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Read Representative Jerrold Nadler’s Letter

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Read Representative Jerrold Nadler’s Letter

JERROLD NADLER
12TH DISTRICT, NEW YORK
JUDICIARY COMMITTEE
RANKING MEMBER
Congress of the United States
House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515
NADLER.HOUSE.GOV
December 4, 2024
Dear Democratic Colleague:
It has been the greatest honor of my life to serve as Chairman and Ranking Member of the House Judiciary
Committee these past 7 years. I am grateful to have had the opportunity to help lead our party’s efforts to
preserve the rule of law and to provide for a more just society that respects the civil rights and civil liberties of
all Americans.
Under my leadership, the Committee responded to some of our nation’s biggest challenges. When Donald
Trump and his administration threatened the rule of law and our democratic order, I led the Judiciary
Committee’s efforts to hold him accountable for his various abuses of power, culminating in two historic
impeachments. As the epidemic of gun violences rages on, we advanced historic legislation to keep Americans
safe in their communities, leading to enactment of the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act—the first significant
gun safety legislation enacted in a generation. When the Supreme Court threatened to undermine protections for
same sex marriage, we enshrined marriage equality in the law with passage of the Respect for Marriage Act.
When the nation watched in horror as George Floyd was brutalized by police, we advanced legislation to hold
law enforcement accountable, while also working to ensure that our communities have the tools and resources to
keep our citizens safe. As Republican voter suppression efforts took hold across the country, we passed
legislation named after our beloved late colleague, Rep. John Lewis, to protect this most fundamental right to
vote. We worked to repair our broken immigration system with legislation to protect Dreamers and to prevent
another Muslim ban. We brought forward the Equality Act, the first comprehensive civil rights legislation
protecting the LGBTQ community. We worked to provide justice to victims of the deadly September 11th
attacks and other victims of terrorism. And we worked to preserve access to justice in the federal courts, protect
consumers from corporate abuses, lower prescription drug prices, and preserve a strong intellectual property
system that promotes innovation and drives economic growth.
The Committee also shined a light on critical issues, such as threats to reproductive freedom and bodily
autonomy in the wake of the Dobbs decision, the need for further criminal justice reform and ending mass
incarceration, the ethics crisis at the Supreme Court, and proposals to strengthen our antitrust laws to preserve
and promote healthy competition in the marketplace.
REPLY TO:
WASHINGTON OFFICE:
2132 RAYBURN HOUSE OFFICE BUILDING
WASHINGTON, DC 20515
(202) 225-5635
DISTRICT OFFICE:
201 VARICK STREET
SUITE 669
NEW YORK, NY 10014
(212) 367-7350

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Romania scraps presidential election after alleged Russian meddling

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Romania scraps presidential election after alleged Russian meddling

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Romania’s constitutional court has cancelled a presidential election scheduled for Sunday after allegations that Russia used TikTok to promote the leading candidate.

The decision to scrap Sunday’s run-off and annul the first-round victory of Călin Georgescu, who has praised Vladimir Putin, came after Romanian authorities published documents this week that indicated Moscow had sought to undermine the vote.

But the move was criticised by some politicians and analysts as anti-democratic. Opinion polls had given the far-right Georgescu a comfortable lead over Elena Lasconi, the second-placed liberal presidential candidate, ahead of the now cancelled vote.

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“The electoral process for the election of the president of Romania will be repeated in its entirety,” the court said on Friday.

The date of the new vote will be set by Romania’s government, but only after a new coalition is formed following parliamentary elections last Sunday.

Costin Ciobanu, an analyst at Aarhus University in Denmark, said the annulment “deepens uncertainty and polarisation within Romanian society, raising serious concerns about the strength of Romania’s institutions and democracy”.

Thousands have taken to the streets of Bucharest and other cities to protest against Georgescu in recent days, while a few hundred have held demonstrations backing him.

Romanian President Klaus Iohannis sought in a televised address on Friday evening to reassure investors and western allies, promising to stay in office until a successor is sworn in. “Romania is a stable and secure country,” he said.

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Friday’s ruling is the first time a western court has intervened to overturn an election because of an alleged Russian attempt to sway the result. But it comes after a series of bids by Moscow to influence votes in countries well beyond its traditional sphere of influence.

Maia Sandu, president of neighbouring Moldova, narrowly secured re-election last month after what the country’s officials said was an attempt at vote-buying by Moscow-aligned politicians.

The head of Germany’s domestic intelligence agency has also warned that Russia may try to interfere in his country’s parliamentary election next year.

Georgescu’s rise in recent weeks has stunned Romania and its western allies.

His first-round victory came even though he had no party behind him and claimed to have spent “zero” on his campaign, which was run mainly on social media.

