In life and legislative work, a new year brings new opportunities and new undertakings. As we enter 2024 and the second session of the 118th United States Congress, there is much work to do, and I’m optimistic we can achieve results for the American people. Commonsense policies promoting economic growth and productivity in our communities can benefit our country as a whole. With no shortage of obstacles to overcome to curb wasteful spending, deliver tax relief, and manage federal programs, it is time to get to work for the American people.

After the Farm Bill was given a one-year extension last year, fully reauthorizing Farm Bill programs is again a top priority in 2024. The savings and preparedness secured by federal crop insurance, as opposed to ad-hoc, after-the-fact disaster relief, is a key component of a strong Farm Bill. Typically renewed on a 5-year basis, longer-term certainty in the Farm Bill is critical to properly stewarding taxpayer funds and the investments of our hardworking producers.

Similarly, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is due for its own 5-year renewal. Last year, the House passed a full five-year FAA reauthorization on an overwhelmingly bipartisan basis, which included improvements to the air travel safety rules that would eliminate red tape and promote improvements to airport equipment and facilities. However, in December, the Senate failed to pass an FAA reauthorization out of committee, forcing Congress to settle for a three-month extension of FAA programs through March 2024. While President Biden signed this extension into law prior to the end of the year, Congress must work together to pass a full FAA reauthorization ensuring the U.S. remains competitive in the rapidly advancing field of aeronautics and air transportation and travel.

As we work to address the economic failures of the Biden administration, much of our focus on the Ways and Means Committee this year will be on tax and trade policy. A number of provisions from the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) have already expired, with more expiring over the next couple of years, and Congress should act quickly to ensure the lower tax rates for all Americans enacted through TCJA are extended. In the years following TCJA’s enactment, our tax code has eased the tax burden on families and small business, encouraged wage growth, maximized federal revenues, and spurred economic growth. This is a stark contrast to the proposals of the Biden administration, which have inflamed inflation and bloated government spending levels.

We must also take action to ensure competitiveness through an aggressive trade policy agenda. This includes reauthorizing critical tariff and duty relief programs like Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) and the Miscellaneous Tariff Bill (MTB), which have long expired. Both GSP and MTB help American workers and consumers while ensuring developing economies look to the United States, not China, as a model for free and fair economic policy. We must also look at upcoming reauthorizations for programs that give American workers and job creators a competitive advantage around the world and encourage the Biden administration to change course and take strong trade policy seriously – something the administration has failed to do.

Finally, in order to responsibly fund the essential functions of our government, we must direct taxpayer dollars to where they are needed most. As January 19 and February 2 deadlines approach to pass federal funding, Congress must do everything possible to avoid a harmful shutdown and fulfill urgent funding priorities – such as providing the resources needed to end illegal immigration and secure our southern border. I recently visited the southern border with House Speaker Mike Johnson and more than 60 of my Republican colleagues, and the situation there has only gotten increasingly dire.

Good government combines the genius of our Constitution with the priorities of the present. I am committed to holding the Biden administration accountable, addressing Washington’s spending problem, confronting the challenges facing Americans, and advancing policies to strengthen our nation.

Adrian SmithIn life and legislative work, a new year brings new opportunities and new undertakings. As we enter 2024 and the second session of the 118th United States Congress, there is much work to do, and I’m optimistic we can achieve results for the American people. Commonsense policies promoting economic growth and productivity in our communities can benefit our country as a whole. With no shortage of obstacles to overcome to curb wasteful spending, deliver tax relief, and manage federal programs, it is time to get to work for the American people.After the Farm Bill was given a one-year extension last year, fully reauthorizing Farm Bill programs is again a top priority in 2024. The savings and preparedness secured by federal crop insurance, as opposed to ad-hoc, after-the-fact disaster relief, is a key component of a strong Farm Bill. Typically renewed on a 5-year basis, longer-term certainty in the Farm Bill is critical to properly stewarding taxpayer funds and the investments of our hardworking producers.Similarly, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is due for its own 5-year renewal. Last year, the House passed a full five-year FAA reauthorization on an overwhelmingly bipartisan basis, which included improvements to the air travel safety rules that would eliminate red tape and promote improvements to airport equipment and facilities. However, in December, the Senate failed to pass an FAA reauthorization out of committee, forcing Congress to settle for a three-month extension of FAA programs through March 2024. While President Biden signed this extension into law prior to the end of the year, Congress must work together to pass a full FAA reauthorization ensuring the U.S. remains competitive in the rapidly advancing field of aeronautics and air transportation and travel.As we work to address the economic failures of the Biden administration, much of our focus on the Ways and Means Committee this year will be on tax and trade policy. A number of provisions from the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) have already expired, with more expiring over the next couple of years, and Congress should act quickly to ensure the lower tax rates for all Americans enacted through TCJA are extended. In the years following TCJA’s enactment, our tax code has eased the tax burden on families and small business, encouraged wage growth, maximized federal revenues, and spurred economic growth. This is a stark contrast to the proposals of the Biden administration, which have inflamed inflation and bloated government spending levels.We must also take action to ensure competitiveness through an aggressive trade policy agenda. This includes reauthorizing critical tariff and duty relief programs like Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) and the Miscellaneous Tariff Bill (MTB), which have long expired. Both GSP and MTB help American workers and consumers while ensuring developing economies look to the United States, not China, as a model for free and fair economic policy. We must also look at upcoming reauthorizations for programs that give American workers and job creators a competitive advantage around the world and encourage the Biden administration to change course and take strong trade policy seriously – something the administration has failed to do.Finally, in order to responsibly fund the essential functions of our government, we must direct taxpayer dollars to where they are needed most. As January 19 and February 2 deadlines approach to pass federal funding, Congress must do everything possible to avoid a harmful shutdown and fulfill urgent funding priorities – such as providing the resources needed to end illegal immigration and secure our southern border. I recently visited the southern border with House Speaker Mike Johnson and more than 60 of my Republican colleagues, and the situation there has only gotten increasingly dire.Good government combines the genius of our Constitution with the priorities of the present. I am committed to holding the Biden administration accountable, addressing Washington’s spending problem, confronting the challenges facing Americans, and advancing policies to strengthen our nation.

