Connect with us

News

Senate Democrats turn up pressure on Clarence Thomas’ billionaire friend by demanding accounting of gifts | CNN Politics

Published

on

Senate Democrats turn up pressure on Clarence Thomas’ billionaire friend by demanding accounting of gifts | CNN Politics


Washington
CNN
 — 

Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee have requested Harlan Crow, the GOP megadonor and buddy of Clarence Thomas whose presents to the Supreme Court docket justice have prompted recent criticism concerning the moral requirements of the nation’s highest courtroom, for extra details about the expenditures.

In a letter on Monday, Judiciary Democrats requested data from Crow on all presents and funds that exceed $415 that got to any justice of the Supreme Court docket or member of the family in addition to an itemized checklist of actual property transactions and journeys.

Judiciary Democrats additionally despatched letters on Monday to the holding firms that personal Crow’s non-public jet, non-public yacht and Topridge Camp “in search of to determine the complete extent of Mr. Crow’s and the companies’ presents to Justice Thomas.”

“The looks of particular entry to the Justices—that’s not obtainable to all People— is corrosive to the legitimacy of the Court docket as a result of, at minimal, it creates an look of undue affect that undermines the general public’s belief within the Court docket’s impartiality,” the letters state.

Advertisement

The letters additionally state that the latest revelations come amid an absence of American confidence within the Supreme Court docket, pointing to latest polling.

Every letter requests that obligatory data be shared no later than Could 22.

In the meantime, Crow is declining to offer data sought in a separate letter by Senate Finance Committee Chair Ron Wyden, a spokesperson for the Oregon Democrat stated Tuesday.

Wyden, who’s analyzing whether or not the presents may have triggered violations of US tax legislation, despatched a collection of inquiries to Crow final month inquiring about journeys over time that the megadonor paid for on his non-public aircraft and tremendous yacht that Thomas selected to not checklist on his monetary disclosure kinds.

The ratcheting concern concerning the courtroom’s ethics stems from ProPublica reporting that exposed Thomas and his spouse, conservative activist Ginni Thomas, had gone on a number of luxurious journeys involving journey sponsored by and stays at properties owned by Crow and a 2014 actual property deal that concerned the sale of three properties in Savannah, Georgia, that had been owned by Thomas and his kinfolk to the megadonor.

Advertisement

Thomas had not financially disclosed the hospitality from or the take care of the Texas billionaire.

Thomas has beforehand stated he adopted the recommendation of others in deciding what required disclosure and in a press release final month, famous that that Crow didn’t have enterprise earlier than the courtroom.

A supply near Thomas beforehand instructed CNN that the justice plans to amend his disclosure kinds to replicate the actual property transaction, which additionally went unreported.

ProPublica moreover reported final week that Crow paid boarding faculty tuition for Thomas’ grandnephew, Mark Martin, who lived with the justice’s household as a toddler and for whom Thomas turned a authorized guardian.

Democrats have vowed to maintain investigating the ethics of the nation’s highest courtroom, and Chief Justice John Roberts declined an invite to testify at a listening to on Supreme Court docket ethics.

Advertisement

Chatting with CNN’s Jake Tapper on Sunday, Senate Judiciary Chairman Dick Durbin stated “all the pieces is on the desk” because the panel scrutinizes new ethics issues round Thomas.

Continue Reading
Advertisement
Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

News

Trump Orders U.S. Strikes Against Houthi Militant Sites in Yemen

Published

on

Trump Orders U.S. Strikes Against Houthi Militant Sites in Yemen

The United States carried out large-scale military strikes on Saturday against dozens of targets in Yemen controlled by the Iranian-backed Houthi militia, President Trump announced.

It was the opening salvo in what senior American officials said was a new offensive against the militants and a strong message to Iran, as Mr. Trump seeks a nuclear deal with its government.

Air and naval strikes ordered by Mr. Trump hit radars, air defenses, and missile and drone systems in an effort to open international shipping lanes in the Red Sea that the Houthis have disrupted for months with their own attacks. At least one senior Houthi commander was targeted. The Biden administration conducted several strikes against the Houthis but largely failed to restore stability to the region.

U.S. officials said the bombardment, the most significant military action of Mr. Trump’s second term so far, was also meant to send a warning signal to Iran. Mr. Trump wants to broker a deal with Iran to prevent it from acquiring a nuclear weapon, but has left open the possibility of military action if the Iranians rebuff negotiations.

“Today, I have ordered the United States Military to launch decisive and powerful Military action against the Houthi terrorists in Yemen,” Mr. Trump said in a message on Truth Social. “They have waged an unrelenting campaign of piracy, violence, and terrorism against American, and other, ships, aircraft, and drones.”

