‘Absurdity to a new level’ as Russia takes charge of UN security council

The Guardian

‘Absurdity to a new level’ as Russia takes charge of UN security council

Julian Borger in New York – March 30, 2023

<span>Photograph: Justin Lane/EPA</span> — Photograph: Justin Lane/EPA

In Ukraine, Moscow is pursuing an unprovoked war of aggression. In The Hague, Vladimir Putin is facing an arrest warrant for war crimes. But at the UN, Russia is about to take charge of a powerful international body, the security council.

From Saturday, it will be Russia’s turn to take up the monthly presidency of the 15-member council, in line with a rotation that has been unaffected by the Ukraine war.

The last time Russia held the gavel was in February last year, when Putin declared his “special military operation” in the middle of a council session on Ukraine. Fourteen months on, tens of thousands of people have been killed, many of them civilians, cities have been ruined and Putin has been indicted by the international criminal court for the mass abduction of Ukrainian children.

In such circumstances, putting Russia in the driving seat of a world body tasked with “maintaining international peace and security” seems like a cruel April fools joke to many, not least the Ukrainian mission to the UN.

“As of 1 April, they’re taking the level of absurdity to a new level,” said Sergiy Kyslytsya, the Ukrainian permanent representative. “The security council as it is designed is immobilised and incapable to address the issues of their primary responsibility, that is prevention of conflicts and then dealing with conflicts.”

The ambassador said Ukraine would stay away from the security council in April except in the case of an “issue of critical national security interest”. Ukraine is not a current council member, though it is often called to speak on issues related to the war.

The US, Britain, France and their supporters on the council are likely to show their disapproval by downgrading the level of their representation at Russian-hosted events over the course of the month, but no member state is known to be planning any form of boycott or other protest.

The US on Thursday urged Russia to “conduct itself professionally” when it assumes the role, but said there was no means to block Moscow from the post. The Kremlin said on Friday that Russia plans to exercise all its rights on the council.

Diplomats at the UN headquarters in New York point out that most of the council’s agenda in April, like any month, is taken up by routine briefings and reports on UN peacekeeping missions around the world.

“It’s important to protect the rest of the council’s work on other files,” one European diplomat said. “We don’t want to disrupt the work that the council is doing elsewhere, because that would allow Russia’s invasion to have an even wider impact on issues of peace and security around the world.”

The council presidency does give the monthly incumbent the power to organise its own sessions, and Russia is planning three. On 10 April it will hold a briefing on the “risks stemming from the violations of the agreements regulating the export of weapons and military equipment”, at which it is expected to single out the US for its arms supplies to Ukraine and to other allies over recent years.

Later in the month, it will chair two open debates on “effective multilateralism” and on the situation in the Middle East, over which its foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, is expected to preside.

The last occasion when a permanent member of the council carried out an unprovoked invasion was the US attack on Iraq. The US was not subjected to the humiliation of repeated overwhelming defeats in the UN general assembly of the kind that Russia has endured over the past year, with about 140 of the 193 member states voting against Moscow’s positions, leaving Belarus, Eritrea, Syria and North Korea as Russia’s only reliable friends.

Russia’s deputy permanent representative, Dmitry Polyanskiy, denied that his mission was becoming a pariah at the UN. “Absolutely not. We feel that the west is embattled in the UN right now because more countries understand our position,” Polyanskiy said, claiming that the western allies had to water down resolutions and arm-twist to get 140 votes. “So I think that it’s rather the west is isolated, but not us in the general assembly.”

As for Putin’s ICC arrest warrant, Polyanskiy dismissed it as “totally irrelevant to any of our activities”. The last time the Russian leader travelled to the UN headquarters was in 2015.

In the security council, the balance of diplomatic forces is less clearcut than in the general assembly. The division of five permanent members – US, UK, France, Russia, China – has hardened considerably, with China regularly echoing Russian talking points in the council. The 10 non-permanent members are elected for two-year terms by the general assembly. Among the current batch, Mozambique, the United Arab Emirates and Gabon have generally stayed neutral over the Ukraine invasion.

Brazil is moving into the neutral column. Polyanskiy said the “Brics” group of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa was drawing closer together and claimed there were 20 other countries interested in affiliation.

Richard Gowan, the UN director at the International Crisis Group, said that under President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Brazil was “making an effort to engage with Russia and position itself as a potential peacemaker over Ukraine”.

“I don’t think Russia has many close allies in the council, but a lot of council members really want to avoid getting caught up in big power games,” Gowan said. “There is a definite sense that a lot of council members want to shift attention to crises other than Ukraine where the UN may be able to do marginally more good.”

There are no security council sessions on Ukraine planned for April, but nine members can vote to force it on to the agenda, or members can hold informal sessions on the subject.

The glaring council impasse and paralysis over Ukraine has served to elevate the importance of the general assembly, but few expect it to bring any long-awaited reform to the running of the council, established by the victors of the second world war.

More likely, Kyslytsya acknowledged, “everybody will get accustomed to this new level of global hypocrisy”.

“That will be a disgrace,” he added. “But I think there’s quite a chance that may happen.”

‘Kick Russia out of the UN’: Group prepares legal challenge as Russia gets set to take UN Security Council presidency

Good Morning America

‘Kick Russia out of the UN’: Group prepares legal challenge as Russia gets set to take UN Security Council presidency

Guy Davies – March 31, 2023

The Russian Federation will on April 1 take over the presidency of the U.N. Security Council, a shift in power that may seem extraordinary amid the war in Ukraine.

Despite the international condemnation and the allegations of President Vladimir Putin’s forces committing crimes against humanity in Ukraine, it will be Russia’s turn next month to step into the leadership position, which changes on a monthly basis.

Russia holds the power of veto on Security Council resolutions, something that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy criticized last year, when he said the bloc should act decisively or “dissolve itself” after the atrocities committed in Bucha came to light.

“We are dealing with a state that is turning the veto of the United Nations Security Council into the right to die,” he said.

PHOTO: In this file photo, members of the United Nations Security Council vote on a resolution condemning the referendums on annexing several Russia-occupied regions of Ukraine, in New York, Sept. 30, 2022. (Andrew Kelly/Reuters)

A year on from Zelenskyy’s address, Russia’s membership remains entrenched, as the country sits as a permanent member along with the U.S., France, the U.K. and China. But as Russia is set to take the presidency, one group of lawyers and diplomats is trying to block the move — and kick Russia out of the U.N. entirely.

“If we let Russia’s aggression stand, if Russia gains what it is seeking to gain out of its aggression against Ukraine, really the entire framework that we set up in 1945 is at risk,” Thomas Grant, professor at the Lauterpacht Centre for International Law and a member of Civic Hub, the organization seeking to eject Russia, told ABC News. “We think that the grounds for doing this are extremely strong.”