Legislative Priorities for the New Year

A suspect in the shooting death of Jared M. Shinpaugh, during the attempted robbery in the&nbsp; 800 block of West 23rd Street on January 16, 2022 has been arrested. Romeo Chambers, 24,&nbsp; of Omaha was located and arrested on January 5, 2024 in Phoenix, Arizona. Kearney Police&nbsp; were notified by Phoenix Police after Chambers was arrested for trespassing at an apartment&nbsp; in Phoenix. Chambers remains in police custody at the Maricopa County Jail awaiting&nbsp; extradition to Buffalo County.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Chambers was also wanted in connection with a shooting/attempted murder on September 9,&nbsp; 2023 in Denver, CO. Kearney Police and Phoenix Police have been in communication with&nbsp; Denver Police.&nbsp;

On Sunday, January 16, 2022, at approximately 8:38pm KPD responded to the 800 block of&nbsp; West 23rd street to investigate a report of gunshots in the area. Investigation revealed one&nbsp; person was deceased and two other subjects had been shot in an attempted robbery. The&nbsp; deceased was identified as Jared M. Shinpaugh,31, of Lexington. One victim, identified as&nbsp; Joseph Garcia, 29, of Lexington, was treated and released at Good Samaritan Hospital for a&nbsp; gunshot wound. It was later discovered that a resident, Joshua Morris, 18, of Kearney, was&nbsp; also shot during the attempted Robbery.&nbsp;

In March of 2022, Kearney Police Investigators requested and obtained a felony arrest warrant&nbsp; for Romeo Chambers related to this case. The warrant was issued for multiple felony offenses&nbsp; including Murder in the Second Degree, Class 1B Felony.&nbsp;

“I’m thankful and relieved this dangerous fugitive has been located and arrested. Over the&nbsp; course of nearly two years, KPD and law enforcement from across the state and the country&nbsp; have been working to locate and apprehend Chambers. We appreciate the assistance from all&nbsp; our allied local, state, and federal partners and hope this arrest brings the victim’s family and&nbsp; friends one step closer to finding closure.” – Chief Bryan D. Waugh&nbsp;

The Kearney Police Department have been assisted in this investigation by Buffalo County&nbsp; Sheriff’s Office, Buffalo County Attorney’s Office, University of Nebraska Kearney Police&nbsp; Department, Omaha Police Department, Lexington Police Department, Grand Island Police&nbsp; Department, United States Marshals Service Fugitive Task Force, Nebraska State Patrol Crime&nbsp; Lab, Denver Police Department, and Phoenix Police Department.&nbsp;

