Elon Musk gestures as he arrives for a state dinner hosted by Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani in honor of President Donald Trump at Lusail Palace in Doha, Qatar, Wednesday, May 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)2025-05-20T14:40:23Z WASHINGTON (AP) Elon Musk, the richest person in the world and a key financial supporter of President Donald Trump, said Tuesday that hell be spending a lot less on political campaigns, a reversal that could be a setback for Republicans ahead of next years midterm elections. Musk disclosed his decision via videoconference during a Bloomberg forum in Doha, Qatar. It speaks to his possible disenchantment with politics after his tumultuous tenure as Trumps pick to lead the newly created Department of Government Efficiency, which has fallen far short of its goals for reducing federal spending. Musk has scaled back his government role to spend more time at his businesses, including Tesla, which have seen intense blowback. In terms of political spending Im going to do a lot less in the future, Musk said. Asked why, he responded that I think Ive done enough. Musks statement marks a reversal of the course he had set during the 2024 campaign when he was among the very top political spenders and immediately after.Musk spent at least $250 million supporting Trump in the presidential campaign, as the main contributor to America PAC, a super PAC that was active in advertising and funding door-to-door canvassing groups across the seven most-competitive states in the November presidential election. Musk relished in the publicity, campaigning alongside Trump at times and headlining some of his own campaign rallies on the GOP nominees behalf. And while he took credit for helping Trump return to the White House, Musk suffered a public defeat in April, after he became deeply involved in a Wisconsin Supreme Court campaign. Musk-backed groups America PAC and Rebuilding Americas Future spent more than $21 million on the April 1 election in support of the Republican-backed candidate Brad Schimel. But Schimels defeat by 10 percentage points in Wisconsin, a state Trump carried just five months earlier, was a blow to Musk, who campaigned for Schimel in Green Bay the weekend before the election and had also pledged to enforce Trumps agenda in the 2026 midterm elections. A week after Trumps November victory, Musk said the political action committees he supported would play a significant role in primaries, adding later that he might help finance Republican challengers to GOP members of Congress who did not support Trumps nominees. How else? There is no other way, Musk wrote on X, which he rebranded after purchasing Twitter, in response to the suggestion of supporting intraparty challenges.An adviser to Musks PACs declined to comment Tuesday. Once Trump took office, Musk held a prominent role as an adviser and leader of DOGE. He and his acolytes in the department fanned out widely across the federal government to enact deep cuts to the workforce and spending, in some cases seeking to shutter entire agencies altogether.DOGE has pushed to fire tens of thousands of workers in downsizing at agencies, ranging from the IRS to Health and Human Services, and pressured tens of thousands more to take buyout and early retirement offers. And they sought to shut down agencies such as the U.S. Agency for International Development and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. With backing from DOGE, agencies have cancelled tens of thousands of government contracts and grants that they say do not align with the administrations priorities. Some of those moves were done so quickly that they had to be reversed after pushback or court rulings finding that they were illegal.Critics say it amounts to a reckless chain-saw approach that could destroy much of the nations apolitical civil service, impair services for vulnerable populations, and halt critical research.DOGE claims on its Wall of Receipts it has saved an estimated $170 billion, but those savings numbers have been shown to be flawed and inflated in many cases.Musks role prompted intense pushback, including protests at his electric vehicle company, Tesla. Speaking to reporters earlier this month as he prepared to step back from DOGE, Musk noted the backlash. Being attacked relentlessly is not super fun, he said. Seeing cars burning is not fun, he added, referring to the instances of Tesla cars being smashed or set on fire.Musks announced intention to step back from political spending comes during multiple new business opportunities, including a deal to host the latest versions of his Grok artificial intelligence chatbot on Microsofts data centers.Meanwhile, his brain-computer interface company Neuralink is planning to implant its experimental devices in dozens more people and his electric-vehicle company Tesla is developing a humanoid robot that Musk hopes to one day send to Mars.Musk could change his mind about campaign spending. The 2026 midterm campaigns are just getting off the ground, while some candidates have not yet announced their candidacy for elections that remain 18 months away. But as of Tuesday, Musk said he did not expect to. Well, if I see a reason to do political spending in the future, I will do it, Musk said. I do not currently see a reason. Beaumont reported from Des Moines, Iowa. Foley reported from Iowa City, Iowa. Ali Swenson and Jill Colvin in New York City contributed to this report. CHRIS MEGERIAN Megerian covers the White House for The Associated Press. He previously wrote about the Russia investigation, climate change, law enforcement and politics in California and New Jersey. twitter mailto THOMAS BEAUMONT Beaumont covers national politics for The Associated Press. He is based in Des Moines, Iowa. twitter mailto RYAN J. FOLEY Foley covers national news for The Associated Press and is based in Iowa City, Iowa. A 21-year AP veteran, he was part of the AP team honored as a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in investigative reporting for the 2024 series, Lethal Restraint. twitter mailto