The organization started as a group of academics and lawyers, but now boasts sitting Ukrainian lawmakers and diplomats in its ranks. They concede that the idea Russia will be booted out of the U.N. entirely is a long shot, but they said they hope at the least to stop Russia from securing the presidency in April. They also want to call Russia’s membership on the U.N. Security Council into question.

PHOTO: Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a cabinet meeting via videoconference at the Novo-Ogaryovo residence outside Moscow, Russia, March 29, 2023. (Gavriil Grigorov/AP)

The group have yet to submit their formal legal challenge, but say they are adamant that the invasion of Ukraine has posed a major challenge to the composition of the U.N.

“There is a famous saying among the members of the Security Council that the Security Council is the master of its own procedures,” Volodymyr Yelchenko, the former Ukrainian ambassador to U.S. and Russia and member of Civic Hub, told ABC News. “They’re very vague.”

For their prospective legal case, he said, their efforts to lobby in Washington, Paris and London, are more important to their case than going to the Security Council directly, members said.

The political argument has perhaps been strengthened by the arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court for Putin. There’s also a U.N. resolution calling for Russia’s immediate withdrawal. Those are indications the international community may be responsive to the Civic Hub’s proposal, they said.

“It’s that sort of aggression that is simply not tolerable. If what you want is basic predictability [and security] among countries in their relations … then it’s vital that Russia be identified as an aggressor that ought not be sitting in the principal security organ of the U.N.,” Grant said. “That’s the political case to be made.”

PHOTO: People walk in front of United Nations Headquarters in New York, March 29, 2023. (Eduardo Munoz/Reuters)

Civic Hub’s legal case, which they hope will compel the U.N. to act, however, is completely different.

Rather than formally requesting U.N. membership in 1991 after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Russia merely inherited their member status, they said.

“Russia has never joined the U.N. in the proper way,” Professor Iouri Loutsenko, a former deputy director of the World Bank and the chairman of Civic Hub, told ABC News. “And this is a legal factor is undisputable.”

PHOTO: Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Vershinin leaves after talks on Black Sea Grain Initiative at the United Nations in Geneva, on March 13, 2023. (Fabrice Coffrini/AFP via Getty Images)

According to Loutsenko, the group has not received “straight answers” from the U.N. as they have lobbied for their proposal. But, if they were successful, Russia would be denied a voice on the world’s highest diplomatic stage.

“Russia [would] still have a flag in front of New York headquarters,” Grant said. “Its diplomats would still have key cards or whatever they used to get into the building, but they wouldn’t sit in the seats. They would not cast votes, they would not speak from the seat, and they would not be using the council as a broadcast platform for their messaging. So that would be the result.”

By exploiting that legal position, the group hope to isolate Russia even further from the international community, helping end the war in Ukraine and leading to change from within.

Russia set to take chair of UN security council amid Ukraine war

The Hill

Julia Mueller – March 30, 2023

Russia is set to take the chair position of a United Nations Security Council meeting as it continues to wage its yearlong war on neighboring Ukraine, drawing criticism from Ukrainian leaders.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba called Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s confirmation to the top Security Council slot during an April meeting in New York “a bad joke,” as the International Criminal Court (ICC) has a warrant out for the arrest of Russian President Vladimir Putin for alleged war crimes.

“Russian UN Security Council presidency on April 1 is a bad joke. Russia has usurped its seat; it’s waging a colonial war; its leader is a war criminal wanted by the ICC for kidnapping children,” Kuleba said on Twitter. “The world can’t be a safe place with Russia at UNSC #BadRussianJoke #InsecurityCouncil.”

The 15 member states of the U.N. Security Council take turns in the presidency position every month. Only five seats on the council are permanent — those held by the U.S., the U.K., France, China and Russia.

Ukraine’s ambassador to the U.N. highlighted comments from the international body’s Secretary-General António Guterres calling the day of Russia’s invasion the saddest moment in his tenure as U.N. chief.

“In fact the saddest in UN history until April 1, 2023 when, unless justice prevails, [Russia] assumes presidency of [the] Security Council. Stop raping justice & quashing UN Charter! Accountability now!” Ambassador Sergiy Kyslytsya wrote on Twitter.

Ukrainian diplomat Olexander Scherba called Russia taking over the Security Council “a bit like Jack the Ripper taking over at the ministry of health.”

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters on Thursday that the administration expects Russia “to continue to use its seat on the council to spread disinformation” and urged the country “to conduct itself professionally” during its time with the presidency, according to Reuters.

“Unfortunately, Russia is a permanent member of the Security Council, and no feasible international legal pathway exists to change that reality,” Jean-Pierre said.

Russia’s permanent seat on the council — and with it, the power to individually veto any resolution that passes through the international body — has long been a topic of concern that was stoked by Moscow invaded its neighbor. Last February, Russia vetoed a Security Council resolution that would have called on Moscow to cease its attack on Ukraine and withdraw all troops.

The Security Council president is responsible for setting the body’s agenda and calling meetings, though the state gains no additional power over what gets through. Russia held the rotating presidency last February, the month of its invasion.

Finland clears final hurdle for NATO membership, will be admitted by July

The Week

Finland clears final hurdle for NATO membership, will be admitted by July

Peter Weber, Senior editor – March 30, 2023

Finnish President Sauli Niinisto and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan Emin Sansar/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

Turkey’s parliament on Thursday approved Finland’s bid for membership in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, clearing the final obstacle for the Nordic country to become NATO’s 31st member. Hungary’s legislature ratified Finland’s application on Monday. Finland will be formally admitted to NATO at the alliance’s next meeting in July, in Lithuania, but if Ankara gets the ratification paperwork to Washington in time, Helsinki “could participate as a full member in a NATO foreign ministers’ meeting scheduled for next week in Brussels,” The Wall Street Journal reports.

“This will make the whole NATO family stronger and safer,” NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg tweeted after Turkey’s parliament unanimously endorsed Finland’s accession.

The fate of Sweden’s tandem application to join is still unclear, as both Turkey and Hungary have declined ratification for different reasons. NATO requires all members to approve any expansion. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who faces re-election in May, accuses Sweden of harboring Kurdish militants and allowing them to protest against Turkey in the streets of Stockholm; Hungary says Swedish politicians have made disparaging remarks about Hungary’s degraded democracy and blames Stockholm for helping cut European Union funds to Budapest. Sweden said it still hopes to gain admission before the July meeting in Lithuania.

Sweden and Finland dropped their neutrality and applied for NATO membership together after Russia invaded Ukraine. Finland decoupled its application from Sweden in March after it became clear Turkey planned to stonewall Stockholm for at least a few more months. “There are certain things we expect of them,” Edrogan said earlier this week. “They must be fulfilled first.”

