Latest news with #USSenate
New York Times
2 days ago
- Politics
- New York Times
Senator Padilla: The Trump Administration Handcuffed Me, but I Refuse to Stay Silent
Growing up in the northeast San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles in the 1980s and 90s, you know what can happen if you don't completely cooperate with law enforcement. Even so, it was jarring last week when, despite clearly identifying myself as a U.S. senator, I was forcibly removed from a news conference at which Kristi Noem, the secretary of homeland security, promised to 'liberate' Los Angeles from our democratically elected mayor and governor. As I was thrown to the ground, handcuffed and walked down a hall while officers refused to tell me why I was being detained, my mind raced with questions. Where are they taking me? Am I being arrested? What will a city already on edge from being militarized think when they see their senator has just been handcuffed? What will my wife and our three boys think? I imagined similar questions were running through the mind of Brad Lander, the New York City comptroller and mayoral candidate, this week when he, too, was handcuffed by federal agents for asking them whether they had a warrant to arrest a migrant he had locked arms with. Like me, Mr. Lander had the audacity to question the legitimacy of federal actions, only to find himself pushed against a wall and detained. If you watched what happened to me or Mr. Lander these past few days and thought this was about any one politician or altercation, you are missing the point. If this administration is willing to handcuff a U.S. senator, imagine what it is willing to do to any American who dares to speak up. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Bloomberg
2 days ago
- Business
- Bloomberg
Coinbase Launches Stablecoin Payments Service for E-Commerce
Coinbase Global Inc. is launching a platform designed to make stablecoins a go-to payment method for online transactions, a potentially big leap forward in the mainstream adoption of cryptocurrencies meant to track the US dollar. The announcement follows the passage of landmark stablecoin legislation in the US Senate on Tuesday and comes as large retailers have expressed interest in exploring stablecoins for use as payments in online transactions, a roughly $6 trillion industry. Such use of this type of cryptocurrency threatens to circumvent card networks Visa Inc. and Mastercard Inc. and other online payment services.
Fox News
3 days ago
- Politics
- Fox News
GOP Louisiana state senator says he's running for US Senate because incumbent Republican 'sucks'
Louisiana state Sen. Blake Miguez announced a U.S. Senate bid, declaring in a campaign video that he is "running for the U.S. Senate because Bill Cassidy sucks." The video highlights old footage of Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy, noting that he voted to convict President Donald Trump. Cassidy voted to convict after the House impeached Trump in the wake of the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol riot. However, the Senate vote happened after Trump left office, and it ultimately fell short of the threshold necessary for conviction. "Today, I'm announcing my candidacy for the United States Senate," Miguez declared in a Tuesday post on X that features the campaign video. "I'm running because the American Dream is worth fighting for - and DC phonies forget that. Bill Cassidy betrayed our state, our President, and our principles. "As your next Senator, I won't bend. I won't break. I'll stand with President Trump. And I'll never stop fighting to put America First. Bill Cassidy had his shot. He missed. I won't," the Republican state lawmaker's post reads. Fox News Digital has reached out to Cassidy's campaign for comment. Louisiana State Treasurer John Fleming, who is also targeting Cassidy for ouster, announced a U.S. Senate bid last year. The Bayou State's next U.S. Senate election will be held in 2026. Cassidy has served in the Senate since 2015. He previously served in the U.S. House of Representatives, and before that, in the Louisiana state Senate.