Potato chips are displayed in pharmacy Duane Reade by Walgreens, Thursday, March 25, 2021, in New York. Walgreens reports earnings March 31, 2021. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, file)2025-05-20T18:00:57Z Molecules in blood and urine may reveal how much energy a person consumes from ultraprocessed foods, a key step to understanding the impact of the products that make up nearly 60% of the American diet, a new study finds.Its the first time that scientists have identified biological markers that can indicate higher or lower intake of the foods, which are linked to a host of health problems, said Erikka Loftfield, a National Cancer Institute researcher who led the study published Tuesday in the journal PLOS Medicine.It can potentially give us some clues as to what the underlying biology might be between an ultraprocessed food association and a health outcome, Loftfield said.Ultraprocessed foods sugary cereals, sodas, chips, frozen pizzas and more are products created through industrial processes with ingredients such as additives, colors and preservatives not found in home kitchens. Theyre ubiquitous in the U.S. and elsewhere, but studying their health impacts is hard because its difficult to accurately track what people eat. Typical nutrition studies rely on recall: asking people what they ate during a certain period. But such reports are notoriously unreliable because people dont remember everything they ate, or they record it inaccurately. Theres a need for both a more objective measure and potentially also a more accurate measure, Loftfield explained. To create the new scores, Loftfield and her colleagues examined data from an existing study of more than 1,000 older U.S. adults who were AARP members. More than 700 of them had provided blood and urine samples, as well as detailed dietary recall reports, collected over a year.The scientists found that hundreds of metabolites products of digestion and other processes corresponded to the percentage of energy a person consumes from ultraprocessed foods. From those, they devised a score of 28 blood markers and up to 33 urine markers that reliably predicted ultraprocessed food intake in people consuming typical diets. We found this signature that was sort of predictive of this dietary pattern thats high in ultraprocessed food and not just a specific food item here and there, she said.A few of the markers, notably two amino acids and a carbohydrate, showed up at least 60 times out of 100 testing iterations. One marker showed a potential link between a diet high in ultraprocessed foods and type 2 diabetes, the study found.To confirm the findings, Loftfield measured the scoring tool with participants in a carefully controlled 2019 National Institutes of Health study of ultraprocessed foods.In that study, 20 adults went to live for a month at an NIH center. They received diets of ultraprocessed and unprocessed foods matched for calories, sugar, fat, fiber and macronutrients for two weeks each and were told to eat as much as they liked.Loftfields team found that they could use the metabolite scores to tell when the individual participants were eating a lot of ultraprocessed foods and when they werent eating those foods. The results suggested the markers were valid at the individual level, Loftfield said.Its still early research, but identifying blood and urine markers to predict ultraprocessed foods consumption is a major scientific advance, said Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian, director of the Food Is Medicine Institute at Tufts University, who was not involved in the study.With more research, these metabolic signatures can begin to untangle the biologic pathways and harms of UPF and also differences in health effects of specific UPF food groups, processing methods and additives, he said.Loftfield said she hopes to apply the tool to existing studies where blood and urine samples are available to track, for instance, the effect of consuming ultraprocessed foods on cancer risk.At a time when support for government research is being cut, funding remains uncertain.Theres a lot of interest across the board scientifically, public interest, political interest in the question of: Does ultraprocessed food impact health and, if so, how? she said. How can we fund the studies that need to be done to answer these questions in a timely way?___The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institutes Science and Educational Media Group and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content. JONEL ALECCIA Aleccia covers food and nutrition at The Associated Press. She is based in Southern California. twitter mailto

