HARRISBURG, Pennsylvania: President Joe Biden urged his supporters to stay unified during a series of Sunday stops in critical Pennsylvania on Sunday, even as some leading congressional Democrats privately suggested it was time for him to abandon his reelection bid because of intensifying questions about whether he’s fit for another term.
Addressing a rousing church service in front of stained glass windows bathed in sunshine at Philadelphia’s Mount Airy Church of God in Christ, the 81-year-old Biden joked, “I know I look 40” but “I’ve been doing this a long time.”
“I, honest to God, have never been more optimistic about America’s future if we stick together,” he said.
There and during a subsequent rally with union members in Harrisburg, Biden offered short speeches that touched on familiar topics. But he also left plenty of room for key backers to discuss standing by him. In that way, the Pennsylvania swing seemed meant to showcase support for the president from key political quarters more than proving he’s up to four more years.
His party, though, remains deeply divided.
As Congress prepares to resume this week, House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries convened top committee lawmakers Sunday afternoon to assess their views. Several Democratic committee leaders, including Rep. Jerry Nadler of New York, Rep. Jim Himes of Connecticut and Rep. Mark Takano of California, said privately that Biden should step aside, according to two people familiar with the meeting and granted anonymity to discuss it.
But other top Democrats, including members of the influential Congressional Black Caucus, argued just as forcefully that Biden remain the party’s choice. The conversation was wide ranging, with the committee leaders sharing various views on the situation, but there was no unanimity on what should be done, the people said.
Biden was personally calling lawmakers through the weekend. He also joined a call with campaign surrogates and reiterated that he has no plans to leave the race. Instead, the president pledged to campaign harder going forward and to step up his political travel, according to two people who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations.
One Democrat the president spoke to, Sen. Alex Padilla of California, said he and others are pushing the Biden campaign to “let Joe be Joe, get him out there.”
“I absolutely believe we can turn it around,” Padilla told The Associated Press.
Meanwhile, a person familiar with Sen. Mark Warner’s thinking said there will be no meeting on Monday to talk about Biden’s future, as had been previously discussed, and that those discussions will take place in Tuesday’s regular caucus luncheon with all Democratic senators. The person said a private meeting was no longer possible after it was made public that the Virginia Democrat was reaching out to senators about Biden, and that a variety of conversations among senators continue.
Five other, different Democratic lawmakers have already publicly called on Biden to abandon his reelection campaign ahead of November. Meeting this coming week in person means more chances for lawmakers to discuss concerns about Biden’s ability to withstand the remaining four months of the campaign — not to mention four more years in the White House — and true prospects of beating Republican presumptive nominee Donald Trump.
Biden’s campaign team was also calling and texting lawmakers to try to head off more potential defections, while increasingly asking high-profile Biden supporters to speak out on his behalf..
Calls to bow out nonetheless popped up from different directions.
Alan Clendenin, a Tampa city councilman and member of the Democratic National Committee, on Sunday called for Biden to “step aside and allow Vice President Kamala Harris to carry forward his agenda as our Democratic nominee.” Director Rob Reiner, who has helped organize glitzy Hollywood fundraisers for Biden in the past, posted on X, “It’s time for Joe Biden to step down.”
The Democratic convention is fast approaching and Biden’s Friday interview with ABC has not convinced some who remain skeptical.
Democratic fundraising bundler Barry Goodman, a Michigan attorney, said he’s backing Biden but, should he step aside, he’d throw his support to Harris. That’s notable since Goodman was also a finance co-chairman for both of the statewide campaigns of Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, who has also been mentioned as a top-of-the-ticket alternative.
“We don’t have much time,” Goodman said. “I don’t think the president gets out. But if he does, I think it would be Kamala.”
There was no such suggestion at Mount Airy, where Pastor Louis Felton likened the president to Joseph and the biblical story of his “coat of many colors.” In it, Joseph was sold into slavery in Egypt by his jealous brothers, only eventually to obtain a high place in the kingdom of the pharaoh and have his brothers beg him for assistance without initially recognizing him.
“Never count Joseph out,” Felton implored. Then, referring to Democrats who have called on Biden to step aside, he added, “That’s what’s going on, Mr. President. People are jealous of you. Jealous of your stick-to-itiveness, jealous of your favor. Jealous of God’s hand upon your life.”
Felton also led a prayer where he said, “Our president gets discouraged. But today, through your holy spirit, renew his mind, renew his spirt, renew his body.”