Kearney Police DepartmentA suspect in the shooting death of Jared M. Shinpaugh, during the attempted robbery in the&nbsp; 800 block of West 23rd Street on January 16, 2022 has been arrested. Romeo Chambers, 24,&nbsp; of Omaha was located and arrested on January 5, 2024 in Phoenix, Arizona. Kearney Police&nbsp; were notified by Phoenix Police after Chambers was arrested for trespassing at an apartment&nbsp; in Phoenix. Chambers remains in police custody at the Maricopa County Jail awaiting&nbsp; extradition to Buffalo County.&nbsp;&nbsp;Chambers was also wanted in connection with a shooting/attempted murder on September 9,&nbsp; 2023 in Denver, CO. Kearney Police and Phoenix Police have been in communication with&nbsp; Denver Police.&nbsp;On Sunday, January 16, 2022, at approximately 8:38pm KPD responded to the 800 block of&nbsp; West 23rd street to investigate a report of gunshots in the area. Investigation revealed one&nbsp; person was deceased and two other subjects had been shot in an attempted robbery. The&nbsp; deceased was identified as Jared M. Shinpaugh,31, of Lexington. One victim, identified as&nbsp; Joseph Garcia, 29, of Lexington, was treated and released at Good Samaritan Hospital for a&nbsp; gunshot wound. It was later discovered that a resident, Joshua Morris, 18, of Kearney, was&nbsp; also shot during the attempted Robbery.&nbsp;In March of 2022, Kearney Police Investigators requested and obtained a felony arrest warrant&nbsp; for Romeo Chambers related to this case. The warrant was issued for multiple felony offenses&nbsp; including Murder in the Second Degree, Class 1B Felony.&nbsp;“I’m thankful and relieved this dangerous fugitive has been located and arrested. Over the&nbsp; course of nearly two years, KPD and law enforcement from across the state and the country&nbsp; have been working to locate and apprehend Chambers. We appreciate the assistance from all&nbsp; our allied local, state, and federal partners and hope this arrest brings the victim’s family and&nbsp; friends one step closer to finding closure.” – Chief Bryan D. Waugh&nbsp;The Kearney Police Department have been assisted in this investigation by Buffalo County&nbsp; Sheriff’s Office, Buffalo County Attorney’s Office, University of Nebraska Kearney Police&nbsp; Department, Omaha Police Department, Lexington Police Department, Grand Island Police&nbsp; Department, United States Marshals Service Fugitive Task Force, Nebraska State Patrol Crime&nbsp; Lab, Denver Police Department, and Phoenix Police Department.&nbsp;

 Kearney Police says Suspect from January 2022 Shooting/Homicide Arrested in Arizona  

PERRY, Iowa (AP) — An Iowa principal critically injured in a school shooting put himself in harm's way so students could try to escape from a teenage shooter who opened fire in a cafeteria as students were gathering for breakfast before school, authorities said Friday.

Perry High School Principal Dan Marburger and six others, including two staff members and four teenage students, were injured in the Thursday morning shooting that left one sixth-grader dead. The 17-year-old student who opened fire also died of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot.

The state Department of Public Safety said Marburger, who is being treated in a Des Moines hospital, “acted selflessly and placed himself in harm’s way in an apparent effort to protect his students.”

A day after the shooting, the small community of Perry was somber. Yellow crime tape still lined the campus that Perry High School shares with the town’s middle school, flowers and stuffed toys had cropped up in mini memorials, and classes across the district were canceled Friday in favor of counseling.

Perry Superintendent Clark Wicks said the soonest classes will resume in the town will be next Friday.

“This is an extremely painful and difficult time for our entire school community, and in our grief, we will take time to remember,” Wicks said.

The shooting happened just after 7:30 a.m. Thursday, shortly before classes were set to begin on the first day back after winter break. Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation spokesman Mitch Mortvedt said the shooting started in the cafeteria, where students from several grades were eating breakfast, then spilled outside the cafeteria but was contained to the north end of the school.

The student killed was identified as 11-year-old Ahmir Jollif. An autopsy showed he had been shot three times.

The news that seven students and staff suffered “wounds or injuries of varying degree” during the shooting was two more than authorities said Thursday afternoon. Mortvedt said the number of injured increased after investigators later learned about two more wounded faculty members. All seven are believed to have been either wounded or grazed by bullets, and suffered injuries ranging from significant to minor.

On Friday, Marburger and two students remained hospitalized.

In a Facebook post Thursday night, the principal’s daughter said he was in “surgery all day, and is currently stable.”

Claire Marburger called her father a “gentle giant” and it wasn't surprising that her father tried to protect his students.

“As I heard of a gunman, I instantly had a feeling my Dad would be a victim as he would put himself in harms way for the benefit of the kids and his staff,” his daughter wrote. “That’s just Dad.”

Authorities said the suspect, identified as Dylan Butler, had a pump-action shotgun and a small-caliber handgun. Mortvedt told The Associated Press that authorities also found a “pretty rudimentary” improvised explosive device in Butler's belongings, and that experts advised “it was something that they needed to disarm.” It was rendered safe.