Secretary of State Marco Rubio testifies before the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations hearing to examine the President's proposed budget request for fiscal year 2026 for the Department of State on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, May 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)2025-05-20T17:12:26Z WASHINGTON (AP) Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Democratic senators sparred Tuesday over the Trump administrations foreign policies, ranging from Ukraine and Russia to the Middle East, Latin America, the slashing of the U.S. foreign assistance budget and refugee admissions.At a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing, his first since being confirmed on the first day of the President Donald Trumps inauguration. Rubio defended the administrations decisions to his former colleagues. He said America is back and claimed four months of foreign-policy achievements, even as many of them remain frustratingly inconclusive. Among them, the resumption of nuclear talks with Iran, efforts to bring Russia and Ukraine into peace talks and efforts to end to the war in Gaza between Israel and Hamas.He praised agreements with El Salvador and other Latin American countries to accept migrant deportees, saying secure borders, safe communities and zero tolerance for criminal cartels are once again the guiding principles of our foreign policy. He also rejected assertions that massive cuts to his departments budget would hurt Americas standing abroad. Instead, he said the cuts would actually improve American status and the U.S. reputation internationally. Hearing opens with a joke, then turns seriousCommittee Chairman Jim Risch opened the hearing with praise for Trumps changes and spending cuts and welcomed what he called the administrations promising nuclear talks with Iran. Risch also noted what he jokingly called modest disagreement with Democratic lawmakers, who used Tuesdays hearing to confront Rubio about Trump administration moves they say are weakening U.S. influence globally.Yet, Democrats on the committee, including ranking member Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, Chris Murphy of Connecticut, Tim Kaine of Virginia, and Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, took sharp issue with Rubios presentation.Shaheen argued that the Trump administration has eviscerated six decades of foreign-policy investments and given China openings around the world.I urge you to stand up to the extremists of the administration, Shaheen said. Other Democrats excoriated the administration for its suspension of the refugee admissions program, particularly while allowing white Afrikaners from South Africa to enter the country. Contentiousness over white South Africans entering the countryIn two particularly contentious exchanges, Kaine and Van Hollen demanded answers on the decision to suspend overall refugee admissions but to exempt Afrikaners based on what they called specious claims that they have been subjected to massive discrimination by the South African government. Rubio gave no ground.The United States has a right to pick and choose who we allow into the United States, he said. If there is a subset of people that are easier to vet, who we have a better understanding of who they are and what theyre going to do when they come here, theyre going to receive preference.He added: There are a lot of sad stories around the world, millions and millions of people around the world. Its heartbreaking, but we cannot assume millions and millions of people around the world. No country can. On the Middle East, Rubio said the administration has continued to push ahead with attempts to broker a ceasefire in Gaza and to promote stability in Syria.He stressed the importance of U.S. engagement with Syria, saying that otherwise, he fears the interim government there could be weeks or months away from a potential collapse and a full-scale civil war of epic proportions.Rubios comments addressed Trumps pledge to lift sanctions on Syrias new transitional government, which is led by a former militant chief who led the overthrow of the countrys longtime oppressive leader, Bashar Assad, late last year. ELLEN KNICKMEYER Knickmeyer covers foreign policy and national security for The Associated Press. She is based in Washington, D.C. twitter

Jessica Mann arrives at court before Harvey Weinstein's retrial in Manhattan on Tuesday, May 20, 2025 in New York. (Curtis Means/Pool Photo via AP)2025-05-20T18:32:45Z NEW YORK (AP) A key witness stared down Harvey Weinstein and pointed sharply at him as she left court in sobs Tuesday, marking one of the most heated moments of the former studio boss sex crimes retrial. The confrontational moment came after Jessica Mann described Weinstein grabbing, dragging, forcefully undressing and raping her in a Beverly Hills, California, hotel room around the beginning of 2014, after she told him she was dating someone else. You owe me one more time! Weinstein bellowed, according to Mann, who wiped her eyes and took heaving breaths as she testified. Weinstein who denies ever raping or sexually assaulting anyone briefly shook his head as he watched from the defense table. After Mann finished her narrative, she continued crying and didnt answer when a prosecutor asked whether she needed a break. Judge Curtis Farber called for one. When Mann passed the defense table on her way out, she turned toward the seated Weinstein, aimed a finger at her eyes and then at him. It wasnt clear how many jurors saw the gesture, and Mann didnt respond to a question outside court about what she meant to convey. After they left, Weinstein lawyer Arthur Aidala made the latest of more than a half-dozen requests for a mistrial. He cited Manns gesticulation, questioned her displays of emotion and complained that she shouldnt have been asked about the alleged Los Angeles rape, as Weinstein isnt actually charged with it. The Oscar-winning producer