After the church service, Biden visited a campaign office in Philadelphia, where Sen. John Fetterman, a Pennsylvania Democrat who won a tough 2022 race while recovering from a stroke, offered a forceful endorsement.
“There is only one guy that has ever beaten Trump,” Fetterman said. “And he is going to do it twice and put him down for good.”
Later stepping off Air Force One in Harrisburg, the president was asked if the Democratic Party was behind him and emphatically responded, “Yes.”
Joining him at the union event, Rep. Madeleine Dean, also a Pennsylvania Democrat, said that “democracy is on the line. There’s one man who understands it it’s Joe Biden.”
Isabel Afonso, who saw Biden speak in Harrisburg, said she was worried when she saw the president’s debate performance, but doesn’t think he should drop out of the race and that he can still win. “I know he is old, but I know if something happens to him, a reasonable person will replace him,” said Afonso, 63.
At the same event, 73-year-old James Johnson said he knew what it was like to forget things as he’s gotten older but called Biden “a fighter.” He said replacing the president at the top of the Democratic ticket would only cause confusion.
“I’m talking about lifelong Democrats and people that have been in the Democratic Party for a long time,” Johnson said. “They may just decide to jump ship, because of that.”
Still, others aren’t fully convinced.
Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut told CNN that Biden “needs to answer those questions that voters have” while adding, “If he does that this week, I think he will be in a very good position.”
Biden has rejected undergoing independent cognitive testing, arguing that the everyday rigors of the presidency were proof enough of his mental acuity. Yet California Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff told NBC on Sunday that he’d be “happy if both the president and Donald Trump took a cognitive test.”
As some Democrats have done, Schiff also seized on Biden suggesting during the ABC interview that losing to Trump would be acceptable “as long as I give it my all.”
“This is not just about whether he gave it the best college try,” Schiff said “but rather whether he made the right decision to run or to pass the torch.”
While Biden campaigns in Pennsylvania, some Democratic leaders in the House say he should step aside
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While Biden campaigns in Pennsylvania, some Democratic leaders in the House say he should step aside
- As Congress prepares to resume this week, House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries convened top committee lawmakers Sunday afternoon to assess their views
Father accused of murder of British-Pakistani girl blames stepmother
- Giving evidence for a third day, Sharif admitted slapping Sara “multiple times” but denied beating, burning, or biting her
LONDON: The father of a 10-year-old British-Pakistani girl on Thursday denied her murder and instead blamed the girl’s stepmother, calling her “evil” and “psycho.”
Sara Sharif was found dead in her bed in Woking, southwest of London, on August 10, 2023 with injuries including broken bones, burns and bite marks.
Her father, Urfan Sharif, 42, had fled to Pakistan a day before the body was found, along with his wife Beinash Batool, 30, and the girl’s uncle, Faisal Malik, 29.
Sharif then called police in the UK shortly after arriving in Islamabad and said he had “beat her up too much.” During the trial, Sharif said he made up this and another confession to “protect my family.”
All three adults were arrested upon their return to the UK a month later. They deny charges of murder and allowing the death of a child.
Details of the extent of Sara’s injuries have been detailed at London’s Old Bailey court, including claims from Batool that Sharif would beat his daughter badly.
Giving evidence for a third day, Sharif admitted slapping Sara “multiple times” but denied beating, burning, or biting her, insisting that he was “never at home” when she was injured.
Sharif broke down when his lawyer, Naeem Mian, questioned him about beating Sara, who was home schooled, with a cricket bat.
The taxi driver denied burning his daughter with an iron and instead said he was “made to” slap Sara by Batool, who constantly accused the girl of behaving badly.
Pointing to Batool sitting in the dock, Sharif shouted: “I should not have believed her... I didn’t realize I’m living with evil and a psycho.”
He also suggested that Batool was the one who bit her “like an animal.”
The jury was previously told that Sharif and Malik had provided their dental impressions but Batool had refused.
“I didn’t do it. Faisal didn’t do it. Who else was at home?” Sharif said.
He denied ever being aware of Sara being in pain. “She never told me that,” he said and indicated that he did not see injuries because Sara wore full-sleeve tops and long bottoms as well as a hijab head covering.
In the month leading up to Sara’s death, Mian said Sharif was out of the house at work from early in the morning to late at night while holing frequent telephone conversations with Batool, who would largely be at home.
Sharif wept as he recalled a time he came home and saw that Sara’s hands had been tied behind her back with brown packaging tape, accusing Batool of the act.
Asked why he did not call the police or ask Batool to leave, Sharif said that his wife was “manipulative” and that he believed her apology.