Mortvedt said Marburger, who has been principal since 1995, did some “pretty significant things” to protect others during the shooting, but didn't release details. Wicks, the superintendent, said Marburger was a “hero” who intervened with Butler so students could escape. Wicks said other staff also acted heroically, including Middle School Assistant Principal Adam Jessen who “carried a wounded student into a safe area.”

A law enforcement official briefed on the investigation said federal and state investigators were interviewing Butler’s friends and analyzing Butler’s social media profiles, including posts on TikTok and Reddit. However, authorities have provided no information about a possible motive.

Shortly before Thursday’s shooting, Butler posted a photo on TikTok inside the bathroom of Perry High School, the official said. The photo was captioned “now we wait” and the song “Stray Bullet” by the German band KMFDM accompanied it. Investigators also have found photos Butler posted posing with firearms, according to the official, who was not authorized to publicly discuss details of the investigation and spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity.

Two friends and their mother who spoke with the AP said Butler was a quiet person who had been bullied relentlessly since elementary school. Sisters Yesenia Roeder and Khamya Hall, both 17, said alongside their mother, Alita, that it escalated recently when Butler's younger sister started getting picked on, too.

“He was hurting. He got tired. He got tired of the bullying. He got tired of the harassment," Yesenia Roeder Hall said. "Was it a smart idea to shoot up the school? No. God, no.”

Police said Thursday they believe that Butler acted alone. But investigators have not said how Butler obtained the firearms.

Investigators are still working to get a “good grasp of who Dylan was,” and the parents have been cooperating, Mortvedt said. The investigation will include Butler’s background along with the “environment of the school,” he said.

Wicks wouldn’t discuss whether Butler had been bullied but he defended the way his district responds to those situations.

“We take every bullying situation seriously and our goal is to always have that safe and inviting atmosphere, but I’m not going to comment on this individual case as well as any other individual case,” Wicks said.

Butler’s parents have been fixtures of the Perry community. His father is director of the city’s airport after serving as its public works director for years, where he won praise helping clean up Perry after a devastating wind storm in 2020. His mother has also owned a small business and served on a city development board. The parents have not responded to messages seeking comment.

On Thursday night, hundreds gathered for a candlelight prayer vigil at a park where hours earlier, students had been brought to reunite with their families after the shooting. Bundled up against freezing temperatures, they listened to clergy from many faiths and heard a message of hope in both English and Spanish.

Perry has about 8,000 residents and is about 40 miles (65 kilometers) northwest of Des Moines, on the edge of the state capital’s metropolitan area. It is home to a large pork-processing plant and low-slung, single-story homes spread among trees now shorn of their leaves by winter.

The high school is part of the 1,785-student Perry Community School District. Perry is more diverse than Iowa as a whole. Census figures show 31% of its residents are Hispanic, compared with less than 7% statewide. Those figures also show nearly 19% of the town’s residents were born outside the U.S.

Despite the shock of the shooting, Perry Mayor Dirk Cavanaugh expressed confidence the community would get through the painful experience.

“We are a small town, but we will pull together in a big way to get through this.”

