For the second time in the history of the United States (US), hundreds of Muslims observing Ramzan broke their fast and offered Taraweeh prayers in New York City’s Times Square.
Taraweeh is part of the holy Quran that is recited every day during the month of Ramzan until its completion.
On Saturday night, March 25, the event was organised by Muslim social media influencer SQ, in collaboration with Muslims Giving Back and Droplets of Mercy.
At sunset, Quran reciters Faisal Latif and Faraj Hassan led prayers and people started breaking their fast with free iftar meals.
2,000 iftar meals were served to Muslims on the sidewalks of Times Square, the city’s busiest artery, then followed by hundreds of Muslims participating in Taraweeh prayers.
As per media reports, the aim of the event was to help non-Muslim New Yorkers learn how to celebrate Ramzan.
A projector also displayed verses from the holy Quran as they were recited, along with English translations.
Watch the video below
One of the organizers of the gathering, SQ shared a video on Instagram and wrote, “This Deen is HAQQ & I will never stops until Islam enters every home.”
“Taraweeh in Time Square is just the beginnning In Sha Allah, Jazzahkum Allahkhyr to EVERYONE who pulled up in the POOREST of weather conditions. Allah seen your hearts & chose you for this alhamdulillah. I know you all had a blast,” SQ added.
One of the social media blogger name Faduma took to Instagram and wrote, “Witnessed prayer in Time Square and to be frank many non-Muslims were in awe. Just standing and listening to the eords of Allah. Seen many smiles Alhamdulillah. Islam is a faith of unity and peace and proud to be part of the billions that share the same faith.”
At the end of the night, two people took the shahada and converted to Islam after hearing the recitation of the Quran.
For the first time in US history in 2022, Muslims perform Taraweeh prayers at New York Times Square.
Times Square is one of the largest commercial intersections, for tourists to enjoy their entertainment venues located in Manhattan, New York.
At a moment when many are looking to Hochul to unite Democrats in New York, fearing disaster in 2024, the governor is having the opposite effect. Progressives from New York City, who largely control the state Legislature, feel emboldened to push a left-leaning agenda after a decade of strong-arm tactics from ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo. And Hochul, long a moderate, is struggling to advance priorities that include tough-on-crime policies and making the state more affordable.
It’s a volatile mix that’s left the governor with limited political capital and her party as splintered as it has been in years.
“I wish she would listen to the voters and not the high rollers,” state Sen. Jessica Ramos (D-Queens), a leading progressive and chair of the Senate Labor Committee, said in an interview, adding that Hochul is being influenced by corporate interests who helped her raise a state record $50 million for her election.
Hochul still has the power to shape budget negotiations in coming days and weeks since she holds the purse strings ahead of the April 1 start of the fiscal year. New York lawmakers typically wrap most major legislative proposals into the state budget each year, so winning support for her agenda will be her highest priority as discussions wrap, likely in April if a deal isn’t reached in the next few days.
Hochul has struggled all year to get traction in the Legislature. She got rolled by Democrats in the state Senate last month when they resoundingly rejected her pick, Hector LaSalle, to be the state’s top judge — a first-of-its-kind rebuke by lawmakers who deemed him too moderate for their taste.
Hochul’s trying a new tactic this month by aligning herself with former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg, who is pumping $5 million into ads and mailers in lawmakers’ districts to boosther priorities. While the move will certainly put pressure on lawmakers worried about how their constituents will view the messages, it’s also serving to anger fellow Democrats who think the mailers cross a line.
“What’s she’s doing is weaponizing her identity and allowing billionaires to use her to continue the same old Albany politics,” Assemblymember Ron Kim (D-Queens) said at a news conference last week referencing Hochul’s status as the first woman governor.
Hochul appears ready to dig in on her priorities, looking to beat back opposition to toughening bail laws on violent suspects and making the high-cost state more affordable by forcing new housing in the suburbs.
She also wants to show that she’s got a firm grip on her office as she looks to set the tone at the Capitol for her four-year term and takes the reins of a divided state Democratic Party after succeeding Cuomo, who resigned in 2021.
