Sen. Graham to speak with Trump this weekend about GOP future, unity
COLUMBIA, S.C. — U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham will visit former President Donald Trump this weekend to discuss the Republican Party’s future, the South Carolinian told reporters Friday.
One of Trump’s staunchest allies who has backed him still after the Capitol riots, Graham said the party needs to focus on unity heading into the 2022 elections when several Senate, House and state-level seats will be up for grabs.
That includes South Carolina’s other Republican senator, Tim Scott.
“We need to get the party together as much as possible,” Graham said.
Republicans are seeking to win back the majority in the House in 2022 after Democrats kept control in November and won back the Senate.
Republicans lost the majority in the House in 2018, when a wave of Democrats were elected to the chamber in the first major election since Trump’s 2016 victory. Though Democrats still hold a majority in the House, Republicans flipped a dozen House seats back in their favor last year, narrowing the gap in the House to 211 Republicans to 221 Democrats.
Graham said Republican infighting ahead of the election would prove disastrous for the party.
“The worst possible outcome for the Republican Party would be to argue among itself,” Graham said.
— The State
Justice Sotomayor reportedly a target of man who killed New Jersey judge's son
The man who murdered the son of a New Jersey federal court judge had a second target on his hit list: Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor.
Judge Esther Salas, in an interview airing Sunday on “60 Minutes,” revealed that a locker belonging to gunman Roy Den Hollander showed the killer was gathering information on the justice before his lethal rampage at her suburban home last July.
The FBI “found another gun, a Glock, more ammunition,” recounted Salas. “But the most troubling thing they found was a manila folder with a workup on Justice Sonia Sotomayor. ... Who knows what would have happened?”
The FBI opened the locker after Den Hollander was identified as the shooter in the North Brunswick, New Jersey, attack.
The judge’s 20-year-old son, Daniel, was shot to death when Den Hollander arrived at their home intent on killing the judge. Her husband survived a gunshot wound from the killer, who committed suicide shortly after the slaying.
The shooter also killed California attorney Marc Angelucci eight days before the ambush at Salas’ home, apparently over a long-standing grudge, authorities said.
Den Hollander, who held a deadly fixation on Salas, was also focused on New York State Chief Judge Janet DiFiore. Her address and photo were found in the killer’s car on a grassy stretch off a roadway in Sullivan County.
— New York Daily News
Fourth NC resident charged with taking part in Jan. 6 assault on the US Capitol
CHARLOTTE, N.C. —Another North Carolina resident has been arrested in connection with the violent siege of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.
Lewis Easton Cantwell, of Sylva, has a midday hearing Friday in Asheville's federal courthouse, charged with storming the Capitol, destroying property, refusing to leave and interfering with a police officer and attempting to disrupt a government activity, among other crimes.
A federal grand jury in Washington indicted Cantwell on six charges in all.
Cantwell, who lives about 50 miles southwest of Asheville, becomes at least the fourth North Carolinian charged with taking part in the storming of the Capitol, in which hundreds of supporters of outgoing President Donald Trump broke through police lines, shattered windows and doors, and marauded through the Capitol to block congressional certification of Trump's loss to Joe Biden.
One police officer died. One rioter was fatally shot, and at least three other deaths have been linked to the riot, including the suicides of two police officers.
Cantwell is scheduled to appear before U.S. Magistrate Judge Carlton Metcalf in Asheville. Court records as of Friday morning did not include the name of Cantwell's attorney.
— The Charlotte Observer
34 suspected child predators arrested in Arizona sting
Police in Arizona arrested 34 suspected predators accused of targeting children for sex crimes and human trafficking, authorities said Friday.
The multiagency sting, dubbed “Operation Broken Hearts,” nabbed men and women from 21 to 66 years old, most of whom live in the Phoenix area, according to police.
As part of the investigation, officers and undercover detectives placed ads on websites and smartphone apps commonly sought by people looking to engage in illegal sex acts with children, the Phoenix Police Department said in a news release.
The suspects charged in the operation responded to one of the ads believing they were communicating with a child and then “solicited and/or brokered deals for various sex acts,” according to the release.
The charges they face include human trafficking, child sex trafficking, attempted sex conduct with a minor, luring of a minor for sexual exploitation, possession of dangerous drugs and furnishing harmful material to a minor.
Phoenix police were joined in the effort by the police departments in Mesa, Tempe and Chandler as well as the Attorney General’s Office and Homeland Security Investigations.
Authorities urged those who know about anyone being trafficked to contact their local police department or the National Human Trafficking Hotline.
— New York Daily News
