Politics

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Democratic U.S. Senator Chris Van Hollen said on Sunday that he had returned home after a minor stroke a week ago landed him in the George Washington University Hospital in Washington, DC.

“It’s great to be back home after a long week. I’m grateful for the generous outpouring of support from everyone and the dedicated care I received from the team at GW,” Van Hollen said in a post on Twitter.

Van Hollen, 63, was admitted to the hospital after experiencing lightheadedness and acute neck pain last Sunday, he said in a statement.

An angiogram indicated that the stroke formed a small venous tear at the back of his head, he said, adding that he was informed there will be no long-term effects.

Van Hollen’s announcement comes after Pennsylvania Lieutenant Governor John Fetterman, the leading Democratic candidate in the race to replace retiring Republican U.S. Senator Pat Toomey, who had been hospitalized for observation after suffering a stroke last Sunday, was also discharged from hospital.

(Reporting by Katanga Johnson; Editing by Daniel Wallis)

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WASHINGTON (AP) — Rudy Giuliani, who as a lawyer for then-President Donald Trump pushed bogus legal challenges to the 2020 election, met for hours with the House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, a person familiar with the interview said Saturday.

The interview with Giuliani took place virtually and lasted for much of the day on Friday, according to the person, who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity to discuss the private meeting. A spokesperson for the committee declined to comment.

Giuliani had been scheduled to meet with the committee earlier this month, but a spokesperson for the panel said that meeting was rescheduled.

The former New York mayor is seen as a critical aide for the committee, which has interviewed nearly 1,000 witnesses, including family members of Trump and advisers in his inner circle. The panel plans a series of hearings in June.

In January, the committee subpoenaed Giuliani and other members of the Trump legal team who sought to overturn election results in battleground states through lawsuits that made unsupported claims of vast election fraud. Trump’s own attorney general, William Barr, has said there were no widespread irregularities that could have affected the outcome of the race won by President Joe Biden, and judges across the country have dismissed the allegations.

At the time of the subpoena, the committee said it was seeking records and an interview with Giuliani, and that it wanted information about Giuliani’s reported encouragement of Trump to direct the seizure of voting machines and his efforts to persuade state legislators to take steps to overturn the election results.

Giuliani also spoke at the rally in front of the White House that preceded the Jan. 6 insurrection.

CNN first reported Friday’s interview with Giuliani.

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Associated Press writer Farnoush Amiri in Washington contributed to this report.

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Today in History

Today is Sunday, May 22, the 142nd day of 2022. There are 223 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History:

On May 22, 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson, speaking at the University of Michigan, outlined the goals of his “Great Society,” saying that it “rests on abundance and liberty for all” and “demands an end to poverty and racial injustice.”

On this date:

In 1939, the foreign ministers of Germany and Italy, Joachim von Ribbentrop and Galeazzo Ciano, signed a “Pact of Steel” committing the two countries to a military alliance.

In 1960, an earthquake of magnitude 9.5, the strongest ever measured, struck southern Chile, claiming some 1,655 lives.

In 1962, Continental Airlines Flight 11, en route from Chicago to Kansas City, Missouri, crashed after a bomb apparently brought on board by a passenger exploded, killing all 45 occupants of the Boeing 707.

In 1967, a fire at the L’Innovation department store in Brussels killed 322 people. Poet and playwright Langston Hughes died in New York at age 65.

In 1968, the nuclear-powered submarine USS Scorpion, with 99 men aboard, sank in the Atlantic Ocean. (The remains of the sub were later found on the ocean floor 400 miles southwest of the Azores.)

In 1969, the lunar module of Apollo 10, with Thomas P. Stafford and Eugene Cernan aboard, flew to within nine miles of the moon’s surface in a dress rehearsal for the first lunar landing.

In 1985, U.S. sailor Michael L. Walker was arrested aboard the aircraft carrier Nimitz, two days after his father, John A. Walker Jr., was apprehended; both were later convicted of spying for the Soviet Union. (Michael Walker served 15 years in prison and was released in 2000.)

In 1992, after a reign lasting nearly 30 years, Johnny Carson hosted NBC’s “Tonight Show” for the final time. (Jay Leno took over as host three days later.)