“The entrance of both Finland and Sweden would expand NATO’s capacity by allowing it to treat a vast area spanning about a thousand miles from the Baltic Sea to the Arctic as part of a coherent area of operations,” the Journal reports. Finland’s inclusion alone will “add more than 800 miles to NATO’s border with Russia and bring to the alliance one of Europe’s best-defended and best-armed countries.”

Why Does America Keep Killing it’s Children?: ‘Radiant’ 9-Year-Old Killed While Leading Nashville Classmates to Safety, Family Believes

Daily Beast

‘Radiant’ 9-Year-Old Killed While Leading Nashville Classmates to Safety, Family Believes

Eileen Grench – March 30, 2023

A 9-year-old girl killed during the deadly school shooting in Nashville, Tennessee may have been leading her classmates to safety after a fire alarm was tripped when the killer entered the school, her aunt told The Daily Beast.

Evelyn Dieckhaus’ aunt said that while exact details of Evelyn and other victims’ final moments are still unclear, she heard her “radiant” niece died after leading her classmates in what she possibly thought was a fire drill.

“We’re finding out the shooter may have pulled the fire alarm to get kids out of their classroom. Evelyn being one of the class leaders was at the front of the line assuming fire drill,” read a private Instagram post provided to The Daily Beast by the aunt, Kelly Dorrance.

“She was trying to lead her classmates to safety and possibly didn’t hear the shouts to come back in the room. Things children should never worry about,” read the post.

Evelyn, Dorrance told The Daily Beast, was “radiant—a beacon of joy in our family. She had a calm confidence and a natural sense of purpose—alongside a whip smart sense of humor and a sly little smile.”

The Metropolitan Nashville Police Department confirmed to The Daily Beast on Thursday that their investigation currently indicates “that the alarm originated from the area of the shooter’s entry” at The Covenant School on Monday morning.

Contrary to some reports that Dieckhaus was killed as she tried to pull the fire alarm, MNPD spokesman Don Aaron told The Daily Beast Thursday, “The investigation at present does not support a ‘pulling’ of the alarm.” MNPD declined to comment on whether Dieckhaus was killed while leading a fire drill from the classroom.

The other two 9-year-old victims were identified by police as William Kinney and Hallie Scruggs. Three school staff were also killed: 61-year-old custodian Mike Hill; head of school Katherine Koonce; and substitute teacher Cynthia Peak.

Harrowing body-camera footage released on Tuesday showed officers Michael Collazo and Rex Engelbert rushing into the school and following the sounds of gunfire to the second floor.

Once upstairs, Engelbert and Collazo saw the shooter, Audrey Hale, standing in front of a window, and opened fire. Hale was killed within 14 minutes of the initial call to police.

Dorrance said the death of her niece is a “nightmare you can’t wake up from,” but told The Daily Beast by text message that ”the support and love our family has received has proved that humanity is, ultimately, good.”

“How our country puts assault rifles in the hands of civilians, I’ll never understand. We are in disbelief. Devastated. Heartbroken. Sick,” she said on Instagram.

And though the family is grieving, they want to make sure Evelyn’s memory will live on, Dorrance told The Daily Beast: “After we get through this initial phase of grief, we’re committed to make her memory an important one that will save the lives of other children.”

Funerals begin for 6 victims of Nashville school shooting

ABC News

Emily Shapirof – March 31, 2023

Funerals begin for 6 victims of Nashville school shooting

Mourners will gather on Friday for the first of six funerals in the wake of Monday’s mass shooting at The Covenant School, a private Christian school in Nashville, Tennessee.

Friends and family of 9-year-old victim Evelyn Dieckhaus were asked to wear pink and green to her funeral service on Friday afternoon.

“Our hearts are completely broken,” the Dieckhaus family said in a statement. “We cannot believe this has happened. Evelyn was a shining light in this world.”

PHOTO: Evelyn Dieckhaus is seen in this undated photo. (Courtesy The Dieckhaus Family)

MORE: Nashville school shooting updates: Slain head of school lauded for her forethought

The service for 9-year-old victim Hallie Scruggs will be on Saturday. Hallie’s funeral will be at Covenant Presbyterian Church — the church connected to the school where she was killed and where her father, Chad Scruggs, is a senior pastor.

Chad Scruggs told ABC News in a statement, “We are heartbroken. She was such a gift. Through tears we trust that she is in the arms of Jesus who will raise her to life once again.”

PHOTO: Hallie Scruggs is seen with her family in this undated family photo. (Courtesy Chad Scruggs)

Saturday will also be the visitation and service for 61-year-old Cynthia Peak, who was a substitute teacher at The Covenant School.

Her family called her “a pillar of the community, and a teacher beloved by all her students.”

“Her favorite roles in life were being a mom to her three children, a wife to her husband, and an educator to students,” Peak’s family said in a statement. “We will never stop missing her.”

PHOTO: Cindy Peak is seen in this undated photo. (Courtesy of the Peak Family)

The service for the third child killed, 9-year-old Will Kinney, will take place on Sunday.

PHOTO: Parishioners participate in a community vigil at Belmont United Methodist Church in the aftermath of a school shooting in Nashville, March 27, 2023, in Nashville, Tenn. (John Bazemore/AP)

On Tuesday, beloved school custodian, 61-year-old Mike Hill, will be laid to rest.

He was a father of seven and a grandfather of 14.

MORE: Nashville school shooting: What to know about the 6 victims

“We pray for the Covenant School and are so grateful that Michael was beloved by the faculty and students who filled him with joy for 14 years,” his family said in a statement.

Former student Bex Lithgow called Hill “the kindest soul who loved all the students so much.”

PHOTO: Mike Hill is seen here in an undated file photo. (Mike Hill/Facebook)

The final funeral service will be on Wednesday for 60-year-old Katherine Koonce, the head of the school.

“Katherine was devoted to her family, her friends, and especially the children she cared for. She gave her life to protect the students she loved,” Koonce’s family said in a statement. “It is our privilege to honor Katherine’s legacy and to celebrate her remarkable spirit.”

PHOTO: Katherine Koonce, a victim in The Covenant School shooting in Nashville, Tenn., March 27, 2023. (The Covenant School)

MORE: Timeline: How the shooting at Covenant School unfolded

A former local school administrator, Tricia Drake, told ABC News that her last conversation with Koonce was in August, discussing companies they used for active shooter training.

Drake said she knew Koonce had initiated her active shooter protocols on Monday when she saw footage police released from two of the responding officers’ body cameras. One of the videos shows a Covenant School staff member meeting an officer at the school’s main entrance, telling him, “The kids are all locked down, but we have two kids that we don’t know where they are.” The staffer is then seen using a key to unlock the door so officers could go inside.