Democratic values get “clouded” when “people from the socialist side” say they represent what the party stands for, Hochul said.
“My job is to bring it together, instill confidence in voters in the Democratic Party and go forth into a whole new era,” the governor said earlier this month, when asked by POLITICO about the party’s future.
Some New York City Democrats are still calling for the resignation of state party chairman Jay Jacobs, who lost all four House seats in his Long Island backyard and is fighting with liberals by blasting them as too far left for the state as a whole.
“There is a concerted, clear and definite unrelenting effort by folks from the far left to unseat moderate, progressive incumbents,” Jacobs said in a recent interview. “And it’s all about power.”
Jacobs said that, if the Legislature keeps pushing the party further left, it will alienate moderate voters in the suburbs and upstate — which, he said, was the reason Republicans flipped four House seats on Long Island, in the Hudson Valley and upstate.
“The people who abandoned the Democratic Party, for the most part, abandoned the Democratic Party because they felt that our party has moved too far to the left,” he continued. “The more we continue to do that, the more voters in these areas we will lose.”
So far, Hochul has stood by Jacobs, but his presence continues to irk liberals. Some groups said Hochul needs to make New York a progressive capital in the nation to counter Republicans in Washington and in red states.
“The governor in the last election struggled to communicate most directly with voters, and now this is a movement in the budget to say: message received,” said Sochie Nnaemeka, the director of the labor-backed Working Families Party.
Some Democrats said it’s important that the party find common ground heading into 2024, when all 26 House seats and 213 state legislative seats will be on the ballot again.
“We have to take back the House in 2024. We need to make Leader [Hakeem] Jeffries … Speaker Jeffries, and in order to do that, we have to figure out what didn’t go so great and what did well and how we do more of that,” Sen. Jamaal Bailey, the Bronx Democratic Party chairperson, said.
The tension at the Capitol is almost palpable. And it was apparent as soon as the six-month legislative session started in January.
“In a lot of areas, the governor was a drag on the ticket. That’s just a fact. So how much does that contribute to what we’re seeing now? I don’t know. I think the people who are most aggrieved aren’t here anymore. They lost,” said Sen. James Skoufis, a Hudson Valley Democrat and part of the conference’s more moderate faction.
“But it’s clear, regardless where it comes from, there is tension between a lot of the Legislature and the governor.”
How does it end up?
“There are two paths forward,” Skoufis surmised in the wake of the LaSalle rejection. “The place proverbially blows up for session, and the other is we hit a reset button. Obviously, I hope it’s the second.”
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )
Already, House Majority PAC, the Democratic Party’s main House-specific political action committee, is budgeting $45 million to compete in New York next cycle. And the group’s president, Mike Smith, firmly declared that “the path to a Democratic House Majority runs through New York.”
How able Democrats are in turning the ‘24 election cycle into a referendum on abortion policy will go a long way toward determining the party’s success at the ballot box. Advocates believe that Republicans may just play into their hands.
They believe they can spotlight a continued appetite for anti-abortion legislation in a GOP-led House, as well as a looming court case that could restrict abortion even in states where it is protected by state laws.
The House has already voted on one bill that would make it a felony to not provide medical assistance to an infant that survives an attempted abortion (which is already illegal), and it has promised a speedy vote on a second that would put stricter bans on federal funding for the procedure.
The newly elected Republicans from New York — Reps. Anthony D’Esposito, Mike Lawler, Marc Molinaro, George Santos, Nick LaLota, and Brandon Williams — all voted in favor of the first bill, which passed the House.
These members are all targets of the Democratic congressional campaigns spending group, House Majority PAC. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, chaired by Rep. Suzan DelBene (D-Wash.), has not yet released its target list.
D’Esposito, Molinaro, LaLota, and Williams did not respond to multiple requests for comment. Lawler’s office denied an interview request and he denied a request made in person. The National Republican Congressional Committee also declined to comment on this issue.