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The Romanian National Security Council declassified several documents on Wednesday that alleged that Russia attempted to promote Georgescu on social media platforms and hack into the country’s electoral infrastructure.

The documents also noted that the far-right candidate, who was polling in single digits before last month’s vote, “benefited from preferential treatment” on TikTok because the Chinese social media platform did not label his videos as political ads. Over 100 paid influencers with more than 8mn followers had promoted Georgescu’s videos, according to the documents.

TikTok said earlier this week that it had taken down a “cluster” of pro-Georgescu accounts.

Romanian authorities have asked the European Commission to open a probe into TikTok, which could result in fines. The company, which is owned by ByteDance, has denied the accusations and said it acted in compliance with Romanian and EU law.

The court’s decision to annul the vote comes despite it validating a recount on Monday that confirmed Georgescu’s first-round victory, in which he won 23 per cent of the vote.

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Friday’s ruling was welcomed as “the only correct decision” by Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu, who had led polls before the first round. “The Romanian vote was blatantly undermined following the Russian intervention,” he said.

But Lasconi, who had been expecting to face Georgescu in the run-off that had been scheduled for Sunday, labelled the court’s decision as “illegal, immoral”, adding that the ruling “crushes the essence of democracy — the vote”.

She vowed to stand again and win the presidency.

In a video statement on Friday, Georgescu said: “The Romanian state took democracy and trampled on it.” He said the court’s decision was “more than a legal controversy. It is, practically, a coup d’état.”

He pledged to fight on and said that his only “pact” was with the Romanian people and god.

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Prosecutors have started multiple probes following the evidence presented by the intelligence services.

The US state department also warned this week about “foreign actors seeking to shift Romania’s foreign policy away from its western alliances”, which it said would have “serious negative impacts on US security co-operation”.

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A body has been found in the search for a woman missing near a Pennsylvania sinkhole

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A body has been found in the search for a woman missing near a Pennsylvania sinkhole

Rescue workers search on Thursday for Elizabeth Pollard, who is believed to have disappeared in a sinkhole while looking for her cat, in Marguerite, Pa.

Matt Freed/AP


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Matt Freed/AP

A Pennsylvania coroner’s office said Friday that investigators believe they have located the body of a woman who was last seen four days earlier near a sinkhole above a shuttered coal mine.

Sean Hribal, a deputy coroner in Westmoreland County, said searchers believe they have found the remains of 64-year-old Elizabeth Pollard.

A coroner was dispatched by law enforcement shortly after 11 a.m. to Unity Township, where crews have been excavating the abandoned coal mine in an effort to locate Pollard.

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State police Trooper Steve Limani told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that there was massive relief among the search team that Pollard had been found.

“We were running out of options, time and resources,” Limani told the paper. “I was getting worried we weren’t gonna find her.”

Axel Hayes, Pollard’s son, said in a brief phone interview Friday that he had not heard from authorities and planned to call his father, Kenny Pollard, to let him know.

Kenny Pollard, 75, holds a photo in his home from a vacation that he and his wife, Elizabeth, took to Clearwater Beach, Fla., approximately 10 years ago.

Kenny Pollard, 75, holds a photo in his home from a vacation that he and his wife, Elizabeth, took to Clearwater Beach, Fla., approximately 10 years ago.

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Elizabeth Pollard was last seen searching for her cat Pepper on Monday evening near a restaurant a half-mile from her home. Pollard’s family reported her missing around 1 a.m. Tuesday as the temperature in the area dropped below freezing.

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The search her focused on a sinkhole with a manhole-sized surface gap that may have only recently opened up in the village of Marguerite, above where coal was mined until about 70 years ago.

Police said they found Pollard’s car parked about 20 feet from the sinkhole. Pollard’s 5-year-old granddaughter was found safe inside the car.

Hunters and restaurant workers who were in the area in the hours before Pollard’s disappearance told police they hadn’t noticed the sinkhole.

The effort to find Pollard included lowering a pole camera with a sensitive listening device into the hole, although it detected nothing. Crews removed a massive amount of soil and rock to try to reach the area where they believed she fell into the chasm about 30 feet deep.

Pollard grew up in Jeanette, about 12 miles from Unity Township, where she lived for much of her adult life. She previously worked at Walmart and was married for more than 40 years.

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Video: How Navy Pilots are Harmed by Their Own Planes

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Video: How Navy Pilots are Harmed by Their Own Planes

For decades, the Navy has stated that brain injuries have mostly occurred during accidents or leisure activities. But now, a confidential new program is studying whether intense fighter jet operations can cause brain injuries as devastating as those from repeated blast exposure.

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