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/1/1704505064411.png" alt="Dan Marburger-photo courtesy KCCI TV" />
 <figcaption>Dan Marburger-photo courtesy KCCI TV</figcaption>
 </figure>PERRY, Iowa (AP) — An Iowa principal critically injured in a school shooting put himself in harm's way so students could try to escape from a teenage shooter who opened fire in a cafeteria as students were gathering for breakfast before school, authorities said Friday.Perry High School Principal Dan Marburger and six others, including two staff members and four teenage students, were injured in the Thursday morning shooting that left one sixth-grader dead. The 17-year-old student who opened fire also died of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot.The state Department of Public Safety said Marburger, who is being treated in a Des Moines hospital, “acted selflessly and placed himself in harm’s way in an apparent effort to protect his students.”<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/1/1704382094941.png" alt="photo courtesy KCCI TV" />
 <figcaption>photo courtesy KCCI TV</figcaption>
 </figure>A day after the shooting, the small community of Perry was somber. Yellow crime tape still lined the campus that Perry High School shares with the town’s middle school, flowers and stuffed toys had cropped up in mini memorials, and classes across the district were canceled Friday in favor of counseling.Perry Superintendent Clark Wicks said the soonest classes will resume in the town will be next Friday.“This is an extremely painful and difficult time for our entire school community, and in our grief, we will take time to remember,” Wicks said.The shooting happened just after 7:30 a.m. Thursday, shortly before classes were set to begin on the first day back after winter break. Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation spokesman Mitch Mortvedt said the shooting started in the cafeteria, where students from several grades were eating breakfast, then spilled outside the cafeteria but was contained to the north end of the school.The student killed was identified as 11-year-old Ahmir Jollif. An autopsy showed he had been shot three times.The news that seven students and staff suffered “wounds or injuries of varying degree” during the shooting was two more than authorities said Thursday afternoon. Mortvedt said the number of injured increased after investigators later learned about two more wounded faculty members. All seven are believed to have been either wounded or grazed by bullets, and suffered injuries ranging from significant to minor.On Friday, Marburger and two students remained hospitalized.<div><iframe src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/post.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fclaire.marburger%2Fposts%2Fpfbid0BgPwav4UoxVYxrbDp1cb3Pot934KkT1cuZBb8UaqoTiCZCotGkatJrJJgFyFCm4dl&show_text=true&width=500" width="500" height="278" style="border:none;overflow:hidden" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="true" allow="autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; picture-in-picture; web-share"></iframe></div>In a Facebook post Thursday night, the principal’s daughter said he was in “surgery all day, and is currently stable.”Claire Marburger called her father a “gentle giant” and it wasn't surprising that her father tried to protect his students.“As I heard of a gunman, I instantly had a feeling my Dad would be a victim as he would put himself in harms way for the benefit of the kids and his staff,” his daughter wrote. “That’s just Dad.”Authorities said the suspect, identified as Dylan Butler, had a pump-action shotgun and a small-caliber handgun. Mortvedt told The Associated Press that authorities also found a “pretty rudimentary” improvised explosive device in Butler's belongings, and that experts advised “it was something that they needed to disarm.” It was rendered safe.Mortvedt said Marburger, who has been principal since 1995, did some “pretty significant things” to protect others during the shooting, but didn't release details. Wicks, the superintendent, said Marburger was a “hero” who intervened with Butler so students could escape. Wicks said other staff also acted heroically, including Middle School Assistant Principal Adam Jessen who “carried a wounded student into a safe area.”A law enforcement official briefed on the investigation said federal and state investigators were interviewing Butler’s friends and analyzing Butler’s social media profiles, including posts on TikTok and Reddit. However, authorities have provided no information about a possible motive.Shortly before Thursday’s shooting, Butler posted a photo on TikTok inside the bathroom of Perry High School, the official said. The photo was captioned “now we wait” and the song “Stray Bullet” by the German band KMFDM accompanied it. Investigators also have found photos Butler posted posing with firearms, according to the official, who was not authorized to publicly discuss details of the investigation and spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity.Two friends and their mother who spoke with the AP said Butler was a quiet person who had been bullied relentlessly since elementary school. Sisters Yesenia Roeder and Khamya Hall, both 17, said alongside their mother, Alita, that it escalated recently when Butler's younger sister started getting picked on, too.“He was hurting. He got tired. He got tired of the bullying. He got tired of the harassment," Yesenia Roeder Hall said. "Was it a smart idea to shoot up the school? No. God, no.”Police said Thursday they believe that Butler acted alone. But investigators have not said how Butler obtained the firearms.Investigators are still working to get a “good grasp of who Dylan was,” and the parents have been cooperating, Mortvedt said. The investigation will include Butler’s background along with the “environment of the school,” he said.Wicks wouldn’t discuss whether Butler had been bullied but he defended the way his district responds to those situations.“We take every bullying situation seriously and our goal is to always have that safe and inviting atmosphere, but I’m not going to comment on this individual case as well as any other individual case,” Wicks said.Butler’s parents have been fixtures of the Perry community. His father is director of the city’s airport after serving as its public works director for years, where he won praise helping clean up Perry after a devastating wind storm in 2020. His mother has also owned a small business and served on a city development board. The parents have not responded to messages seeking comment.On Thursday night, hundreds gathered for a candlelight prayer vigil at a park where hours earlier, students had been brought to reunite with their families after the shooting. Bundled up against freezing temperatures, they listened to clergy from many faiths and heard a message of hope in both English and Spanish.Perry has about 8,000 residents and is about 40 miles (65 kilometers) northwest of Des Moines, on the edge of the state capital’s metropolitan area. It is home to a large pork-processing plant and low-slung, single-story homes spread among trees now shorn of their leaves by winter.The high school is part of the 1,785-student Perry Community School District. Perry is more diverse than Iowa as a whole. Census figures show 31% of its residents are Hispanic, compared with less than 7% statewide. Those figures also show nearly 19% of the town’s residents were born outside the U.S.Despite the shock of the shooting, Perry Mayor Dirk Cavanaugh expressed confidence the community would get through the painful experience.“We are a small town, but we will pull together in a big way to get through this.”

Police: Principal injured in school shooting risked himself to protect students

BABYLON —On Friday, the U.S. Central Command reported&nbsp;Iraqi police in Babylon discovered a land attack cruise missile of Iranian design that failed to launch.

The use of Iranian supplied munitions by terrorist groups within Iraq and Syria endanger Coalition forces and local residents. 

