New STEM facility will open at Camp Ken-Jockety in fall 2024

Girl Scouts of Ohio’s Heartland announced plans Tuesday for a $16-million facility geared toward attracting more women to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) careers.

The STEM Leadership Center & Maker Space will be at Camp Ken-Jockety in Galloway and is part of Girl Scouts of the USA's goal of putting 2.5 million girls in the STEM pipeline by 2025.

More:High school girls grow interest in STEM careers through clubs, classes and robotics

“These programs will have a tremendous impact on the growth of the central Ohio workforce for generations and this campus is going to be the epicenter of the community jewel for STEM learning and activity,” Tammy Wharton, president and CEO of Girl Scouts of Ohio's Heartland Council said during a news conference.

About $9.45 million of the $16 million needed for the project has been raised so far.

The proposed facility would have science and technology labs, and a space to learn in-demand trade skills like welding, mechanics, and carpentry. There also would be a new greenhouse for gardening programs and a commercial kitchen for farm-to-table programming.

In addition, existing buildings and outdoor learning spaces at the Girl Scout campus would be renovated.

Renovations are expected to start by the end of the year and groundbreaking for the new STEM Leadership Center will begin in spring 2023, with a projected opening date of fall 2024.

The STEM facility won’t be limited to just the Girl Scouts. Central Ohio school districts will be able to use the facility for field trips.

Local investment in STEM

This announcement comes at a time when Ohio is being hailed by some as the “Silicon Valley of the Midwest” with Intel announcing in January it will create 3,000 jobs and invest $20 billion to build two plants in Licking County that will make semiconductors.

“This is about the future, and with Intel here, with Battelle, we are going to be the technology hub of the country," said Yvette McGee Brown, a former Girl Scout and now a lawyer at Jones Day. "We are going to have our girls having high-paying jobs, leading teams, and setting the path for the world."

More:What we know about Intel factory coming to Columbus area

Many Greater Columbus businesses are collaborating with the Girls Scouts to create the STEM facility.

Battelle has invested $3 million, AEP has invested $2 million and Nationwide Foundation has invested $1.5 million. Other local corporations that have invested include Bath and Body Works, Cardinal Health and M/I Homes Foundation.

Male-dominated field

STEM has traditionally been a male-dominated field.

Women make up 34% of the STEM workforce, according to National Girls Collaborative Project. And the numbers are even lower when it comes to certain fields in STEM. Women make up 26% of computer and math sciences and 16% of engineering.

“There is a serious need for robust STEM programing to help girls learn about the jobs of the future and spark their interest and curiosity,” Wharton said. “Gender diversity is vital to having a sustainable and strong STEM in-demand workforce.”

More:Intel's Ohio project is happening, company says, as state officials finalize negotiations

There has been a slight uptick of women pursuing degrees in STEM fields at Ohio State University, but men remain the overwhelming majority.

There were about 2,130 female students representing 24% of the total enrollment, in Ohio State's College of Engineering at the undergraduate level last fall, up from 23.5% or 2,062 from fall 2016 semester.

The number of female students at the undergraduate level majoring in computer science and engineering jumped from 180 (13.5%) in 2016 to 328 (16%) last fall semester.

Physic majors, however, only saw a minor increase to 41 total female students (17%) last fall from 39 (14%) in 2017.

School districts seeing STEM increase

Greater Columbus school districts are finding more and more females interested in STEM careers.

Bexley started a Women in STEM club this past fall. Dublin has an engineering academy. Grandview Heights High School has a robotics team that caters to students who are interested in STEM. STEM has traditionally been a male-dominated field.

Akiilah Whitfield, a freshman at Columbus Alternative High School, is excited about the new campus and the opportunities it will provide to get more females exposed to STEM.

“I’m looking forward to new experiences and helping other kids find their passion in STEM,” the 14-year-old said Tuesday morning at the news conference.

Filling a need

A lack of representation of women in STEM careers is a big barrier to young women seeing themselves as scientists, engineers or computer scientists.

It’s important to get more diversity in STEM and eliminate barriers that prevent people from pursuing STEM careers, said Lou Von Thaer, president and CEO of Battelle.

More:Greater Columbus nearly landed $4.2 billion Foxconn project, former executive says

“I just can’t wait to see what this beautiful facility is going to do and attract, excite and build that curiosity in our future generation and after they have that curiosity, give them the tools to do something with it over time,” Thaer said.

Lori Gillett, CEO of Corna Kokosing Construction Company, hopes the facility will help young girls feel more confident with STEM by connecting them to role models.

“We will be able to provide robust, unique training and focus on in-demand stem-related jobs and engage girls in stem and leadership learning in the stem environment," she said.

Nikki Haley hints at 2024 run; Kaine seeks reelection - recap

While congressional Republicans start zeroing in on the Biden administration, the president prepares to meet the nation's mayors on an issue he loves to talk about: infrastructure.

President Joe Biden speaks Friday with members of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, and delivers remarks on his administration's record. Elsewhere in Washington, D.C., anti-abortion activists hold their annual march.

Here are some of the latest political developments:

Nikki Haley 2024?: The former South Carolina governor and U.S. ambassador to the United Nations hinted at a presidential run.

The former South Carolina governor and U.S. ambassador to the United Nations hinted at a presidential run. Kaine seeks reelection: Virginia Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine announced Friday he'll seek reelection in 2024.

Virginia Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine announced Friday he'll seek reelection in 2024. Anti-abortion marches in D.C.: An anti-abortion march Friday is designed to pressure Congress into passing new legislation, but their prospects are dim because Democrats control the Senate.

An anti-abortion march Friday is designed to pressure Congress into passing new legislation, but their prospects are dim because Democrats control the Senate. Biden meets with mayors: Biden is scheduled to meet with the bipartisan group of mayors at the White House before flying home to Delaware for the weekend.

Biden is scheduled to meet with the bipartisan group of mayors at the White House before flying home to Delaware for the weekend. SCOTUS can't find leaker: The Supreme Court says it is unable to find out who leaked a draft of its anti-abortion ruling last year.

Nikki Haley teases 2024 presidential run: 'I think I can be that leader'

Former South Carolina governor and U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, teased a potential presidential bid in 2024 this week.

"When you’re looking at a run for president, you look at two things. You first look at: ‘Does the current situation push for new leadership?’” Haley explained in an interview with Fox News' Bret Baier that aired Thursday. “The second question is: 'Am I that person that could be that new leader?’”

“And can I be that leader? Yes I think I can be that leader,” Haley continued.

More:'May the best woman win': Former S.C. Governor Nikki Haley hints at 2024 presidential bid:

Haley’s statements come ahead of what could be an intensely competitive 2024 Republican primary. Former President Donald Trump has already announced his candidacy and is seen as the frontrunner in the race.

“If I run, I’m running against Joe Biden,” Haley said. “That’s what I’m focused on because we can’t have a second term of Joe Biden.”

— Ken Tran

The race for the White House:Donald Trump announces his 2024 presidential campaign as GOP debates future: recap

Supreme Court: Justices questioned but did not sign affidavits in leak probe

It’s a question that's swirled around the Supreme Court since court officials released a report Thursday on the probe into last year’s leak of a draft opinion overturning Roe v. Wade: Were the justices themselves investigated as possible leakers?

The answer, which arrived late Friday: Sort of.

Supreme Court Marshal Gail Curley, who led the investigation, said in a statement that she “spoke with each of the justices” and that they “actively cooperated in this iterative process.” None of the leads she followed implicated the justices themselves or their spouses, she said.

But Curley also said the justices were not asked to sign sworn affidavits denying they had leaked the draft opinion. Other court employees did sign those affidavits. Because none of the leads implicated the justices, Curley said, “I did not believe that it was necessary to ask the justices to sign sworn affidavits.”

- John Fritze

More:Supreme Court says investigators have been unable to identify leaker of draft abortion opinion

Biden: Don’t ‘defund the police’

WASHINGTON – President Joe Biden assured a group of mayors at the White House on Friday that his administration does not support efforts to defund the nation’s police departments.

“When it comes to public safety, we know the answer is not to defund the police,” Biden said. “It’s to retain the police, to make sure there’s accountability.”

Biden met with the bipartisan group of mayors at the conclusion of the U.S. Conference of Mayors Winter Meeting in Washington. The group’s president, Miami Mayor Francis Suarez, told Biden the time has come to “bring the defund the police movement to an end in words and deeds.”

Biden said police need more funding and “ancillary help,” citing major investments that some cities have made in community violence intervention programs.

