Anthony Weiner Sexted A Minor. New Yorkers Likely Just Rejected Him For City Council.
NEW YORK (AP) — Disgraced former U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner is trailing badly in the Democratic primary for a New York City Council seat as the race moves to a ranked choice vote count to decide the winner.
Initial returns Tuesday showed Weiner running in a distant fourth place in the five-person race for a council district in Manhattan.
Weiner had entered the race in the hopes of restarting his political career after it was derailed by sexting scandals. He was eventually sent to prison for sending sexually explicit messages to a 15-year-old girl.
Among those running ahead of him is Harvey Epstein, a state lawmaker whose name inspired a 'Saturday Night Live' bit over its unfortunate closeness to convicted sex offenders Jeffrey Epstein and Harvey Weinstein. Also vying for the seat are Sarah Batchu, the leader of a local non-profit, and Andrea Gordillo, who chairs the local community board.
Weiner had been a strong Democratic voice in Congress before his political star plummeted in 2011 after he sent a lewd picture of himself to a college student on Twitter. He resigned from Congress, tried a comeback by running for New York City mayor, then got caught up in another sexting scandal. In 2017, prosecutors said he had illicit online contact with a high school student. Weiner pleaded guilty to transferring obscene material to a minor.
During the campaign, Weiner did not shy away from his past scandal, but told The Associated Press in an interview that he struggled with how best to address what he had done when talking to voters.
The winner of the City Council race will be determined in a ranked choice tabulation that begins on July 1. The candidates with the least support will be eliminated in rounds and votes cast for them will be redistributed to the remaining candidates, based on voter preference.
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Yahoo
27 minutes ago
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The White House makes its closing argument for Trump's Big Beautiful Bill: ‘Very big' economic benefits
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The Hill
28 minutes ago
- The Hill
Early US intelligence report suggests US strikes only set back Iran's nuclear program by months
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On Wednesday, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard said in a post on X that 'New intelligence confirms' what Trump has stated: 'Iran's nuclear facilities have been destroyed. If the Iranians chose to rebuild, they would have to rebuild all three facilities (Natanz, Fordow, Esfahan) entirely, which would likely take years to do.' The DNI's office did not immediately respond to questions about Gabbard's post and the new intelligence she mentioned, including whether the information would be released to the public or lawmakers. The U.S. has held out hope of restarting negotiations with Iran to convince it to give up its nuclear program entirely, but some experts fear that the U.S. strikes — and the potential of Iran retaining some of its capabilities — could push Tehran toward developing a functioning weapon. The assessment also suggests that at least some of Iran's highly enriched uranium, necessary for creating a nuclear weapon, was moved out of multiple sites before the U.S. strikes and survived, and it found that Iran's centrifuges, which are required to further enrich uranium to weapons-grade levels, are largely intact, according to the people. At the deeply buried Fordo uranium enrichment plant, where U.S. B-2 stealth bombers dropped several 30,000-pound bunker-buster bombs, the entrance collapsed and infrastructure was damaged, but the underground infrastructure was not destroyed, the assessment found. The people said that intelligence officials had warned of such an outcome in previous assessments ahead of the strike on Fordo. Trump defended his characterization of the strike's impact. 'It was obliteration, and you'll see that,' Trump told reporters while attending the NATO summit in the Netherlands. 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Trump special envoy Steve Witkoff, who said he has read damage assessment reports from U.S. intelligence and other nations, reiterated Tuesday that the strikes had deprived Iran of the ability to develop a weapon and called it outrageous that the U.S. assessment was shared with reporters. 'It's treasonous so it ought to be investigated,' Witkoff said on Fox News Channel. Trump has said in comments and posts on social media in recent days, including Tuesday, that the strike left the sites in Iran 'totally destroyed' and that Iran will never rebuild its nuclear facilities. Netanyahu said Tuesday in a televised statement: 'For dozens of years I promised you that Iran would not have nuclear weapons and indeed … we brought to ruin Iran's nuclear program.' He said the U.S. joining Israel was 'historic' and thanked Trump. Outside experts had suspected Iran had likely already hidden the core components of its nuclear program as it stared down the possibility that American bunker-buster bombs could be used on its nuclear sites. Bulldozers and trucks visible in satellite imagery taken just days before the strikes have fueled speculation among experts that Iran may have transferred its half-ton stockpile of enriched uranium to an unknown location. And the incomplete destruction of the nuclear sites could still leave the country with the capacity to spin up weapons-grade uranium and develop a bomb. Iran has maintained that its nuclear program is peaceful, but it has enriched significant quantities of uranium beyond the levels required for any civilian use. 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USA Today