In 2006, The Department of Veterans Affairs said personal data, including Social Security numbers of 26.5 million U.S. veterans, was stolen from a VA employee after he took the information home without authorization.

In 2011, a tornado devastated Joplin, Missouri, with winds up to 250 mph, claiming at least 159 lives and destroying about 8,000 homes and businesses.

In 2018, Stacey Abrams won Georgia’s Democratic gubernatorial primary, making her the first woman nominee for Georgia governor from either major party. (Abrams, seeking to become the nation’s first Black female governor, was defeated by Republican Brian Kemp.)

In 2020, “Full House” star Lori Loughlin and her fashion designer husband, Mossimo Giannulli, pleaded guilty to paying half a million dollars into the University of Southern California as part of a college admissions bribery scheme. (Loughlin would spend two months behind bars; Giannulli began a five-month sentence in November 2020 and was released to home confinement in April 2021.)

Ten years ago: The Falcon 9, built by billionaire businessman Elon Musk, sped toward the International Space Station with a load of groceries and other supplies, marking the first time a commercial spacecraft had been sent to the orbiting outpost. Wesley A. Brown, the first African-American to graduate from the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, died in Silver Spring, Maryland, at age 85.

Five years ago: A suicide bomber set off an improvised explosive device that killed 22 people at the end of an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester, England. In a historic gesture, President Donald Trump solemnly placed a note in the ancient stones of Jerusalem’s Western Wall. Ford Motor Co. announced it was replacing CEO Mark Fields. Actor Dina Merrill, 93, died at her home in East Hampton, New York.

One year ago: Virgin Galactic made its first rocket-powered flight from New Mexico to the fringe of space in a manned shuttle, a step toward offering tourist flights to the edge of the Earth’s atmosphere. An expert climbing guide said a coronavirus outbreak on Mount Everest had infected at least 100 climbers and support staff; officials in Nepal had denied that there was a COVID-19 cluster on the world’s highest peak.

Today’s Birthdays: Conductor Peter Nero is 88. Actor-director Richard Benjamin is 84. Actor Frank Converse is 84. Former CNN anchor Bernard Shaw is 82. Actor Barbara Parkins is 80. Retired MLB All-Star pitcher Tommy John is 79. Songwriter Bernie Taupin is 72. Actor-producer Al Corley is 67. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, is 65. Singer Morrissey is 63. Actor Ann Cusack is 61. Country musician Dana Williams (Diamond Rio) is 61. Rock musician Jesse Valenzuela is 60. Actor Mark Christopher Lawrence is 58. R&B singer Johnny Gill (New Edition) is 56. Rock musician Dan Roberts (Crash Test Dummies) is 55. Actor Brooke Smith is 55. Actor Michael Kelly is 53. Model Naomi Campbell is 52. Actor Anna Belknap is 50. Actor Alison Eastwood is 50. Singer Donell Jones is 49. Actor Sean Gunn is 48. Actor A.J. Langer is 48. Actor Ginnifer Goodwin is 44. R&B singer Vivian Green is 43. Actor Maggie Q is 43. Olympic gold medal speed skater Apolo Anton Ohno is 40. Actor Molly Ephraim (TV: “Last Man Standing”) is 36. Tennis player Novak Djokovic is 35. Actor Anna Baryshnikov (TV: “Superior Donuts”) is 30. Actor Camren Bicondova is 23.

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By Joseph Ax

(Reuters) – A New York judge approved a new congressional map that pits two veteran Democratic incumbents against one another and boosts Republican odds of capturing more seats in November’s midterm elections, further endangering Democrats’ fragile U.S. House majority.

Justice Patrick McAllister, a judge in rural Steuben County, signed off on the map just before midnight on Friday, weeks after New York’s top court ruled that the redistricting plan passed by the Democratic-controlled legislature was unconstitutionally manipulated to benefit the party.

The Democratic map would likely have given the party control of 22 of the state’s 26 congressional seats this fall, serving to counterbalance similarly partisan maps passed in Republican-dominated states such as Florida, Georgia and Texas.

Republicans need to flip only five seats in November to win a majority in the House, which would enable them to block much of President Joe Biden’s agenda.