“Students were in their classrooms, locked up, the professional outdoors to lead the Metro policeman. She had a key, what her headcount was, she knew exactly where the students would be, she was prepared,” Drake said. “I’m sure they had run those drills, and it’s because of Katherine and the foresight she had to make sure her staffers were prepared.”

PHOTO: People attend a vigil after a deadly shooting at the Covenant School in Nashville, Tenn., March 29, 2023. (Cheney Orr/Reuters)

ABC News’ Steph Wash, Morgan Winsor and Miles Cohen contributed to this report.

Donald Trump indicted; expected to surrender next week

Associated Press

Donald Trump indicted; expected to surrender next week

Michael R. Sisak, Eric Tucker and Colleen Long – March 30, 2023

FILE - Former President Donald Trump announces he is running for president for the third time as he smiles while speaking at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Fla., Nov. 15, 2022. A lawyer for Trump said Thursday, March 30, 2023, that he has been told that the former president has been indicted in New York on charges involving payments made during the 2016 presidential campaign to silence claims of an extramarital sexual encounter. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File) — Former President Donald Trump announces he is running for president for the third time as he smiles while speaking at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Fla., Nov. 15, 2022. A lawyer for Trump said Thursday, March 30, 2023, that he has been told that the former president has been indicted in New York on charges involving payments made during the 2016 presidential campaign to silence claims of an extramarital sexual encounter. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File)

FILE - Adult film actress Stormy Daniels arrives for the opening of the adult entertainment fair Venus in Berlin, Oct. 11, 2018. A lawyer for Donald Trump said Thursday, March 30, 2023, that he has been told that the former president has been indicted in New York on charges involving payments to Daniels made during the 2016 presidential campaign to silence claims of an extramarital sexual encounter. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber, File) — Adult film actress Stormy Daniels arrives for the opening of the adult entertainment fair Venus in Berlin, Oct. 11, 2018. A lawyer for Donald Trump said Thursday, March 30, 2023, that he has been told that the former president has been indicted in New York on charges involving payments to Daniels made during the 2016 presidential campaign to silence claims of an extramarital sexual encounter. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber, File)

NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump has been indicted by a Manhattan grand jury, a historic reckoning after years of investigations into his personal, political and business dealings and an abrupt jolt to his bid to retake the White House.

The exact nature of the charges was unclear Friday because the indictment remained under seal, but they stem from payments made during the 2016 presidential campaign to silence claims of an extramarital sexual encounter. Prosecutors said they were working to coordinate Trump’s surrender, which could happen early next week. They did not say whether they intended to seek prison time in the event of a conviction, a development that wouldn’t prevent Trump from seeking and assuming the presidency.

The indictment, the first against a former U.S. president, injects a local district attorney’s office into the heart of a national presidential race and ushers in criminal proceedings in a city that the ex-president for decades called home. Arriving at a time of deep political divisions, the charges are likely to reinforce rather than reshape dueling perspectives of those who see accountability as long overdue and those who, like Trump, feel the Republican is being targeted for political purposes by a Democratic prosecutor.

Trump, who has denied any wrongdoing and has repeatedly assailed the investigation, called the indictment “political persecution” and predicted it would damage Democrats in 2024. In a statement confirming the charges, defense lawyers Susan Necheles and Joseph Tacopina said Trump “did not commit any crime. We will vigorously fight this political prosecution in court.”

A spokesman for the Manhattan district attorney’s office confirmed the indictment and said prosecutors had reached out to Trump’s defense team to coordinate a surrender. Trump was asked to surrender Friday but his lawyers said the Secret Service needed additional time as they made security preparations, two people familiar with the matter told The Associated Press. The people, who couldn’t publicly discuss security details, said Trump is expected to surrender early next week.

District Attorney Alvin Bragg left his office Thursday evening without commenting.

The case centers on well-chronicled allegations from a period in 2016 when Trump’s celebrity past collided with his political ambitions. Prosecutors for months scrutinized money paid to porn actor Stormy Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal, whom he feared would go public with claims that they had extramarital sexual encounters with him.

The timing of the indictment appeared to come as a surprise to Trump campaign officials following news reports that criminal charges were likely weeks away. The former president was at Mar-a-Lago, his Florida estate, on Thursday and filmed an interview with a conservative commentator earlier in the day.

For a man whose presidency was defined by one obliterated norm after another, the indictment sets up yet another never-before-seen spectacle — a former president having his fingerprints and mug shot taken, and then facing arraignment. For security reasons, his booking is expected to be carefully choreographed to avoid crowds inside or outside the courthouse.

The prosecution also means that Trump will have to simultaneously fight for his freedom and political future, while also fending off potentially more perilous legal threats, including investigations into attempts by him and his allies to undo the 2020 presidential election as well as into the hoarding of hundreds of classified documents.

In fact, New York was until recently seen as an unlikely contender to be the first place to prosecute Trump, who continues to face long-running investigations in Atlanta and Washington that could also result in charges. Unlike those inquiries, the Manhattan case concerns allegations against Trump that occurred before he became president and are unrelated to his much-publicized efforts to overturn the election.

The indictment comes as Trump seeks to reassert control of the Republican Party and stave off a slew of one-time allies who may threaten his bid for the presidential nomination. An expected leading rival in the race, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, called the indictment “un-American” in a statement Thursday night that pointedly did not mention Trump’s name.

In bringing the charges, Bragg, the Manhattan district attorney, is embracing an unusual case that was investigated by two previous sets of prosecutors, both of which declined to take the politically explosive step of seeking Trump’s indictment. The case may also turn in part on the testimony of a key witness, Trump’s former lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen, who pleaded guilty to federal charges arising from the hush money payments, including making false statements.

The probe’s fate seemed uncertain until word got out in early March that Bragg had invited Trump to testify before a grand jury, a signal that prosecutors were close to bringing charges.

Trump’s attorneys declined the invitation, but a lawyer closely allied with the former president briefly testified in an effort to undercut Cohen’s credibility.

Trump himself raised anticipation that he would be indicted soon, issuing a statement earlier this month in which he predicted an imminent arrest and called for protests. He did not repeat that call in a fresh statement Thursday, but the New York Police Department told its 36,000 officers to be fully mobilized and ready to respond to any potential protests or unrest.

Late in the 2016 presidential campaign, Cohen paid Daniels $130,000 to keep her silent about what she says was a sexual encounter with Trump a decade earlier after they met at a celebrity golf tournament.

Cohen was then reimbursed by Trump’s company, the Trump Organization, which also rewarded the lawyer with bonuses and extra payments logged internally as legal expenses. Over several months, Cohen said, the company paid him $420,000.

