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Yahoo
12 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Video shows pastors arrested in Capitol Rotunda prayer-against-Trump encore
Several religious activists were arrested in the Capitol Rotunda Monday for demonstrating against planned GOP cuts to Medicaid for the second time in as many months. The Rev. William Barber led a group of clergy in several minutes of prayer in front of a statue of suffragettes inside the Rotunda building just after noon before the group was advised by a senior officer with the US Capitol Police that they were in violation of the building's prohibition against demonstrations. Barber and several others can be seen continuing to pray as they are led away in zip-ties, in video taken by The Independent at the protest. As Barber and his group received their first warning, a large group of at least two dozen Capitol Police officers formed a line separating the group from the visiting tour groups proceeding around the room. Other officers quickly began directing those tours out of the room. Within minutes, the group received their second warning, and officers in the police line began ordering reporters in the room to exit as well, or risk arrest. 'We're going to pray. if they arrest us, that's on them,' Barber had told The Independent ahead of his arrest. His words touched repeatedly on the Republican budget reconciliation bill passed by the House of Representatives last month, which is now in the Senate where upper-chamber lawmakers will begin debating changes to Donald Trump's 'one big, beautiful bill' — including splitting it up into multiple packages. At the core of the legislation is an effort to fund an extension of the 2017 tax cuts passed during Trump's first administration, and Republican lawmakers are doing so by adding work requirements that experts, including the Congressional Budget Office, estimate will endanger the eligibility of millions of Americans. This was the second time Barber and his organization, Repairers of the Breach, were involved in a prayer demonstration against the GOP budget bill, and it was evident in the mannerisms of Capitol Police officers who participated in the arrests. Barber's first arrest occurred in late April. One source familiar with the operations of the building told The Independent that Capitol Police were expecting the group's demonstration on Monday. Barber and his group walked from the Supreme Court, where a rally was held ahead of the demonstration. Several officers were holding zip-tie handcuffs before the arrests began, and in pairs the group were led out of the room with their wrists bound, with reporters now watching from afar. The reverend, who was walking gingerly with the aid of two canes, was the last — along with a woman in a wheelchair — to be restrained and led from the room. The Independent witnessed Barber being led into a side corridor, away from view. A total of eight people were arrested, per a representative for Repairers of the Breach. In an interview Monday morning, Barber said that the GOP budget bill's planned changes to Medicaid and food stamps, including work requirements and changes to SNAP for families with children, constituted a moral issue that should transcend typical Washington party divisions. 'Interestingly enough, we were arrested for just praying,' Barber said of his demonstration in May. 'They are passing a bill that's preying — p-r-e-y-ing — on the poorest of us, and we were arrested for praying. 'Clergy have said this is a moral issue. It's not a Republican or Democrat. It's a moral issue,' he continued. He had stinging words for House Speaker Mike Johnson and other Republicans who have claimed that analyses of the budget bill indicating that millions are at risk of losing Medicaid eligibility should it pass are false. Barber said that the disproportionate benefits of the 2017 GOP tax cuts for wealthier Americans amounted to the 2025 reconciliation bill being the largest robbery of wealth from lower-income Americans in history, with the exception of slavery. 'These folk get up every morning and decide the way to use power is to hurt people,' he said. 'There's no reason for them to even be touching Medicaid. That's the whole point. The only reason they're doing this is because they're trying to get the money for the tax is for those tax cuts to the wealthy and the greedy.' The reverend is a longtime activist for low-income Americans and raising the federal minimum wage through his organization and a larger group he is part of, the Poor People's Campaign. His Moral Monday rallies, held in DC, his home state of North Carolina and elsewhere, have rallied left-leaning faith leaders on issues that affect low-income communities across the country for more than a decade. Barber also rallied voters to support former Vice President Kamala Harris during the 2024 election. More recently, the 61-year-old was accused of directly moving funds from Repairers of the Breach into a personal shared bank account, which he then used for an alimony payment. His attorney told a local newspaper, the Raleigh News and Observer, that her claims 'are not true.'