– Michael Collins

BLM b:Biden's 'fund the police' comment draws backlash from some BLM activists,

Documentarian embedded with Proud Boys testifies in sedition trial

British documentarian Nick Quested, who embedded with the Proud Boys ahead of the Capitol riot, testified this week in the seditious conspiracy trial of five members of the extremist group, revealing new details about their actions ahead of Jan. 6, 2021.

Quested said the day he met former Proud Boys national chairman Henry “Enrique” Tarrio and the other four members now on trial – Dec. 11, 2020 – ended on the National Mall, where Tarrio gave a “pep rally”-like speech disputing the 2020 election results and expressing a desire to resist the "stolen election.”

"If you want a war, then you've got one," Quested recounted Tarrio saying in his speech.

A month later on Jan. 5, 2021, Quested said he picked Tarrio up from a D.C. jail where he had been held after burning a church’s Black Lives Matter banner and then ordered out of the city. Tarrio told a group of hecklers: “I don’t need to be in D.C. to keep the fight going.”

That night, Tarrio, Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes and other affiliates met in a parking garage. The right-wing extremist group leaders discussed standing as a united front on Jan. 6.

“It’s inevitable; it’s going to happen," an unidentified man with the group said, according to government video evidence. "We just have to do it strong, fast, together.”

The video was played while the jury was not present, as defense and government counsel litigated whether the panel should see that evidence. It was decided they will not.

- Ella Lee

Jan. 6 trial:Documentarian embedded with Proud Boys ahead of Jan. 6 testifies at trial. What he said.

WH slams Florida ban of AP African American studies as 'incomprehensible'

The White House on Friday condemned Gov. Ron DeSantis’ decision to block an Advanced Placement course on African American studies from being taught in Florida public schools.

“It is incomprehensible,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said. “Let’s be clear. They didn’t block AP European history. They didn’t block our art history. They didn’t block our music history.”

The Florida Department of Education rejected adding AP African American studies to the state’s list of courses, saying it is “inexplicably contrary” to Florida law and “significantly lacks educational value” in a Jan. 12 letter to the College Board, which oversees AP courses.

- Joseph Garrison

Death penalty:Gov. Hobbs, Attorney General Mayes pause death penalty in Arizona pending review process

Special counsel looking into classified Biden documents sign of trend

Special counsels, the prosecutors appointed to investigate potential crimes in the executive branch independent from the Justice Department, used to be rare, usually operating one at a time. But now three are running at once into inquiries of the last three administrations.

Robert Hur just got started scrutinizing President Joe Biden’s handling of classified documents. Jack Smith is investigating former President Donald Trump’s role in the Capitol attack on Jan. 6, 2021, and classified documents seized at Mar-a-Lago. And John Durham has been looking at the origins of the Russia investigation into Trump’s campaign during the Obama administration.

The inquiries are open-ended, often last years and cost millions of dollars. For a comparison, special counsel Robert Mueller spent about $16 million on his 22-month inquiry into Russian interference in the 2016 election while Durham has spent $7 million since October 2020 probing what led to Mueller.

- Bart Jansen

George Santos:George Santos' college education is a myth. Is he the only one lying? We checked

More:No more white bread, American cheese under Iowa GOP proposal to limit SNAP

Biden commemorates Roe anniversary

WASHINGTON – President Joe Biden issued a proclamation on Friday commemorating the 50th anniversary of Roe v. Wade and affirming his commitment to protecting reproductive rights.

“The court got Roe right 50 years ago,” Biden said, calling the Supreme Court’s landmark ruling that established a constitutional right to abortion “a balanced decision with broad national consensus.”

Sunday marks the 50th anniversary of the ruling, which the Supreme Court overturned last summer. That decision, which held there is no right to abortion in the Constitution, shifted one of the nation’s most divisive debates back to the states. At least 13 states have banned abortion outright, while others have restricted access to the procedure.

Biden used his proclamation to call again for Congress to pass legislation enshrining into federal law the right to access abortion.

— Michael Collins

Abortion politics:Post-Roe abortion battle draws attention to state judicial elections, new legal strategies

Tim Kaine announces he will run for reelection in 2024

Virginia Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine announced he will be running for reelection, an announcement that comes as a relief for Democrats as they face a difficult map in the 2024 elections.

“I am happy to announce that I will seek reelection in 2024 to keep delivering results for Virginia,” Kaine told reporters. “I’m a servant. I love Virginia. I’m proud of what I’ve done.”

Thirty-four Senate seats will be up for reelection in 2024 where Democrats will have to play heavy defense – 23 of those seats are currently held by Democrats.

– Ken Tran

They cost millions and last years:Biden documents probe means US has 3 special counsel investigations at once. What are they?

Questions remain on Biden classified documents

The White House still has not answered key questions about classified documents found at the home and former personal office of President Joe Biden more than a week after announcing the first discovery of classified material.

Why didn’t the White House immediately disclose the existence of the documents when they were found?

Have all the documents been located?

How many documents have been discovered?

What do the documents contain?

Why were the documents taken to Biden’s personal office and residence?

Revelations about his retention of the documents have turned into a White House crisis, blunting the president's momentum from the midterm elections and handing Republicans new lines of attack.

Complicating matters has been the inability – or unwillingness – of the White House to provide more answers. Administration officials have said they don’t want to interfere with the Justice Department’s investigation of what happened.

— Joey Garrison

5 questions on the Biden documents:5 key questions we still don't know about Biden documents

Nikki Haley dismisses Mike Pompeo’s VP claims as ‘lies and gossip’

Former South Carolina governor and U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley dismissed former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s claims that she plotted to replace Mike Pence as vice president in the 2020 election.

“It’s really sad when you’re having to go out there and put lies and gossip to sell a book,” Haley told Fox News. “It was gossip, it was never discussed. If somebody else discussed it, they certainly didn’t discuss it with me.”

In his new book, “Never Give an Inch: Fighting for the America I Love”, Pompeo accused Haley of scheming with former White House advisors Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump to replace Pence, the Guardian reported after obtaining a copy of the memoir.

According to Pompeo, Haley sidestepped Trump’s then chief of staff, John Kelly, and secured a personal meeting with Trump accompanied by Kushner and Ivanka Trump to present “a possible ‘Haley for vice-president’ option.”

The exchange is a sneak peek into what could be a heated 2024 Republican primary. Both Pompeo and Haley have suggested they will run for president in 2024.

— Ken Tran

Politics news to your inbox:Sign up for USA TODAY's On Politics newsletter

Biden, Trump documents expose problem: Missing classified records not uncommon

The Biden and Trump classified document revelations are very different, even though both indicate U.S. national security could have been put at risk by sensitive government documents stored in unsecured personal locations.

But both cases underscore how the U.S. system of safeguarding classified presidential documents is in urgent need of improvement, security analysts say, especially during the critical period when one administration hands over the White House keys to another.

The massive volume of records generated or used by the president, vice president and their large National Security Council staff are among the most closely held secrets in the U.S. government. Yet problems with safeguarding such documents have been known for years, if not decades. And current and former government officials, security analysts and private watchdog groups have been pushing for reforms, with little success, according to Lauren Harper, the director of Public Policy and Open Government Affairs at the non-partisan National Security Archive in Washington, D.C.

— Josh Meyer

Biden and Trump documents expose wider problem:Missing classified records not uncommon

Donald Trump, lawyers ordered to pay nearly $1m for Clinton lawsuits

A federal judge in Florida has ordered Former President Donald Trump and his attorneys to pay nearly $1 million in sanctions for a lawsuit Trump filed against Hillary Clinton and many others over claims the 2016 presidential election was rigged.

“This case should never have been brought. Its inadequacy as a legal claim was evident from the start,” U.S. District Judge Donald Middlebrooks wrote in his order Thursday. “"No reasonable lawyer would have filed it."

The order comes as Trump, who is kicking off another run for president, is facing an array of legal troubles and criminal investigations.

-- Holly Rosenkrantz

Abortion highlighted in weekend marches

Both the annual Women’s March and National March for Life are set to take place this weekend on what would have been the 50th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, establishing their very different worldviews on abortion.

Anti-abortion groups will march on Washington, D.C. Friday following an assortment of events in the days leading up to the march, including exhibitions for individuals to connect with pro-life organizations and “pro-lifers” from around the country.

Unlike previous years, the Women’s March is set to take place in Madison, Wisconsin, on Sunday as the state has become home to a closely watched race for the state Supreme Court.The battle for abortion rights has shifted to the state level after the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade last year.

- Sarah Elbeshbishi

Biden to deliver remarks to mayors before leaving for Delaware

President Joe Biden is set to deliver remarks Friday to more than 175 mayors at the White House where he’s expected to tout federal funding for infrastructure and COVID-19 recovery efforts that’s flowed to cities during his administration.