Earlier in 2016, Cohen also arranged for the publisher of the supermarket tabloid the National Enquirer to pay McDougal $150,000 to squelch her story of a Trump affair in a journalistically dubious practice known as “catch-and-kill.”

The payments to the women were intended to buy secrecy, but they backfired almost immediately as details of the arrangements leaked to the news media.

Federal prosecutors in New York ultimately charged Cohen in 2018 with violating federal campaign finance laws, arguing that the payments amounted to impermissible help to Trump’s presidential campaign. Cohen pleaded guilty to those charges and unrelated tax evasion counts and served time in federal prison.

Trump was implicated in court filings as having knowledge of the arrangements — obliquely referred to in charging documents as “Individual 1” — but U.S. prosecutors at the time balked at bringing charges against him. The Justice Department has a longtime policy against indicting a sitting president in federal court.

Bragg’s predecessor as district attorney, Cyrus Vance Jr., then took up the investigation in 2019. While that probe initially focused on the hush money payments, Vance’s prosecutors moved on to other matters, including an examination of Trump’s business dealings and tax strategies.

Vance ultimately charged the Trump Organization and its chief financial officer with tax fraud related to fringe benefits paid to some of the company’s top executives.

The hush money matter became known around the D.A.’s office as the “zombie case,” with prosecutors revisiting it periodically but never opting to bring charges.

Bragg saw it differently. After the Trump Organization was convicted on the tax fraud charges in December, he brought fresh eyes to the well-worn case, hiring longtime white-collar prosecutor Matthew Colangelo to oversee the probe and convening a new grand jury.

Cohen became a key witness, meeting with prosecutors nearly two-dozen times, turning over emails, recordings and other evidence and testifying before the grand jury.

Trump has long decried the Manhattan investigation as “the greatest witch hunt in history.” He has also lashed out at Bragg, calling the prosecutor, who is Black, racist against white people.

The criminal charges in New York are the latest salvo in a profound schism between Trump and his hometown — a reckoning for a one-time favorite son who grew rich and famous building skyscrapers, hobnobbing with celebrities and gracing the pages of the city’s gossip press.

Trump, who famously riffed in 2016 that he “could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody” and “wouldn’t lose voters,” now faces a threat to his liberty in a borough where more than 75% of voters — many of them potential jurors — went against him in the last election.

Tucker and Long reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Bobby Caina Calvan, Jill Colvin and Jennifer Peltz contributed to this report.

Stormy Daniels said she’d dance in the streets if Trump was indicted. Now she’s sad it happened

USA Today

Stormy Daniels said she’d dance in the streets if Trump was indicted. Now she’s sad it happened

Josh Meyer, USA TODAY – March 30, 2023

Former President Donald Trump indicted in New York on criminal charges

Stormy Daniels, the woman at the center of the investigation into Donald Trump, was out riding one of her favorite horses when the news broke Thursday that the former president had become the first-ever former commander in chief to be indicted on criminal charges.

Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, wasn’t aware of the indictment for nearly two hours. She returned home to literally hundreds of messages and called her longtime lawyer Clark Brewster to ask what was up.

Her first reaction? “She was surprised, honestly, even though it was mostly expected,” Brewster told USA TODAY.

Recap: Grand jury indicts Donald Trump in New York, first time a former president is charged criminally

A few weeks ago, Daniels said she would “dance down the street” if and when Trump was indicted on hush money-related charges stemming from her alleged affair with him way back in 2006. Those allegations, and claims that Trump paid her $130,000 for her silence just days before the 2016 election, first came to light after Trump defeated Democrat Hillary Clinton in the hard-fought race.

Stormy Daniels, an adult film star whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, is central to the case Manhattan prosecutors are building against former President Donald Trump.

Brewster discounted that remark late Thursday as “just a comment that she may have made to try to be funny or something.”

In fact, when the significance of the charges sank in, Daniels didn’t feel like dancing at all, Brewster said.

“The fact is that she feels bad that the guy has been charged,” he said. “But on the other hand, truly, she knew what the facts were and she wants him to deal with the truth as well. So from that perspective, there’s a degree of feeling like the system is working.”

Brewster, who has been representing Daniels since 2019, added that he and Daniels both felt “it is a sad day, honestly” but that both felt vindicated by the indictment by a grand jury hearing evidence presented by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.

“I think obviously the grand jury looked at a lot of documents and heard a lot of testimony and made a decision, and I have to respect that,” Brewster said. “But on behalf of Stormy and honestly myself, there’s no joy in seeing the man indicted.”

“I think it’s a tragedy to see someone who has been a former president and leader of this country to be criminally charged,” he added. “But you have to respect the system and you have to respect the fact that we deal with truth and justice, and the truth is ultimately what will get him acquitted or convicted.”

“And, you know, it does prove the adage that we all believe from the time that we’re little kids that no man is above the law,” Brewster said. “It really is a testament, truly, to our constitutional system.”

DeSantis has one thing in common with trump, they do nothing constructive: No One Is Talking About What Ron DeSantis Has Actually Done to Florida

Time

No One Is Talking About What Ron DeSantis Has Actually Done to Florida

William Kleinknecht – March 29, 2023

Florida Governor DeSantis Kicks Off His "Freedom Blueprint" Tour In Florida — Florida Governor DeSantis Kicks Off His “Freedom Blueprint” Tour In Florida

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis speaks during an event spotlighting his newly released book, ‘The Courage To Be Free: Florida’s Blueprint For America’s Revival at the Orange County Choppers Road House & Museum on March 08, 2023 in Pinellas Park, Fl. Credit – Joe Raedle—Getty Images

Media coverage of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’s all-but-announced candidacy for president is already in full frenzy, and so far the script is exactly as his handlers would like it to be. The governor regularly opens up new fronts in the culture wars, sowing alarm over critical race theory, transgender rights, or border policies. In response, liberal pundits fall into the trap of accentuating the very issues DeSantis has chosen to fire up his base.

Omitted from the public debate about DeSantis’s policies is almost any discussion of his actual record of governance—what exactly he has delivered to the citizens of his state, especially those without seven-figure incomes and lush investment portfolios.

Even a cursory dip into the statistics of social and economic well-being reveals that Florida falls short in almost any measure that matters to the lives of its citizens. More than four years into the DeSantis governorship, Florida continues to languish toward the bottom of state rankings assessing the quality of health care, school funding, long-term elder care, and other areas key to a successful society.

Florida may be the place where “woke goes to die”—as DeSantis is fond of saying—but it is also where teachers’ salaries are among the lowest in the nation, unemployment benefits are stingier than in any other state, and wage theft flourishes with little interference from the DeSantis administration. In 2021, DeSantis campaigned against a successful ballot initiative to raise the state’s minimum wage, which had been stuck at $8.65 an hour. Under DeSantis’s watch, the Sunshine State has not exactly been a workers’ paradise.