The Coalition is appreciative of the efforts of the legitimate security forces in Iraq for their efforts to prevent future attacks.

&nbsp;On Christmas Day, President Joe Biden&nbsp;ordered the United States military to carry out retaliatory airstrikes against Iranian-backed militia groups after three U.S. service members were injured in a drone attack in northern Iraq.

National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson said one of the U.S. troops suffered critical injuries in the attack that occurred earlier Dec. 25. The Iranian-backed militia Kataib Hezbollah and affiliated groups, under an umbrella of Iranian-backed militants, claimed credit for the attack that utilized a one-way attack drone.

Biden, who was spending Christmas at the presidential retreat at Camp David, Maryland, was alerted about the attack by White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan shortly after it occurred Monday and ordered the Pentagon and his top national security aides to prepare response options to the attack on an air base used by American troops in Irbil.

Sullivan consulted with&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/lloyd-austin">Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin</a>. Biden's deputy national security adviser, Jon Finer, was with the president at Camp David and convened top aides to review options, according to a U.S. official, who was not authorized to comment publicly and requested anonymity.

Within hours, Biden convened his national security team for a call in which Austin and Gen. CQ Brown, chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, briefed Biden on the response options. Biden opted to target three locations used by Kataib Hezbollah and affiliated groups, the official said.

The U.S. strikes were carried out at about 4:45 a.m. Tuesday in Iraq, less than 13 hours after the U.S. personnel were attacked. According to U.S. Central Command, the retaliatory strikes on the three sites "destroyed the targeted facilities and likely killed a number of Kataib Hezbollah militants.”

"The President places no higher priority than the protection of American personnel serving in harm’s way," Watson said. “The United States will act at a time and in a manner of our choosing should these attacks continue.”

The latest attack on U.S. troops follows months of escalating threats and actions against American forces in the region since the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel that sparked the devastating war in Gaza.

The dangerous back-and-forth strikes have escalated since Iranian-backed militant groups under the umbrella group called the Islamic Resistance in Iraq and Syria began striking U.S. facilities Oct. 17, the date that a&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/israel-palestinians-gaza-hamas-war-biden-rafah-e062825a375d9eb62e95509cab95b80c">blast at a hospital in Gaza</a>&nbsp;killed hundreds. Iranian-backed militias have carried out more than 100 attacks on U.S. bases in Iraq and Syria since the start of the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war">Israel-Hamas war</a>&nbsp;more than two months ago.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/1/1704463757879.png" alt="photo U.S. Central Command" />
 <figcaption>photo U.S. Central Command</figcaption>
 </figure>BABYLON —On Friday, the U.S. Central Command reported&nbsp;Iraqi police in Babylon discovered a land attack cruise missile of Iranian design that failed to launch.The use of Iranian supplied munitions by terrorist groups within Iraq and Syria endanger Coalition forces and local residents. The Coalition is appreciative of the efforts of the legitimate security forces in Iraq for their efforts to prevent future attacks.&nbsp;On Christmas Day, President Joe Biden&nbsp;ordered the United States military to carry out retaliatory airstrikes against Iranian-backed militia groups after three U.S. service members were injured in a drone attack in northern Iraq.National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson said one of the U.S. troops suffered critical injuries in the attack that occurred earlier Dec. 25. The Iranian-backed militia Kataib Hezbollah and affiliated groups, under an umbrella of Iranian-backed militants, claimed credit for the attack that utilized a one-way attack drone.Biden, who was spending Christmas at the presidential retreat at Camp David, Maryland, was alerted about the attack by White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan shortly after it occurred Monday and ordered the Pentagon and his top national security aides to prepare response options to the attack on an air base used by American troops in Irbil.Sullivan consulted with&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/lloyd-austin">Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin</a>. Biden's deputy national security adviser, Jon Finer, was with the president at Camp David and convened top aides to review options, according to a U.S. official, who was not authorized to comment publicly and requested anonymity.Within hours, Biden convened his national security team for a call in which Austin and Gen. CQ Brown, chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, briefed Biden on the response options. Biden opted to target three locations used by Kataib Hezbollah and affiliated groups, the official said.The U.S. strikes were carried out at about 4:45 a.m. Tuesday in Iraq, less than 13 hours after the U.S. personnel were attacked. According to U.S. Central Command, the retaliatory strikes on the three sites "destroyed the targeted facilities and likely killed a number of Kataib Hezbollah militants.”"The President places no higher priority than the protection of American personnel serving in harm’s way," Watson said. “The United States will act at a time and in a manner of our choosing should these attacks continue.”The latest attack on U.S. troops follows months of escalating threats and actions against American forces in the region since the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel that sparked the devastating war in Gaza.The dangerous back-and-forth strikes have escalated since Iranian-backed militant groups under the umbrella group called the Islamic Resistance in Iraq and Syria began striking U.S. facilities Oct. 17, the date that a&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/israel-palestinians-gaza-hamas-war-biden-rafah-e062825a375d9eb62e95509cab95b80c">blast at a hospital in Gaza</a>&nbsp;killed hundreds. Iranian-backed militias have carried out more than 100 attacks on U.S. bases in Iraq and Syria since the start of the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war">Israel-Hamas war</a>&nbsp;more than two months ago.