Biden’s remarks, set for 2 p.m., will celebrate “the achievements of the past 18 months,” the White House said. Mayors across the country are in Washington for the annual U.S. Conference of Mayors Winter Meeting.

The president will also meet with a bipartisan group of mayors as some cities worry Republicans may try to take back the unspent portion of the $350 billion awarded to cities and states through the American Rescue Plan. Other mayors are expected to raise concerns about the influx of migrants on the southern border.

– Joey Garrison

Oversight committee conservatives could spell added trouble for Biden

Ultra-conservative members of the Republican caucus received appointments to two influential House committees that will spearhead investigations targeting the Biden administration, including the discovery of classified documents at the president's private home and residence.

And they've already started.

Republicans, with control of the House, can leverage their investigatory power and launch probes into the Biden administration ahead of the 2024 presidential election, specifically into his family's business dealings and the classified documents found in his Delaware home and private office in Washington.

- Rachel Looker

With debt ceiling milestone reached, congressional fight comes into focus

The Treasury Department Thursday began “extraordinary measures” to pay the nation’s bills after reaching a limit on how much it's allowed to borrow, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told Congress.

While the United States has been in this position before, fears are rising over whether political brinkmanship will prevent the limit from being raised as it has in the past, risking an economic calamity.

The amount of time the Department can continue taking steps to avoid defaulting on the debt unless the $31.381 trillion limit is raised is uncertain, Yellen wrote in her letter to lawmakers. But the government is expected to be able to keep operating until at least June.

Around the political world

Women's march:'We will not go quietly': Women's March organizes more than 650 marches nationwide for reproductive rights

Debt ceiling reached:U.S. hits debt ceiling. Amid fears of debt default, Treasury begins 'extraordinary' measures

Abortion opinion mystery:Supreme Court says investigators have been unable to identify leaker of draft abortion opinion

Biden proposes South Carolina as first primary state in drastic shake ...

CNN —

President Joe Biden has asked Democratic National Committee leaders to drastically reshape the 2024 presidential nominating calendar and make South Carolina the first state to host a primary, followed by Nevada and New Hampshire on the same day a week later, Georgia the following week and then Michigan, a source confirms to CNN.

Biden’s preferences were announced Thursday evening at a dinner for members of the DNC’s Rules and Bylaws Committee by committee co-chairs Jim Roosevelt, Jr. and Minyon Moore. The committee is set to meet Friday and Saturday in Washington and is poised to propose a new presidential nominating calendar.

Biden’s expression of his preferences will play a significant role in the process. A DNC source said his elevation of South Carolina to the first-in-the-nation primary has sparked significant debate as members meet Thursday night. But with Biden’s support, this proposal is likely to ultimately gain the support of the committee, though this person emphasized that nothing is final until the votes are held.

If the DNC ultimately adopts this calendar, it would be an extraordinary shake up of the existing order and would strip Iowa of the first-in-the-nation status that it has held since 1972. Iowa has traditionally gone first, followed by New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina. It would also add a fifth state to the slate before Super Tuesday (the first Tuesday in March) and elevate Georgia and Michigan as early nominating states for the first time.

South Carolina’s primary would be held on February 6, Nevada and New Hampshire would have their contests on February 13, Georgia’s primary would be on February 20 and Michigan’s would be on February 27, according to the source.

Biden had also sent a letter to DNC Rules and Bylaws Committee members on Thursday laying out what he believed should be guiding principles for the committee as it discusses the calendar.

“Just like my Administration, the Democratic Party has worked hard to reflect the diversity of America - but our nominating process does not,” the president’s letter reads. “For fifty years, the first month of our presidential nominating process has been a treasured part of our democratic process, but it is time to update the process for the 21st century. I am committed to working with the DNC to get this done.”

The president wrote: “We must ensure that voters of color have a voice in choosing our nominee much earlier in the process and throughout the entire early window. As I said in February 2020, you cannot be the Democratic nominee and win a general election unless you have overwhelming support from voters of color - and that includes Black, Brown and Asian American & Pacific Islander voters.

“For decades, Black voters in particular have been the backbone of the Democratic Party but have been pushed to the back of the early primary process,” he continued. “We rely on these voters in elections but have not recognized their importance in our nominating calendar. It is time to stop taking these voters for granted, and time to give them a louder and earlier voice in the process.”

Biden said in the letter the Democratic Party should abolish caucuses, arguing they are “inherently anti-participatory” and “restrictive.”

The Washington Post was first to report on the president’s preferred order for the nominating calendar and the letter he sent to committee members.

Prioritizing more diverse battlegrounds

The DNC earlier this year approved a plan to prioritize diverse battleground states that choose to hold primaries, not caucuses, as it considers which states should hold early contests. Beyond the tumult of the 2020 caucuses, Iowa is largely White, no longer considered a battleground state and is required by state law to hold caucuses.

“There’s very little support for Iowa because they don’t fit into the framework and because of the debacle of 2020. There’s a lot of emotional momentum – it’s not unanimous – but there’s a lot of emotional momentum to replace Iowa with a state that is more representative, more inclusive and instills more confidence and is a battleground state,” one DNC Rules and Bylaws Committee member told CNN.

Any new proposal by the committee would have to be approved at a full DNC meeting, which will take place early next year. If a new schedule is adopted, it would be the first changes made to the Democratic nominating calendar since 2006, when Nevada and South Carolina were added as early states. It would also break with the Republican calendar, as the Republican National Committee voted earlier this year to reaffirm the early state lineup of Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada.

Democratic Rep. Debbie Dingell, who has spearheaded Michigan’s effort to become an early-voting state, told CNN earlier on Thursday she was “feeling good” about Michigan’s chances and that she believed the state was in a “strong position” heading into the committee meeting.

“The White House knows that we don’t win presidencies without the heartland,” Dingell said. “And we’ve got to have a primary system where candidates are campaigning in a heartland state that reflects the diversity of this country and that they’re testing them because that’s where we win or lose in general elections.”

Nevada vs. New Hampshire

Nevada has been making a play to move up further in the calendar and unseat New Hampshire as the first-in-the-nation primary. New Hampshire has held the first primary on the presidential nominating calendar since 1920 and that status is protected by state law.

Nevada Democratic Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, whose reelection in November was critical to allowing Democrats to maintain control of the Senate, argues her state’s diverse electorate makes it a “microcosm of the rest of the country.”

“If you’re a presidential candidate and you can win in Nevada, you have a message that resonates across the country,” Cortez Masto told MSNBC earlier this month.

The Congressional Hispanic Caucus’ political arm, CHC BOLD PAC, on Wednesday announced it was backing Nevada’s application to host the first-in-the-nation primary.

“The state that goes first matters, and we know that Latino voters will only become even more decisive in future election cycles when it comes to winning the White House and majorities in the House and Senate,” Reps. Ruben Gallego of Arizona and Raul Ruiz of California, leaders of the CHC BOLD PAC, said in a statement.

New Hampshire Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen tweeted Thursday, “NH’s First-In-The-Nation primary gives every candidate an opportunity to connect directly with engaged, informed voters in a battleground state – and Granite Staters are experts at assessing candidates & campaigns. I’m proud to support NH’s #FITN primary.”

Jockeying for early-state status

Earlier this year, the DNC committee heard presentations from 16 states – including the four current early states – as well as Puerto Rico on their pitches on why they should become an early state or hold on to their spot. Amid pressure to boot Iowa from its top position, the Hawkeye State made its case to stay first in the calendar and proposed simplifying the caucus process.

Minnesota is also among the states jockeying to join the early-state ranks. The chairman of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, Ken Martin, sent a memo to DNC Rules & Bylaws Committee members on Wednesday arguing Minnesota is “more diverse and has a stronger party infrastructure than Iowa, but unlike Michigan, it is not large enough that it would overshadow the other early primary states or make it harder and more expensive for candidates to compete in during this critical window.”

Both Michigan’s and Minnesota’s cases were bolstered after Democrats in both states won trifecta control of the governor and state legislatures in the midterms. Primary dates are generally set by law, so state parties would need cooperation from their legislatures and governors to become early-voting states. The Michigan state Senate, which is currently controlled by Republicans, this week already took the step of voting to move the presidential primary up a month earlier to February.

Minnesota Democratic Gov. Tim Walz, along with other party leaders in the state, sent a letter this month to members of the DNC’s Rules and Bylaws Committee pledging to passing legislation moving up the primary date if Minnesota was selected as an early state. The letter, obtained by CNN, argued Minnesota is a “highly representative approximation of the country, paired with a robust state and local party infrastructure, an engaged electorate, and a logistical and financial advantage for campaigns.”