DeSantis weaponizes the cultural wars to distract attention from the core missions of his governorship, which is to starve programs geared toward bettering the lives of ordinary citizens so he can maintain low taxes on the wealthy and corporations. Florida is the ideal haven for privileged Americans who don’t want to pay their fair share of taxes. It has no income tax for individuals, and its corporate tax rate of 5.5% is among the lowest in the nation. An investigation by the Orlando Sentinel in late 2019 revealed the startling fact that 99% of Florida’s companies paid no corporate income tax, abetted by tax-avoidance schemes and state officials who gave a low priority to enforcing tax laws.

This is a pattern that shows up in the statistics of many Republican-led states, which on average commit fewer dollars per-capita to health care, public education, and other crucial services compared to their blue counterparts, while making sure corporations and wealthy individuals are prioritized for tax relief. Arizona cut taxes every year between 1990 and 2019, following up with a shift to a flat tax this year that will cost its budget $1.9 billion. Meanwhile, its public-school spending ranks 48 among the 50 states.

In Florida, the state’s tax revenues come largely through sales and excise taxes, which fall hardest on the poor and middle class. A 2018 study by the left-leaning Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy found that Florida had the third least-equitable tax system of the 50 states. In the state’s “upside-down” tax structure, the poorest 20% of Florida families paid 12.7% of their income in taxes, while the families whose income was in the top 4% paid 4.5%, and the top 1% paid 2.3%, according to the study.

Florida taxpayers get less for their money than residents of many other states. The Commonwealth Fund, a private foundation that studies health-care systems globally, found in its 2022 “scorecard” that Florida had the 16th worst health care among the 50 states. It’s no wonder that Florida ranks below the northern blue states in life expectancy and rates of cancer death, diabetes, fatal overdoses, teen birth rates, and infant mortality.

Largely because of DeSantis’s obstinacy, Florida is one of 10 states that have refused to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, an act of political spite that has cost those states billions in federal health care dollars and cost thousands of people their lives. More than 12% of Floridians are without medical insurance, a worse record than all but four other states. Despite having the country’s highest percentage of retirees, Florida has the worst long-term care among the 50 states, according to the American Association of Retired Persons.

Public schools fare no better than health care in DeSantis’s Florida. Not only did Florida rank 49th in the country for average teacher pay in 2020, but the Education Law Center, a non-profit advocacy group based in New Jersey, found in a 2021 report that the state had the seventh-lowest per-pupil funding in the country. Education Week, which ranks states public school annually, looking beyond mere test scores, placed Florida 23rd in its 2021 report, a lackluster showing for a large and wealthy state.

It says something about the state of our political discourse that Florida’s denuded public sector was not more of an issue in last year’s gubernatorial campaign. In endorsing DeSantis’s Democratic opponent, Charlie Crist, the Tampa Bay Times spent so many column inches on the incumbent’s demagoguery, vindictiveness, and authoritarian tendencies that it never even got to the minutiae of his governance. “No matter what you think about the state of the Florida economy or its schools or its future…,” the paper wrote, “the choice really is this simple: Do you want the state governed by a decent man or a bully?”

To be fair to the media, DeSantis and his allies manned the trenches of the culture wars so ferociously that it was all reporters could do to keep up with all the bomb throwing. How do you delve into the state’s tax policy when your governor is flying planeloads of migrants to Martha’s Vineyard or declaring war on Disney for issuing a statement in opposition to the state’s so-called “Don’t Say Gay Law”?

But that is very much the point of wedge issues, as they have been wielded by scurrilous politicians for decades, to anger and distract voters so they won’t notice the actions of public officials that mainly benefit the wealthy and are against the public interest.

As the 2024 election draws closer, DeSantis must not be allowed to accomplish nationally what he did in his state—cloak his service to the wealthy by frightening working people with stories about transgender recruiting and “socialist” college professors. There are unmistakable signs that Americans are focused on what an activist government can do for the public good, as evidenced by Floridians’ vote to increase the minimum wage.

The failure of DeSantis to better serve the most vulnerable citizens of his state is his weak underbelly in a national campaign.

ICC arrest warrant for Vladimir Putin: a king-size dilemma for South Africa

The Conversation

ICC arrest warrant for Vladimir Putin: a king-size dilemma for South Africa

Sascha-Dominik (Dov) Bachmann – March 29, 2023

Presidents Cyril Ramaphosa and Vladimir Putin at the first Russia-Africa Summit in Sochi, Russia, in 2019. Photos: GCIS

The International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued an international arrest warrant for Russian president Vladimir Putin for alleged war crimes regarding the unlawful deportation of children from Ukraine to Russia. Such acts are war crimes under two articles of the Rome Statute, which established the court.

ICC arrest warrants against sitting heads of state are rare.

Putin faces arrest if he sets foot in any of the 123 signatory states to the statute. Of these, 33 are African states. The issue could come to a head in August when South Africa is set to host the 15th summit of the Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS) bloc in Durban.

As the head of a member state Putin has been invited to attend. But as a member of the court, South Africa is obliged under Article 86 of the ICC statute and domestic law to cooperate fully by arresting the Russian president.

This is not the first time the country has faced such a dilemma.

In 2015 Sudanese president Omar Al Bashir visited the country to attend a summit of African Union heads of state. In terms of South Africa’s ICC obligations, it was obliged to arrest Al Bashir, who had been indicted for violations of international humanitarian law and human rights law in Sudan’s Darfur region. The government, then under the presidency of Jacob Zuma, refused to arrest him, citing immunity from prosecution for sitting heads of state under international law.

The arrest warrant for Putin has put President Cyril Ramaphosa’s government between a rock and a hard place. Complying with its domestic and international obligations by executing the arrest warrant would alienate Russia. This would have bilateral consequences – the country is still considered a friend by the ruling African National Congress based on the Soviet Union’s support during the struggle against apartheid – as well as ramifications within the BRICS, given Moscow’s strong ties with Beijing.

It is not unreasonable to argue that Ramaphosa’s government would want to tread carefully to avoid any such tensions.

On the other hand, welcoming Putin, thus underscoring South Africa’s independent foreign policy, would see the country lose international credibility.

One likely effect is that South Africa might lose preferential trade terms. For example, it could jeopardise its treatment of exports to the US under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA). AGOA has been used recently as a punishing tool against Ethiopia, The Gambia and Mali for “unconstitutional change in governments” and “gross violations of internationally recognised human rights”.

Importantly, South Africa’s trade with the US far exceeds that with Russia.

The dilemma

When the Zuma administration refused to arrest Al Bashir, it landed the government in judicial hot water. South Africa’s Supreme Court of Appeal found that it had violated both international and domestic law.