The court-appointed special master who drew the new map, Jonathan Cervas, said in a court filing that his plan creates eight competitive districts, along with 15 Democratic-leaning seats and three Republican-leaning seats.

The map merged the Manhattan districts of Jerrold Nadler and Carolyn Maloney, who have each served in the House for 30 years and now appear headed for what will be an expensive and high-profile August primary battle.

In Westchester County, north of New York, the homes of two Black Democratic first-term congressmen, Mondaire Jones and Jamaal Bowman, were drawn into the same district.

Meanwhile, Sean Patrick Maloney, the chair of the Democratic Party’s national congressional campaign arm, said this week he would run in a new district that included most of Jones’ current seat, angering many of Jones’ allies who said he would be forced into running against either Maloney or Bowman.

But Jones said early on Saturday he would instead run in the new 10th district that includes parts of Brooklyn and Manhattan. Bill de Blasio, the former New York City mayor, has already announced his intention to run for the district, which is expected to draw a crowded field of candidates.

The new map represents a bitterly disappointing outcome for Democrats, who used their legislative majorities to push through an aggressive gerrymander. But after Republicans sued, the courts ruled that the Democratic map ran afoul of a 2014 constitutional amendment aimed at removing partisanship from redistricting.

Cervas said he had reviewed thousands of comments since the release of a draft version on Monday and made some changes, including reuniting several Black communities and Asian American communities in New York City that he had originally split.

(Reporting by Joseph Ax; Editing by Daniel Wallis)

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(Reuters) – Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby will become the White House’s National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications, the White House said in a statement on Friday.

“In this role, Kirby will coordinate interagency efforts to explain United States policy and will serve as a senior administration voice on related matters, including as appropriate at the White House podium,” the White House said.

Kirby, who has been the face of Pentagon briefings including during the Ukraine invasion in recent months, was previously at the State Department and also served as Pentagon Press Secretary to former Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel.

(Reporting by Costas Pitas in Los Angeles; Editing by Sandra Maler)

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(Reuters) – U.S. authorities were blocked by a federal judge on Friday from lifting COVID-19 restrictions that empower agents at the U.S.-Mexico border to turn back migrants without giving them a chance to seek asylum.

The nationwide injunction issued by U.S. District Judge Robert Summerhays in Louisiana means the restrictions, which were set to end on May 23, will remain in place across the border as the litigation proceeds, unless a higher court overturns the ruling. The Department of Justice (DOJ) said it intends to appeal.

The pandemic restrictions, known as Title 42, were put in place in March 2020 during the administration of former Republican President Donald Trump, an immigration hardliner. Health authorities at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said at the time it was needed to curb the spread of the coronavirus in crowded border facilities.

Since then, more than a million migrants apprehended at the border have been rapidly expelled to Mexico or other countries under the order, often within hours of being caught.

Judge Summerhays, a Trump appointee, said keeping the Title 42 order in place “would serve the public interest” and that a nationwide injunction was necessary given the ability of immigrants crossing the border to move freely from one state to another.

Democratic President Joe Biden’s decision to lift Title 42 has faced criticism from Republicans and some members of his own party, concerned that ending the expulsions would push a record number of migrant crossings even higher.

Medical experts, the United Nations and other Democrats have said the expulsions put vulnerable migrants in danger and were not based on science.

The White House said it disagreed with the court’s ruling, but would comply with it pending the DOJ’s appeal.

“The authority to set public health policy nationally should rest with the Centers for Disease Control, not with a single district court,” White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement.

Last month, the CDC said Title 42 was no longer needed to fight COVID-19 due to the increased availability of vaccines and other tools.

But a coalition of two dozen states led by Arizona, Louisiana and Missouri, all with Republican attorneys general, sued to prevent the Biden administration from ending the policy.

The judge found the states had a “substantial likelihood of success” regarding their claim that the CDC failed to take proper regulatory steps when it moved to terminate Title 42. Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich applauded the ruling as a “significant win.”

The decision leaves in limbo thousands of migrants who have been waiting in Mexican border cities for the order to end so they can begin the process of seeking asylum in the United States. On Friday, a group of migrants gathered outside the U.S. consulate in Tijuana to voice their concerns.