Abortion rights advocates are also anticipating that a federal judge will rescind the FDA’s approval of a popular abortion drug, in Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine v. FDA, significantly restricting access to abortion. The decision is still pending, but such a move would bring the issue to the fore for many voters, even in states with strong protections for abortion. Some national drugstore chains like Walgreens have voluntarily pulled the drug from their shelves in anticipation of a decision in the case.
That is just one component of the abortion access tug-of-war. Stitzlein, of NARAL, said while the FDA case is the current battle, he believes the anti-abortion movement will continue challenging access on other fronts.
“I remain convinced that there’s going to be a move to a national abortion ban by Republicans in the House and in the Senate. And nothing I’ve seen dissuades me of that,” said Rep. Joe Morelle (D-N.Y.), who represents an upstate battleground district, in an interview with POLITICO. “The protections that are offered in states like New York and California, if there’s a national abortion ban, won’t be a way to protect women anymore.”
Morelle, who’s race was considered a toss up last cycle, said he not only talked about his support for abortion access on the trail but made it a “centerpiece” of his campaign.
“Incumbents here, they’re going to have to make a decision about whether or not they’re going to adhere to the national agenda that has been established by, frankly, pretty extreme members of the Republican Party,” Morelle said. Or if “they’re going to represent the interests of people in their communities that are much more moderate.”
Advocates and Democratic lawmakers believe even the threat of a national ban will activate voters in New York in the same way the initial Dobbs decision did for voters in purple and red states, from Michigan to Kansas, in the midterms.
“This is an issue that’s not going away because Republicans are going to keep pushing the envelope and keep pushing the envelope,” House Majority PAC Executive Director Abby Curran Horrell said in an interview with POLITICO.
In 2024, Republicans in congressional races in reliably blue states will also be running alongside whomever ends up being the GOP presidential nominee. Nearly all the candidates have already declared support for abortion restrictions or bans.
Former President Donald Trump has said Republicans should have moderated their anti-abortion stance in the 2022 cycle, but he also takes credit for putting in place the Supreme Court justices who overturned Roe v. Wade. Former Vice President Mike Pence supports an outright national abortion ban. And Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is expected to sign a six-week abortion ban into law in his state.
“The fact that they will presumably support [the nominee] will be showing that they are objectively anti-choice,” said Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) about the frontline Republicans in New York. “Any anti-choice vote they make will obviously come back to bite them.”
If there’s any success in restricting access, Nadler said, “in New York, I think the Republicans are going to pay very dearly.”
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )
New York would be the first to take this step through legislative action; California and Washington have done so through building codes. An agreement has not been finalized to ensure passage, but the new restrictions are included in all three plans being discussed in Albany.
Supporters see the potential law as a national model that they hope can spur similar action by other states and the federal government to limit fossil fuel use in buildings, which are a major source of greenhouse gas emissions contributing to climate change.
“All eyes are on us and a lot of other states are looking to what New York does,” said Pat McClellan, policy director at the New York League of Conservation Voters. “If we prove it can be done and we have the political will to do this, it’s going to open the floodgates for other states to take action.”
Republicans across the nation have stoked anger about proposals targeting gas stoves after a federal official said the Consumer Product Safety Commission should consider a ban. In Florida, Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis urged lawmakers to approve a tax exemption for gas stoves and declared federal officials aren’t “taking our gas stoves away from us.”
In New York, Hochul hasn’t proposed a measure to ban the sale of new gas stoves for existing buildings, just new buildings. New York’s climate plan, however, backs such a step in the future.
All three proposals being considered in New York — the ones from the Assembly, Senate and governor — have some exemptions, including for emergency back-up generators, hospitals, laundromats and commercial kitchens.
The measures would continue to allow gas stoves in new restaurants, but would ultimately block them in residential and most other new buildings. Details would be worked out by the state’s building codes council.
The proposals face opposition from fossil fuel companies, business groups and homebuilders. Some upstate Democratic lawmakers have concerns about the plan and are sensitive to questions from their constituents about the perceived cost and reliability of electric heating options.
“I would prefer that we incentivize electric buildings, either through tax credits or other proposals, rather than forcing it as an issue because there’s a lot of concern and angst in particular in western New York,” said Assemblymember Monica Wallace (D-Lancaster). “We shouldn’t necessarily ban people from pursuing other options if that’s what they want.”
