US senators seek more security following Minnesota assassination
WASHINGTON, June 17 (Reuters) - U.S. senators on Tuesday demanded tighter security in the wake of last weekend's assassination of a Minnesota state legislator and threats against members of Congress, in what one lawmaker called a "spreading virus" of political violence.
Law enforcement officials responsible for securing the U.S. Capitol complex and its 535 members of Congress briefed Republican and Democratic senators for over an hour in a closed session, according to senators who attended. They said the review covered steps already undertaken and those being considered to enhance safety.
"We need more protection. We need more money" for law enforcement, Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer told reporters afterward.
On Saturday, a gunman shot and killed Minnesota state assemblywoman Melissa Hortman and her husband in their home. Earlier, the gunman had shot state Senator John Hoffman and his wife, severely wounding them.
Senators were tight-lipped as they emerged from Tuesday's briefing.
"I think it's important for members' safety that we don't talk a lot about what is being done to keep us safe -- in order to keep us safe," Democratic Senator Tina Smith of Minnesota told reporters.
Republican Senator Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma would only say, "There's a lot of discussion about a lot of things but we didn't discuss specific funding" for added security.
Members of the federal judiciary also have requested more security funding, noting increasing threats against judges.
For several years, members of Congress have noted escalating threats to them and their staffs. The U.S. Capitol Police in May said it had seen 9,400 threats against members of Congress last year, more than double the rate of a decade earlier.
Among attacks on lawmakers or their families in recent years was the 2022 intrusion into then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's San Francisco home. Her husband, Paul, was severely wounded by a man wielding a hammer. A 2011 shooting in Arizona left then-Representative Gabby Giffords severely wounded and six people killed during a constituent meeting she was holding. A 2017 shooting left Republican Representative Steve Scalise badly injured at a baseball practice in northern Virginia.
President Donald Trump was also the target of two assassination attempts last year, including one in which he was wounded.
In response to the escalating violence, federal spending for the USCP rose to $833 million this year, nearly double the $464 million in 2020.
"Political violence is a scourge that is spreading like a virus and it needs to be countered more aggressively," Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut told reporters.
Blumenthal complained that threats "very often are discounted as a prank or a joke" and need to be investigated "in real time."
Several lawmakers said officials have not settled on the amount of additional funding USCP might need.
Blumenthal said local and state police should be alerted to senators' schedules "where they may be in jeopardy and also when threats are received."
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Reuters
an hour ago
- Reuters
Iran, Israel trade fresh air attacks as Trump weighs US involvement
WASHINGTON/DUBAI/JERUSALEM, June 19 (Reuters) - Iran and Israel traded further air attacks on Thursday as President Donald Trump kept the world guessing about whether the United States would join Israel's bombardment of Iranian nuclear facilities. A week of Israeli air and missile strikes against its major rival has wiped out the top echelon of Iran's military command, damaged its nuclear capabilities and killed hundreds of people, while Iranian retaliatory strikes have killed two dozen civilians in Israel. The worst-ever conflict between the rivals has raised fears that it will draw in world powers and rock regional stability already undermined by the spillover effects of the Gaza war. Speaking to reporters outside the White House on Wednesday, Trump declined to say if he had made any decision on whether to join Israel's air campaign. "I may do it. I may not do it. I mean, nobody knows what I'm going to do," he said. Trump in later remarks said Iranian officials wanted to come to Washington for a meeting and that "we may do that." But he added, "It's a little late" for such talks. Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei rebuked Trump's earlier call for Iran to surrender in a recorded speech played on television, his first appearance since Friday. The Americans "should know that any U.S. military intervention will undoubtedly be accompanied by irreparable damage," he said. "The Iranian nation will not surrender." Iran denies it is seeking nuclear weapons and says its program is for peaceful purposes only. The International Atomic Energy Agency said last week Tehran was in breach of its non-proliferation obligations for the first time in 20 years. The foreign ministers of Germany, France and Britain plan to hold nuclear talks with their Iranian counterpart on Friday in Geneva to urge Iran to return to the negotiating table, a German diplomatic source told Reuters. But while diplomatic efforts continue, some residents of Tehran, a city of 10 