Northeast
GOP candidate vying for Santos House seat slams Democratic opponent's 'disrespectful' jabs: 'Shame on him'
The Republican candidate vying to fill ousted Rep. George Santos’s House seat is firing back following attacks from her Democratic opponent ahead of Tuesday’s special election.
GOP hopeful Mazi Pilip, a former IDF soldier, and former Democratic Rep. Tom Suozzi are locked in a close race with potential national implications as Republicans look to hold on to a key suburban New York City district amid a trend of Democratic gains.
The pair have traded jabs over key issues ranging from immigration to abortion on the campaign trail, with Suozzi most recently calling Pilip “George Santos 2.0” and accusing her of being “unvetted” and “untruthful” about her record.
NEW YORK SPECIAL ELECTION CANDIDATES CLASH OVER BORDER CRISIS, ABORTION: ‘YOU CREATED THIS ISSUE’
“The bottom line is that my opponent, Mazi Pilip, is George Santos 2.0, utterly unvetted, lying about her record, covering up her extreme positions, being untruthful about her finances, and thumbing her nose at democracy by hiding in the basement and spewing this tired old same talking points and resorting to extremist my-way-or-the-highway type of politics that will mean nothing gets done,” Suozzi said at a campaign event on Sunday.
Pilip responded to the accusations during “America’s Newsroom” on Monday, calling her opponent’s rhetoric “disrespectful.”
“It’s very disrespectful. He’s trying to run away from his record,” Pilip told Dana Perino. “Run away [from] the fact that he opened the southern border, the fact that he was supporting defunding the police movement, the fact is this was increasing taxes as a county executive and in Congress supporting Biden 100% of the time, supporting the Squad 90% of the time.”
“So he trying to run away and picturing me as a person unvetted. I am very much vetted. I’m very proud of who I am, the things I said I did, as was proven. Newsday’s, New York Post, they all came to see my degrees, they all come to see my military service. So he’s trying to link me to something to distract people so – to vote. Shame on him,” she continued.
DEMOCRAT SUOZZI RUNNING FOR GEORGE SANTOS SEAT TAKES HEAT FOR 2019 POST ON ICE AMID NEW YORK’S MIGRANT CRISIS
According to a Newsday/Siena College poll released last week, data showed Suozzi with a 4-point lead over Pilip, within the poll’s margin of error.
Data also indicated 49% of voters trusted Pilip to handle the influx of migrants, in comparison to only 40% in favor of Suozzi. On the other hand, 55% of voters trusted Souzzi to tackle abortion policy in comparison to 32% who preferred Pilip.
Regardless, Pilip insisted it is the migrant crisis that Long Island voters are most worried about as they head to the polls.
Democrat Tom Suozzi and Republican Mazi Pilip met face to face in the first and only debate, which aired Thursday night, in the special election for New York’s 3rd Congressional District. (Getty Images)
“The migrant crisis… it’s a big issue for the third congressional district. Unvetted migrants coming to our country, and the person responsible is Tom Suozzi, my opponent. He was in a majority in Congress when he decided to open the southern border, and he was also was funding sanctuary cities,” Pilip said.
“The issues we are seeing right now, the border crisis, unvetted migrants coming here, attacking our police officers on the streets. This is exactly the formula. When you are weak on crime, when you don’t support law enforcement, and then you have wide open borders, you are bringing unvetted immigrants. This is a formula that we are seeing, a perfect formula for all these issues that we are seeing that Thomas was responsible,” she continued.
Meanwhile, a winter storm is brewing in the Northeast and could hit hard right before voters head to the polls, threatening up to a foot of snow in the region.
Fox News’ Michael Lee and Kyle Morris contributed to this report.
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Northeast
From palace to prison: Venezuelan strongman Maduro locked in troubled Brooklyn jail
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Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, are spending their days for the foreseeable future at a notorious jail in Brooklyn known for housing high-profile defendants awaiting trial in New York City.
The Metropolitan Detention Center, known as MDC Brooklyn, is a sprawling, industrial-style facility that has faced a series of scandals in recent years involving assaults and poor prison conditions. Maduro, the Venezuelan leader arrested in his home in Caracas by the U.S. military over the weekend, is now being held at the jail on narco-terrorism conspiracy, cocaine importation and weapons charges.
MDC Brooklyn currently holds more than 1,300 inmates, according to the Bureau of Prisons. A BOP representative confirmed to Fox News Digital that Maduro and his wife were among that figure.
MADURO’S WIFE SUFFERED ‘SIGNIFICANT INJURIES’ IN DRAMATIC CAPTURE, ATTORNEY ALLEGES
Federal officers stand guard outside the Department of Justice next to the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn after the U.S. captured Nicolás Maduro and his wife, in New York City, Jan. 3, 2026. (Reuters/Eduardo Munoz)
MDC Brooklyn inmates include little-known defendants and prominent ones, and they face a range of mild to serious charges.
Maduro is likely to be held in what is known as the “VIP section” of the jail, according to Renato Stabile. Stabile is a New York-based criminal defense lawyer who represented former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández, who was also held in MDC Brooklyn before he was freed in December as a result of Trump granting him a controversial pardon.