“I have been an idiot,” he added.
Forensic evidence shown to court included bundles of packaging tape and a white plastic carrier bag fashioned into a hood that could have been used on Sara’s head.
The bag had packaging tape stuck to it as well as long, brown hairs that matched Sara’s DNA, the court was told.
Both the bag and the non-sticky side of the tape had fingerprints that matched Sharif’s, who denied fashioning a hood out of the plastic bag or using it on Sara.
He said the fingerprints could be a result of him handling the items while sorting the garbage.
Sharif had previously accused Batool of being abusive toward him and preventing him from asking Sara about how she obtained her injuries.
In 2022, Batool texted her sister that Sharif had suggested using make-up to cover up bruises after beating Sara, to which the sister replied: “LOL it was going to happen you can tell.”
In the days before her death, Sharif said Sara, who did chores around the house, had asked him to “not go to work.”
German parliament passes controversial antisemitism text
- Critics of the resolution — including voices from the Jewish community — say it could restrict artistic and academic freedom
BERLIN: The German parliament on Thursday overwhelmingly backed a resolution aimed at tackling a spike in anti-Semitism linked to the war in Gaza.
However, critics of the resolution — including voices from the Jewish community — say it could restrict artistic and academic freedom.
The text calls for a ban on public funding for any group “that spreads anti-Semitism, calls into question Israel’s right to exist or calls for a boycott of Israel.”
In cases of anti-Semitic acts in schools and universities, it calls for those responsible to be excluded from classes or even expelled.
The resolution was proposed and supported by MPs from the center-left Social Democrats (SPD), the conservative CDU-CSU, the Greens and the liberal Free Democrats (FDP).
About 100 Jewish artists and intellectuals living in Germany said in a statement that the resolution would “weaken, rather than strengthen, the diversity of Jewish life in Germany by associating all Jews with the actions of the Israeli government.”
The general secretary of Amnesty International’s Germany chapter, Julia Duchrow, said that while Amnesty “explicitly welcomes the goal of adopting measures to fight anti-Semitism... the resolution adopted today not only fails to achieve this, it could lead to serious violations of basic human rights and legal uncertainty.”
“This resolution leaves space for abuse, criminalizes legitimate criticism of Israeli government policy and serves the racist narrative of ‘imported anti-Semitism’,” she said.
In an open letter in October 2023, Amnesty and 103 other civil society organizations had warned against conflating anti-Semitism and criticism of the policies of the Israeli government.
“Branding legitimate criticism of Israel’s human right record as anti-Semitic also undermines the fight against genuine anti-Semitism,” they pointed out.
While also mentioning anti-Semitism from the far right and far left, the German parliament’s resolution says that “in recent months the alarming extent of anti-Semitism based on immigration from North Africa and the Middle East has become clear.”
This accusation against immigrants from North Africa and the Middle East — who could be Christian, Jewish or Muslim and might either support or oppose the policies of the Israeli government — was criticized by some in the Greens.
But it was backed by the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), whose MPs also voted for the text.
AfD lawmaker Juergen Braun called “mass immigration... the central problem endangering Jewish life in Germany.”
The far-left Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW) was the only party to vote against the resolution, with the other far-left Die Linke party abstaining.
Arab American US election successes marred by claims of Islamophobia and anti-Arab bias
- Several Arab Americans candidates were reelected despite growing concerns about anti-Arab sentiment amid ongoing wars in Gaza, Lebanon and Iran
- Syrian American candidate for Illinois House of Representatives says she was targeted by anonymous Islamophobic and anti-Arab attacks during campaign
CHICAGO: Alongside Donald Trump’s victory over Kamala Harris in the US presidential election on Tuesday, and amid ongoing tensions in Gaza, Lebanon and Iran, several Arab American incumbents won reelection to their offices at state and congressional levels, some of them unchallenged.
Four Arab American members of Congress will return to the Capitol to represent their districts in California, Illinois, Minnesota and Michigan, while five were reelected to State House seats in Illinois, Michigan, Colorado and Iowa.
In some places, however, there were allegations of Islamophobia and anti-Arab sentiment as opponents sought to capitalize on voter concerns about terrorism and foreign conflicts.
Suzanne Akhras, a Syrian American Democrat who lost to Republican incumbent Nicole La Ha in the race to represent the 82nd District in the Illinois House of Representatives, said she was targeted by anonymous text messages and phone calls falsely linking her to Islamic terrorism, including claims of ties to Hamas.
