Moines Register. Reach her at pbarraza@registermedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @ParisBarraza.



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