is charged with raping Mann on another occasion, in 2013 in New York, and forcing oral sex on two other women separately in 2006. He has pleaded not guilty to all the charges.Farber denied the mistrial request. He ruled before the trial that Mann and the other two women could put the charges in the context of their other interactions with Weinstein, including other times when he allegedly made unwanted advances. As for Manns gesture, I cant control what people do in the courtroom nor what jurors may make of it, Farber said, suggesting that Mann be told not to make any more such moves. The judge noted that he had also seen Weinstein react visibly and mutter at times during the trial. Mann returned to the witness stand without looking at Weinstein, who watched her stone-faced. She resumed testifying through an edgy morning. This is my response! she interjected at one point when Aidala raised a legal objection to her answer to a prosecutors question. Aidala hasnt yet has his turn to question Mann, 39, about her fraught and complex history with Weinstein, 73. During an opening statement last month, the attorney portrayed her as an aspiring actor who had only willing sexual encounters with a Hollywood bigwig she thought could help her. A cosmetologist and hairstylist, she met Weinstein socially in Los Angeles over a decade ago, when she was trying to get acting work. Mann said she had a consensual, on-and-off relationship with the then-married Weinstein, but that he was volatile and violated her if she refused him. Weinstein went from movie mogul to #MeToo pariah in 2017, after allegations emerged that he had sexually harassed and sexually abused women for years. He was later convicted of various sex crimes in both New York and California, but his New York conviction was later overturned, leading to the retrial.The proceedings have been graphic, exhaustively detailed and tense at times as his accusers underwent days of questioning. One of them, Miriam Haley, cursed at Weinstein from the witness stand. Another, Kaja Sokola, was dismayed by questions about her private journal, which Weinsteins lawyers had gotten without her knowledge.The Associated Press generally does not identify people who alleged they have been sexually assaulted unless they agree to be identified. Haley, Mann and Sokola have done so.___Associated Press video journalist Joseph B. Frederick contributed. RSShttps://feedx.net https://feedx.site

President Donald Trump speaks to reporters after departing a House Republican conference meeting, Tuesday, May 20, 2025, at the U.S. Capitol in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)2025-05-20T15:54:58Z WASHINGTON (AP) President Donald Trump is expected to announce on Tuesday the concept he wants for his future Golden Dome missile defense program and while it would not be the most expensive option that the Pentagon had offered, it would still cost taxpayers tens of billions of dollars and take years to make a reality.If realized, the system would mark the first time that the U.S. would put weapons in space, which could be fired to destroy an incoming missile during flight. Trump also is expected to announce that Gen. Michael Guetlein, who currently serves as the vice chief of space operations, will be responsible for overseeing Golden Domes progress. Golden Dome is envisioned to include ground and space-based capabilities that are able to detect and stop missiles at all four major stages of a potential attack: detecting and destroying them before a launch, intercepting them in their earliest stage of flight, stopping them midcourse in the air, or halting them in the final minutes as they descend toward a target. For the last several months, Pentagon planners have been developing options which a U.S. official described as medium, high and extra high choices, based on their cost that include space-based interceptors. The administration picked the high version, with an initial cost ranging between $30 billion and $100 billion, according to the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to detail plans that have not been made public. The difference in the three versions is largely based on how many satellites and sensors in space would be purchased, and for the first time, space-based interceptors.The White House and the Pentagon didnt immediately respond to requests for comment.The Congressional Budget Office estimated this month that just the space-based components of the Golden Dome could cost as much as $542 billion over the next 20 years. Trump has requested an initial $25 billion for the program in his proposed tax break bill now moving through Congress. The Pentagon has warned for years that the newest missiles developed by China and Russia are so advanced that updated countermeasures are necessary. Golden Domes added satellites and interceptors where the bulk of the programs cost is would be focused on stopping those advanced missiles early on or in the middle of their flight.The space-based weapons envisioned for Golden Dome represent new and emerging requirements for missions that have never before been accomplished by military space organizations, Gen. Chance Saltzman, head of the U.S. Space Force, told lawmakers at a hearing Tuesday. China and Russia have put offensive weapons in space, such as satellites with abilities to disable critical U.S. satellites, which can make the U.S. vulnerable to attack. But theres no money for the project yet, and the program overall is still in the conceptual stage, newly confirmed Air Force Secretary Troy Meink told senators Tuesday. While