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story misstated the year that Iowa became the first early state in the presidential nominating calendar.

Ken Klukowski: Trump DOJ official cooperating with Justice ...

CNN —

Former Justice Department staffer Ken Klukowski, who worked with Jeffrey Clark at the agency, is cooperating in the DOJ’s January 6 criminal investigation, after investigators searched and copied his electronic records several weeks ago.

“We’ve been fully cooperating both with the Department of Justice and the Select Committee, and we’ll continue with that cooperation,” Klukowski’s lawyer Ed Greim said in a statement on Thursday.

The Justice Department declined to comment.

Klukowski’s proximity to Clark suggests investigators are seeking more information about the former Justice Department lawyer. Trump had sought to install Clark as attorney general in the days before the January 6 attack on the US Capitol as top officials refused to go along with his vote fraud claims.

Last month, federal investigators conducted a search of Clark’s home as part of the agency’s sweeping investigation into the effort to overturn the 2020 elections.

The agency has already brought two top aides to former Vice President Mike Pence in front of a federal grand jury, a move that signals its probe has reached inside Trump’s White House and that investigators are looking at conduct directly related to Trump and his closest allies’ efforts to overturn the 2020 election.

CNN reported Wednesday that former Trump White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson is also cooperating with the Justice Department.

But Klukowski could provide unique insight into Clark and efforts to subvert the 2020 presidential election. He was at the center of an effort by Trump to get the Justice Department to falsely claim there was significant voter fraud in Georgia and other states that he lost.

In the days before January 6, Clark helped Trump devise a plan to oust then-acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen, place himself atop the department, and have the DOJ intervene in Georgia to set aside its voting results in order to sway the state to Trump.

Klukowski was subpoenaed by the House select committee last year on November 9 and was seen arriving for his deposition on December 15.

This story has been updated with additional details.

Elon Musk thinks the population will collapse. Demographers say it's ...

CNN —

Billionaire Elon Musk tweeted, not for the first time, that “population collapse due to low birth rates is a much bigger risk to civilization than global warming.” Climate change is a serious problem facing the planet and experts say it’s difficult to compare problems.

What is clear, demographers say, is that the global population is growing, despite declines in some parts of the world, and it shouldn’t be collapsing any time soon – even with birth rates at lower levels than in the past.

“He’s better off making cars and engineering than at predicting the trajectory of the population,” said Joseph Chamie, a consulting demographer and a former director of the United Nations Population Division, who has written several books about population issues.

“Yes, some countries, their population is declining, but for the world, that’s just not the case.”

Population projections by the numbers

The world’s population is projected to reach 8 billion by mid-November of this year, according to the United Nations. The UN predicts the global population could grow to around 8.5 billion in just 8 years.

By 2080, the world’s population is expected to peak at 10.4 billion. Then there’s a 50% chance that the population will plateau or begin to decrease by 2100. More conservative models like the one published in 2020 in the Lancet anticipate the global population would be about 8.8 billion people by 2100.

It’s true that what’s driving current population growth is not a higher birth rate. What drives global population growth is that fewer people are dying young. Global life expectancy was 72.8 years in 2019, an increase of nine years since 1990. That is expected to increase to 77.2 years by 2050.

Globally, the fertility rate has not “collapsed,” nor should it, according to the UN, but it has dropped significantly.

In 1950, women typically had five births each; globally, last year, it was 2.3 births. By 2050, the UN projects a further global decline to 2.1 births per woman.

In some countries, it is lower. In the US the 1950s, it was 3.6 births per woman, it slipped to 1.6 in 2020, according to the World Bank. In Italy, it was 1.2; in Japan, it was 1.3; in China, 1.2. In January 2022, the country announced the birth rate fell for the fifth year in a row, even with the repeal of the one child policy, allowing couples to have up to three children as of 2021.

“Virtually every developed country is below two, and it’s been that way for 20 or 30 years,” Chamie said. Most countries have gone through what’s called a demographic transition.

The only continent that hasn’t finished this transition, he said, is parts of Africa, where there are 15 to 20 countries where the average number of children couples have is five. But in those countries, children still face high death rates. The infant mortality rate for kids under 5 is 8 to 10 times higher than in developed regions, and maternal mortality is more than double, Chamie said.

If women in these African regions had more access to contraception, education, and health care, these problems could be addressed and the global population could decline further – but people would be better off in terms of individual health.

The ‘gold medal’ century

In terms of population growth, the 20th century was an anomaly.

“That century was the most impressive demographic century ever. It had more gold medals than all the other centuries,” Charmie said.

The human population nearly quadrupled, something that had never happened before in recorded history. That’s largely because of improvements in public health.

The world has antibiotics, vaccines, public health programs and improved sanitation to thank for people living longer and more mothers and children surviving birth.

With contraception, especially in 1964, when the oral pill was widely introduced in the US, couples were now better able to determine when and how many children they had.

“Contraception, the oral pill had a much more significant effect on the world than the car,” Charmie said.

As more women got an education, worked outside the home and got a later start on children in many countries with access to contraception, couples had fewer children and the population started to decline.

In 2020, the global population growth rate fell under 1% for the first time since 1950.

The picture in the US

In the US, the fertility rate is down in part due to what Ken Johnson, a senior demographer at the Casey School of Public Poilcy and a professor of sociology at the University of New Hampshire, characterized as a “significant” decline in teen births.

“Most demographers would see that as a good thing,” he said.

He said the other driver was a decline in the number of births to women in their 20s. That trend has been around since 2008. People put off or decided not to have babies in part because of the recession, he said. Covid then exacerbated this trend.

Between July of 2020 and 2021, the growth rate of the US population was the lowest it’s been in probably 100 years he said.

“Is it a collapse of the number of births? No, I wouldn’t say that,” Johnson said.

He said there are a few factors at play in the low US growth rate: fewer births, fewer immigrants due to Trump-era policies, and more deaths as the US population is ages. Covid-19 contributed to higher deaths, too.

“It’s almost like a perfect storm if you will,” Johnson said. “Births are way down, Covid pushes deaths way up, and then immigration is quite slow, too, so it is no wonder that the population growth rate is so low when you bring all those factors together at the same time.”

Preventing population problems down the road

As the population ages and birth rates decline in some areas of the globe, that could put strain on social systems.

The share of the population over age 65 will rise from 10% in 2022 to 16% in 2050. That’s twice the number of kids under age 5.

Globally, the trick to make such a population age imbalance work, is that governments will need to be proactive, the UN says. Countries with aging populations need to adapt public programs that will support this growing population of older people. That means shoring up programs like social security, pensions and establishing universal access to health care and long-term care.

In the US, William Frey, a demographer and senior fellow with Brookings Metro, said he doesn’t see the need for more couples to have more babies to address the age imbalance in the United States. Policies that would support couples that want children – affordable daycare and family leave policies, for example – could help, but that that hasn’t made a big difference in terms of fertility rates.

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Fertility is below the replacement rate in the US, meaning couples are having fewer than two children each, but the rate is not as low as it is in most of Europe, he said.

“I don’t think in the US it’s an issue of collapse, because we can certainly open the faucet for more immigrants anytime we want to,” Frey said. “We’ll have no paucity of people who want to come through the door to immigrate here in the future. Immigrants and their children are younger than the population as a whole and so that will help to keep the population from aging as well.”

January 6 committee releases final report, says Trump should be ...

CNN —

The House select committee investigating the January 6, 2021, insurrection recommends barring former President Donald Trump from holding office again.

The recommendation is among the conclusions of the panel’s final report, a comprehensive overview of the bipartisan panel’s findings on how Trump and his allies sought to overturn the 2020 presidential election, released late Thursday evening.

The 845-page report – based on 1,000-plus interviews, documents collected including emails, texts, phone records and a year and a half of investigation – includes allegations that Trump “oversaw” the legally dubious effort to put forward fake slates of electors in seven states he lost, arguing that the evidence shows he actively worked to “transmit false Electoral College ballots to Congress and the National Archives” despite concerns among his lawyers that doing so could be unlawful.

In a symbolic move Monday, the committee in its last public meeting referred Trump to the Justice Department on at least four criminal charges, while saying in its executive summary it had evidence of possible charges of conspiring to injure or impede an officer and seditious conspiracy.

“That evidence has led to an overriding and straight forward conclusion: the central cause of January 6th was one man, former President Donald Trump, whom many others followed. None of the events of January 6th would have happened without him,” the report states.

Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson, a Mississippi Democrat, said on Monday that he has “every confidence that the work of this committee will help provide a road map to justice, and that the agencies and institutions responsible for ensuring justice under the law will use the information we’ve provided to aid in their work.”

Special counsel Jack Smith is leading the Justice Department’s investigations related to Trump, including both his post-election actions and classified documents found at his Mar-a-Lago resort earlier this year.

Trump swiftly lashed out over the report on his Truth Social platform with false claims about the riot and the 2020 election. He did not address specific findings from what he called the “highly partisan” report but instead falsely blamed House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for the breakdown in security that day and resurfaced his unfounded claims of election fraud.

Here’s what’s in the report:

Trump and his inner circle engaged in ‘at least 200’ attempts to pressure state officials

In an effort to overturn election results in key states, Trump and his inner circle targeted election officials in “at least 200 apparent acts of public or private outreach, pressure, or condemnation,” between Election Day and the January 6 attack, according to the report.

There were 68 meetings, attempted or connected phone calls, or text messages, aimed at state or local officials, as well as 125 social media posts by Trump or senior aides targeting state officials.

Trump “spearheaded outreach aimed at numerous officials in States he lost but that had GOP-led legislatures, including in Michigan, Pennsylvania, Georgia, and Arizona,” the report says. (He lost all of those states.)

For example, during a January 2, 2021, call between Trump and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, the then-president went through a “litany of false election-fraud claims” and then asked Raffensperger to deliver him a second term by “finding” just enough votes to ensure victory, according to the report.

Trump infamously said, “I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have because we won the state.”

Committee identifies pro-Trump lawyer Kenneth Chesebro as architect of fake electors plot

The January 6 committee identifies a little known pro-Trump attorney as being the original architect of the legally dubious fake electors plan: Kenneth Chesebro.

Conservative attorney John Eastman authored a now-infamous memo detailing step-for-step how then-Vice President Mike Pence could theoretically overturn the 2020 election results. But the committee points to Chesebro, a known associate of Eastman, as being responsible for creating the fake electors plot.

“The fake elector plan emerged from a series of legal memoranda written by an outside legal advisor to the Trump Campaign: Kenneth Chesebro,” the report says.

It was previously known that Chesebro was involved in the fake electors scheme, but the committee’s conclusion about his leadership role is new.

The effort to put forward fake slates of pro-Trump electors is under scrutiny by federal and state prosecutors investigating efforts by Trump and his allies to overturn Joe Biden’s election victory in 2020.

The committee wrote that Chesebro sent a memo to then-Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani after a request from Trump campaign official Boris Epshteyn about a “‘President of the Senate’ strategy,” which wrongly asserted that the vice president could pick which presidential electors to count during the joint session of Congress on January 6.

“President Trump in the days immediately before January 6th, Chesebro – an attorney based in Boston and New York recruited to assist the Trump Campaign as a volunteer legal advisor – was central to the creation of the plan,” the report says. “Memos by Chesebro on November 18th, December 9th, and December 13th, as discussed below, laid the plan’s foundation.”

CNN has previously asked Chesebro to comment about these topics and he has not responded.

Trump WH called Eastman on the day he wrote his memo

Eastman reached out to speak to Trump on December 23, 2020, the same day that he drafted his initial memo on the Pence theory.

Eastman emailed Trump’s assistant, Molly Michael, at 1:32 p.m., according to the committee. “Is the President available for a very quick call today at some point? Just want to update him on our overall strategic thinking.”

The committee wrote that Eastman received a call from the White House switchboard, and the call lasted 23 minutes, according to Eastman’s phone records. Eastman’s two-page memo discussed various ways to ensure “President Trump is re-elected,” even though by then, he had been projected to lose the election, according to the committee.

These new details show how the committee used emails and phone records it obtained after it successfully fought in court to obtain the documents.

The committee obtained Eastman’s emails after a judge sided with the House in a lawsuit where the committee accused both Eastman and Trump of a criminal conspiracy to obstruct Congress and to defraud the government.

Trump latched onto Eastman’s theories that incorrectly claimed Pence could overturn the election, and launched a pressure campaign against Pence in the days leading up to January 6. Eastman was present at a January 4, 2021, meeting between Trump and Pence in the Oval Office where Trump tried to convince Pence he could intervene when Congress certified the Electoral College vote on January 6.

January 6 committee recommends barring Trump from holding office again

Barring Trump from further public office is one of 11 recommendations the committee is making as a result of its investigation.

The panel zeroes in on the section of the Constitution that states an individual who has taken an oath to support the US Constitution but has “engaged in an insurrection” or given “aid or comfort to the enemies of the Constitution” can be disqualified from office. The former president and others have been referred by the committee to the Department of Justice for assisting or aiding an insurrection.

It calls on congressional committees of jurisdiction to create a “formal mechanism” for evaluating whether those individuals violate that section of the 14th Amendment should be barred from future federal or state office.

Says lawyers should be held responsible

In addition to criminal referrals, the select committee is calling for lawyers involved in the efforts to overturn the election to be held accountable.

“Those courts and bar disciplinary bodies responsible for overseeing the legal profession in the states and the District of Columbia should continue to evaluate the conduct of attorneys described in this Report” the panel writes, adding that there are specific attorneys the report identifies as having “conflicts of interests” for the Department of Justice to evaluate.

The report even calls on Congress to amend statutes and consider the severity of penalties that deter individuals from efforts to obstruct, influence or impede the Joint Session of Congress that certifies election results. It calls for statutes of federal penalties for certain types of threats against election workers to be strengthened.

Although the panel was successful in getting more than 1,000 witnesses to testify as part of its investigation, it still had difficulty gaining cooperation from everyone it wanted to speak to. Its report recommends congressional committees of jurisdiction “develop legislation” to create “a cause of action” for the House to enforce its subpoenas in federal court.

Electoral Count Act reform

One recommendation may soon become reality.

The panel calls on Congress to pass an overhaul of the 1887 Electoral Count Act aimed at making it harder to overturn a certified presidential election – the first legislative response to the insurrection and Trump’s relentless pressure campaign to stay in power.

The House and Senate have each passed their own version of the legislation.

Committee refers Trump to Justice Department

A video of former President Donald Trump is shown on a screen on Capitol Hill on December 19, 2022. J. Scott Applewhite/AP

The House committee lays out a number of criminal statutes it believes were violated in the plots to stave off Trump’s defeat and says there’s evidence for criminal referrals to the Justice Department for Trump, Eastman and “others.”

The report summary first released Monday says there’s evidence to pursue Trump on multiple crimes, including obstruction of an official proceeding, conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to make false statements, assisting or aiding an insurrection, conspiring to injure or impede an officer and seditious conspiracy.

The panel says it also has the evidence to refer Eastman on the obstruction charge, and it names him as a co-conspirator in other alleged criminal activity lawmakers have gathered evidence on.

The committee alluded to evidence of criminal obstruction of the House investigation but the summary does not go into detail about that evidence.

Trump’s false victory declaration was ‘premeditated’

The committee outlines 17 findings from its investigation that underpin its reasoning for criminal referrals, including that Trump knew the fraud allegations he was pushing were false and continued to amplify them anyway.

“President Trump’s decision to declare victory falsely on election night and, unlawfully, to call for the vote counting to stop, was not a spontaneous decision. It was premeditated,” the report states.

The committee also revealed emails from Tom Fitton, president of the conservative group Judicial Watch, from before the 2020 presidential election that say Trump should declare victory regardless of the outcome.

It notes that Trump’s top allies, including those who testified before the committee, acknowledged they found no proof to back up the former president’s claims.

“Ultimately, even Rudolph Giuliani and his legal team acknowledged that they had no definitive evidence of election fraud sufficient to change the election outcome,” it adds, referring to Trump’s then-personal attorney.

“For example, although Giuliani repeatedly had claimed in public that Dominion voting machines stole the election, he admitted during his Select Committee deposition that ‘I do not think the machines stole the election,’” it states.

Millions of dollars were raised on false claims, but RNC showed caution to not go too far

The committee investigators describe how Trump campaign and Republican National Committee fundraising pitches containing false claims of a stolen election ultimately raised more than $250 million – but were met internally with some resistance.

Investigators describe three options that were considered for a post-election fundraising appeal by the campaign. One option, that the campaign opted against using because they knew it was false, said that Trump had won. A second unused option said the campaign was waiting on results. Ultimately, according to the committee, the Trump campaign approved a message that Democrats are going to “try to steal the election” that was written before election night.

The committee describes, based on interview with Trump campaign officials, that much of the material in the fundraising emails was based on messages said by Trump – but were not checked for accuracy before being used to ask for donations.