New York’s climate law mandates steep emissions reductions in the coming years with a goal of net-zero by 2050. A ban on burning fossil fuels in new buildings is recommended by the state’s climate plan that was developed over a multiyear process and approved last December.
New York City has already enacted a ban on fossil fuel combustion equipment including stoves, with exemptions for restaurants and other specific uses, in most new buildings under seven stories starting next year and in 2027 for taller buildings.
The proposed dates for the statewide new requirement differ, as do the height of the buildings that would be captured. The earliest date backed by the state Senate is the beginning of 2025 for residential and buildings below seven stories. Hochul and the Assembly backed banning gas in new homes starting in 2026.
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )
A spokeswoman for the district attorney’s office declined to comment.
Daniels’ meeting with prosecutors comes after a flurry of activity signaling an indictment of the former president is likely imminent.
Earlier this week, the grand jury examining evidence in the inquiry heard from Trump’s one-time attorney Michael Cohen, he confirmed to POLITICO. Cohen facilitated the payment to Daniels and has said in court that he paid hush money to Trump’s accuser “in coordination with and at the direction of” the former president. Trump has denied the Daniels affair.
And an attorney for Trump, Joe Tacopina, said prosecutors had offered the former president an opportunity to go before the grand jury, but that Trump had no plans to do so. Prosecutors typically offer a potential defendant the chance to speak to the grand jury near the conclusion of their inquiry.
Prosecutors are weighing a felony charge against Trump related to how his real estate company, the Trump Organization, reimbursed Cohen for the $130,000 payment. Federal prosecutors, who charged Cohen in a separate case in 2018, said the firm falsely recorded the reimbursement payments as legal expenses. Cohen pleaded guilty in that case.
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )
Krueger’s experience is just one small piece of a fiercely competitive process involving the most powerful politicians in New York. Those officials will soon have a hand in deciding who will win the opportunity to build what could become one of the most expensive — and profitable — casinos on Earth. The competitors seem to be sparing no expense to influence anyone and everyone with the ability to boost their bids.
Lobbying firms behind 10 New York City metro area casino proposals have made at least $7.2 million over the past 14 months speed dialing decision-makers on behalf of gaming operators like Bally’s and Caesars and their real estate partners, according to a POLITICO analysis of public records. Some even worked for competing clients.
And that is a fraction of the money being spent. The contestants are shelling out unreported sums for consulting, political strategy and public relations — contracts that are not required to be made public, unlike lobbying deals. Good government groups worry the mix of big money, fierce competition and political signoff creates a breeding ground for corruption.
“It seems like every lobbyist in town is eventually going to have a casino client,” Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine said in an interview. “Even one of these bids will probably be amongst the hardest-fought public campaigns, and to have ten happening at the same time in New York City is just totally unprecedented. I don’t think New York City has ever seen anything like what we’re about to witness as the bids heat up.”
The state opened the bidding process in January to operate three downstate licenses. Two existing “racinos” in Queens and Yonkers are considered frontrunners for two of the licenses to expand their limited operations, with another eight, and potentially more, competing for the likely one remaining permit. Each bidder is offering the state at least $500 million — a mandatory entry fee for access to the nation’s largest untapped gaming market. The selection process could last several years.
For now, it’s the lobbyists who are cashing in.
The Malaysian-based Genting Group has spent at least $2.7 million on firms to lobby for the expansion of the Resorts World facility it operates at the Aqueduct Race Track in Queens since last January — the most any bidder has shelled out, according to reports with the state’s Commission on Ethics and Lobbying in Government.
Genting is well-positioned: key Queens politicians have declared their support and unionized workers in the politically-influential Hotel and Gaming Trades Council are already employed at Resorts World and would likely benefit from its expansion. Competitors consider Genting and MGM Resorts International, which runs a gaming site in Yonkers, likely to win two of the licenses, though it’s not guaranteed. That leaves a third license for one of the other bidders.