Police ID Iran cruise missile meant for attack on U.S. forces

NEW YORK (AP) — The release of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/jeffrey-epstein-documents-prince-andrew-harvey-weinstein-1e20f426af0c610db7963cdaf85c209f">dozens of previously sealed court documents</a>&nbsp;from a lawsuit involving Jeffrey Epstein might disappoint online sleuths who anticipated explosive new information.

The nearly 200 documents released as of Friday largely mention figures whose names were already known, including&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/jeffrey-epstein-prince-andrew-bill-clinton-donald-trump-385ccf8d49d337ae4866022877aa9a90">high-profile friends</a>&nbsp;of Epstein’s and victims who have spoken publicly. In fact, the judge who made the call last month to release the information said she was doing so largely because much of it is already public.

<a href="https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/4355835/giuffre-v-maxwell/?filed_after=&amp;filed_before=&amp;entry_gte=&amp;entry_lte=&amp;order_by=desc">Click here to read </a>the documents released 1/5/24 (caution Adult content)

The plan to release the documents had&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/fact-check-jeffrey-epstein-list-released-006487910615">prompted rumors</a>&nbsp;that they contained a list of “clients” or “co-conspirators,” and misinformation about their contents is continuing to&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/epstein-court-documents-misinformation-3a1df03616ec6b58684be434398de4b7">run rampant</a>&nbsp;on social media.

Still, the records&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/jeffrey-epstein-court-records-e5a924b6e97413850517df9237715a44">do include fresh details</a>&nbsp;about the financier’s sexual abuse of teenage girls, and offer a reminder of how he leveraged his powerful connections to recruit his victims and help cover up his crimes.

The documents unsealed this week are the latest of thousands previously made public in lawsuits involving Epstein.

Here’s what we know about the documents released so far:

A millionaire known for associating with celebrities, politicians, billionaires and academic stars, Epstein became the subject of a police investigation in Palm Beach, Florida, in 2005 after he was accused of paying a 14-year-old girl for sex. He was arrested in 2006.

Dozens of other underage girls described similar sexual abuse, but prosecutors ultimately&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/jeffrey-epstein-florida-e2a4431f7319afd037023d9a586aa291">allowed the financier to plead guilty</a>&nbsp;in 2008 to a charge involving a single victim. He served 13 months in a jail work-release program.

Some famous acquaintances abandoned Epstein after his conviction, including former Presidents Bill Clinton and Donald Trump, but many did not. Epstein continued to mingle with the rich and famous for another decade, often through philanthropic work.

Reporting by the Miami Herald renewed interest in the scandal, and federal prosecutors in New York charged Epstein in 2019 with sex trafficking. He&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/jeffrey-epstein-suicide-department-of-justice-investigation-50c229b7953096f0301bfa1e7f0b7703">killed himself in jail</a>&nbsp;while awaiting trial.

The U.S. attorney in Manhattan then prosecuted Epstein’s former girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell for helping recruit his underage victims. She was convicted in 2021 and is&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/ghislaine-maxwell-jeffrey-epstein-sentencing-aeac127f9cc3811d975ce8e10d171260">serving a 20-year prison term</a>.

The documents being unsealed are part of a 2015 lawsuit filed against Maxwell by one of Epstein’s victims,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/ghislaine-maxwell-entertainment-lifestyle-virginia-prince-andrew-60348f70fd605c26c26615ffc5ed5f14">Virginia Giuffre</a>. She is one of the dozens of women who sued Epstein saying he had abused them at his homes in Florida, New York, the U.S. Virgin Islands and New Mexico.

Giuffre said the summer she turned 17, she was lured away from a job as a spa attendant at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club to become a “masseuse” for Epstein — a job that involved performing sexual acts.

Giuffre also claimed she was pressured into having sex with men in Epstein's social orbit, including Britain's Prince Andrew, former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, former U.S. Sen. George Mitchell and the billionaire Glenn Dubin, among others. All of those men said her accounts were fabricated.