the president picked the concept he wanted, the Pentagon is still developing the requirements that Golden Dome will need to meet which is not the way new systems are normally developed. The Pentagon and U.S. Northern Command are still drafting what is known as an initial capabilities document, the U.S. official said. That is how Northern Command, which is responsible for homeland defense, identifies what it will need the system to do. The U.S. already has many missile defense capabilities, such as the Patriot missile batteries that the U.S. has provided to Ukraine to defend against incoming missiles as well as an array of satellites in orbit to detect missile launches. Some of those existing systems will be incorporated into Golden Dome. Trump directed the Pentagon to pursue the space-based interceptors in an executive order during the first week of his presidency. TARA COPP Copp covers the Pentagon and national security for the Associated Press. She has reported from Afghanistan, Iraq, throughout the Middle East, Europe and Asia. twitter mailto RSShttps://feedx.net https://feedx.site

Former assistant to Sean Combs, David James, testifies on the witness stand during Sean "Diddy" Combs sex trafficking and racketeering trial in Manhattan federal court, Monday, May 19, 2025, in New York. (Elizabeth Williams via AP)2025-05-20T15:53:12Z NEW YORK (AP) A former personal assistant to Sean Diddy Combs gave a glimpse into the hip-hop promoters world when he worked for him nearly two decades ago, testifying at the hip-hop promotors sex trafficking trial about his former boss use of guns, lie detector tests and drugs.David James testimony came in the second week of a trial in Manhattan federal court that is scheduled to last up to two months. If convicted of the charges he faces, including racketeering, the Bad Boy Records founder could be sentenced to at least 15 years in prison.James was one of several former Combs employees expected to testify, as prosecutors try to prove that Combs for two decades used threats and violence to control employees and associates and commit crimes.Combs, 55, has pleaded not guilty to charges that he used threats and his powerful position in the hip-hop world to abuse women and others and subject Casandra Cassie Ventura, his decade-long girlfriend, to take part in drug-fueled sexual performances with other men that she said left her too drained to pursue her singing career. James, a personal assistant for Combs from 2007 to 2009, testified about a job that seemed to come with increasing perils until he realized his life was in danger and quit, with notice, after he was forced to drive a car in which an angry Combs sat in the back seat with three handguns on his lap. He said his job sometimes required him to ensure that hotel rooms where Combs stayed under the name Frank Black were stocked with what he needed for comfort, including fresh underwear, an iPod, apple sauce, vodka, baby oil, Viagra and condoms. There were also surprising moments, James said, like one in 2008 when Combs asked him to bring an iPod from his Miami home to a hotel room. Upon entering, James said he saw Cassie on the bed with a white comforter pulled up to her neck and an unfamiliar naked man wearing a condom running from the room. Another time, he said Combs summoned him to his office to show him video hed recorded at a party of James dancing wildly and told him: Ok. Im going to keep this footage in case I ever need it. James said he took it as a threat to keep him in line.Cassie testified last week that Combs threatened to release videos of her having sex with male sex workers during the so-called freak-offs if she didnt do as he said.James also described being required to take lie detector tests twice when Combs was trying to find out who stole cash in one instance and a watch in another.He said Combs was on drugs nearly every day, often taking Percocet by day and ecstasy by night. When he stocked Combs hotel rooms, he said, drugs were in a bag dropped off by security, including the pill meant to look like then-President Barack Obama.James testified that he was also involved in Combs attempt to confront his music industry rival Suge Knight at a Los Angeles diner in November 2008 an incident that Cassie also testified about.James said he was with Combs bodyguard picking up food for Combs and his security staff at around 4 a.m. when the bodyguard spotted Knight and saw someone passing a gun to him. They fled the diner and went back to Combs home, about 10 minutes away, James testified. Combs, itching to go to the diner, was outside the house arguing with Cassie, who didnt want him to leave, James said.James told jurors that Combs then ordered him to drive them Combs and the bodyguard known as D-Roc to the diner. James said he looked back at one point and saw Combs in the backseat with three handguns on his lap.When they got to the diner, he said, Knight and his entourage were gone. Combs told him to drive around the block, but Knight was nowhere to be found, so they drove back to Combs home, James said.I was real shook up by it, James testified. This was the first time being Mr. Combs assistant that I realized my life was in danger. MICHAEL R. SISAK Sisak is an Associated Press reporter covering law enforcement, courts and prisons. He is based in New York. twitter mailto