Following the ruling of the Supreme Court of Appeal, Zuma’s government notified the United Nations secretary general of its intention to withdraw from the Rome Statute. This ill advised move was challenged in the High Court in Pretoria. It ruled that the notice of withdrawal was unconstitutional due to the absence of prior parliamentary approval. Consequently, the government “withdrew from the withdrawal”.

In 2017, the ICC found that South Africa had failed in its obligations under the Rome Statute towards the court by not arresting and surrendering Al Bashir. The court, however, decided not to pursue the matter further for pragmatic reasons. It also reasoned that to refer South Africa to the United Nations Security Council for noncompliance “would not be an effective way to foster future cooperation”.

In the event that Putin attended the upcoming BRICS summit and Ramaphosa’s government did not arrest him, it would mean that South Africa was flouting domestic legislation as well as its own constitution. Article 165 (5) of the country’s constitution makes it clear that the government is bound by court orders and decisions.

How should South Africa respond to the dilemma?

At present the government’s response is not clear. On the one hand, Ramaphosa’s spokesperson said that the country was aware of its obligations to arrest Putin and surrender him to the ICC.

On the other hand, Naledi Pandor, the foreign relations minister, confirmed the invitation to Putin to attend the BRICS meeting. She noted that cabinet would have to decide on how to respond in view of the ICC warrant.

The government would want to balance its ICC obligations, domestic responsibilities and its historically friendly relations with Russia carefully. Unless it is hellbent on defying its own court decisions and laws, there are options available to avoid another round of international condemnation, and that would help it avoid potential court battles by civil society for noncompliance with the country’s own laws and court decisions.

Options

Firstly, South Africa should continue to extend an invitation for Russia to attend the summit. But, through diplomatic channels, request that the Russian delegation be led by its foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov. Lavrov has in essence become the face of Russia on the international stage since the start of the war in Ukraine.

Secondly, during the COVID pandemic, it became clear that physical presence at international gatherings for heads of states could be substituted with virtual attendance. The UN General Assembly set a good benchmark for this when heads of state submitted video statements due to pandemic restrictions. Putin could attend the BRICS summit virtually.

The need to sign summit documentation by the heads of state is not an impediment to virtual attendance. Putin can sign the documents electronically or after the summit, if a non-electronic signature is required.

The ball is now in the South African government’s court. The hope is that it makes the right decision, one which is in the best interests of the country and its people – not Russia or the likes of the US, especially as neither major power is a signatory to the ICC’s statute. Neither should prescribe to South Africa what it should decide.

Most importantly, the government must not trample on its own laws and court decisions. Compliance with the constitution must be the priority. Making a decision that is in the interests of South Africa and its people would also provide guidance to the other 32 African ICC signatory states, should they ever be faced with a similar dilemma in the future.

This article was co-authored with Sasha-Lee Stephanie Afrika (LLD), Attorney of the High Court of South Africa and former lecturer at Stellenbosch University and University of Johannesburg.

This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit news site dedicated to sharing ideas from academic experts. If you found it interesting, you could subscribe to our weekly newsletter.

It was written by: Sascha-Dominik (Dov) Bachmann, University of Canberra.

Read more:

Sascha-Dominik (Dov) Bachmann, Professor in Law and Co-Convener National Security Hub (University of Canberra) and Research Fellow (adjunct) – The Security Institute for Governance and Leadership in Africa, Faculty of Military Science, Stellenbosch University- NATO Fellow Asia-Pacific, University of Canberra

Sascha-Dominik (Dov) Bachmann does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

Video shows guards walking away during fire that killed 38 migrants near US-Mexico border

USA Today

Video shows guards walking away during fire that killed 38 migrants near US-Mexico border

Wyatte Grantham-Philips, Christine Fernando and Jeanine Santucci USA TODAY March 29, 2023

Surveillance footage from inside the immigration detention center in northern Mexico near the U.S. border where 38 migrants died in a dormitory fire appears to show guards walking away from the blaze and making no apparent attempt to release detainees.

The fire broke out when migrants fearing deportation set mattresses ablaze late Monday at the National Immigration Institute, a facility in Ciudad Juarez south of El Paso, Texas, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said.

Authorities originally reported 40 dead, but later said some may have been counted twice in the confusion. Twenty-eight people were injured and were in “delicate-serious” condition, according to the National Immigration Institute.

The security footage, which was broadcast and later authenticated by a Mexican official to a local reporter, shows at least two people dressed as guards rush into the frame, then run off as a cloud of smoke quickly filled the area. They did not appear to attempt to open cell doors so migrants could escape the fire.

Authorities were investigating the fire, the institute said. The country’s prosecutor general has launched an investigation, Andrea Chávez, federal deputy of Ciudad Juarez, said in a statement. Mexico’s National Human Rights Commission also was alerted.

What caused the fire?

López Obrador said the fire was started by migrants inside the facility after they learned they would be deported.

“They never imagined that this would cause this terrible misfortune,” López Obrador said.

The immigration institute said it “energetically rejects the actions that led to this tragedy,” without further explaining what those actions may have been.

Video shows guards leaving as fire starts

The video footage shows the area in the facility filled with smoke within seconds, obscuring the view of the camera. In the video, two people dressed as guards are seen rushing into the frame, then walking quickly off as migrants remain behind bars. At least one migrant is seen kicking at a cell door while flames grow.

Mexico’s interior secretary, Adán Augusto López, told local journalist Joaquín López Doriga he was familiar with the video.

Katiuska Márquez, a 23-year-old woman from Venezuela and her two children, ages 2 and 4, were looking for her half-brother in the aftermath of the fire.

“We want to know if he is alive or if he’s dead,” she told The Associated Press. She wondered how all the guards who were inside made it out alive and only the migrants died. “How could they not get them out?”

Migrants from Central, South America caught in blaze

The institute said 68 men from Central and South America were staying at the immigration facility at the time of the fire. Authorities were working with other countries to identify the dead.

Victims were identified as being from Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Venezuela, Colombia, and Ecuador. Guatemalans made up the largest contingent, according to the Mexican attorney general’s office.

Guatemalan Foreign Affairs Minister Mario Búcaro said 28 of the dead were Guatemalan citizens.

“We are going to look to find those responsible for this,” Búcaro said.

A migrant cries leaning on an ambulance as a person she knows is attended by medics after a fire broke out at the Mexican Immigration Detention center in Juarez on Monday, March 27, 2023.

Photos show mass law enforcement response in Ciudad Juarez

Photos showed ambulances, firefighters, Mexican soldiers and vans from the morgue swarm the scene. Rows of bodies were laid out under silver sheets in a parking lot outside the facility. Survivors were carried on stretchers into ambulances. A woman wept while leaning her head against an ambulance.