Yahoo
a day ago
- General
- Yahoo
Gov. Mills signs law designating Jan. 6 as 'day to remember'
Jun. 2—AUGUSTA — Gov. Janet Mills has signed a new law creating an annual "day to remember" honoring democracy on the anniversary of the Jan. 6, 2021 attacks on the U.S. Capitol. The law, signed Thursday, will require the governor to issue a proclamation each year on the date "honoring the resilience of democracy" and encouraging people to use the day to reflect "on the values of democracy, civic responsibility and the importance of protecting constitutional governance." The annual proclamation would also encourage educational institutions and libraries to observe the day with discussions, events and programming to educate people about the importance of civic engagement and the rule of law. Mills condemned the Jan. 6 attacks at the time, saying that leaders across the country should denounce the violence and defend democracy, and that all Americans should work to restore honor and decency. Ben Goodman, a spokesperson for Mills, said Monday that she signed the new law "to honor the courage and sacrifice of law enforcement — particularly the Capitol Police, some of whom lost their lives due to the events of that day — and to remind Maine people that American democracy and the rule of law — which she strongly champions — is fragile and must be protected." Brian Sicknick, a U.S. Capitol Police officer, died after being assaulted and collapsing during the attacks. Four other police officers who responded to the attacks died by suicide in the following weeks. The law was sponsored by Rep. Rafael Macias, D-Topsham, who said last month that he brought it forward as a way of preserving the truth about what happened during the attacks perpetuated by Donald Trump's supporters after he lost the 2020 presidential election. "Jan. 6, 2021, is a day I will never forget," Macias said during a floor debate in the House of Representatives. "I'm so glad it will be remembered for what it was — a rebuffed coup attempt that was completed four years later. We should write down how it really happened, otherwise it will be remembered how (rioters) want our descendants to believe it. This bill puts that day on the record." The bill generated heated debate in the House before being approved 74-65. Republicans argued the proposal was only fueling division and presenting a one-sided narrative around the events of Jan. 6 while Democrats said the day of remembrance is important for documenting history. It later received final approval by a 19-14 margin in the Senate. Copy the Story Link
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Health
- Yahoo
Dearborn Heights doctor arrested while Marco Rubio spoke to US Senate
Dearborn Heights resident and doctor Dr. Nidal Jboor was arrested for protesting during U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio's opening statement during the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations on May 21. Jboor, who lives and practices medicine in Dearborn Heights, held a sign that read, 'Let the children eat. Let the children live.' Jboor was removed from the hearing and arrested for "crowding, obstructing and incommoding," a misdemeanor under D.C. Code 22-1307, as it is illegal to demonstrate in congressional buildings, the U.S. Capitol Police public information office said in an email to the Detroit Free Press on May 27. Jboor was released later that day and was one of seven arrested during the May 21 Senate hearing, police said. A Capitol Police public information officer said the department arrests hundreds of people every year for "illegally demonstrating." Over a year ago, the department created a team to rapidly respond to capitol happenings. "We enforce the law and will not let anyone disrupt the important work of the Congress," a spokesperson for Capitol Police said. "There are plenty of places on Capitol Grounds where people can hold lawful demonstrations." Any U.S. citizen can attend a congressional hearing with a gallery pass obtained through their senator or representative. Gallery passes are available for international visitors at the House and Senate appointment desks. Jboor, cofounder of a group called Doctors Against Genocide, was one of about 40 from the group to attend the hearing, he said. The group didn't come to Washington for the hearing, but happened to find out about it while there as part of their monthly conversations with legislators like Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Maryland, about the U.S.'s involvement with Israel and Gaza, said Thomas Pedroni, a Wayne State University College of Education professor who organizes with Doctors Against Genocide and was in Washington at the time of Zboor's arrest. Doctors Against Genocide was founded in 2023 and has more than 20,000 medical professionals in the group, Jboor said. It has run multiple campaigns in support of Gaza and Palestine. Its most recent focus is on "bread not bombs," Jboor said. The recent Israel and Gaza war began on Oct. 7, 2023, with a Hamas attack on Israel that killed about 1,200 people and took about 250 hostage, according to the Israeli Government. More than 54,000 Palestinians have died in the war since October 2023, according to Gaza's health ministry. Jboor said many Doctors Against Genocide medical professional members have worked on the ground in Gaza and that more want to go but aren't being let in. 'A ceasefire immediately can save more lives than what (doctors) can do in our clinics," Jaboor said. "We are not stepping out of our roles as doctors. … We think pressuring our politicians to stop this is the most urgent intervention to save as many lives as possible. No amount of doctors can keep up with the pace of the mass slaughter.' On May 12, the World Health Organization reported that the entire 2.1 million population of Gaza faced prolonged food shortages. On May 20, United Nations humanitarian spokesperson Jens Jareke told the BBC that an estimated 14,000 babies were suffering from 'severe acute malnutrition in Gaza.' More: Michigan AG Dana Nessel drops all charges against U-M pro-Palestinian protesters Israel blockaded food, water, shelter and medication from Gaza for nearly three months while thousands of aid trucks sat at the border waiting to enter, according to AP reporting. On May 22, the 11-week blockade ended. U.N. humanitarian officials have criticized the rollout of the aid as a crowd at the distribution place was fired on with warning shots, killing at least one and injuring 48 people, according to Gaza's Health Ministry. 'The food is there,' Jboor said. 