Stabile told Fox News Digital the VIP section is part of the east side of the jail, where high-profile figures like Hernández, rap artist Sean “Diddy” Combs and convicted crypto fraudster Sam Bankman-Fried were once held. Others at MDC Brooklyn include Luigi Mangione, the 27-year-old accused of murdering a top health insurance CEO. Jeffrey Epstein’s associate, Ghislaine Maxwell, was also held there.
People celebrate in front of the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn on Jan. 3, 2026, after the capture of Nicolás Maduro. (Reuters/Eduardo Munoz)
Those on the east side will be “hanging out together every day and watching TV together and playing pingpong together and doing whatever they do on that side,” Stabile said. He said the west side, where general population inmates are held, might be more crowded but that treatment of them was likely otherwise the same.
One reason inmates are segregated based on their notoriety could be that they are more vulnerable to violence or extortion, he said.
MDC Brooklyn is a male and female jail, but the inmates are not intermixed by sex, so Maduro and his wife might not be able to interact much there, except during joint meetings with their lawyers.
AFTER MADURO, VENEZUELA POWER VACUUM EXPOSES BRUTAL INSIDERS AND ENFORCERS
NYPD officers stand guard on a blocked road outside the MDC Brooklyn on Jan. 5, 2026, in New York City. (Alexi J. Rosenfeld/Getty Images)
Maduro is being represented by New York-based attorney Barry Pollack, who previously represented WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. Maduro and his wife pleaded not guilty in court on Monday and now await their next court appearance, slated for March 17.
MDC Brooklyn has repeatedly come under scrutiny for its troubles, including a week-long power outage in the winter of 2019 that left inmates in freezing conditions, multiple inmate murders and assaults in 2024, and several allegations of inhumane conditions, including inadequate medical staffing and unsanitary food.
Stabile said, in his view, the facility is “run fairly efficiently.”
“But I can tell you that the east side is run a lot more efficiently than the west side, just because there are less people,” he said, noting that lawyers can see their clients with less hassle.
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Boston, MA
Boston City Hall intruder who stole from employees nabbed by police, after shoplifting arrest: BPD
Boston Police said they have nabbed the masked suspect who entered private office suites in City Hall during work hours and stole wallets stuffed with cash and credit cards from multiple employees.
The Boston Police Department identified Darrin O’Neil, 60, of Lowell as the suspect involved in the City Hall thefts, which occurred last month, on Dec. 1.
O’Neil was already being held after a prior shoplifting arrest at DICK’s House of Sport on Boylston Street when he was identified as the alleged perpetrator of the City Hall crime, following what the cops described as an “extensive investigation,” Boston Police said on Wednesday.
Three City Hall employees reported that their wallets, which contained cash, credit cards, health savings account cards, and personal ID were stolen from their offices, per Boston Police reports.
One woman who had her wallet snatched out of her purse with two credit cards, her City Hall ID, Massachusetts driver’s license, insurance and library cards, and $100 in cash told police two of her coworkers saw an unknown man “in the area who was wearing a brown beanie, dark jacket, sweatpants, and a blue face mask.”
Two other employees told police that not only were cash and credit cards stolen from their offices, but the thief used the cards to rack up hundreds of dollars in unauthorized purchases — totaling $1,500 at Macy’s and Walgreens.
The incident led to calls from two city councilors, Ed Flynn and Erin Murphy, for the city to tighten up security protocols in light of the intrusion and theft, which occurred during work hours and was described by both as a “security breach.”
Mayor Michelle Wu’s office said a day later that steps have already been taken to increase security after the incident, which involved unauthorized access to “several” office suites that are restricted to authorized personnel only.
Municipal Protective Services, which provides security for city buildings, has increased internal patrols throughout City Hall as a result of the incident, the mayor’s office said.
O’Neil was arrested on shoplifting charges on Dec. 27 at 760 Boylston St., after he was seen inside DICK’s House of Sport concealing merchandise, police said.
Police said they had responded to the store at 11:39 a.m. for a report of a theft in progress.
While police approached, O’Neil was seen exiting the sporting goods store. The cops “were able to quickly stop the suspect and could see clothing with tags affixed to them inside of a bag,” police said.
During a search, about $408 of stolen merchandise was recovered, police said.
For the shoplifting incident, O’Neil was arrested and charged with larceny under $1,200 and being a common and notorious thief, police said.
After further investigation, police said they determined that O’Neil had seven active warrants for his arrest for charges of four counts of larceny from a building, three counts of receiving stolen property under $1,200, two counts of larceny of a credit card, shoplifting by asportation, credit card fraud under $1,200, and shoplifting by concealing merchandise.
After O’Neil was identified as the alleged City Hall thief, police said they sought additional criminal complaints in Boston Municipal Court on charges of two counts of larceny from a building, two counts of credit card fraud under $1,200 and being a common and notorious thief.
O’Neil is expected to be arraigned at Boston Municipal Court at a later date.
Following BPD’s announcement on Wednesday, Flynn said “larceny and retail theft must be a top priority for our city.”
“We must have zero tolerance for any type of theft and those arrested must be held accountable in our court system for their criminal behavior,” Flynn told the Herald.
Murphy said, “This incident was unacceptable, and I am glad the individual responsible has been arrested. My focus throughout has been on employee safety and securing City Hall offices. City Hall must be a safe workplace, and this incident underscores the importance of secure offices and prompt action.”
Mayor Wu’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on police identification of the alleged City Hall larceny suspect.
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