One of Genting’s lobbyists, Moonshot Strategies — which launched after its co-founders backed Eric Adams’ mayoral campaign — has made $350,000 on the process, records show. Adams is among the elected officials with input in the selection process, but does not have the final say.
Moonshot’s Jason Ortiz and Jenny Sedlis, who raised $7 million to support Adams’ 2021 election, are also lobbying for a dueling casino project from New York Mets owner Steve Cohen, and have profited from two others — a proposal from the Bally’s Corporation in the Bronx and an existing Rivers Casino & Resort in Schenectady.
Moonshot has made $182,000 lobbying for Cohen since last January, according to public records. Cohen is expected to partner with Hard Rock International on the prospective casino next to Citi Field.
They’re one of seven firms lobbying for Cohen, who has spent at least $685,390 trying to win over politicians and other officials with sway over the city’s nascent gambling industry.
Other firms working for Cohen include Hollis Public Affairs and Dickinson & Avella, which previously lobbied for Genting. Hard Rock, which would operate the prospective casino, has hired Actum LLC — which is also doing public relations for Genting — and Green Book Strategies. Tusk Strategies is also consulting on the project.
The vast lobbying apparatus behind the different bids has touched nearly every conceivable political and governmental player that would be involved in reviewing the proposals or evaluating local investments bidders might make to win support. The firms behind Cohen’s bid, for example, have lobbied members of the state gaming commission, numerous state legislators and City Council members, top aides to Mayor Eric Adams, Queens Borough President Donovan Richards, Council Speaker Adrienne Adams, the Department of City Planning, the Department of Parks and Recreation and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.
“Massive amounts of money are pouring into the political system to try to influence these siting decisions. It’s an absolute petri dish for pay-to-play corruption and influence peddling,” said John Kaehny, executive director at the watchdog group Reinvent Albany.
To be sure, no one has suggested corruption has taken place as part of the ongoing process in New York, but the legalization of casinos in other states has often presaged pay-to-play scandals.
In Louisiana, which sanctioned riverboat gambling in 1991, former Gov. Edwin Edwards went to jail about a decade later for racketeering, conspiracy and extortion related to the awarding of licenses. In Alabama, four state senators, three lobbyists and two casino owners were indicted in 2010 for taking part in a scheme to trade campaign donations for favorable votes on a bill to allow gambling. In Illinois, impeached Gov. Rod Blagojevich was convicted in 2011 of crimes including an attempt to extort a horse-racing track owner in return for his signing a bill favored by the racetrack industry.
Back in New York, Ortiz and Sedlis, while lobbying for Cohen, also made $80,000 in 2022 working for a competing bid from Bally’s, which announced plans last month for a casino on former President Donald Trump’s eponymous Bronx golf course. The contract lasts through the end of March, according to records, but Ortiz said Moonshot terminated it at the end of February.
Moonshot also has a contract with Rivers Casino & Resort in Schenectady, but Ortiz said they will not advise the company on its potential plans to bid on a downstate license. He did not comment further on the arrangement.
Moonshot is hardly alone in double-dipping.
Peter Ward, who ran the hotel workers union before founding his own lobbying firm, is representing both Genting and Bally’s. Genting has paid Ward Strategies $336,000 since last January while Bally’s has shelled out $70,000.
Albany Strategic Advisors, a lobbying firm based in the state capital, has made $420,000 on Genting’s bid and $140,000 on Bally’s during the same time frame.
Neal Kwatra — who spearheaded the robust political operation of the hotel workers union before founding Metropolitan Public Strategies — is also working on both proposals, he confirmed. His earnings are not made public since he is consulting on strategy rather than lobbying elected officials.
Kwatra, Ward and Allison Lee, the head of Albany Strategic Advisors, have worked for Genting for years preceding the bidding process. They all declined to comment.
Lobbying firm Bolton St. Johns has made $120,000 from Genting, while also working for Caesars Entertainment on a bid to open a casino in Manhattan. The Reno-based gambling magnate is partnering with the city’s top commercial landlord — SL Green — and Jay-Z’s Roc Nation to create a casino with a swank, balcony-style bar overlooking Times Square.