million people, on Wednesday jammed highways out of the city as they sought sanctuary from intensified Israeli airstrikes. Arezou, a 31-year-old Tehran resident, told Reuters by phone that she had made it out of the city to the nearby resort town of Lavasan. "My friend's house in Tehran was attacked and her brother was injured. They are civilians," she said. "Why are we paying the price for the regime's decision to pursue a nuclear programme?' The Wall Street Journal said Trump had told senior aides he approved attack plans on Iran but was holding off on giving the final order to see if Tehran would abandon its nuclear program. Senior U.S. officials are preparing for the possibility of a strike on Iran in the coming days, Bloomberg News reported on Wednesday, citing people familiar with the matter. Early on Thursday, air defences were activated in Tehran, intercepting drones on the outskirts of the capital, the semi-official SNN news agency reported. Iranian news agencies also reported it had arrested 18 "enemy agents" who were building drones for Israeli attacks in the northeastern city of Mashhad. Israel's military said sirens sounded in northern Israel and in the Jordan Valley on Thursday and that it had intercepted two drones launched from Iran. The Iranian missile salvoes mark the first time in decades of shadow war and proxy conflict that a significant number of projectiles fired from Iran have penetrated defences, killing Israelis in their homes. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in a video released by his office on Wednesday, said Israel was "progressing step by step" towards eliminating threats posed by Iran's nuclear sites and ballistic missile arsenal. "We are hitting the nuclear sites, the missiles, the headquarters, the symbols of the regime," Netanyahu said. Israel, which is not a party to the international Non-Proliferation Treaty, is the only country in the Middle East believed to have nuclear weapons. Israel does not deny or confirm that. Netanyahu also thanked Trump, "a great friend of the state of Israel," for standing by its side in the conflict, saying the two were in continuous contact. Trump has veered from proposing a swift diplomatic end to the war to suggesting the United States might join it. In social media posts on Tuesday, he mused about killing Khamenei. Russian President Vladimir Putin, asked what his reaction would be if Israel did kill Iran's Supreme Leader with the assistance of the United States, said on Thursday: "I do not even want to discuss this possibility. I do not want to." Putin said all sides should look for ways to end hostilities in a way that ensured both Iran's right to peaceful nuclear power and Israel's right to the unconditional security of the Jewish state. A source familiar with internal discussions said Trump and his team were considering options that included joining Israel in strikes against Iranian nuclear installations. Since Friday, Iran has fired around 400 missiles at Israel, some 40 of which have pierced air defences, killing 24 people, all of them civilians, according to Israeli authorities. Iran has reported at least 224 deaths in Israeli attacks, mostly civilians, but has not updated that toll for days.
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NBC News
an hour ago
- NBC News
Tulsi Gabbard sidelined in Trump administration discussions on Israel and Iran
National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard, an outspoken critic of past U.S. military interventions abroad, appears to have fallen out of favor with President Donald Trump as he weighs military action against Iran, according to multiple senior administration officials with knowledge of the matter. Gabbard allies insist that, while there is some White House tension, some of the public blowback is overstated, and none interviewed by NBC News expect her to leave the administration as a result of the president's Iran policy, even if that includes direct U.S. involvement. Gabbard's politically perilous position burst into the open this week when Trump brushed her back over her testimony to Congress in March. At that time, she said the U.S. intelligence community did not believe Iran was building a nuclear weapon — a comment at odds with Trump's recent public statement about the threat posed by Iran's potential nuclear program. 'I don't care what she said. I think they were very close to having one,' Trump told reporters Tuesday on Air Force One. A person with knowledge of the matter said the U.S. intelligence community's view has not changed since Gabbard's testimony in March. But the idea that a president would openly refute his director of national intelligence immediately spurred questions about whether she is now iced out of decision-making on the issue. It also reflects a rift that is playing out publicly in Trump's MAGA coalition, with some supporters advocating standing by Israel in whatever military action it takes against Iran and others saying intervention would go against the 'America First' philosophy. Trump's criticism of U.S. involvement in past conflicts — and his campaign promise to be a ' peacemaker ' in his second term — brought in unusual bedfellows, such as Gabbard, who had been a Democratic congresswoman. Multiple senior administration officials said