Advertisement

Mr. Trump then pivoted to Iran’s rulers in Tehran: “To Iran: Support for the Houthi terrorists must end IMMEDIATELY! Do NOT threaten the American People, their President, who has received one of the largest mandates in Presidential History, or Worldwide shipping lanes. If you do, BEWARE, because America will hold you fully accountable.”

U.S. officials said that airstrikes against the Houthis’ arsenal, much of which is buried deep underground, could last for several weeks, intensifying in scope and scale depending on the militants’ reaction. U.S. intelligence agencies have struggled in the past to identify and locate the Houthi weapons systems, which the rebels produce in subterranean factories and smuggle in from Iran.

Some national security aides want to pursue an even more aggressive campaign that could lead the Houthis to essentially lose control of large parts of the country’s north, U.S. officials said. But Mr. Trump has not yet authorized that strategy, wary of entangling the United States in a Middle East conflict he pledged to avoid during his campaign.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel has been pushing Mr. Trump to authorize a joint U.S.-Israel operation to destroy Iran’s nuclear weapons facilities, taking advantage of a moment when Iran’s air defenses are exposed, after a bombing campaign from Israel in October dismantled critical military infrastructure. Mr. Trump, reluctant to be drawn into a major war, has so far held off against pressure from both Israeli and U.S. hawks to seize the opening to strike Iran’s nuclear sites.

Since the Hamas-led assault on Israel in October 2023, Houthi rebels have attacked more than 100 merchant vessels and warships in the Red Sea with hundreds of missiles, drones and speedboats loaded with explosives, disrupting global trade through one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes.

Advertisement

The Houthis, who are backed by Iran and act as the de facto government in much of northern Yemen, largely discontinued their attacks when Israel and Hamas reached a cease-fire in Gaza in January. But Israel instituted a blockade on aid to Gaza this month, and the Houthis have said they will step up attacks in response.

The group’s assaults in recent weeks have angered Mr. Trump. They fired a surface-to-air missile at an Air Force F-16 flying over the Red Sea, missing the jet. A U.S. military MQ-9 Reaper drone disappeared over the Red Sea the same day Houthi militants claimed to have shot one down.

“To all Houthi terrorists, YOUR TIME IS UP, AND YOUR ATTACKS MUST STOP, STARTING TODAY.” Mr. Trump said in Truth Social message.

The initial airstrikes hit buildings in neighborhoods in and around Sana, Yemen’s capital, that were known Houthi leadership strongholds, residents said. According to the Houthi-run television news channel Al Masirah, the Yemeni health ministry said that nine people had been killed and nine others injured in airstrikes. The casualties could not be independently verified.

U.S. officials said the strikes on Saturday resulted from a series of high-level White House meetings this week between Mr. Trump and top national security aides, including Vice President JD Vance; Secretary of State Marco Rubio; Michael Waltz, the president’s national security adviser; Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth; and Gen. Michael E. Kurilla, the head of the military’s Central Command. Mr. Trump approved the plan on Friday.

Advertisement

The strikes were carried out by fighter jets from the aircraft carrier Harry S. Truman, now in the northern Red Sea, as well as by Air Force attack planes and armed drones launched from bases in the region, U.S. officials said.

During the Biden administration, the attacks on commercial shipping were met with several counterstrikes by U.S. and British military forces. Between last January and May, for instance, the two countries’ militaries conducted at least five major joint strikes against the Houthis in response to the attacks on shipping.

United States Central Command, which carried out the strikes on Saturday without any other nation’s assistance, has regularly announced military actions against the Houthis.

But the U.S.-led strikes have failed to deter them from attacking shipping lanes connecting to the Suez Canal that are critical for global trade. Hundreds of ships have been forced to take a lengthy detour around southern Africa, driving up costs. Despite the cease-fire in Gaza, some of the biggest container shipping lines show their vessels still going around the Cape of Good Hope and avoiding the Red Sea on their websites.

The Biden administration tried to chip away at the ability of the Houthis to menace merchant ships and military vessels without killing large numbers of Houthi fighters and commanders, which could unleash even more mayhem into a widening regional war that officials feared would drag in Iran.

Advertisement

Fears of that broader regional conflict have greatly subsided in the months since Israel decimated Hezbollah and Hamas, two main armed proxies for Iran in the region, and destroyed much of Iran’s air defenses with a series of punishing airstrikes last fall that left the country vulnerable to an even larger Israeli counterattack should it retaliate.

That has given Mr. Trump more leeway to undertake the large-scale bombing offensive against the Houthis and use it as a warning to Iranian leaders if they balked at talks centered on Tehran’s nuclear program.

But it is unclear how a renewed bombing campaign against the Houthis would succeed where previous American-led military efforts largely failed. Military officials said these strikes would hit a broader set of Houthi targets and would be carried out over weeks. Mr. Trump did not elaborate in his message on social media.