“We’re here with our vaccination cards and negative COVID-19 tests to prove that we don’t have this sickness,” said Mexican asylum seeker Juan Carlos Guzman, who said he had fled the violence-torn state of Guanajuato after an organized crime group assassinated his son.

Advocates quickly condemned the judge’s decision. A separate court ruling blocks the Biden administration from expelling families to places where they could be persecuted or tortured.

(Reporting by Kristina Cooke in San Francisco and Mica Rosenberg in New York; Additional reporting by Ted Hesson and Steve Holland in Washington and Jorge Nieto in Tijuana; Editing by Rosalba O’Brien and Daniel Wallis)

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HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Summer Lee has won a five-way Democratic primary for a Pittsburgh-based U.S. House seat, making her the favorite in the heavily Democratic district to win the fall general election and become the first Black woman elected to Congress from Pennsylvania.

Friday was the fourth day of counting ballots after Tuesday’s primary in the closely contested race for the open 12th District seat.

Lee, a second-term state House member, lawyer and former labor organizer, comes from the party’s progressive wing. She was endorsed by Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, the two-time presidential candidate and a leading voice in the Democratic Party’s left wing who came to campaign for Lee.

Lee beat out second-place Steve Irwin, who was endorsed by the Allegheny County Democratic Party and backed by prominent Democrats from the county.

The seat is open because longtime Rep. Mike Doyle — first elected in 1994 — is not running again. It also has new boundaries since Pennsylvania’s congressional districts were redrawn to account for a decade of demographic changes identified by the 2020 Census.

Lee will face the Republican nominee of the same name as the outgoing Democratic incumbent — Mike Doyle — in the fall general election.

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By Patricia Zengerle

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. Senate overwhelmingly approved nearly $40 billion in new aid for Ukraine on Thursday sending the bill to the White House for President Joe Biden to sign into law as Washington races to keep military assistance flowing nearly three months after Russia’s invasion.

The Senate voted 86-11 in favor of the emergency package of military, economic and humanitarian assistance, by far the largest U.S. aid package for Ukraine to date. All 11 no votes were from Republicans.

The strong bipartisan support underscored the desire from lawmakers – most Republicans as well as Biden’s fellow Democrats – to support Ukraine’s war effort, without sending U.S. troops. It came hours after the Senate confirmed Biden’s nominee to be U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, career diplomat Bridget Brink, filling a post that had been vacant for three years.

“This is a large package, and it will meet the large needs of the Ukrainian people as they fight for their survival,” Democratic Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said, urging support for the emergency supplemental spending bill before the vote.

Biden said the spending bill’s passage ensured there will be no lapse in U.S. funding for Ukraine.

“I applaud the Congress for sending a clear bipartisan message to the world that the people of the United States stand together with the brave people of Ukraine as they defend their democracy and freedom,” Biden said in a statement, noting that he would announce another package of security assistance on Thursday.

A top aide to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy thanked the Senate and said the money would help ensure the defeat of Russia. “We are moving towards victory confidently and strategically,” Zelenskiy’s chief of staff Andriy Yermak said in an online post minutes after the vote.

DEADLINE LOOMED

The House of Representatives passed the spending bill on May 10, also with every “no” vote from Republicans. It stalled in the Senate after Republican Senator Rand Paul refused to allow a quick vote. Biden’s fellow Democrats narrowly control both the House and Senate, but Senate rules require unanimous consent to move quickly to a final vote on most legislation.

Some of those who voted “no” said they opposed spending so much when the United States has a huge national debt. “I’m always going to ask the question, how are we paying for it?” Senator Mike Braun told reporters at the Capitol.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin had urged lawmakers to work quickly, telling congressional leaders in a letter that the military had enough funds to send weapons to Kyiv only until Thursday, May 19, so the bill passed just before that deadline.

When Biden signs the supplemental spending bill into law, it will bring the total amount of U.S. aid approved for Ukraine to well over $50 billion since the Russian invasion began on Feb. 24.

Biden had originally asked Congress for $33 billion for Ukraine, but lawmakers increased it to about $40 billion, with an eye toward funding Ukraine for the coming months.

The package includes $6 billion for security assistance, including training, equipment, weapons and support; $8.7 billion to replenish stocks of U.S. equipment sent to Ukraine, and $3.9 billion for European Command operations.