“These calls and texts tried to portray me as a danger to the community I love,” she said in a campaign video message to voters in September. “I have lived in Burr Ridge for nearly 20 years. I have been a PTA parent. I have spent my life advocating for vulnerable people and being of service. I founded a very successful non-profit organization.
"I am a proud American. I cherish our shared values of freedom; freedom to express our diverse faiths and freedom to celebrate the diversity of our backgrounds and cultures. Those freedoms I hold dear are under attack in our district. These attacks against me are based on racism, Islamophobia and are xenophobic.”
Akhras, who said she has been recognized as an “upstander” by the Illinois Holocaust Museum for confronting hate speech and crime, said the “disturbing calls and text messages” began shortly after she began campaigning door-to-door. She criticized the Republican Party in the state for failing to denounce the attacks, and accused La Ha of running an “abhorrent and dangerous, xenophobic” smear campaign.
Akhras, who wears a hijab and whose husband, Dr. Zaher Sahloul, helps provide humanitarian medical services to refugees and displaced people in conflict zones, including Gaza, also said that despite winning the Democratic primary in March, she received no support from the Illinois Democratic Party.
Elsewhere, Darrell Issa, who is of Syrian-Lebanese heritage, was reelected to Congress as the representative for California’s 48th district, defeating Democrat Stephen Houlahan with 60.2 percent of the vote.
In Minnesota, Democrat Ilhan Omar, who is of Somali descent, was reelected as the member of the House of Representatives for the 5th District with 75 percent of the vote, easily defeating her Republican rival, Arab American Dalia Al-Aqidi.
Democrat Rashida Tlaib, who is Palestinian American , defeated Republican James Hopper with 69.7 percent of the vote in Michigan’s 12th Congressional District. Republican Darin LaHood, who is of Lebanese heritage, ran unopposed in Illinois’ 16th District.
Two Arab American members of Congress, Democrat Anna Eshoo from California and Republican Garret Graves from Louisiana, did not seek reelection.
At the state level, Democrat Nabeela Syed, who is of Indian heritage, secured a second term in the State House as the representative for the 51st District with 55 percent of the vote, ahead of Republican rival Tosi Ufodike.
In Michigan’s 3rd District, Democrat Alabas Farhat defeated Republican Richard Zeile with 67.9 percent of the vote. Democrat Iman Jodeh was reelected in Colorado’s 41st District, gaining 61 percent of the vote against Republican Robert McKenna.
Palestinian American Abdelnasser Rashid and Syrian American Sami Scheetz, both Democrats, retained their seats without a challenge in Illinois’ 21st District and Iowa’s 78th District respectively.
US military judge reinstates 9/11 mastermind plea deal — official
- Prosecution can appeal decision but it was not immediately clear if they would do so
- Agreements triggered anger among some relatives of victims of the 2001 attacks
WASHINGTON: A US military judge has reinstated plea agreements for 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and two other defendants, an official said Thursday, three months after the deals were scrapped by Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.
The agreements — which are understood to take the death penalty off the table — had triggered anger among some relatives of victims of the 2001 attacks, and Austin said that both they and the American public deserved to see the defendants stand trial.
“I can confirm that the military judge has ruled that the pretrial agreements for the three accused are valid and enforceable,” the US official told AFP on condition of anonymity.
The prosecution has the opportunity to appeal the decision, but it was not immediately clear if they would do so.
The plea deals with Mohammed and two alleged accomplices were announced in late July in a step that appeared to have moved their long-running cases toward resolution after years of being bogged down in pre-trial maneuverings while the defendants remained held at the Guantanamo Bay military base in Cuba.
But Austin withdrew the agreements two days after they were announced, saying the decision should rest with him given its significance.
He subsequently told journalists that “the families of the victims, our service members and the American public deserve the opportunity to see military commission trials carried out in this case.”
Much of the legal jousting surrounding the men’s cases has focused on whether they could be tried fairly after having undergone methodical torture at the hands of the CIA in the years after 9/11 — a thorny issue that the plea agreements would have avoided.
US military ready to carry out lawful orders of next administration, Pentagon chief says
- “The US military will also continue to stand apart from the political arena;,” Austin wrote
WASHINGTON: US Défense Secretary Lloyd Austin told troops that the Pentagon was committed to an orderly transition to the incoming administration of Donald Trump, adding that the military would not get involved in politics and was ready to carry out “all lawful orders.”
“The US military will also continue to stand apart from the political arena; to stand guard over our republic with principle and professionalism; and to stand together with the valued allies and partners who deepen our security,” Austin wrote in a memo to troops that was sent out on Wednesday night.
