Northeast
Top Dem on Trump shooting task force denies past impeachment manager role could politicize probe
![Top Dem on Trump shooting task force denies past impeachment manager role could politicize probe Top Dem on Trump shooting task force denies past impeachment manager role could politicize probe](https://newspub.live/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/crow-trump-shooting.jpg)
EXCLUSIVE: The top Democrat on the newly commissioned House task force to investigate the attempted assassination of former President Trump is insisting that the investigation will be free of politics.
Rep. Jason Crow, D-Colo., was named ranking member of the panel after being selected by House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y.
As a first-term lawmaker in 2020, Crow was selected as one of seven House Democrats prosecuting Trump’s first impeachment trial before the Senate.
But he denied in an interview with Fox News Digital on Wednesday that the role would open him up to criticism of his handling of the current task force.
BUTLER DISTRICT ATTORNEY SAYS LOCAL SNIPERS WERE NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ROOFTOP SHOOTER FIRED FROM
Rep. Jason Crow spoke with Fox News Digital about his role on the bipartisan House task force to investigate the July 13, 2024, attempted assassination of former President Trump. (Getty Images)
“I’m not concerned about that. You know, I have a great reputation for being one of the most bipartisan members of Congress because, listen, that’s what America does,” Crow said. “We have … tough debates and deliberations about the things that we need to have tough debates and deliberations on. But we also come together and work together when and where we have to.”
The retired Army Ranger said he was trained to serve without bias during his days in the military, which included tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan.
“I served overseas in combat with Americans from all different backgrounds – Republicans, Democrats, independents, people from the East Coast, people from the West Coast, of every different stripe and background – and we got the job done. We came together, we served together, and we got it done. And we’re going to bring that same spirit to this task force,” Crow said.
He’s one of six Democrats appointed to the task force by Jeffries, with seven Republicans chosen by Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La.
TRUMP ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT VICTIM SAYS HE IS ‘SAD’ WITH STATE OF ‘POLITICAL DIVISION’ IN US
![Speaker Johnson and Leader Jeffries](https://newspub.live/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/1722599124_258_Top-Dem-on-Trump-shooting-task-force-denies-past-impeachment.jpg)
Speaker Mike Johnson, left, and Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries are leading the task force assembly as a bipartisan effort. (Getty Images)
Johnson and Jeffries said in a joint statement of Crow’s appointment, “We have the utmost confidence in Ranking Member Rep. Jason Crow and this bipartisan group of steady, qualified and capable Members of Congress to move quickly to find the facts, ensure accountability and help make certain such failures never happen again.”
It comes after a source previously told Fox News Digital that Rep. Dan Goldman, D-N.Y., who was the Democrats’ lead counsel in the first Trump impeachment, was being considered for a place on the committee. He did not end up on the final list.
Crow told Fox News Digital that the probe’s exact contours are still being ironed out between himself and Chair Mike Kelly, R-Pa., but he hopes a task force visit to the site of the July 13 Trump rally shooting in Butler, Pennsylvania, will be part of their work. Would-be assassin Thomas Crooks, 20, opened fire from a nearby rooftop during the event, grazing Trump’s right ear, killing a former firefighter and seriously wounding two other spectators before being shot dead by a Secret Service counter-sniper.
“Chairman Kelly and I have discussed that, and we do think that would be an important thing to do if we have the support to do it,” Crow said.
He also said “a lot of things appear to have gone wrong” the day of the shooting and pledged a “fast investigation,” noting the group has to release a report in December.
IRAN THREAT PROMPTS QUESTIONS ABOUT TRUMP GUNMAN’S UNCRACKED ENCRYPTION
![Aerial view of the scene of the Trump rally where an assassination attempt was made on the former President](https://newspub.live/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/1722599124_412_Top-Dem-on-Trump-shooting-task-force-denies-past-impeachment.jpg)
This overhead image taken on July 14 shows the venue where a gunman tried to assassinate former President Trump during a campaign rally in Butler, Pa., on July 13. (Carlos Osorio/Reuters)
Crow listed the questions he had: “Are we actually looking at that intelligence properly? Is it being disseminated to the proper law enforcement officials? Why wasn’t there a secure perimeter? Why was that rooftop unsecure?”
He also explained that the apparent communications breakdown is going to be a major tenet of their probe, adding, “I learned in my time overseas in combat that one of the hardest things to do is actually achieve interoperability of our communications between … different units in different locations.”
“It was very hard to do. But it’s also the essential thing to do, because if you’re not communicating and talking, things fall through the cracks.”
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Boston, MA
Inmate sentenced to more than 4 years in prison killing of Boston gangster James ‘Whitey’ Bulger
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CLARKSBURG, W.Va. — An inmate was sentenced to more than four years Thursday for his role in the 2018 fatal bludgeoning of notorious Boston gangster James “Whitey” Bulger in a troubled West Virginia federal prison.
Massachusetts gangster Paul J. DeCologero was sentenced in federal court after pleading guilty to an assault charge. He could have faced up to 10 years in prison. DeCologero was already serving a 25-year sentence handed down in 2006 after he was convicted of buying heroin used to try to kill a teenage girl.
