Steve Kornacki: How Cuomo & Mamdani could run for NYC mayor even if they lose the Democratic primary
NBC News National Political Correspondent Steve Kornacki looks at the New York City Democratic mayoral primary with one week until election day. Kornacki explains how frontrunners Andrew Cuomo and Zohran Mamdani could still appear on the general election ballot even if they fail to clinch the Democratic nomination.June 17, 2025
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NBC News
an hour ago
- NBC News
Escaped N.J detainee caught, 1 more still on the run as feds double reward
Federal officials have apprehended one of two detainees who were still missing after their escape from an immigration detention center in New Jersey last week, the FBI says. It wasn't immediately clear how Franklin Norberto Bautista Reyes was found. The search was ongoing Tuesday for another escaped detainee, Andres Felipe Pineda Mogollon. A $25,000 reward is being offered in the case. A total of four initially escaped Newark's Delaney Hall facility, where ICE has been holding individuals facing possible deportation, last Thursday. One was captured in Passaic on Saturday, by the FBI and ICE, and a second was taken into custody Sunday. The developments come as President Trump directs federal authorities to intensify ICE operations nationwide, particularly in Democrat-run cities. Still at large? Andres Pineda-Mogollon of Colombia overstayed a tourist visa and entered the U.S. in 2023, DHS says. He was arrested previously on local petty larceny and residential burglary charges. His last known address was in Newark, New Jersey, and he is known to have ties to Queens, New York. Investigators say the four inmates escaped by kicking a wall at Delaney Hall, a wall Newark Mayor Ras Baraka said the operator did not have a permit to build. New Jersey Sen. Andy Kim called the construction 'essentially just dry wall with some mesh inside that led to an exterior wall. It shows just how shoddy how construction was here.' The men ended up in a parking lot and hopped a fence. Kim says officials in charge of Delaney Hall are examining other walls that might be vulnerable. Local and state authorities are assisting with the investigation. 'Additional law enforcement partners have been brought in to find these escapees and a BOLO [be on the lookout] has been disseminated,' DHS has said in a statement. 'We encourage the public to call 911 or the ICE Tip Line: 866-DHS-2-ICE if they have information that may lead to the locating of these individuals.' What is Delaney Hall? Delaney Hall made headlines in May after protests broke out at the 1,000-bed, privately owned facility. Democratic U.S. Rep. LaMonica McIver was charged in a criminal complaint with two assault counts stemming from a May 9 visit to the center. She was indicted on Tuesday; the indictment includes three counts of assaulting, resisting, impeding and interfering with federal officials. McIver's attorney, Paul Fishman, told NBC News the prosecution is politically motivated. At the same visit that resulted in McIver's charges, Mayor Baraka was arrested on a trespassing charge, which was later dropped. Baraka later filed a lawsuit against acting U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Alina Habba over what he said was a malicious prosecution. On Friday, New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker joined the chorus of local officials denouncing the conditions inside Delaney Hall, calling it 'a house of horrors.' Kim confirmed the reports that detainees are getting too few meals and dealing with overcrowded conditions. A woman who said her husband is believed to be detained at the facility has lost more than 20 pounds in the last month. 'He said it hurts to lay in the beds they gave him because he's so skinny now, they're not feeding them,' said Rosalinda Ortega, whose husband, Miguel, was detained. 'Yesterday I called, they said stop calling and be patient. How can I be patient when they have him and are mistreating him?'