Gabbard has been sidelined in internal administration discussions about the conflict between Israel and Iran. Even two of her allies who spoke to NBC News acknowledged that her standing took a hit when she posted a video on June 10 after a trip to Hiroshima, Japan. The video, which featured the simulated destruction of American cities and Gabbard warning about the dangers of nuclear war, annoyed the White House team, the officials said. Gabbard did not attend a meeting of top officials June 8 at Camp David, the presidential retreat in Maryland, to discuss tensions between Israel and Iran, which raised fresh questions about her status in the administration. A White House official told NBC News that Gabbard was not present only because she had to take part in scheduled training as a member of the National Guard. Gabbard's past positions on Iran, coupled with her recent comments and Trump's responses to them, have forced top administration officials into a difficult position. Gabbard has seemingly been at odds with the administration line, but not to the point where they feel the need to abandon her. 'Tulsi is a veteran, a patriot, a loyal supporter of Pres Trump and a critical part of the coalition he built in 2024,' Vice President JD Vance said in a statement Tuesday. 'She's an essential member of our nat sec team, & we're grateful for her tireless work to keep America safe from foreign threats.' Other Republicans, though, have taken shots at her recent Iran comments. 'She obviously needs to change her meds,' Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., told Jewish Insider last week. Gabbard has long used her public platform to oppose U.S. military action against Iran and has been working behind the scenes to try to find a diplomatic solution, two of the administration officials said. In one case, Gabbard sought to enlist the help of European allies who have communication channels with Tehran, an official said. That stands, at times, in direct conflict with Trump's public comments about the now open fight between Israel and Iran, a fight he himself has acknowledged might now require U.S. intervention. 'I may do it. I may not do it. I mean, nobody knows what I'm going to do,' Trump told reporters Wednesday. Gabbard allies who spoke to NBC News acknowledge that the video was not received well by White House officials but said reported rifts between her and Trump on the issue have been overstated. 'I have heard that also,' a Gabbard ally said of the tension spurred by the Hiroshima video. 'But I don't think it reached the level of the president himself. I am told the matter has been 'resolved.'' The Gabbard ally downplayed any idea that she would resign over the public Trump rebuke or whether the United States got directly involved in the Iran-Israel conflict. 'The online claim that she will resign if the president decides to take direct action in Iran are false,' the person said. The video, however, did circulate widely among White House aides, and it left many wondering why she was taking such a public position as tensions escalate and Trump appears ready to get further involved. 'I think she is generally in OK standing,' a Republican operative familiar with administration thinking said. 'In situations like this, folks with more traditional Republican and neocon views are going to use the opportunity to minimize her influence.' Asked about the recent video on Hiroshima, Gabbard's deputy chief of staff, Alexa Henning, said: 'Acknowledging the past is critical to inform the future. President Trump has repeatedly stated in the past that he recognizes the immeasurable suffering, and annihilation can be caused by nuclear war, which is why he has been unequivocal that we all need to do everything possible to work towards peace.' As a Democratic congresswoman, presidential candidate and supporter of Trump's 2024 campaign, Gabbard portrayed herself as a fierce opponent of what she sees as America's misguided military interventions overseas, including the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and U.S. assistance for rebels in Libya and Syria. In last year's electoral campaign, Gabbard accused the Biden administration of bringing the United States 'closer to the brink of nuclear war than we ever have been before.' During Trump's first term in office, Gabbard strongly criticized his handling of Iran and his decision to pull the United States out of a 2015 nuclear agreement that imposed limits on Tehran's nuclear work in return for an easing of sanctions. If Trump decides to order military strikes on Iran amid talk by Israel that military pressure might cause the Tehran regime to collapse, Gabbard would find herself in an awkward political position. She has vowed to ensure America no longer engages in 'regime change' wars. Gabbard's being warmly welcomed into Trump's MAGA political base during the last presidential election was seen at the time as an injection of ideological diversity. A Trump administration official acknowledged that the heterodox views that made her a welcome addition to the MAGA movement now mark her as an outsider in an administration appearing to coalesce around a policy antithetical to those views. 'If you adopt a Chihuahua, you should not be surprised that you have a Chihuahua,' the person said.