“Joe Biden’s response was pathetically weak, so the unrestrained Houthis just kept going,” Mr. Trump said, adding: “The Houthi attack on American vessels will not be tolerated. We will use overwhelming lethal force until we have achieved our objective.”

The Houthis, whose military capabilities were honed by more than eight years of fighting against a Saudi-led coalition, have greeted the prospect of war with the United States with open delight.

Advertisement

The Houthis, a tribal group, have taken over much of northern Yemen since they stormed the nation’s capital, Sana, in 2014, effectively winning a war against the Saudi-led coalition that spent years trying to rout them. They have built their ideology around opposition to Israel and the United States, and often draw parallels between the American-made bombs that were used to pummel Yemen and those sent to Israel and used in Gaza.

In late January, Mr. Trump issued an executive order to redesignate Yemen’s Houthi rebels as a “foreign terrorist organization,” calling the group a threat to regional security, the White House said. Critics argued the move will worsen an already dire humanitarian crisis in the country.

The order restored a designation given to the group, formally known as Ansar Allah, late in the first Trump administration. The Biden administration lifted the designation shortly after taking office, partly to facilitate peace talks in Yemen’s civil war.

Last year, however, the Biden team reversed course, labeling the Houthis a “specially designated global terrorist” organization — a less severe category — in response to attacks against U.S. warships in the Red Sea.

Officials in Washington and the Middle East were bracing on Saturday for a Houthi counterattack.

Advertisement

The Houthis’ spokesman, Mohammed Abdulsalam, said on social media on Jan. 22 that supporting the Palestinian cause would remain a top priority even after the cease-fire in Gaza. The Houthis have said they would stop targeting all ships “upon the full implementation of all phases” of the cease-fire agreement.

But at the same time, the Houthis warned that if the United States or Britain directly attacked Yemen, they would resume their assaults on vessels associated with those countries. Evidence recently examined by weapons researchers shows that the rebels may have acquired new advanced technology that makes their drones more difficult to detect and helps them fly even farther.

Peter Eavis contributed reporting from New York, and Saeed Al-Batati from Al Mukalla, Yemen.

Continue Reading

News

Ukraine’s supporters move to ‘operational phase’ in ceasefire planning, Starmer says

Published

on

Ukraine’s supporters move to ‘operational phase’ in ceasefire planning, Starmer says

The leaders of 26 countries have agreed to move to an “operational phase” in planning for a multinational force to guarantee a ceasefire in Ukraine, UK prime minister Sir Keir Starmer has said, adding: “Let the guns fall silent.”

Starmer said military planners would meet in London on Thursday to discuss how a truce could be guaranteed “by strong security arrangements through our coalition of the willing”.

After hosting a video call of the 26 mainly European leaders on Saturday, Starmer admitted the US was still not prepared to provide a military “backstop” to ensure any peace was durable.

“The Kremlin’s dithering and delay over President Trump’s ceasefire proposal, and Russia’s continued barbaric attacks on Ukraine, run entirely counter to President Putin’s stated desire for peace,” Starmer said. “A position of ‘Yes, but . . . ’ isn’t good enough.”

Speaking in Downing Street, Starmer confirmed that the group of countries would “double down and increase sanctions” on Russia, including looking at the option of seizing Russian assets to intensify pressure on Putin.

Advertisement

British officials said a number of countries had made new offers to send troops to Ukraine to help secure a peace deal but declined to say which ones.

“The position of the US has not changed,” Starmer said, referring to the idea of American military support for a UK-France led peace guarantee force. “We have been clear this has to be done in conjunction with the US.” He said Britain was speaking to the US on a daily basis.

Starmer launched what he called a coalition of the willing at a summit in London two weeks ago, with the assembled countries considering varying levels of support for Ukraine.

Most of the countries on Saturday’s call were from Europe; the participants also included Australia, Canada and New Zealand. The EU and Nato were represented along with Ukraine. Starmer said that Japan, which was not on the call, had offered “backing”.

Britain and France are the only countries to have firmly committed to send troops to Ukraine to help guarantee a peace deal, although others are open to the idea. Some have offered financial or logistical support.

Advertisement

The leaders agreed to make preparations for a force to be sent to Ukraine in the event of a peace agreement to act as a “robust” guarantee, with talks at a military planner level due to be held in London on Thursday.

“We agreed to accelerate our practical work to support a potential deal. So we will now move into an operational phase,” the British prime minister said.

Starmer said the leaders had agreed to increase financial and military support for Ukraine in the short term but also in the longer term, to help Kyiv provide its own security guarantees.

He stressed the need for US backing for any peacekeeping operation, saying the risk was that “we will repeat the experience of recent years and Russia will breach the line again”.