Backers of the Caesars proposal are paying four other firms: lobbying companies Connective Strategies and Ostroff Associates, consulting giant BerlinRosen, and Oaktree Solutions, the consulting firm run by Frank Carone, City Hall’s recently-departed chief of staff. So far the bidders have spent at least $736,871 trying to persuade Manhattan politicians like Krueger, who are skeptical about plans for a casino in their borough.
Despite Manhattan politicians’ consternation over gambling, SL Green has stiff competition.
The Related Companies — one of the biggest developers in the country, and the force behind Manhattan’s Hudson Yards — retained Tonio Burgos & Associates to lobby alongside an in-house team including executive Charles John O’Byrne on a proposal its CEO has called “the highest-end casino probably ever built.”
The proposed casino on the far west side of Manhattan would be housed within a 1,500-room resort boasting 20 restaurants, a nightclub and theater.
Public records show Related has paid the Burgos firm $140,000 so far, and its Las Vegas-based partner, Wynn Resorts, has spent $192,000 on lobbyists, including Mercury Public Affairs and Empire Consulting Group. Related also has a robust in-house lobbying operation that isn’t fully captured in public records.
“Casino operators have hired some of the best in the business up in Albany; it’s understandable given how much money is at stake,” said state Sen. Brad Hoylman, whose district includes Hudson Yards and who has voiced skepticism on the prospect of a casino in the area. “In my mind, no amount of hard sell from a lobbyist or a casino operator is going to trump the local opinion of my communities, where several of these casinos have been slated.”
But the hard sell is sometimes too tempting for an influence-peddler to turn down.
Douglas Walker, an economist at the College of Charleston, authored a 2013 paper linking casino legalization to political corruption. He said one contributor is the highly competitive process around winning just a handful of operating licenses, like the one New York has adopted.
“Any time you have a situation where there’s restricted supply and you need the blessing of politicians or bureaucrats, there’s potential for corruption,” Walker said in an interview. “The more valuable the right to operate, the more you would expect those things to go on.”
Just how valuable? A casino in New York City could generate as much as $2 billion in revenue annually, and $600 million in operating profit, according to the commercial real estate services firm CBRE.
Walker noted campaign contributions to politicians and money spent on lobbying by casino operators increased dramatically after commercial casinos expanded beyond Las Vegas and Atlantic City in the 1990s. While lobbying and donating to politicians is not illegal, “Any time you see that, if there are legal contributions to politicians, there’s also the potential that there’s stuff going on under the table,” he added.
As for lobbying by casino bidders in New York, the total spend likely exceeds reports on file with the state’s ethics watchdog, the Commission on Ethics and Lobbying in Government, Kaehny said. “Maybe half of all the activity is being captured by these disclosures because a lot of people just don’t want to disclose what they’re doing and it’s very unlikely they’ll get in trouble for it,” he added.
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )
Walgreens, the nation’s second-largest pharmacy chain and owner of New York-based Duane Reade, confirmed last week that it would not dispense abortion pills either by mail or at brick-and-mortar locations in several states where they remain legal.
The company announced the decision after nearly two dozen Republican state attorneys general threatened legal action if it began distributing the drugs, which have become the most popular method of ending a pregnancy in the U.S.
“We urge you not to allow these tactics to intimidate you, and to commit to making this critical medication available as widely as possible, based on a fair and unbiased interpretation of state and federal law,” Hochul and James wrote in their letter to the pharmacy executives.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom said Wednesday that the state would not renew a $54 million contract with Walgreens in response to the company’s decision. A renewal of the contract, under which Walgreens provides medications to California inmates, was scheduled to take effect May 1.
New York state does not appear to have any active contracts with Walgreens, according to a review of records with the state comptroller’s office.
The FDA announced in January that it would allow retail pharmacies to dispense the abortion pill mifepristone to pregnant people with a prescription, following the release of new data on the drugs’ safety and efficacy. Before then, patients had to get the medication directly from a doctor.
Under the new policy, pharmacies must obtain certification to dispense the medication. Walgreens has said it is working on getting certified in some states, which the company declined to name, but is not yet distributing the pills anywhere.