'We're not asking to pay for anything, all we're asking is to let the food in. … Millions starved while food is on the border is criminal and inhumane. No one should accept this.' At least 20 living hostages are still being held in Gaza, according to Israeli authorities. Pedroni is not a medical doctor, but he began working with Zboor after meeting him at a "Voices of Palestine" event he hosted at Wayne State University in 2024. Pedroni said he joined Zboor's group as an outlet for his activism and thinks the group does a good job of conceptualizing what's happening in Gaza from a career professional standpoint. "The method has been to connect to our colleagues in Gaza," Pedroni said. "We are just like them. They are our colleagues." Professionals in all fields in Gaza are facing famine and bombing, making it hard to do their jobs, Pedroni said. "The Boston Marathon bombing was a strain on the health services across Boston, and they had all these trauma hospitals ready to receive people. It was still a tragedy and horror. There are no hospitals in Gaza, no drugs you need to support surgery and the bombing happens day after day." More: How Hamtramck, a small town within Detroit, became America's first Muslim-majority city Doctors Against Genocide hosts virtual meetings monthly and speaks with medical professionals on the ground in Gaza, Pedroni said. The group also hosts events, like vigils held on WSU's campus during the winter 2025 semester. Along with the war has come rises in antisemitism and islamophobia. On May 21, the same day as the Senate protest, two Israeli Embassy staffers were shot at the Capital Jewish Museum. After almost two recent years and decades of conflict between Israel and Palestine, Pedroni said it can be discouraging to keep speaking for peace, especially when people are being deported and higher education institutions are losing funding over the way they respond to protests. "This is the most important issue of our time," Pedroni said. "It's not just about something the U.S. is doing with taxpayer money halfway around the world, but it's coming back to affect American free speech and higher education.' Pedroni joined Doctors Against Genocide because the group gives him an outlet for his activism, he said. He said he supports student protests and that it's important for people to speak up, especially people like him with privilege as a white, male, U.S. citizen with job security, because advocating for peace is not antisemitic. "Of course a professor fighting for saving children also values and respects Jewish students," Pedroni said. Pedroni said he thinks pushback to Palestine activism nationwide before President Donald Trump's second term has helped Trump justify and enforce his orders against DEI. "I feel a lot of the blame is with universities themselves. It's the wrong solution to say 'if we hide and shut up and don't do programing, (the issues will go away),'' Pedroni said. 'It's hoped we will be discouraged, but there's a lot of people that know what's right and we know the correct thing to do and people eventually become fearless." Zboor said though medical professionals have been fired for pro-Palestine activism and some are self-censoring, it's still worth speaking up. "We won't be silent," Zboor said. "All we are asking for is peace. Allowing more wars and committing the mass starvation of children are anti-peace." This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Metro Detroit doctor arrested while protesting in US capitol
CBS News
4 days ago
- General
- CBS News
As Capitol Police Chief Thomas Manger retires, he's concerned about spike in threats against lawmakers
As U.S. Capitol Police Chief Thomas Manger retires from his post at the Capitol Friday, he says the threats facing members of Congress have accelerated — they've more than quadrupled over the past several years and remain alarmingly high. Manger, who took charge of the department in the difficult months after the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol siege, quantified the surge in threats targeting lawmakers and how the department has had to evolve to expand its protection of senators and House members. Leaning forward in his seat to emphasize his point, Manger said, "It's a huge responsibility. We've gone from 1,000 to 2,000 threats a year to now 8,000, 9,000, 10,000 threats a year." And those threats are now reaching outside the Capitol. The department is being spread farther and wider to prevent attacks. "The threats are coming in from all over the country. Not everybody knows it, but the Capitol Police has nationwide jurisdiction to address those threats," Manger said. "So, we are sending investigators and agents all over this country to investigate these cases." He has helped secure large budget increases for his department to help protect the Capitol campus, its members, staffers and visitors. But the growing need to bolster security and investigations in the 50 states — including the hometowns and home offices of members of Congress — has required more funding and more staff. Manger's budget request for 2026 is nearly $1 billion, approximately double the funding the department was given in 2021, prior to the Capitol riot. In a letter to a U.S. House subcommittee in April, Manger wrote, "I recognize there are other police departments of a similar size whose budget is not as large as ours, but we are not an ordinary law enforcement agency." In his request, Manger also said he expected the number of threats against lawmakers to continue to rise, "given the current political climate." The Capitol Police have aggressively recruited and set ambitious hiring goals to help bolster their protection details for members of Congress. Manger, in his testimony before the House Appropriations Committee last month, said the department is adding dozens of new positions in the unit that oversees protective details and intelligence. He told CBS News the department was already hampered with a staffing shortage before the Jan. 6 attack and has faced hurdles in its effort to hire, due to morale issues and trauma suffered by officers after the Insurrection. Four officers who responded on Jan. 6 died by suicide within seven months of the attack. Many officers at the Capitol that day were subjected to repeated violent assaults. Manger has been urging lawmakers to support his recommended budget increase to help boost officer hiring and recruitment. "When [lawmakers] travel, when they're at the airports, when they have congressional business to do at home," Manger said. "They've got to meet with their constituents. So, we want to make sure that they're safe." An immediate replacement for Manger has not yet been named. The U.S. Capitol Police Board will select a successor, but he expects some lawmakers will also want to meet candidates for the position. At an April hearing on the Capitol Police budget, Rep. Adriano Espaillat, a New York Democrat who has oversight of the police department, said the department "does need more to keep us safe."