The prime minister also confirmed that the leaders discussed beefing up sanctions if Putin did not agree to a ceasefire. Downing Street said that seizing more than €200bn of frozen Russia assets was being considered.

Advertisement

Number 10 conceded that seizing Russian assets — as opposed to using interest accruing from them to support Ukraine, as it currently does — was “a complex situation”.

Starmer said that the leaders would “continue to explore all lawful routes to ensure that Russia pays for the damage it has done to Ukraine”.

France and Germany, which have long opposed a full-blown seizure of assets held in the EU, are warming to the idea and are discussing with the UK others ways in which they could be used as part of a negotiation to end the war.

While Britain and France have offered to put troops on the ground to help secure the peace — but only if a proposed initial 30-day ceasefire holds — other countries have been more reluctant to commit direct military support.

Starmer told the meeting that the “coalition of the willing” had to help “monitor a ceasefire” during the truce. That would initially involve satellites and surveillance rather than the deployment of troops to Ukraine, UK officials said.

Advertisement

Countries including Germany and Poland have reservations about sending troops to Ukraine. The office of Giorgia Meloni, Italy’s prime minister, said Italian participation in a “possible military force on the ground was not envisaged”.

Dick Schoof, Dutch prime minister, said on X that the Netherlands would join the meeting of military planners on Thursday “in the context of security guarantees”.

Ursula von der Leyen, European Commission president, said the ball was in Putin’s court. “In the meantime, we will support strengthening Ukraine and its armed forces,” she said.

“We will step up Europe’s defence efforts through ReArm Europe,” she added, referring to new Brussels initiatives aimed at increasing national defence spending.

German chancellor-to-be Friedrich Merz, whose Christian Democratic Party won elections last month, has reached a deal with the country’s mainstream parties to inject hundreds of billions into Germany’s defence sector and exempt military aid for Ukraine from strict borrowing limits. The German parliament is due to vote on the constitutional changes on Tuesday.

Advertisement

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged European leaders to “massively” increase military production.

“Everyone understands that at the current pace, Ukraine and Europe can be strengthened within five years. We believe this is too long and too dangerous,” Zelenskyy said on X after the online summit. “If the Russians do not agree, it means they are not disagreeing with our proposal, but specifically with President Trump’s proposal.”

Additional reporting by Amy Kazmin in Rome, Anne-Sylvaine Chassany in Berlin and Andy Bounds, Henry Foy in Brussels and Fabrice Deprez in Kyiv

Continue Reading

News

A judge limits Trump's ability to deport people under the 18th century Alien Enemies Act

Published

on

A judge limits Trump's ability to deport people under the 18th century Alien Enemies Act

A federal judge on Saturday blocked the Trump administration from using an 18th century law known as the Alien Enemies Act to deport five Venezuelans, kicking off a blizzard of litigation over the controversial move even before the president has announced it.

President Donald Trump has widely signaled he would invoke the 1798 Act, last used to justify the internment of Japanese-American civilians during World War 2.

On Saturday, the American Civil Liberties Union and Democracy Forward filed an extraordinary lawsuit in federal court in Washington contending the order would identify a Venezuelan gang, Tren de Aragua, as a “predatory incursion” by a foreign government and seek to deport any Venezuelan in the country as a member of that gang, regardless of the facts.

James E. Boasberg, chief judge of the D.C. Circuit, agreed to implement a temporary restraining order preventing the deportation for 14 days under the act of the five Venezuelans who are already in immigration custody and believed they were being moved to be deported. Boasberg said his order was “to preserve the status quo.” Boasberg scheduled a hearing for later in the afternoon to see if his order should be expanded to protect all Venezuelans in the United States.

Hours later, the Trump administration appealed the initial restraining order, contending that halting a presidential act before it has been announced would cripple the executive branch.

Advertisement

If the order were allowed to stand, “district courts would have license to enjoin virtually any urgent national-security action just upon receipt of a complaint,” the Justice Department wrote in its appeal.

It said district courts might then issue temporary restraining orders on actions such as drone strikes, sensitive intelligence operations, or terrorist captures or extraditions. The court “should halt that path in its tracks,” the department argued.

The unusual flurry of litigation highlights the controversy around the Alien Enemies Act, which could give Trump vast power to deport people in the country illegally. It could let him bypass some protections of normal criminal and immigration law. But it would face immediate challenges along the lines of Saturday’s litigation because it has previously only been used during wartime.

The law requires a formal declaration of war before it can be used. But immigration lawyers were alarmed by a flurry of activity Friday night.

“Last night, it appears the government was preparing to deport a number of Venezuelans they had no legal authority to deport,” said Ahilan Arulanantham, an immigration lawyer in Los Angeles who filed two petitions to block deportations that night.

Advertisement

Continue Reading

Trending