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But their public criticisms haven’t insulated them from daily questions about his record, particularly as Democrats look to tie them to him. Their frustration, simmering for two months as negative Santos headlines build up, is close to boiling over.
“He is a bludgeoning tool the Democrats are using without regard for truth. They’re lying about us in relationship to him,” Rep. Marc Molinaro (R-N.Y.) said in an interview. “And he’s caused us every day to have to respond to his very existence in the House of Representatives, instead of giving 100 percent of our time to the important issues that Americans and the people who sent us to Washington care about.”
“Every time that we’re having a conversation we seem to be talking about George Santos,” echoed Rep. Anthony D’Esposito (R-N.Y.).
The anti-Santos Republicans’ stand is a lonely one. Most others in their conference prefer to spurn Santos in more subtle ways that don’t call for forcing him out, which would tee up a special election in a battleground district that could chip at their four-vote majority. But New York’s newest House Republicans assumed war footing for a reason: Mere months after the Empire State gave the GOP its fattest gains of an otherwise lackluster midterms, they say Santos is making their own donors squeamish and their voters suspicious.
“At a minimum, donors who gave to him want to spend time on the phone speaking about what’s the latest and how can we hold him accountable. And then others are scared off,” said first-term Rep. Nick LaLota (R-N.Y.).
“I guess some of them are embarrassed that they are now associated with this scam,” LaLota added. “And they’re not so eager to pick up the phone when a politician is asking for their support again — because the last time they did it, their name lined up in a paper associated with probably the most terrible person in Long Island politics.”
Santos, who’s now formally under investigation by the House Ethics Committee, has faced harsh scrutiny after revelations he lied about core components of his educational and professional background. In a Monday interview, he dismissed the idea that his problems might affect his colleagues.
“I don’t believe it. I think that’s just platitudes. And they’re making stuff up as they go just to find excuses to do what they’re doing,” Santos said of his fellow New York Republicans’ attacks. “The reality is simple: I was never a part of the little boys’ club, and they hated me from the moment I got the nomination to the moment I got elected.”
Adding to the House GOP’s woeful New York state of mind, House Democrats’ largest super PAC announced last month a $45 million program designed to claw back an advantage there next fall. The PAC is likely to spend part of that cash trying to link Santos to New York’s four most electorally vulnerable new House Republicans: Reps. Mike Lawler, Brandon Williams, D’Esposito and Molinaro.
If that quartet is hoping Santos might embrace the standard practice for scandal-plagued members, avoiding the media and keeping his head down, they’re going to be disappointed.
“They can’t control me,” Santos said of his fellow in-state Republicans. “So the party bosses stick their loyalists on me, and that’s what you’re seeing. And the problem is that the ones at the top of the mountain screaming for … righteousness and ethical morality are amongst some of the most corrupt people in politics.”
After D’Esposito spearheaded a bill clearly aimed at Santos, designed to prevent members convicted of certain offenses from then profiting off their story in the form of book deals, paid speeches, or movie and TV contracts, the Long Islander pushed back on Twitter.
“Coming from a man who lost his NYPD issued GUN while he was DJ’ing at a party! Then assaulted a 72 year old senior WOMEN,” Santos wrote last week about D’Esposito, before deleting his post. “You sir are the example of a bad cop who give cops a bad name. Spare me.”
Santos appeared to be citing, in part, a New York Daily News report that found D’Esposito had been docked vacation days on two separate occasions, including once in 2015 for having his firearm stolen out of his vehicle and another time in 2007 after working as a DJ and serving alcohol “without authority or permission to do so.” Santos in his tweet conflated the two. Democrats also sought to use that story against D’Esposito during last year’s midterms.
Asked if he saw any dramatic irony in the corruption allegations he shared, given his own record, Santos replied that he hasn’t been convicted of any offenses and has “never been punished or censured.” While he has admitted to lying about his education as well as other fabrications, Santos has danced around other questions about his past.
What Santos has managed to do: generate more camaraderie among his fellow New York Republicans, particularly the first-term ones. LaLota quipped that that the group now operates like “NATO members” who make joint decisions.
