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A bill to fund the Department of Homeland Security failed to advance in the Senate amid growing concerns about long lines to get through screening at some of the country's biggest airports. Democrats declined to provide the support needed to move the funding measure toward final passage. Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said he would offer an alternative measure Saturday to fund just the Transportation Security Administration, which screens passengers and luggage for hazardous items. That too is likely to fail as lawmakers hold a rare weekend session. Behind the scenes, work toward resolving the standoff intensified Friday as White House border czar Tom Homan was set to meet for the second consecutive day with a bipartisan group of senators. Democrats are demanding changes to immigration enforcement practices by federal agents following the shooting deaths of Alex Pretti and Renee Good in Minneapolis. Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said that he sees "deal
Jeffrey Epstein's longtime personal attorney testified to a House committee that he was unaware of the late financier's sexual abuse of underage girls at the time it was happening, becoming the latest person connected to Epstein to take that stance. Darren Indyke, who worked as Epstein's attorney for roughly two decades, told the House Oversight Committee in his opening statement that he "had had no knowledge whatsoever" of Epstein's abuse and would have quit working for him if he had known he was trafficking women and underage girls. Other associates of Epstein, including his former accountant Richard Kahn, one of his largest clients Les Wexner, and former President Bill Clinton, have also told the committee in sworn depositions that they didn't know about Epstein's abuse. Democrats on the committee aired their frustration during a break from Indyke's deposition, saying that the lawyer had taken a "defensive" posture in the face of questioning. Indyke, along with Kahn, are executo
In the escalating war in Iran, the State Department's Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs would ordinarily be at the centre of the geopolitical fray. The bureau's role would be to coordinate US foreign policy across an 18-country region, much of which has become a chaotic battlefield scarred by drone and missile strikes as the US and Israel remain locked in conflict with Iran. But now that bureau is also working with fewer resources. The administration's most recent budget proposed a 40 per cent cut to the bureau, though Congress eventually enacted less dramatic cuts. The administration also eliminated the dedicated Iran office, merging it with the Iraq office. Personnel and management choices - coupled with President Donald Trump's moves to shrink government and confine decision-making to a tight circle - are limiting the ability of the United States to handle a global emergency, according to interviews with more than a dozen current and former US officials. Veteran diplomats with deca
An attacker armed with a rifle rammed his vehicle into one of the nation's largest reform synagogues Thursday, driving through a hallway as security opened fire, fatally shooting him, authorities said. Jennifer Runyan, the special agent in charge of the FBI's Detroit field office, at a news conference on Thursday called the incident "deeply disturbing and tragic" and said the FBI was leading the investigation. The agency considered the crime a "targeted act of violence against the Jewish community," she said. The vehicle caught fire after crashing into Temple Israel in West Bloomfield Township, just outside Detroit, according to a person familiar with the matter who spoke to the AP. None of the synagogue's staff, teachers or the 140 children at its early childhood centre were injured, Oakland County Sheriff Mike Bouchard said. The attacker drove through a set of doors and into the hallway where something in the vehicle ignited, Bouchard said. "He was travelling with purpose down t
House lawmakers were digging into Jeffrey Epstein's sprawling financial portfolio Wednesday as a committee deposed his former accountant and tried to understand his connections to some of the world's wealthiest men. Richard Kahn, who worked closely with Epstein for years and now serves as an executor of his estate, appeared for the closed-door deposition on Capitol Hill. He told lawmakers that he had not personally seen evidence of Epstein's sexual abuse, but provided a fuller picture of how Epstein acquired his wealth. The wealthy financier made hundreds of millions of dollars over two decades during which he struck up friendships with some of the world's most powerful men. Kahn "was under the impression that Epstein made his money as a tax advisor and a financial planner," said Rep. James Comer, the Republican chair of the House Oversight Committee. Lawmakers argued that a fuller picture of Epstein's finances could help the public understand how for years he was able to get away