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration campus in Silver Spring, Md., is photographed on Oct. 14, 2015. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File)2025-05-20T15:00:56Z WASHINGTON (AP) Annual COVID-19 shots for healthy younger adults and children will no longer be routinely approved under a major new policy shift unveiled Tuesday by the Trump administration.Top officials for the Food and Drug Administration laid out new requirements for yearly updates to COVID shots, saying theyd continue to use a streamlined approach that would make vaccines available to adults 65 and older as well as children and younger adults with at least one health problem that puts them at higher risk.But the FDA framework urges companies conduct large, lengthy studies before tweaked vaccines can be approved for healthier people. In a framework published Tuesday in the New England Journal of Medicine, agency officials said the approach still could keep annual vaccinations available for between 100 million and 200 million adults. The upcoming changes raise questions about people who may still want a fall COVID-19 shot but dont clearly fall into one of the categories.Is the pharmacist going to determine if youre in a high-risk group? asked Dr. Paul Offit, a vaccine expert at Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia. The only thing that can come of this will make vaccines less insurable and less available. The framework, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, is the culmination of a series of recent steps scrutinizing the use of COVID shots and raising major questions about the broader availability of vaccines under President Donald Trump. For years, federal health officials have told most Americans to expect annual updates to COVID-19 vaccines, similar to the annual flu shot. Just like with flu vaccines, until now the FDA has approved updated COVID shots when manufacturers provide evidence that they spark just as much immune protection as the previous years version.But FDAs new guidance appears to be the end of that approach under Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, who has filled the FDA and other health agencies with outspoken critics of the governments handling of COVID shots, particularly their recommendation for young, healthy adults and children. Tuesdays update, written by FDA Commissioner Marty Makary and FDA vaccine chief Vinay Prasad, criticized the U.S.s one-size-fits-all approach and states that the U.S. has been the most aggressive in recommending COVID boosters, when compared with European countries.We simply dont know whether a healthy 52-year-old woman with a normal BMI who has had Covid-19 three times and has received six previous doses of a Covid-19 vaccine will benefit from the seventh dose, they wrote.Outside experts say there are legitimate questions about how much everyone still benefits from yearly COVID vaccination or whether they should be recommended for people at increased risk. An influential panel of advisers to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is set to debate that question next month.The FDA framework announced Tuesday appears to usurp that advisory panels job, Offit said. He added that CDC studies have made clear that booster doses do offer protection against mild to moderate illness for four to six months after the shot even in healthy people.___The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institutes Science and Educational Media Group and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content. MATTHEW PERRONE Perrone covers the intersection of medicine, business and health policy. He is based in Washington. twitter mailto LAURAN NEERGAARD Neergaard is an Associated Press medical writer who covers research on brain health, infectious diseases, organ transplantation and more. She is based in Washington, D.C. mailto

Congresswoman Rep. LaMonica McIver, D-N.J., exits the grounds at Delancey Hall ICE detention prison, Friday, May 9, 2025, in Newark, N.J, (AP Photo/Angelina Katsanis)2025-05-20T15:04:17Z Federal prosecutors alleged Democratic Rep. LaMonica McIver of New Jersey pushed and grabbed officers while attempting to block the arrest of the Newark mayor outside an immigration detention facility, according to charges in court papers unsealed on Tuesday.In an eight-page complaint, interim U.S. Attorney Alina Habbas office said McIver was protesting the removal of Newark Mayor Ras Baraka from a congressional tour of the Delaney Hall detention center in Newark on May 9. The complaint says she attempted to stop the arrest of the mayor and pushed into agents for Homeland Security Investigations and Immigration and Customs Enforcement. She faces two counts of assaulting, resisting and impeding an officer. McIver has denied any wrongdoing and has accused federal agents of escalating the situation by arresting the mayor. She denounced the charge as purely political and said prosecutors are distorting her actions in an effort to deter legislative oversight. Habba had charged Baraka with trespassing after his arrest but dismissed the allegation on Monday when she said in a social media post she instead was charging the congresswoman. Prosecuting McIver is a rare federal criminal case against a sitting member of Congress for allegations other than fraud or corruption. The case instantly taps into a broader and more consequential struggle between a Trump administration engaged in overhauling immigration policy and a Democratic party scrambling to respond. Within minutes of Habbas announcement, McIvers Democratic colleagues cast the prosecution as an infringement on lawmakers official duties to serve their constituents and an effort to silence their opposition to an immigration policy that helped propel the president back into power but now has