Police in northeast Ohio arrest man who allegedly menaced GOP US Rep. Max Miller on interstate
COLUMBUS, Ohio — A northeast Ohio man was arrested Thursday on allegations that he threatened and spewed antisemitic epithets at Republican U.S. Rep. Max Miller while the two were traveling on an interstate highway near Cleveland.
Police in Rocky River said Feras S. Hamdan, 36, of Westlake, voluntarily turned himself in with counsel present and is awaiting an appearance in municipal court. A message was left with his lawyer seeking comment.
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CNN
24 minutes ago
- CNN
Republicans might redraw House maps in Ohio and Texas to try to protect narrow majority
CNN — Facing the possibility of losing control of the U.S. House next year, Republicans are weighing aggressively redrawing congressional districts in two states in hopes of ousting several longtime Democratic lawmakers. In Ohio, a quirk in state law is giving Republican state legislators another run at drawing new lines for the state's 15 congressional districts. The goal would be to knock off two Democratic members of the House, giving the GOP a 12-3 advantage in the state's congressional delegation. State lawmakers could go even further and target a third Democratic seat. In Texas, meanwhile, Republicans are considering whether to hold a special legislative session to undertake a rare mid-decade map-drawing that supporters hope could result in the GOP picking up as many as five additional seats. Democrats need a net gain of just three seats to win the House, raising the stakes for Republicans and President Donald Trump, who could see a Democrat-led House block his legislative agenda and open new investigations of him in the second half of his final term. But redistricting is a double-edged sword: In drawing new lines, both states could also endanger GOP lawmakers by moving safe Republican territory into districts currently represented by Democrats. Adam Kincaid, president and executive director of the National Republican Redistricting Trust, favors an aggressive redistricting approach. 'It's a priority to keep the House, and Republicans should be looking for as many seats as we can get,' he said. The GOP's redistricting gains in 2022 were key to the party flipping the chamber in that election and retaining their majority in 2024, he added. 'There were a handful of seats that weren't politically possible to get before that may be possible now,' he added. 'It makes sense for Republicans to try ahead of 2026.' Redrawing maps is potentially risky for GOP incumbents if 2026 proves to be a favorable year for Democrats. Republicans will have to run in a year when Trump himself is not the ballot, helping to boost conservative turnout. 'It's both a gamble and an opportunity,' said Kyle Kondik, the managing editor of Sabato's Crystal Ball, a newsletter published by University of Virginia's Center for Politics. 'From the White House's perspective, would an aggressive Texas redraw increase their chances of holding the House next year? Yeah, probably. But it wouldn't guarantee anything.' Redistricting generally happens at the start of each decade to account for population shifts and ensure that each congressional and state legislative district holds roughly the same number of people. Some Democrats have denounced the potential rounds of mid-decade map-drawing, arguing that Republicans are trying to rig the process. 'Republicans are exploring further manipulation of egregious gerrymanders in red states like Texas and Ohio for one reason: they are terrified of the voters,' said Marina Jenkins, executive director of the National Democratic Redistricting Committee, in a statement. 'It's a brazenly corrupt attempt to shield themselves from accountability at the ballot box and it must be stopped.' A third redistricting battle, meanwhile, is playing out in Wisconsin where two legal actions filed last month are challenging a congressional map that favors Republicans in a battleground state that's narrowly divided along partisan lines. Both cases are before the state Supreme Court, which has a liberal majority. Texas could go after border Democrats All but one Republican member of the Texas congressional delegation won their seats with more than 60% of the vote last November. All 25 GOP-held districts voted for Trump by at least 15 points in 2024, Kondik noted. A new GOP map in Texas is likely to shift voters from safely red districts into ones held by Democrats to help boost the number of Republicans that Texas sends to Congress. Currently, under a 2021 map, Republicans control 25 of the state's 38 House seats. (One safely Democratic seat in the Houston area is vacant following the death of Rep. Sylvester Turner. The current Texas congressional maps are the subject of litigation brought by groups representing Black and Latino voters who contend the lines drawn in 2021 discriminate against voters of color.) Clear targets include Democratic Reps. Henry Cuellar and Vicente Gonzalez, who represent border communities that have shifted to the right in recent years. Trump won both districts in 2024, part of a broader realignment among Latino voters. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, a New York Democrat, argued recently that an aggressive redraw could backfire on Republicans. 'If you make any changes to that map … they are going to endanger four to six Republican incumbents who are serving in the Congress right now,' he said to reporters. 'Be careful what you wish for.' Other Democrats have condemned any effort to change the district lines to further benefit the GOP. 'Texas Republicans should stand by the rule of law and the maps they drew four years ago, or they should finally work with Democrats to draw fair, independent congressional maps,' state Rep. Gene Wu, who chairs the Democratic caucus in the Texas House, said in a statement. 'Anything less is a desperate power grab from a party that knows Texas voters are ready to show them the door.' The White House did not respond to a CNN inquiry about the effort, which has been the subject of recent closed-door meetings in Washington among members of the state's congressional delegation. The state legislature, which finished its regular session earlier this month, is not scheduled to meet again until 2027. But Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has the authority to call special sessions and determine the issues lawmakers will address. Aides to the Texas governor did not respond to CNN inquiries. Last week, Abbott told reporters that he had not 'identified a need for a special session,' according to the Dallas Morning News. The governor, however, did not close the door on the possibility, saying he was reviewing bills from the regular legislative session that could result in vetoes that would require him to summon lawmakers back to Austin to address outstanding matters. Abbott also declined to tell journalists whether Trump had asked him to order a redraw. Ohio GOP looks for as many as three seats In Ohio, the mid-decade redrawing of its congressional districts is an outgrowth of a state law that requires maps approved without bipartisan support to be redrawn after four years. Crafting new maps for next year's midterms will ultimately fall to the Republican-controlled General Assembly. The current map, crafted by a GOP-led legislature in 2022, has 10 Republicans and five Democrats. Two Democratic incumbents are viewed as likely targets of the GOP: Reps. Marcy Kaptur, a veteran lawmaker who represents northwestern Ohio, and Emilia Skyes, whose district includes Akron. Last year, Kaptur eked out a win even as her district went for Trump. Skyes, meanwhile, represents a highly competitive district that former Vice President Kamala Harris barely won. If Republicans choose an even more aggressive approach, a third Democrat, Rep. Greg Landsman, who represents Cincinnati, could be endangered.
Yahoo
31 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Appeals court upholds convictions of three in brutal MS-13 slaying in Prince George's
The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Virginia. (Photo by Ned Oliver/Virginia Mercury) A federal appeals court upheld the murder and racketeering convictions of three members of the international gang MS-13 for their role in the brutal 2019 killing of a 16-year-old in Prince George's County. A three-judge panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected claims by Jose Domingo Ordonez-Zometa, Jose Henry Hernandez-Garcia and Jose Rafael Ortega-Ayala that evidence against them was improperly obtained by police and should have been suppressed. The court's Tuesday ruling also rejected Hernandez-Garcia's claim that he should have been granted a new trial. The three men were convicted after an eight-day jury trial in U.S. District Court for Maryland, and each given life sentences in 2023. Two of the defense attorneys could not be reached for comment Friday, while a third declined comment. Attorneys for the government also could not be reached for comment. Court document say the case began on the night of March 8, 2019, when Ordonez-Zometa, the leader of 'Los Ghettos Criminales Salvatruchas,' a branch of MS-13 in Maryland, summoned several members of the 'clique' to his home in Hyattsville. He suspected that two gang members, both juveniles, were cooperating with police — something punishable only by death, under the gang's rules. When they arrived, Ordonez-Zometa began interrogating the two members on whether they had cooperated with law enforcement, which they denied. 'In fact, neither of the youths had cooperated with law enforcement,' Circuit Judge Robert B. King wrote for the court. 'Instead, both had recent and brief interactions with police after running away from their homes.' But convinced that one of the two had talked to police, and after speaking by phone with a senior MS-13 member in El Salvador, Ordonez-Zometa began to assault the 16-year-old, identified in court documents only as 'John Doe,' beating him and cutting his face. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX Eventually, Ordonez-Zometa had the teen brought to the basement, where he ordered Hernandez-Garcia, Ortega-Ayala and other gang members not named in the case to use 'the glove' — a three-bladed weapon that can be affixed to the hand — to attack the teen while another gang member filmed on his cell phone. Each gang member took part in what King called the 'brutal and horrific' attack. The teen suffered 144 wounds and 'died from those injuries in Ordonez-Zometa's basement, at just 16 years of age,' King wrote. Ordonez-Zometa directed Hernandez-Garcia and another gang member to clean the murder scene and dispose of blood-stained carpeting. The teen's body was shoved in the trunk of Ordonez-Zometa's wife's Nissan Altima, which Ortega-Ayala and two others drove to Stafford County, Virginia, where they dumped the body and set it alight using gasoline. When a Stafford County Sheriff's deputy discovered the burning remains, the body was unidentifiable. But police were able to circulate a photo of a tattoo on the teen's body that the boy's mother identified as her son's. She gave police the names of others who were with her son before his death, which eventually led to the three defendants. By March 13, Stafford County officials had provided Prince George's County police with a photo of Ordonez-Zometa and advised them to be on the lookout for a gold Nissan with a black hood. When police saw Ordonez-Zometa come out of his Hyattsville house and get into the Nissan, they pulled it over for failing to signal a turn, then arrested him. Ordonez-Zometa argued at trial that police did not have probable cause to stop the Nissan. But U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis disagreed and allowed the evidence, and the appeals court upheld that decision Tuesday. Officers 'watched a man who matched the photograph of Ordonez-Zometa leave a residence suspected to be the murder scene, get into a car matching the description of one tied to the Doe murder, and drive away,' King wrote. 'That was certainly enough to justify the traffic stop.' Even though he waived his Miranda rights, Ordonez-Zometa also argued that statements he made during his initial interrogation were involuntary, and given due to 'coercive interrogation tactics.' He said he was worried about family members, who were in the car with him but being held in a separate room, and about a detective's statement that his silence could be used against him in court. The trial court called the detective's statement 'unfortunate and plainly incorrect.' But the courts found that none of those factors 'overbore' the defendant's will to make a statement, which was thus voluntary and admissible. 'Neither uncomfortable circumstances nor a misstep by law enforcement will render a statement involuntary,' King wrote. Even if it was, he said, the weight of other evidence presented by the state would have been enough to convict Ordonez-Zometa without his statements. 'Two former gang members confirmed that he ordered the killing of John Doe, arranged its logistics, directed others to dispose of Doe's body, and oversaw the cleanup,' King wrote. 'Moreover, forensic evidence from the Nissan vehicle corroborated key aspects of those witnesses' accounts. The trial evidence thus provided the jury with ample grounds for conviction, entirely apart from the contested statements.' Ortega-Ayala argued that search warrants for his Facebook account, home and cell phone were overly broad, but the appellate judges said the warrants were 'particularized and specific.' As for Hernandez-Garcia's appeal of Xinis' decision to deny him a new trial, King wrote that there was no 'serious miscarriage of justice' that would merit a new trial.
32 minutes ago
Police in northeast Ohio arrest man who allegedly menaced GOP US Rep. Max Miller on interstate
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- A northeast Ohio man was arrested Thursday on allegations that he threatened and spewed antisemitic epithets at Republican U.S. Rep. Max Miller while the two were traveling on an interstate highway near Cleveland. Police in Rocky River said Feras S. Hamdan, 36, of Westlake, voluntarily turned himself in with counsel present and is awaiting an appearance in municipal court. A message was left with his lawyer seeking comment. Miller, who is Jewish, called 911 while driving on Interstate 90 on his way to work Thursday. He reported that another driver was cutting him off, making profane hand gestures, showing a Palestinian flag and shouting death threats targeted at him and his 1-year-old daughter. After an interview with police, Miller filed a complaint against Hamdan alleging aggravated menacing and sought a criminal protective order. Local police continue to investigate with assistance from the U.S. Capitol Police, the Ohio State Highway Patrol, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the U.S. Attorney's office and the Rocky River prosecutor. The Ohio Jewish Caucus praised Rocky River police and extended their thoughts to Miller and his family, noting the incident followed by just days the politically motivated shootings in Minnesota, which left two people dead and two others injured. 'Enough is enough," the all-Democratic legislative alliance said in a statement. "There is no place for this type of violence — whether it be political, antisemitic, or ideological — whatsoever. We believe we can solve our differences with humility, not hatred.'