“President Trump’s claims were treated as true and blasted to millions of people with little to no scrutiny by those tasked with ensuring accuracy,” the committee wrote.

Trump campaign’s deputy director of communications and research Zach Parkinson told investigators that reviews for accuracy were limited to “questions concerning items such as time and location.”

The RNC did eventually tone down some messages, which the committee suggests shows “the RNC knew that President’s Trump’s claims about winning the election were baseless” and made “changes to fundraising copy that seemingly protected the RNC from legal exposure,” according to investigators.

House investigators said that RNC lawyers directed copywriters not to use the term “rigged,” according to interviews conducted by the committee. The panel obtained several examples of fundraising appeals that were toned down to be accurate and less inflammatory.

Trump privately called some of Sidney Powell’s election claims ‘crazy’

White House communications director Hope Hicks told the January 6 committee that Donald Trump had laughed at one of his election lawyer’s claims about foreign powers interfering in the election, calling them “crazy,” according to the committee’s final report.

“The day after the press conference, President Trump spoke by phone with Sidney Powell from the Oval Office. During the call, Powell repeated the same claims of foreign interference in the election she had made at the press conference,” the report said, referring to conspiratorial claims made by Powell, Trump’s onetime attorney, at an outlandish press conference after the 2020 election.

“While she was speaking, the President muted his speakerphone and laughed at Powell, telling the others in the room, ‘This does sound crazy, doesn’t it?’” the report says.

During the press conference, Powell falsely claimed, among other things, that widely used voting machines from the election technology company Dominion Voting Systems featured software created “at the direction” of deceased Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to swing his own election results, and that the company has ties to the Clinton Foundation and George Soros.

“A few days later, the Trump campaign issued a statement claiming Powell was not part of the Trump campaign’s legal team. But Powell’s outlandish claims were no different from those President Trump was making himself,” the committee writes.

Trump refused to act as riot unfolded

Pro-Trump supporters storm the US Capitol following a rally with President Donald Trump on January 6, 2021 in Washington. Samuel Corum/Getty Images/FILE

The committee lays out Trump’s failure to act as the riot unfolded, noting that as he watched the riot on television, he made no calls for security assistance and resisted efforts from staffers asking him to call off his supporters.

“President Trump did not contact a single top national security official during the day. Not at the Pentagon, nor at the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Justice, the F.B.I., the Capitol Police Department, or the D.C. Mayor’s office,” the committee writes. “As Vice President Pence has confirmed, President Trump didn’t even try to reach his own Vice President to make sure that Pence was safe.”

Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told the committee he had this reaction to Trump, “You know, you’re the Commander in Chief. You’ve got an assault going on on the Capitol of the United States of America. And there’s nothing? No call? Nothing? Zero?”

White House staffers, meantime, described being appalled that as the Capitol was under attack, Trump fired off a tweet criticizing Pence.

Hicks texted a colleague that night to say, “Attacking the VP? Wtf is wrong with him,” according to the committee’s summary report.

“No photographs exist of the President for the remainder of the afternoon until after 4 p.m. President Trump appears to have instructed that the White House photographer was not to take any photographs,” the committee writes, citing testimony from former White House photographer Shealah Craighead.

In the aftermath, on the evening of January 6, Trump’s former campaign manager Brad Parscale told Katrina Pierson, one of the rally organizers, that he felt guilty helping Trump win, the report states.

The events of the day, Parscale said, resulted from “a sitting president asking for civil war.”

Aide characterized Trump’s tone on January 6 as, ‘can you believe this sh*t?’

Trump’s tone during his last known phone call on January 6 was like, “wow, can you believe this sh*t?” according to the White House aide who spoke with him that night.

In newly revealed testimony included in the January 6 committee’s final report, the aide, John McEntee, said Trump told him “[t]his is a crazy day.” The report added, “McEntee said his tone was one of “like, wow, can you believe this sh*t?”

Trump did not express any sadness over the violence that had unfolded at the Capitol that day, McEntee told the panel.

“I think he was shocked by, you know, it getting a little out of control, but I don’t remember sadness, specifically” McEntee said.

He wasn’t the only person with that impression about Trump’s mood.

Ivanka Trump, a senior White House adviser at the time, told the select committee her father was “disappointed and surprised” by the attack on the Capitol.

But when pressed by committee investigators, she could not provide any instances of the president discussing whether or not he did the right thing on January 6 or speaking about those who were injured or died that day.

This story has been updated with additional details.

Zachary Cohen Annie Grayer Jeremy Herb Tierney Sneed Devan Cole Geneva Sands Katelyn Polantz Hannah Rabinowitz

As Florida targets Disney, some Republicans chafe at DeSantis ...

CNN —

The strike against Disney that brought Gov. Ron DeSantis a windfall of campaign cash and weeks of glowing coverage from conservative media has also generated something the Florida Republican rarely experiences these days: criticism from the political right.

A handful of high-profile Republicans have expressed their unease with the punitive actions DeSantis took against the Walt Disney Company after its CEO spoke out against a new Florida measure restricting certain classroom instruction about sexual orientation and gender identity. A fellow Republican governor, an ally of former President Donald Trump and the single largest donor to DeSantis’ reelection campaign are among those now questioning DeSantis for retaliating against a private enterprise.

“I don’t believe that government should be punitive against private businesses because we disagree with them,” Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, a potential rival for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination, told CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday. “That’s not the right approach either. And so, to me, that’s the old Republican principle of having a restrained government.”

The reaction follows a display of raw political power by DeSantis last month. The governor ordered state lawmakers to take up legislation that would eliminate the Reedy Creek Improvement District, the special governing body that has overseen Disney’s theme parks and Orlando-area properties for half a century. The new measure — passed in 48 hours by the GOP-controlled legislature and quickly signed into law — would mean significant changes to Disney’s tax obligations, and it has clouded the future of the state’s largest private employer and the economic engine of Central Florida.

Republicans have largely cheered on DeSantis, a sign of how quickly conservative sentiment has shifted against one of the most iconic brands in the world. After DeSantis first called out Disney in March, his political committee and campaign collected a combined $7.5 million in contributions in the three weeks that followed – many of them small donations from outside Florida – making March one of his most successful months of the cycle. He received a hero’s reception in Las Vegas during a campaign event for Republican Senate candidate Adam Laxalt, when he recounted his fight with Disney before an eager crowd. Fox aired an hourlong DeSantis special last week from just outside Disney’s doorstep in Orlando, with host Laura Ingraham celebrating the governor’s “in-your-face right-leaning policy.”

Cracks in the coalition

Amid his meteoric rise to a leading 2024 presidential contender, DeSantis has managed to unite traditional, pro-business Republicans and the party’s Trumpian wing better than any Republican over the past year. Yet, on the Disney issue, he has generated notable discontent from all corners of the GOP’s big tent.

Jenna Ellis, a former Trump campaign lawyer, called the new Florida law “vengeful” and pointed to statements from DeSantis and other Florida Republicans that she said made clear they had illegally retaliated against Disney’s “constitutionally protected speech.”

Disney CEO Bob Chapek publicly criticized Florida lawmakers for approving the measure targeting LGBTQ topics in schools and said the company would halt political donations in the state. Walt Disney Company and its holdings typically contribute millions of dollars each cycle to Florida candidates, mostly Republicans, including a $50,000 donation to DeSantis’ reelection effort.

After DeSantis signed the bill, Disney said in a statement that its goal was to get the law repealed or see it defeated in courts. That’s when DeSantis and Republicans got to work stripping Disney of its special district.

“You kick the hornet’s nest, things come up,” state Rep. Randy Fine, the Republican sponsor of the Disney legislation, said ahead of a committee vote on his bill.

The move “troubled” Kenneth Griffin, the billionaire hedge fund owner of Citadel said Monday. Griffin is a prolific donor to Republican candidates, including DeSantis, whose campaign received $5.8 million from Griffin when he first ran for governor in 2018. Griffin made a $5 million contribution a year ago to Friends of Ron DeSantis, the governor’s eponymously named political committee. No other person has donated more to DeSantis this cycle.

Griffin’s remarks came at the Milken Institute Global Conference, a gathering of business titans and influential thought leaders, where he praised DeSantis and called him “unquestionably one of the front-runners in the Republican (presidential) primary today.”

But turning to the Disney saga, Griffin said, “I don’t appreciate Gov. DeSantis going after Disney’s tax status. It can be portrayed or feel or look like retaliation. And I believe that the people who serve our nation need to rise above these moments in time in their conduct and behavior.”

Christina Pushaw, a spokeswoman for DeSantis, declined to comment on the concerns raised by Republicans.