CBS News
7 days ago
- General
- CBS News
Capitol police chief Thomas Manger says Trump's pardon of Jan. 6 rioters was "probably one of my worst days in this job"
U.S. Capitol Police Chief Thomas Manger, who took charge of the department in the difficult months after the U.S. Capitol siege, is retiring from his position Friday. After the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot, he helped rebuild the department's shrunken staff, beefed up recruitment efforts and bolstered the agency's intelligence operations and communications to fix weaknesses revealed by the breach of the Capitol. Manger told CBS News he faced stiff challenges when he arrived on the job in 2021. File: U.S. Capitol Police Chief Thomas Manger Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images "The department as a whole had lost confidence in the (prior) leadership as a result of what happened," he said. "And there were big things that were identified as things that needed to be fixed as quickly as we could fix them: Things like the intelligence failures, the communication failures, the equipment failures, the training failures, the leadership failures — all of those things needed to be addressed immediately." Manger, a former local police chief in Fairfax County, Virginia, and Montgomery County, Maryland, successfully advocated for increases in funding to improve hiring, equipment and operations. The department was blasted by critics for intelligence failures that contributed to the violation of the complex on Jan. 6, 2021. "We now have a world class intelligence operation. We are significant players in the intelligence community in the Washington, D.C., region and, frankly, all over the country," Manger said. "Whereas before, we were basically just —... we were consumers of information. The FBI would give us intelligence, other agencies would give us intelligence. Now we are gathering our own." The U.S. Capitol Police Board will select a new police chief, which Manger predicts will happen soon. Manger has requested nearly $1 billion in funding for 2026, which would represent the latest in a series of recent budget boosts for the department. In testimony before a congressional committee on justifying his budget request, Manger cited an elevated number of investigations into threats against members of Congress. "The current climate of threats has reached alarming levels," he told the committee in April. Capitol Police records show the number of threats launched against congressional members in 2024 exceeded 9,400. He added, "Social media and the internet provide a breeding ground for threats that — regardless of their nature — the department must investigate." Manger and the Capitol Police have also bolstered the department's operations outside of Washington, responding to potential threats in the hometowns of lawmakers. The department has a unique mission among police agencies, protecting elected leaders and securing the U.S. Capitol campus, which hosts over 3 million visitors each year. The Capitol is open to the public, and lawmakers are accessible to citizens. Manger has been critical of the pardons issued by President Trump to free Capitol rioters who beat, clubbed and gassed Capitol Police and other officers during the attack on the Capitol. He told CBS News that when Mr. Trump issued 1,500 pardons to the suspected and convicted rioters when he took office, it "was probably one of my worst days in this job." He also blasted conspiracy theories about Jan. 6 that continue to circulate on social media. "My folks were here on Jan. 6. They were part of what went on. They were assaulted," Manger said. "They were in fights. Many of them were injured. They know exactly what happened on Jan. 6. For somebody to make up some story that, 'Oh, it wasn't that bad,' — it is just not true." "What a chilling message to law enforcement, because we've got a job to do, and we don't care what the issue is," Manger continued. "We don't care what side of the coin you're on on any particular issue because we have a job to do, to maintain public order and to keep the peace." Rep. Joe Morelle, a New York Democrat who is the ranking member of the Committee on House Administration, said of Manger, "Since taking over at the department's hour of greatest need, he professionalized a force in need of steady leadership." A union representative for Capitol Police officers told CBS News, "Manpower is still an issue, as well as balancing work and family life for the rank and file officers, which continues to plague morale within the agency." As he prepares to leave the department, Manger was lauded by one of the former Capitol Police officers who responded to the Jan. 6 riot. Former officer Harry Dunn told CBS News, "He showed his love for country, his love for law enforcement and his continued dedication to public service."