Fox News
3 days ago
- Politics
- Fox News
Thune warns Iran should return to negotiating table 'if they're smart'
FIRST ON FOX: Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., doesn't envision, nor want, the U.S. military becoming directly involved in the conflict between Israel and Iran, but that hinges on whether the Islamic Republic rejoins the negotiating table. "Dismantling Iran's nuclear program is what this is all about," Thune told Fox News Digital from his office in the Capitol. "And that can happen one of two ways. It can happen diplomatically — voluntarily — or can happen via force." Thune's comments come as questions and concerns swirl on Capitol Hill among lawmakers about whether the U.S. will take a bigger, more direct role in the burgeoning conflict in the Middle East. There are active conversations among senators about what role Congress should play in whether to thrust the U.S. into an armed conflict or if that power should be ceded to the president. "The Israelis may not have the military capability to do everything that's necessary," he continued. "If the Iranians are smart, they'll come to the table and negotiate this in a way in which they choose to end or disavow their nuclear program." Israel and Iran traded missile strikes for a fifth day following the Jewish State's late-night strike last Thursday, where critical infrastructure that would aid Iran in its pursuit of creating a nuclear weapon was damaged or destroyed. Notably, Israel has been unable to damage the heavily fortified Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency. Bipartisan resolutions requiring that Congress gets to weigh in and take a vote on going to war with Iran and disavowing an armed conflict entirely have circulated this week, while some lawmakers believe that the U.S. should go all in to snuff out Iran's nuclear capabilities and back up Israel as fighting rages. President Donald Trump has so far refused to say whether the U.S. would use direct military force to prevent Iran from creating or obtaining a nuclear weapon, and he has continued to urge Iranian leaders to negotiate a nuclear deal. Still, the president met in the White House's Situation Room on Tuesday with his National Security Team after leaving the G7 Summit in Canada early. Ahead of that meeting, he said on his social media platform, Truth Social, "We now have complete and total control of the skies over Iran." In that same post, he noted that the U.S. was aware of where Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was "hiding," but was not prepared to strike, "at least not for now." But Thune was more cautious, and contended that "we'll wait and see what they do." "I think right now, they're definitely on their heels," he said. "Their command and control has been taken out. Nobody knows who's really in charge." "We'll see. If they're smart, they'll come to the table." However, he hoped to see Iranians begin to rise up against the Ayatollah and believed that's when the "seeds of change" would begin to appear. He also noted that there are "a lot of things here that suggest to me, this may be that moment in time that we haven't seen since 1979," a reference to the Iranian Revolution that saw the overthrow of the monarchy in Iran and the subsequent creation of the Islamic Republic. Asked whether lawmakers would put forward a supplemental spending package to further aid Israel, Thune said, "We'll cross that bridge if and when we come to it." But he envisioned that if one were necessary, it would be dealt with after the budget reconciliation process, when lawmakers work to fund the government during fiscal 2026 appropriations. "I think, for right now, everybody is wishing the Israelis success and, again, hoping that the U.S. doesn't have to get further involved, but realizing what's at stake, and not only for Israel but for the region and the world," he said.
The Guardian
3 days ago
- Politics
- The Guardian
Ex-senator Bob Menendez arrives at prison to begin serving 11-year sentence
Bob Menendez arrived at a federal prison Tuesday to begin serving an 11-year sentence for accepting bribes of gold and cash and acting as an agent of Egypt. The New Jersey Democrat and former US senator has been mocked for the crimes as 'Gold Bar Bob', according to his own lawyer. The federal bureau of prisons confirmed that Menendez was in custody at the Schuylkill federal correctional institution in Minersville, Pennsylvania. The facility has a medium-security prison and a minimum-security prison camp. Given the white-collar nature of his crimes, it is likely he will end up in the camp. The prison is about 118 miles (190km) west of New York City. It's home to about 1,200 inmates, including ex-New York City organized crime boss James Coonan and former gas station owner Gurmeet Singh Dhinsa, whom the New York Post dubbed 'Gas-Station Gotti' for his ruthless, violent ways. Menendez, 71, maintains his innocence. Last week, a federal appeals court rejected his last-ditch effort to remain free on bail while he fights to get his bribery conviction overturned. A three-judge panel on the second US circuit court of appeals denied his bail motion. Pleading for leniency, Menendez told a judge at his sentencing in January: 'I am far from a perfect man. I have made more than my share of mistakes and bad decisions. I've done far more good than bad.' Menendez has also appeared to be angling for a pardon from Donald Trump, aligning himself with the Republican president's criticisms of the judicial system, particularly in New York City. 'This process is political and it's corrupted to the core,' Menendez told reporters after his January sentencing. 'I hope President Trump cleans up the cesspool and restores the integrity to the system.' In posts Tuesday on the social platform X that were later deleted, Menendez criticized prosecutors as politically motivated and opposed to his foreign policy views – and praised Trump for 'rising above the law fare'. Menendez resigned last year after he was convicted of selling his clout for bribes. FBI agents found $480,000 in cash in his home, some of it stuffed inside boots and jacket pockets, along with gold bars worth an estimated $150,000 and a luxury convertible in the garage. In exchange, prosecutors said, Menendez performed corrupt favors for New Jersey business owners, including protecting them from criminal investigations, helping in business deals with foreign powers and meeting with Egyptian intelligence officials before helping Egypt access $300m in US military aid. Menendez, who once chaired the Senate foreign relations committee, resigned a month after his conviction. He had been in the Senate since 2006. Two business owners were also convicted last year along with Menendez. His wife, Nadine Menendez, was convicted in April of teaming up with her husband to accept bribes from the business owners. Her sentencing is scheduled for 11 September. At his sentencing, Menendez's lawyers described how the son of Cuban immigrants emerged from poverty to become 'the epitome of the American Dream' – rising from mayor of Union City, New Jersey, to decades in Congress – before his conviction 'rendered him a national punchline'. 'Despite his decades of service, he is now known more widely as Gold Bar Bob,' the defense lawyer Adam Fee told the judge.