In addition, it authorizes a further $11 billion in Presidential Drawdown Authority, which allows Biden to authorize the transfer of articles and services from U.S. stocks without congressional approval in response to an emergency.

And it includes $5 billion to address food insecurity globally due to the conflict, nearly $9 billion for an economic support fund for Ukraine and some $900 million to help Ukrainian refugees.

The war has killed thousands of civilians, forced millions of Ukrainians from their homes and reduced cities to rubble. Moscow has little to show for it beyond a strip of territory in the south and marginal gains in the east.

(Reporting by Patricia Zengerle; additional reporting by David Ljunggren and Steve Holland; Editing by Daniel Wallis)

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SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) — A year after the state of Georgia and local government partners spent $61 million to buy a sprawling tract of land for future industrial development, Gov. Brian Kemp planned to travel to the site Friday for what his office would only describe as a “special economic development announcement.”

A Washington official has previously told The Associated Press the project will be a massive auto plant where Hyundai Motor Group will manufacture electric cars. Expected to cost $7 billion and employ up to 8,500 workers, according to two Georgia officials familiar with the plans, the plant would rank among the largest development deals ever in Georgia.

None of the three officials were authorized to discuss the project publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

The announcement comes five days before Kemp faces a contested Republican primary election against former U.S. Sen. David Perdue. It also coincides with President Joe Biden’s visit to South Korea, where Hyundai is headquartered.

State and local officials purchased the 2,200-acre (890-hectare) site a year ago in Bryan County, about 25 miles (40 kilometers) inland from Savannah. The land sits adjacent to Interstate 16 that links Savannah and Macon, not far from its intersection with Interstate 95 that spans the eastern seaboard. It’s also near to the Port of Savannah, the fourth-busiest U.S. seaport.

Bryan County and neighboring Chatham County, which includes Savannah, each chipped in $9 million toward the $61 million purchase price.

Hyundai Motor Group sells cars under the Hyundai and Kia brands. The South Korean automaker already operates two American assembly plants in Montgomery, Alabama, and in West Point, Georgia.

It would be the second huge electric vehicle plant announced in Georgia in less than a year. Rivian Automotive announced in December plans for a $5 billion electric truck plant east of Atlanta that’s expected to employ about 7,500 workers.

In his primary campaign against Kemp, Perdue has attacked the Rivian deal and its promises of $1.5 billion in incentives and tax breaks by Georgia and local governments. Perdue says the deal transfers money to liberal financiers and the state failed to consulted with local residents who fear the plant threatens their rural quality of life.

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Amy reported from Atlanta and Madhani reported from Washington.

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By Jan Wolfe

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. congressional committee probing the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol on Thursday said it wants to ask Republican U.S. Representative Barry Loudermilk about a tour it believes he led through the complex the day before the riot.

“Based on our review of evidence in the Select Committee’s possession, we believe you have information regarding a tour you led through parts of the Capitol complex on January 5, 2021,” the panel’s leaders told Loudermilk in a publicly released letter.

“Public reporting and witness accounts indicate some individuals and groups engaged in efforts to gather information about the layout of the U.S. Capitol, as well as the House and Senate office buildings, in advance of January 6, 2021,” the committee’s leaders said in the letter.

Loudermilk on Thursday said in a statement that he had been falsely accused.

“A constituent family with young children meeting with their Member of Congress in the House Office Buildings is not a suspicious group or ‘reconnaissance tour,’” Loudermilk said. “The family never entered the Capitol building.”

On Jan. 6, 2021, Trump supporters stormed the Capitol, after the Republican president gave a fiery speech urging them to protest congressional certification of his defeat by Democrat Joe Biden in the November 2020 election.

The committee has conducted hundreds of interviews, including many with close Trump associates and former White House aides, about the Capitol riot and events leading up to it.

It plans to hold public hearings next month.

The Jan. 6 committee last week sent subpoenas to five House Republicans, including Representative Kevin McCarthy, the party’s leader in the House, demanding that they sit for interviews.

All five lawmakers said they believed the committee’s investigation is partisan and illegitimate, but did not directly answer questions about whether they would comply with the subpoenas.

(Reporting by Jan Wolfe; editing by Jonathan Oatis and Leslie Adler)

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