Daily Mirror
2 hours ago
- Daily Mirror
New York mayor hopeful arrested for asking ICE if they have a warrant
Brad Lander, who is running for mayor of New York City, was arrested by federal agents on Tuesday after allegedly assaulting an ICE officer In a shocking moment in American political history, federal agents arrested an elected New York City official and mayoral hopeful, Brad Lander, for allegedly assaulting an officer during an immigration hearing. Videos of the incident show Lander being forcefully pressed up against a wall after asking ICE officers to present a warrant as they dragged a man out of a courthouse. This incident intensifies the already heated confrontation between immigration officials and Democratic critics of President Donald Trump's sweeping deportation raids, which have disregarded due process to track down and detain migrants. These raids have even been taking place during immigration hearings, like the one on Tuesday, where Lander and his wife were acting as advocates. Footage capturing the arrest clearly shows Lander grappling with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) personnel as they escort a detainee away from the immigration tribunal, while demanding they produce a legally required judicial warrant. "I will let go when you show me the judicial warrant," Lander asserted during the recorded exchange. Following the arrest, the DHS issued a scathing statement via social media addressing Lander's arrest, berating the Comptroller for compromising officer safety in search of virality. "It is wrong that politicians seeking higher office undermine law enforcement safety to get a viral moment. No one is above the law, and if you lay a hand on a law enforcement officer, you will face consequences." At a press conference in the wake of the arrest, Meg Barnette, Lander's wife, blasted the Trump administration's approach to immigration cases, reports the Mirror US. A number of political figures have praised Lander's audacious opposition to Trump's ICE policies. Most notably, New York Attorney General Letitia James lauded Lander's proactive support of immigrant rights. "This is profoundly unacceptable. Arresting Comptroller Lander for the simple act of standing up for immigrants and their civil rights is a shocking abuse of power. No one should face fear and intimidation in a courthouse, and this is a grotesque escalation of tensions. The administration's rampant targeting of New Yorkers only makes our communities less safe," James wrote in a statement. Andrew Cuomo, another NYC mayoral candidate, took to social media to comment on Lander's arrest. "This is the latest example of the extreme thuggery of Trump's ICE out of control -- one can only imagine the fear families across our country feel when confronted with ICE," the ex-New York Governor posted on X. Scott Stringer and Zohran Kwame Mamdani, also running for mayor, demanded Lander's immediate release. "This is fascism, and all New Yorkers must speak in one voice. Release him now," Mamdani declared. This recent incident marks yet another significant clash between immigration officials and Democrats opposing Trump's immigration policies. Just last week, California Senator Alex Padilla was forcibly ejected from a press conference featuring Homeland Security Secretary Kristin Noem. In May, Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, who was in the running for governor in New Jersey, found himself under arrest for trespassing at an ICE detention facility within the state. The charge was subsequently dropped by Alina Habba, the interim U.S. Attorney for New Jersey. Meanwhile, Baraka's fellow Democrat, Rep. LaMonica McIver, faced charges for assaulting and obstructing federal agents during the same visit as the mayor.
NBC News
4 hours ago
- NBC News
Democratic divisions emerge as Congress tackles crypto regulation
Democrats are wrestling with their strategy on cryptocurrency, a once underground industry that has become a powerful player on Capitol Hill — and closely associated with President Donald Trump. Cryptocurrency groups scored a major win in Washington on Tuesday, with the Senate passing a landmark bill to regulate some digital assets. It was a bipartisan vote, with 18 Democrats joining nearly every Republican to support the bill following an intense lobbying and advocacy effort. But the battle over the legislation has exposed deep Democratic divisions over how to handle the broader issue of crypto in a GOP-controlled Washington. While some Democrats have pushed for the party to be leading the charge on developing policy for the quickly emerging industry, others have been wary of embracing a tool that they say has created conflicts of interest for Trump. Newly released financial disclosures show Trump made one of his largest fortunes last year, $57.3 million, on his family's cryptocurrency company World Liberty Financial. Progressive Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, the top Democrat on the Senate Banking committee, said the GENIUS Act — the bill the Senate passed that would establish the first regulatory framework for issuers of stablecoins, digital tokens pegged to fiat currencies like the U.S. dollar — would create a 'superhighway' for corruption in the Trump White House. Warren also lamented to NBC News that the crypto industry is 'pouring money in to try to influence votes here in Congress.' But other Democrats see this is a rare chance for Congress to get ahead of an issue, arguing they can't afford to wait until they win back power in Washington to act — especially with how quickly technology moves. 'I think every politician will say this. It's the same thing about any industry that they don't like or understand,' Sen. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., who supports the GENIUS Act, told NBC news in an interview. Democrats clash over crypto behind closed doors The GENIUS Act now heads to the House, where the Democratic divide over cryptocurrency — which can often fall along generational lines — came to a head during a private meeting last week attended by House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., other Democratic leaders and committee ranking members, according to three sources who were in the room and a fourth source who was briefed on the meeting. Rep. Angie Craig, D-Minn., who is running for the Senate, expressed her support for the industry and a recent bipartisan bill called the Clarity Act, which would provide a regulatory framework for digital assets, according to three of the sources. The 53-year-old Craig serves in the House Agriculture Committee as the top Democrat, and 86-year-old Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., is the ranking member in the Financial Services Committee. Waters opposes the legislation and instead wants to bar Trump from benefiting from the digital assets Congress could legitimize. Waters expressed those concerns in the Wednesday meeting, three of the sources said. Other members agreed, including Rep. Jim Himes, D-Conn., the ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee. Both Himes and Waters stressed a need for greater insider trading protections in the bill, the three sources said. The lawmakers said Democrats should not enable Trump to get wealthy off of unfettered access to the industry he wants Congress to regulate. Craig argued Trump was already bound by existing laws, one of the sources said. Waters began talking over Craig, who told the room that she was in the middle of speaking, leading to a heated discussion, the source said. As this episode was unfolding, Rep. Bobby Scott, D-Va., suggested that perhaps Democrats should act to ban the industry altogether, two sources added — an example of just how wildly far apart some Democrats are on the issue. Jeffries moved to table the discussion for another time, the three sources said. After the meeting, both Waters and a Craig spokespersons declined to comment, saying the meeting was private. Jeffries' office also declined to comment on a private meeting. A spokesperson for Scott did not respond to a request for comment. Craig, whose re-election campaign received a big boost from groups associated with the industry last year, has backed a check on Trump. During the Agriculture Committee markup on the Clarity Act, Rep. Eugene Vindman, D-Va., offered an amendment targeting entities that hold meme-based assets associated with the president, vice president or other public officials. All 24 Democrats on the panel, including Craig, backed the amendment; Republicans successfully voted it down. Crypto groups spent big bucks on the last election Looming over the Democratic debate is the fact that groups associated with the crypto industry were heavily involved in the last election. Fairshake, a crypto-focused super PAC that formed in 2023, spent $195 million in the 2024 elections. And the group already has $116 million in cash on hand for the 2026 midterm election cycle, according to the group's spokesperson, Josh Vlasto. 'We are keeping our foot on the gas and all options are on the table,' Vlasto told NBC News. Crypto groups supported candidates from both parties in 2024, but they also spent $40 million to oppose then-Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, who was ultimately defeated by Republican Bernie Moreno. That race is still lingering in the air among Democrats who fear that kind of cash being used against them. The cryptocurrency industry has also dialed up its lobbying and grassroots advocacy efforts in recent years. Stand With Crypto, an advocacy group, launched a campaign around the passage of the GENIUS Act encouraging people to call or email their senators in support of the bill. The effort resulted in 75,000 emails being sent to members, according to the organization. The group also organized so-called fly-in meetings ahead of key votes on the bill in order to link members with constituents who utilize crypto. Stand With Crypto has not made any election endorsements, but it is leaving itself the room to do so in the future. In the meantime, the group created a 'scorecard' that tracks how members fare on key votes and has been arguing to lawmakers that an increasing number of voters care about crypto. 'For these folks that are afraid of [crypto] people donating money, that's not really what we do. But what they should be concerned about is our voters voting differently, because these votes are up for grabs,' Mason Lynaugh, community director for Stand With Crypto, told NBC News. 'A lot of these people were not civically engaged before, and I don't know if the genie's going back in the bottle.' Even though Democrats are far from united on the topic, the industry has made some key allies in the party. 'We are here to legislate, and again, to try to bring into compliance an economy that is largely outside the United States is uncontrollable at this point,' Gallego said. 'I think it's the responsibility of us as Congress to put down the rules of the road.' Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., who also supports the GENIUS Act, said he voted for the bill because many of his constituents already use crypto. 'We're already using these products. And so from a public policy point of view, one of the questions for me, is, what will leave the consumers in a better place? So we clearly need some kind of regulatory structure,' Warnock told NBC news. Asked if the industry is pumping too much money into elections, Warnock replied: 'I think there's too much money in our system whether you're talking about oil and gas or the gun industry, it's a serious democracy problem.'