“The governor’s previous remarks on the Reedy Creek issue still stand,” she said.

DeSantis has said he targeted Disney because its unique status was unfair to other Florida companies that don’t operate under a special district, including neighboring theme park operators. But he has also nodded to other motivations.

“Maybe this will be the wake-up call that they need to get back on track,” DeSantis said during last week’s Fox special.

‘They’re going after Mickey Mouse’

Democrats who have struggled to lay a finger on DeSantis have also seized on the Republican’s war against Disney in their attempts to weaken the rising GOP star as he heads toward reelection and a potential 2024 campaign. DeSantis is the heavy favorite to win a second term in November and has amassed a $100 million campaign that has only grown while pursuing a contentious conservative agenda.

At a recent fundraiser, President Joe Biden pointed to the DeSantis-Disney episode as an example of how Republicans are “not even conservative in a traditional sense of conservative.”

“It’s mean. It’s ugly. It’s the way – look what’s happening down in Florida,” Biden said. “They’re going after Mickey Mouse.”

But Democrats have more often trained their ire on another Florida Republican: Sen. Rick Scott, the head of the Senate GOP’s campaign arm. Democrats have tied Republican candidates across the country to Scott’s “Rescue America” agenda, which calls for a minimum tax for all Americans and a sunset provision for all federal laws that would require Congress to regularly reauthorize programs such as Medicare and Social Security.

And notably, when DeSantis traveled to Nevada last month, state Democrats ran ads ahead of his arrival about Florida’s new 15-week abortion ban that the governor recently signed. His feud with Disney did not receive a mention.

Still unsettled in Florida is what happens next. Reedy Creek, which is controlled by Disney, quietly pushed back last month in a notice to investors, noting that the 1967 law creating the district included a pledge by Florida to “not in any way impair the rights or remedies of the (bond) holders” and that “the dissolution of a special district government shall transfer title to all of its property to the local general purpose government, which shall also assume all indebtedness of the preexisting special district.”

Democrats have warned that the dissolution of Reedy Creek could drop a $1 billion debt bomb on Central Florida taxpayers. DeSantis and his office deny that’s a possibility and have said a plan for next steps is forthcoming. His office would not say if DeSantis was aware of Florida’s Reedy Creek debt pledge before he pushed for legislation to end the special district.

“The specifics on the Reedy Creek plan have yet to be released. They will be soon,” Pushaw said. “The local residents of Orange and Osceola counties will not have to bear the burden of Disney’s debt, as the governor has stated.”

Florida Democrats have suggested DeSantis’ actions over the past two months demonstrate a Trumpian tendency to punish perceived political enemies without consideration of the consequences, and they expect that won’t sit well with voters.

“You have his own words to show this is who he is,” said Christian Ulvert, a Democratic strategist in Miami. “You disagree with him, he’ll come after you. You speak out, you’ll be silenced. You exercise your right to free speech, there will be repercussions. We have to communicate that to voters.”

Exclusive: Kevin McCarthy previews Republicans' plans for the ...

McAllen, Texas CNN —

House GOP leader Kevin McCarthy is vowing to secure the border, cut back on government spending and launch rigorous investigations into the Biden administration if Republicans win the House on Tuesday, reflecting a mix of priorities as McCarthy will be forced to contend with an increasingly hardline and pro-Trump conference that is itching to impeach President Joe Biden.

In an exclusive, wide-ranging interview with CNN, two days before the midterm elections, McCarthy outlined his plans for power, which includes tackling inflation, rising crime and border security – three issues that have become central to Republicans’ closing pitch to voters. To hammer home that message, McCarthy – who has been barnstorming the country in the run-up to the midterms – rallied here on Sunday for a trio of Hispanic GOP women who are vying to represent key districts along the southern border, a key part of the party’s strategy for winning the majority.

“The first thing you’ll see is a bill to control the border first,” McCarthy told CNN, when asked for specifics about his party’s immigration plans. “You’ve got to get control over the border. You’ve had almost 2 million people just this year alone coming across.”

The Biden administration continues to rely on a Trump-era pandemic emergency rule, known as Title 42, that allows border authorities to turn migrants away at the US-Mexico border. In fiscal year 2022, amid mass migration in the Western hemisphere, US border encounters topped 2 million, according to US Customs and Border Protection data. Of those, more than 1 million were turned away under Title 42.

But McCarthy also highlighted oversight and investigations as a key priority for a GOP-led House, listing potential probes into the chaotic Afghanistan pullout, the origins of the Covid-19 pandemic and how the administration has dealt with parents and school board meetings. And he left the door open to launching eventual impeachment proceedings, which some of his members have already begun to call for.

Video Ad Feedback Kevin McCarthy asked about impeaching Biden if GOP wins House. Hear his answer 02:29 - Source: CNN

“We will never use impeachment for political purposes,” McCarthy said. “That doesn’t mean if something rises to the occasion, it would not be used at any other time.”

And with the MAGA-wing calling to cut off funding to Ukraine while the GOP’s defense hawks vow not to abandon the country amid its war with Russia, McCarthy attempted to reaffirm his support for Ukraine while saying they would not automatically rubber stamp any additional requests for aid.

“I’m very supportive of Ukraine,” McCarthy said. “I think there has to be accountability going forward. … You always need, not a blank check, but make sure the resources are going to where it is needed. And make sure Congress, and the Senate, have the ability to debate it openly.”

McCarthy declined to name how many seats he thinks Republicans will pick up on Tuesday, but said he was confident it will “be at least enough to win the majority.” McCarthy did say that, in his eyes, “anywhere over 20 is a red wave.”

And McCarthy, who had to drop out of the speaker’s race in 2015 amid opposition from the far right House Freedom Caucus, told CNN he believes he’ll have the support this time around to secure the coveted speaker’s gavel – both from his conference and from former President Donald Trump.

“I’ll believe we’ll have the votes for speaker, yes,” McCarthy said. “I think Trump will be very supportive.”

McCarthy signs a "Make America Great Again" hat after an event featuring south Texas Republican congressional candidates in McAllen on Sunday. Tamir Kalifa for CNN

McCarthy outlines vision for the GOP House majority

On the influx of migrants at the border, McCarthy said “there’s a number of different ways” his majority will tackle the problem, but said Republicans would not put a bill on the floor to fix the broken immigration system until the border is secure.

“I think ‘Stay in Mexico’ you have to have right off the bat,” he said, referring to the controversial policy where migrants were forced to remain in Mexico while they wait for their immigration proceedings in the United States.

To help stem the flow of fentanyl coming across the border, McCarthy said “you first do a very frontal attack on China to stop the poison from coming,” and then “provide the resources that the border agents need” and “make sure that fentanyl anytime anybody who wants to move it, you can prosecute him for the death penalty.”

When pressed for specific on his plans to fight crime, McCarthy said Republicans would fund the police, provide grants for recruiting and training, and look at how crimes are being prosecuted. And to bring down inflation and gas prices, he said they would reduce government spending and make America more energy independent, though he did not name specific bills.

Most bills will be primarily messaging endeavors, unlikely to overcome the president’s veto or the Senate’s 60-vote threshold, though they would have to pass legislation to fund the government and raise the national borrowing limit at some point next year. McCarthy, however, signaled Republicans will demand spending cuts in exchange for lifting the debt ceiling, teeing up a risky fiscal showdown that could lead to a disastrous debt default.

McCarthy cheers as Texas congressional candidate Monica De La Cruz is introduced during an event in McAllen on Sunday. Tamir Kalifa for CNN

“If you’re going to give a person a higher limit, wouldn’t you first say you should change your behavior, so you just don’t keep raising and all the time?” he said. “You shouldn’t just say, ‘Oh, I’m gonna let you keep spending money.’ No household should do that.”

McCarthy acknowledged Republicans were willing to raise the debt ceiling under Trump, but said the calculus is different now because Democrats spent trillions of dollars under Biden.

When pressed on whether he’s willing to risk a default by using the debt ceiling as a bargaining chip, McCarthy insisted that wouldn’t happen: “People talk about risking it. You don’t risk a default.”

With eyes on the speakership, McCarthy vows to restore Greene’s committee assignments

Aside from working to recapture the majority, McCarthy has also been campaigning to win the speaker’s gavel. And a key part of that strategy has been elevating potential critics and controversial Trump allies.

To that end, McCarthy has vowed to reinstate freshman Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia to her committee assignments, despite being stripped of her assignments by Democrats last year for her inflammatory remarks.