And Santos’ decision to punch back at D’Esposito sparked a fresh wave of backlash.
“Anthony risked everything to serve the people of New York with honor and courage. He has more integrity in his pinky than George Santo has in his entire body,” Rep. Brandon Williams (R-N.Y.) said in a statement to POLITICO last week. “George disgraces the halls of Congress and is stain on the soul of our nation.”
D’Esposito plans to hold a press conference about his anti-Santos bill on Tuesday morning.
Meanwhile, as Santos vows to be “100 percent compliant, to clear my name” with the ethics committee, he’s also asking that “the same scrutiny” fall on his fellow Republicans — and clearly wants to use the media attention he’s getting to further that cause.
But his GOP colleagues say that the more he talks, the bigger problems he generates.
“He should focus on the investigations that are underway and at least show some remorse. And he’s not, and that is what is so troubling,” Molinaro said.
As far as GOP leadership is concerned, New York infighting isn’t helping alleviate the constant headache that Santos has become.
When House Republican leaders started whipping support in January to boot Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) from the Foreign Affairs Committee, a key promise of Speaker Kevin McCarthy, the four first-term New York Republicans warned leadership that if Democrats proposed an amendment that stripped Santos from his committees, they would support it — likely giving the idea enough votes to pass, according to a Republican with knowledge of the discussion, who requested anonymity to speak candidly about sensitive conversations.
Santos and McCarthy ultimately resolved the issue in private, meeting the day before the Omar vote. Hours later, Santos informed his colleagues he’d be stepping down from his committees while he faced investigations, making the Omar vote an easier lift.
The New York tumult only compounds a disappointing start to this Congress for the state’s Republicans, who’d hoped to celebrate their success in helping deliver the GOP majority from a blue stronghold. And it’s clear that they blame Santos for dimming their shine.
Constituents “want answers to troubling questions about why he is still in Congress,” LaLota added. “They deserve those answers.”
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis speaks to guests at the Republican Jewish Coalition Annual Leadership Meeting on November 19, 2022 in Las Vegas, Nevada. | Scott Olson/Getty Images
NEW YORK — Florida governor and potential Republican presidential candidate Ron DeSantis plans to travel to New York City for a law enforcement event Monday, according to a copy of an invitation obtained by POLITICO.
DeSantis, who is expected to declare his candidacy in the spring, is listed as a “special guest for a discussion on protecting Law and Order in New York,” according to the email. The event will take place early Monday morning, coinciding with the federal Presidents Day holiday.
Doors will open at 7:30 a.m. at the Privé catering hall on the South Shore of Staten Island — one of the few Republican bastions in the otherwise Democratic stronghold of New York City. Staten Island is the only one of the city’s five boroughs to support former President Donald Trump in both 2016 and 2020. It is a suburban enclave in a city of mass transit, congestion and skyscrapers, and is home to many police officers and firefighters who tend to back GOP candidates.
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#Ahead #potential #presidential #bid #DeSantis #heads #York #law #enforcement #event
( With inputs from : www.politico.com )
A photograph of three men holding ‘pilot licence’ with a picture of helicopter embossed on certificate has gone viral on social media. The three bare-footed men wearing traditional Afghani attire can be seen holding certificates in their hands while sitting in an office. A journalist Asaad Sam Hanna shared it on Twitter. He wrote, “Taliban grants flight certificates to the first three pilots in Afghanistan”.
Speaking to The Fauxy, Afghanistan journalist Kabul Khan said “Their final exam happened exactly like Guru Dronacharya took exams of Pandava and asked them if they could see a bird sitting on the tree. However, the result was different in this case. Those who answered yes to – if they could see the skyscrapers while flying above NewYork – were rejected and only these three who didn’t see the skyscrapers were selected“.
Reportedly, the pilots are trained only for take off and mid air fly and not landing so that they perfectly deliver on their mission. Details awaited.
[ Disclaimer: With inputs from The Fauxy, an entertainment portal. The content is purely for entertainment purpose and readers are advised not to confuse the articles as genuine and true, these Articles are Fictitious meant only for entertainment purposes. ]