Prosecutors initially had said DeCologero and inmate Fotios “Freddy” Geas used a lock attached to a belt to repeatedly hit the 89-year-old Bulger in the head hours after he arrived at USP Hazelton from another lockup in Florida.
But on Thursday, both prosecutors and the defense said DeCologero only served as a lookout and had not physically assaulted Bulger.
US District Judge Thomas Kleeh said the sentence was “fair, just and appropriate” and “strikes the balance the court is trying to seek.”
DeCologero, 50, declined to speak when given the opportunity to address the court. Defense attorney Patrick Nash began by conveying an apology from DeCologero to Bulger’s family as well as the inmate’s own relatives.
Nash described DeCologero as the victim of an “abusive and neglectful” upbringing.
“Paul has had an incredibly difficult life,” Nash said. “As a result of that, Paul is a person who is easily led. Anyone who shows him attention, he’s easily led.”
An uncle eventually took in DeCologero and made him part of a criminal organization, Nash said.
In Bulger’s killing, “Paul was involved,” Nash said. “He is guilty. But his role was limited.”
Assistant US Attorney Brandon Flower declined to comment after the sentencing.
According to court records, inmates found out ahead of time that Bulger would be arriving at Hazelton. An inmate previously told a grand jury that DeCologero said to him that Bulger was a snitch and they planned to kill him as soon as he came into their unit.
Prosecutors have said DeCologero and Geas spent about seven minutes in Bulger’s cell. Geas hit Bulger, while DeCologero served as a lookout and helped cover Bulger’s body, Flower said Thursday. DeCologero’s DNA was found on two blankets, the prosecutor said.
Geas has been charged with murder and conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, which carries up to a life sentence. His hearing is scheduled for Sept. 6. Last year, the Justice Department said it would not seek the death penalty.
Another inmate, Sean McKinnon, pleaded guilty in June to lying to FBI special agents. McKinnon got credit for spending 22 months in custody after his 2022 indictment, was given no additional prison time and was returned to Florida to finish his supervised release. McKinnon had served out a sentence for stealing guns from a firearms dealer.
Plea deals for the three men were disclosed May 13. Geas and DeCologero were identified as suspects shortly after Bulger’s death, but they remained uncharged for years as the investigation dragged on.
Prior to Bulger’s death, employees at Hazelton had been sounding the alarm about violence and understaffing. After Bulger was killed, prison officials were criticized for placing him in the general population instead of more protective housing.
A Justice Department inspector general investigation found in 2022 that the killing was the result of multiple layers of management failures, widespread incompetence and flawed policies at the federal Bureau of Prisons.
The inspector general found no evidence of “malicious intent” by any bureau employees but said a series of bureaucratic blunders left Bulger at the mercy of rival gangsters.
In July, the US Senate passed legislation to overhaul oversight and bring greater transparency to the Bureau of Prisons following reporting from The Associated Press that exposed systemic corruption in the federal prison system and increased congressional scrutiny.
Bulger, who ran the largely Irish mob in Boston in the 1970s and ’80s, was also an FBI informant who provided the agency with information on the main rival to his gang.
He became one of the nation’s most wanted fugitives after fleeing Boston in 1994, thanks to a tip from his FBI handler that he was about to be indicted. He was captured at age 81 after more than 16 years on the run.
Bulger was convicted in 2013 in a string of 11 killings and dozens of other gangland crimes, many of them committed while he was said to be an FBI informant.
DeCologero, who was in a gang led by his uncle, was convicted of buying heroin that was used to try to kill a teenage girl because his uncle feared she would betray the crew to police. After the heroin did not kill her, another man broke her neck, dismembered her body and buried her remains in the woods, court records say.
Geas was a close associate of the Mafia and acted as an enforcer but was not an official “made” member because he is Greek, not Italian.
He and his brother were sentenced to life in 2011 for their roles in several violent crimes, including the 2003 killing of Adolfo “Big Al” Bruno, a Genovese crime family boss in Springfield, Massachusetts. Another mobster ordered Bruno’s killing because he was upset that he had talked to the FBI, prosecutors said.
Pittsburg, PA
Ireland Contracting Nightly Sports Call: August 1, 2024
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Connecticut
Cheshire 2024 Primary Election: What To Know
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CHESHIRE, CT — The main election event is set for November, but there is a preliminary bout Cheshire residents will weigh in on this month.
Winners of Connecticut’s Aug. 13 primary races will advance to become their party’s banner bearer in the general election.
In Cheshire, residents who are registered Republicans can vote for one of two candidates to challenge incumbent Democrat Sen. Chris Murphy for a seat in the U.S. Senate. Gerry Smith, the first selectman of Beacon Falls, is running against Manchester native, businessman and Navy veteran Matthew Corey.
Absentee ballots are available online here.
Aug. 2 is the earliest deadline, and affects unaffiliated voters seeking to vote during the early voting period before the primary — Aug. 5 to Aug. 11 — to file party enrollment application.
Aug. 12 is the deadline for issuing absentee ballots, outside of special exceptions for those overseas or ill.
There is more information on the absentee ballot process at the Secretary of the State website here.
Polls will be open 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Aug. 13.
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