Video Ad Feedback Kevin McCarthy reveals whether he will run for speaker if GOP wins majority 01:19 - Source: CNN

Meanwhile, McCarthy reiterated his plans to boot Rep. Eric Swalwell, a California Democrat, from his seat on the House Intelligence Committee.

When asked if he has any restrictions about which committees Greene can serve, McCarthy – who will have a direct say in doling out those assignments – said “no.” Greene has previously told CNN she wants a seat on the House Oversight Committee, which will play a key role in GOP-led investigations in a majority.

“She’s going to have committees to serve on, just like every other member … Members request different committees and as we go through the steering committee, we’ll look at it,” he said. “She can put through the committees she wants, just like any other member in our conference that gets elected.”

Greene is not the only member who has spouted conspiracy theories or incendiary rhetoric. Most recently, some Republicans have mocked the brutal attack on Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband, Paul Pelosi, or peddled fringe conspiracy theories about the incident.

Asked his message to those Republicans, McCarthy said: “What happened to Paul Pelosi is wrong, and I think we should not get into this rhetoric.”

But when pressed how he would tamp down that type of rhetoric, McCarthy pointed a finger at Democrats.

“The first thing I’ll ask the president to do is not to call half the nation idiots or say things about them because they have a difference of opinion,” he said. “I think leadership matters, and I think it probably starts with the president. And it will start with the speaker as well.”

Again asked how he’ll handle members of his own party who spread dangerous conspiracy theories, McCarthy responded: “I’ve watched people on both sides of the aisle,” he said. “If I’m speaker, I’ll be the speaker for the whole House. So it won’t be looking at just Republicans. We’ll be looking at Democrats as well.”

Melanie Zanona Kristin Wilson
Melanie Zanona
Kristin Wilson

Kenny Deland Jr: New York college student missing in France ...

CNN —

A prosecutor in France has opened an investigation into the disappearance of an American college student who, his family says, has not been heard from in more than two weeks.

Kenny DeLand Jr.’s fellow students reported him missing on November 29, prompting the investigation, according to a statement from the prosecutor released Monday and obtained by CNN.

Deland is a senior at St. John Fisher University in Rochester, New York, who has been studying at the University of Grenoble Alpes, according to his family.

“The young man reportedly told several people that he had arrived in France underprepared and was having difficulty making friends,” Grenoble prosecutor Eric Vaillant said in the statement.

The school is about 75 miles southeast of Lyon in eastern France.

DeLand’s parents say they have not heard from him since November 27. “We just shake our heads,” his father, Ken DeLand, Sr., told CNN affiliate WHAM. “We don’t understand why he is not reaching out to us if he was reaching out on a daily basis or every other day like he was it is just not characteristic of Kenny.”

DeLand “seems to have left Grenoble voluntarily,” Vaillant said, adding the student had been seen in a Decathlon store in the town of Montélimar, about 87 miles from Grenoble, on December 3.

“He also mentioned that he wanted to go to Marseille before leaving for the United States,” Vaillant said.

DeLand was expected to leave France on December 15, according to the prosecutor’s statement.

The family says a missing person’s report has been filed, and bank records show DeLand last made a purchase at a store on December 3. There has been no record of his whereabouts since then, his family says.

The last time they spoke, “it was like any normal conversation that we’ve had,” his mother, Carol Laws, told CNN’s Victor Blackwell Monday afternoon. “He was looking forward to coming home for Chirstmas and starting to put the plans in place for that.”

His father, DeLand, Sr., said he was not aware that his son was not able to make friends easily. He had been traveling with friends from the study abroad program, he said.

His parents told CNN it has been difficult to get information from authorities both in the US and abroad.

“I feel like I’m really not receiving any information, it’s been very difficult,” Laws said. “You know, really someone else has been stuck in the middle to do the speaking for us.”

Not only is the language barrier difficult but DeLand’s father cited a French privacy act that has prevented the release of certain information.

He has been reaching out to the authorities at the embassy and authorities in France but says he hasn’t had much luck.

“There’s no reciprocation of information. That privacy act prevents disclosure of information, you can give them information but they cannot give you information,” DeLand, Sr. told CNN. “I’ve called the local police departments and the same thing is in effect in the French police departments that are local to that area in which he was last seen. So, it’s very limiting.”

The US State Department is “aware of reports of a US citizen missing in France,” a department spokesperson told CNN on Monday. They did not provide further details.

“When a US citizen is missing, we work closely with local authorities as they carry out their search efforts, and we share information with families however we can,” they said.

To help find him, Deland’s family has launched a website where people can send tips and information.

Tips have come in, DeLand, Sr. told CNN Monday, and he’s passed them on to the FBI and to the embassy, but he hasn’t heard if any of them have checked out.

“I’m hoping that Interpol has gotten involved, and we’ve been interviewed by several news media stations and we’re hoping we can, with your help and the help of others, we can get the word out there.”

New York State Senator Pam Helming said Deland Jr. is a former intern of hers, and his disappearance is “worrisome.” During his stint as intern from 2019 to 2020, he “brought a positive energy with him every day. I pray that he is found safe and returns home soon to be with his family,” Helming said in a statement.

St. John Fisher University “will continue to do all it can to assist in the investigation to find Kenneth DeLand,” the school said in a statement.

“University officials have stayed in close contact with the American Institute for Foreign Study (AIFS) who is working with local law enforcement on the search, as well as Kenneth’s family to offer support to them during this time. Our campus community remains hopeful that Kenneth will be found safe and return home.”

AIFS said Monday that it’s working with local officials and is in touch with the DeLand family.

“We are hoping for his swift and safe return,” the institute said in a statement.

Andy Rose Saskya Vandoorne Allegra Goodwin

Supreme Court delivers one of two legal wins for Biden's student ...

CNN —

Federal courts on Thursday delivered two wins for President Joe Biden’s student loan forgiveness plan. Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett rejected a challenge to the program brought by a Wisconsin taxpayers group. And on the same day, a federal district court judge rejected a separate lawsuit brought by six Republican-led states.

Student loan cancellations, worth up to $20,000 per eligible borrower, could show up on borrowers’ accounts as soon as Sunday. Lawyers for the government agreed in court documents to hold off on discharging any debt before October 23 as it faces several legal challenges.

The appeal at issue in the Supreme Court case was considered an uphill battle because lower courts had ruled that the group, the Brown County Taxpayers Association, did not have the legal right or “standing” to bring the challenge. Under normal circumstances, taxpayers don’t have a general right to sue the government over how it uses taxpayer funds.

Barrett acted alone because she has jurisdiction over the lower court that ruled on the case. She declined to refer the matter to the full court. Her denial appeared as a single sentence on the court’s docket.

A federal judge in Missouri, US District Judge Henry Edward Autrey, rejected the lawsuit from the GOP-led states also because the plaintiffs did not have the legal standing to bring the challenge.

The plaintiffs in that case had asked the judge to put student loan cancellation on hold until issuing a final ruling on the case. The lawsuit was filed in a federal court in Missouri last month by state attorneys general from Missouri, Arkansas, Kansas, Nebraska and South Carolina, as well as legal representatives from Iowa.

The states have filed an appeal, sending the case to the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals, where it is likely to face a panel of conservative judges.

The Biden administration is also facing lawsuits from Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich, and conservative groups such as the Job Creators Network Foundation and the Cato Institute.

Many of the legal challenges claim that the Biden administration does not have the legal authority to broadly cancel student loan debt.

Lawyers for the government argue that Congress gave the secretary of education the power to discharge debt in a 2003 law known as the HEROES Act.

Although dismissed by one federal judge, the legal challenge filed by the six states is widely seen as one of the most formidable challenges making its way through the courts.

It is the “most plausible legal challenge to the Biden Jubilee,” said Luke Herrine, an assistant law professor at the University of Alabama who previously worked on a legal strategy pushing for student debt cancellation, in a tweet Thursday.

The Biden administration’s program

Biden’s student loan forgiveness program, first announced in August, aims to deliver debt relief to millions of borrowers before federal student loan payments resume in January after a nearly three-year, pandemic-related pause.

While the application officially opened on Monday, the Biden administration has agreed in court documents to hold off on canceling any debt until October 23. Once processing begins, most qualifying borrowers are expected to receive debt relief within weeks.

Under Biden’s plan, eligible individual borrowers who earned less than $125,000 in either 2020 or 2021 and married couples or heads of households who made less than $250,000 annually in those years will see up to $10,000 of their federal student loan debt forgiven.

If a qualifying borrower also received a federal Pell grant while enrolled in college, the individual is eligible for up to $20,000 of debt forgiveness.

This headline and story have been updated with additional information.

Ariane De Vogue Katie Lobosco
Ariane De Vogue
Katie Lobosco