emerged as divisive fault line in American political discourse. Members of Congress are authorized by law to go into federal immigration facilities as part of their oversight powers, even without advance notice. Congress passed a 2019 appropriations bill that spelled out the authority. A nearly two-minute clip released by the Homeland Security Department shows McIver on the facility side of a chain-link fence just before the arrest of the mayor on the street side of the fence. She and uniformed officials go through the gate and she joins others shouting they should circle the mayor. The video shows McIver in a tightly packed group of people and officers. At one point her left elbow and then her right elbow push into an officer wearing a dark face covering and an olive green uniform emblazoned with the word Police on it.It isnt clear from bodycam video whether that contact was intentional, incidental or a result of jostling in the chaotic scene. The complaint says she slammed her forearm into an agent and then tried to restrain the agent by grabbing him. Tom Homan, President Donald Trumps top border adviser, said during an interview on Fox News Tuesday she broke the law and were going to hold her accountable You cant put hands on an ICE employee. were not going to tolerate it, he said. McIver, 38, first came to Congress in September in a special election after the death of Rep. Donald Payne Jr. left a vacancy in the 10th District. She was then elected to a full term in November. A Newark native, she served as the president of the Newark City Council from 2022 to 2024 and worked in the citys public schools before that.House Democratic leaders decried the criminal case against their colleague in a lengthy statement in which they called the charge extreme, morally bankrupt and lacking any basis in law or fact. MIKE CATALINI Catalini covers government, elections and news primarily in New Jersey for The Associated Press. He focuses on accountability and how policy affects people. twitter ERIC TUCKER Tucker covers national security in Washington for The Associated Press, with a focus on the FBI and Justice Department. twitter mailto

Elon Musk gestures as he arrives for a state dinner hosted by Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani in honor of President Donald Trump at Lusail Palace in Doha, Qatar, Wednesday, May 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)2025-05-20T14:01:09Z DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) Billionaire Elon Musk said Tuesday hes committed to being CEO of Tesla in five years time as the automaker faced intense consumer and stockprice pressure over his work with President Donald Trumps government.The question came as Musk made a video appearance at the Qatar Economic Forum hosted by Bloomberg after Musk recently traveled to Doha as part of Trumps Mideast trip last week.A moderator asked: Do you see yourself and are you committed to still being the chief executive of Tesla in five years time?Musk responded: Yes.The moderator pushed further: No doubt about that at all?Musk added, chuckling: I cant be still here if Im dead. Tesla has faced intense pressure as Musk worked with Trump as part of its self-described Department of Government Efficiency effort, particularly amid its campaign of cuts across the U.S. federal government.

Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill talks with the media in front of the Hale Boggs Federal Building in New Orleans, May 19, 2025, after meeting with federal officials about the recent Orleans Parish Prison jail break. (David Grunfeld/The Times-Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate via AP, File)2025-05-20T14:08:34Z NEW ORLEANS (AP) Authorities have arrested an Orleans Parish Sheriffs Office employee in connection with the escape of 10 inmates, the Louisiana Attorney Generals office confirmed Tuesday. Sheriff Susan Hutson has said she believes the jail break was an inside job and last week told reporters her agency had suspended three employees pending an investigation.Its almost impossible, not completely, but almost impossible for anybody to get out of this facility without help, she said of the Orleans Justice Center, a correctional facility where 1,400 people are being held.The inmates escaped through a hole in a wall behind a toilet in the early hours of Friday while the lone guard watching them went to get food. This guard was not the employee arrested, Lester Duhe, a spokesperson for the Attorney Generals Office, told the Associated Press in a text message. Duhe did not provide the name of the person arrested or detail possible charges.At least one of the steel bars protecting plumbing fixtures appeared to have been intentionally cut using a tool, the sheriffs office stated. The inmates quickly shed their uniforms and changed into regular clothes. The absence of the inmates, many charged with or convicted of violent offenses such as murder, was not reported for hours. Four have since been apprehended and six remain at large. Since the escape, Hutson has pointed to long-standing deficiencies such as faulty locks and staffing shortages. But a growing number of state and local officials have said blame for the escape rests squarely on her for failing her responsibility to keep inmates locked up.The New Orleans City Council is scheduled to discuss the jail break with the sheriffs office and other authorities at a Tuesday meeting. JACK BROOK Brook covers Louisiana government, infrastructure and environmental issues from New Orleans. He is a Report for America corps member. twitter mailto