29 minutes ago
- USA Today
Newark congresswoman pleads not guilty to federal charges over ICE facility
New Jersey Democratic Rep. LaMonica McIver appeared in court June 25 to face federal charges after her visit last month to the Delaney Hall detention center. New Jersey Democratic Rep. LaMonica McIver pled not guilty in federal court June 25 to charges of "assaulting, resisting, and impeding' Homeland Security investigators while visiting the Delaney Hall detention center in Newark in May. The trial date has been set for Nov. 10. 'l pleaded not guilty because I am not guilty," she said to supporters and press outside the courtroom, flanked by her lawyers Paul Fishman and Lee Cortes. "We will fight this.' She then rushed off to go back to Washington, D.C. McIver, who appeared by Zoom at an initial hearing on May 21, was present for the June 25 hearing in the courtroom of Judge Jamel Semper. It was two weeks after a three-count indictment announced by Alina Habba, the interim U.S. Attorney for New Jersey. An indictment is a formal accusation by a grand jury, which leads to a formal plea being entered. Supporters of McIver filled the courtroom — which was without air conditioning but somehow bearable on a sweltering 90-degree day — as the judge spoke for a few minutes. Newark Mayor Ras Baraka said the charges against McIver had nothing to do with justice or the law. McIver and her fellow New Jersey Democratic Reps. Bonnie Watson Coleman and Rob Menendez visited the Newark detention facility on May 9 as part of their congressional oversight duties to inspect the treatment of detainees, accompanied by Baraka. The 1,196-bed Delaney Hall is the first immigrant detention center to open during the second term of President Donald Trump, during which the president has vowed to deport at least 11 million undocumented immigrants. In February, the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency awarded GEO Group a contract to hold migrants facing deportation at Delaney Hall. In May, the detention center opened. During that visit, Baraka was arrested by Department of Homeland Security agents after an argument with the agents. He was later charged with trespass by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of New Jersey, but that charge was dropped on May 19. Baraka, who was running in the Democratic primary for New Jersey governor, filed a lawsuit against Habba and Homeland Security Special Agent Ricky Patel over his arrest. The same day that Baraka's charge was dropped, McIver was charged. In the complaint filed by Homeland Security Special Agent Roger Tansey, he said that McIver "attempted to thwart the arrest" of Baraka as she "slammed her forearm" into the body of one agent and forcibly grabbed him. Tansey then said in the complaint that following Baraka's arrest, McIver pushed another federal agent and used "each of her forearms to forcibly strike" that agent. Video shared by the Baraka gubernatorial campaign with and the USA TODAY Network after Baraka's arrest shows Watson Coleman and McIver — and later Menendez — attempting to stop federal Homeland Security Investigations agents from detaining Baraka. At one point, a federal agent put his hands on McIver to reach Baraka with handcuffs. McIver, 38, who represents the 10th Congressional District that includes her hometown of Newark, said in a statement issued May 19 that the charges against her are "purely political" and "mischaracterize and distort my actions." Paul Fishman, who served as U.S. Attorney in New Jersey during former President Barack Obama's term, issued a statement calling the decision to charge as "spectacularly inappropriate," and that she was doing her job of congressional oversight to ensure when federal agents "chose to escalate what should have been a peaceful situation into chaos." "Congresswoman McIver pleaded not guilty because she is not guilty," he said in a separate statement on June 25. "On May 9, she was at Delaney Hall to carry out her responsibilities as member of Congress. She was there to inspect an ICE detention facility and to see for herself whether the Trump administration is obeying the laws and Constitution of the United States. ICE responded by creating a risky and dangerous situation, and now the Justice Department is doubling down by trying to punish the Congresswoman for doing her job. We are eager to challenge this case on multiple grounds and we are confident that the legal process will ultimately vindicate the congresswoman."