Mexico border fire sheds light on systemic issues, advocates say

Global human rights organizations called for stronger protections for asylum seekers and expressed outrage over the fire, which they said sheds light on systemic issues related to the detention and treatment of migrants.

The fire serves as a “reminder to the governments of the region of the importance of fixing a broken migration system,” said Ken Salazar, U.S. ambassador to Mexico, in a Twitter statement.

The immigration institute has struggled recently with overcrowding in its facilities. About 20 migrants, officials and human rights workers described a southern Mexico immigration detention center run by the institute as crowded and filthy, according to an investigation by The Associated Press in 2019.

The “extensive use of immigration detention leads to tragedies like this,” Felipe González Morales, the United Nations special rapporteur for human rights of migrants, said in a Twitter statement. He said immigration detention “should be an exceptional measure” and not generalized.

Human rights organizations have warned for years about the risks people from Central and South America face when trying to apply for asylum in the United States, Rafael Velásquez, Mexico director for the International Rescue Committee, a global human rights organization, said in a statement. The dangers have increased, and humanitarian infrastructures in the country have been “increasingly strained” amid “historic numbers of new asylum claims” and stricter border policies.

“The news of the fire at the migrant detention center in Ciudad Juárez is devastating,” Velásquez said. “This is proof of the extremely urgent need to ensure that there are systems in place to provide safety for people in need of international protection.”

Mounting tensions in Ciudad Juarez

Tensions between authorities and migrants had apparently been running high in recent weeks in Ciudad Juarez, a major crossing point across the border from El Paso for migrants entering the United States. Shelters in the city are full of migrants waiting for opportunities to cross or who have requested asylum in the U.S. and are waiting out the process.

On March 9, more than 30 advocacy organizations and migrant shelters wrote an open letter denouncing the criminalization of migrants and asylum seekers in Ciudad Juarez and accusing authorities of excessive force in detaining migrants.

Mexico’s migrant facilities have seen protests from time to time as the American government has pressured the country to ramp up efforts to reduce the number of migrants coming to United States.

Frustrations reached a fever pitch this month when hundreds of migrants, most of them Venezuelan, heard false rumors that the U.S. would allow them to enter and tried to cross an international bridge to El Paso. In October, migrants rioted at a Tijuana immigration center, and in November, dozens rioted at the country’s largest detention center in the southern city of Tapachula.

A girl lights candle during a vigil for the victims of a fire at an immigration detention center that killed dozens in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. According to Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, migrants fearing deportation set mattresses ablaze at the center, starting the fire. (AP Photo/Christian Chavez) ORG XMIT: XMC156

House Democrat calls Republicans ‘cowards’ in tense exchange over gun violence

NBC News

House Democrat calls Republicans ‘cowards’ in tense exchange over gun violence

Tim Stelloh, Alexandra Bacallao and Kyle Stewart – March 29, 2023

A heated debate erupted on Capitol Hill when Democratic Rep. Jamaal Bowman, a former middle school principal, yelled at his GOP colleagues Wednesday and repeatedly called them “cowards” for not supporting stricter gun measures in the wake of the Nashville school shooting.

The exchange between Bowman, D-N.Y., and Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., occurred just outside the House chamber and was widely circulated on social media after several journalists posted video of it.

Bowman, a former principal at Cornerstone Academy for Social Action in the Bronx, can be heard yelling: “They’re all cowards! They won’t do anything to save the lives of our children at all!”

Rep. Jamaal Bowman, D-N.Y., speaks about gun violence off House floor at the U.S. Capitol, on March 29, 2023. (NBC News)

He continued: “Pressure them, force them to respond to the question: Why the hell won’t you do anything to save America’s children? Let them explain that all the way up to Election Day on 2024.”

Several lawmakers walk by Bowman without engaging, before Massie stops in front of him and says there has never been a shooting at a school where teachers were allowed to carry guns.

“More guns leads to more death,” Bowman responds. “Look at the data. You’re not looking at any data.”

Massie, who in 2021 tweeted a holiday photo with family members holding guns and text asking Santa to “please bring ammo,” then asks Bowman whether he would co-sponsor legislation he introduced last year to repeal a federal ban on guns in school zones. Massie has pointed to data from a controversial gun researcher to argue that such bans are ineffective.

At one point in Wednesday’s exchange, Massie can be heard telling Bowman to “calm down.”

Rep. Jamaal Bowman, D-N.Y., speaks about gun violence to Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., from left, at the U.S. Capitol, on Wednesday. (NBC News)

“Calm down? Children are dying,” Bowman responded. “Nine-year-old children. The solution is not arming teachers.”

Six people, including three children, were killed at a school in Nashville, Tennessee, on Monday. Three 9-year-old students, a custodian, a substitute teacher and the head of school were killed.

Police said the suspect shot through the locked doors of The Covenant School and was later killed in a confrontation with officers.

Congress has not advanced any new gun bills since the shooting, and Republicans have largely opposed any Democratic-backed measures to address gun violence.

A spokesperson said in an email that Massie had “accepted the challenge” from Bowman and explained the data he has used to argue for a repeal of gun-free school zones.

“When confronted with the facts, Mr. Bowman tried to shout Rep. Massie down,” the spokesperson said.

Bowman’s office declined to comment. In a tweet posted after the exchange, Bowman posted the video and used an expletive to say Republicans will do nothing to address gun violence.

“We can’t calm down,” he said. “People are dying everyday while we wait.”

The Guardian

‘Absurdity to a new level’ as Russia takes charge of UN security council

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‘Kick Russia out of the UN’: Group prepares legal challenge as Russia gets set to take UN Security Council presidency

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Russia set to take chair of UN security council amid Ukraine war

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Finland clears final hurdle for NATO membership, will be admitted by July

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‘Radiant’ 9-Year-Old Killed While Leading Nashville Classmates to Safety, Family Believes

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Funerals begin for 6 victims of Nashville school shooting

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Associated Press

Donald Trump indicted; expected to surrender next week

USA Today

Stormy Daniels said she’d dance in the streets if Trump was indicted. Now she’s sad it happened

Time

No One Is Talking About What Ron DeSantis Has Actually Done to Florida

The Conversation

ICC arrest warrant for Vladimir Putin: a king-size dilemma for South Africa

The dilemma

Options

USA Today

Video shows guards walking away during fire that killed 38 migrants near US-Mexico border

What caused the fire?

Video shows guards leaving as fire starts

Migrants from Central, South America caught in blaze

Photos show mass law enforcement response in Ciudad Juarez

Mexico border fire sheds light on systemic issues, advocates say

Mounting tensions in Ciudad Juarez

NBC News

House Democrat calls Republicans ‘cowards’ in tense exchange over gun violence