Giuffre&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/prince-andrew-virginia-giuffre-lawsuit-settlement-8b04c775aa46f761d81c05ef12e3a94f">settled a lawsuit against Prince Andrew</a>&nbsp;in 2022. That same year, Giuffre withdrew an accusation she had made against Epstein's former attorney, the law professor Alan Dershowitz, saying she “&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/ghislaine-maxwell-new-york-lawsuits-prince-andrew-jeffrey-epstein-2a7202e552c38ed03c5fe39d6a29721b">may have made a mistake</a>&nbsp;” in identifying him as an abuser.

Giuffre’s lawsuit against Maxwell was settled in 2017, but the Miami Herald went to court to access court papers initially filed under seal, including transcripts of interviews the lawyers did with potential witnesses.

About 2,000 pages were unsealed by a court in 2019. Additional documents were released in 2020, 2021 and 2022.

The batch currently being released contains around 250 records with sections that were blacked out or were sealed entirely because of concerns about the privacy rights of Epstein’s victims and other people whose names had come up during the legal battle but weren’t complicit in his crimes.

Nearly 200 have been released as of Friday. The judge hasn’t set a target for when all the documents should be made public, but more are expected to come.

U.S. District Judge Loretta A. Preska, who evaluated the documents to decide what should be unsealed, said in her December order that she was ordering the records released because much of the information within them is already public.

Some records have been released, either in part or in full, in other court cases.

The people named in the records include many of Epstein's accusers, members of his staff who told their stories to tabloid newspapers, people who served as witnesses at Maxwell's trial, people who were mentioned in passing during depositions but aren't accused of anything salacious, and people who investigated Epstein, including prosecutors, a journalist and a police detective.

There are also boldface names of public figures known to have associated with Epstein over the years, but whose relationships with him have already been well documented elsewhere, the judge said.

One of them is Jean-Luc Brunel, a French modeling agent close to Epstein who was awaiting trial on charges that he raped underage girls when he&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/europe-arts-and-entertainment-paris-jeffrey-epstein-edfbdb84c6cdd5f736ac7e1c2bac657b">killed himself in a Paris jail</a>&nbsp;in 2022. Giuffre was among the women who had accused Brunel of sexual abuse.

His name was peppered throughout the documents released Wednesday.

Clinton and Trump both factor in the court file, partly because Giuffre was questioned by Maxwell's lawyers about inaccuracies in newspaper stories about her time with Epstein. One story quoted her as saying she had ridden in a helicopter with Clinton and flirted with Trump. Giuffre said neither of those things actually happened. She hasn't accused either former president of wrongdoing.

The judge said a handful of names should remain blacked out in the documents because they would identify people who were sexually abused. The Associated Press does not typically identify people who say they are victims of sexual assault unless they decide to tell their stories publicly, as Giuffre has done.

WHAT MISINFORMATION IS SPREADING ABOUT THE DOCUMENTS?

In addition to false claims that the documents represent some kind of list identifying Epstein’s “clients,” the internet is rife with misinformation about exactly who is named in the records and what that means.

Ahead of the release, social media users wrongly claimed that late-night host Jimmy Kimmel’s name might appear, spurred by a joke New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers made Tuesday on ESPN’s “The Pat McAfee Show.”

Kimmel said in a response on X that he had never met Epstein and that Rodgers’ “reckless words put my family in danger.” His name did not appear in the documents released so far.

After the documents began emerging, social media users seized on names that appeared in passing, falsely suggesting it was proof of wrongdoing.

For instance, some suggested that the documents included allegations about Stephen Hawking, who died in 2018. In reality, the theoretical physicist's name appears, misspelled, in a 2015 email Epstein sent proposing a reward be paid to anyone who could debunk a baseless claim about Hawking.

Other social media users are&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/epstein-court-documents-misinformation-3a1df03616ec6b58684be434398de4b7">spreading fabricated images</a>&nbsp;made to look like documents that they claim show people making allegations against Hawking and Kimmel. The quotes in the images don't appear anywhere in the records.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/1/1704330351229.png" alt="Jeffrey Epstein New York Sex Offender Registry" />
 <figcaption>Jeffrey Epstein New York Sex Offender Registry</figcaption>
 </figure>NEW YORK (AP) — The release of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/jeffrey-epstein-documents-prince-andrew-harvey-weinstein-1e20f426af0c610db7963cdaf85c209f">dozens of previously sealed court documents</a>&nbsp;from a lawsuit involving Jeffrey Epstein might disappoint online sleuths who anticipated explosive new information.The nearly 200 documents released as of Friday largely mention figures whose names were already known, including&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/jeffrey-epstein-prince-andrew-bill-clinton-donald-trump-385ccf8d49d337ae4866022877aa9a90">high-profile friends</a>&nbsp;of Epstein’s and victims who have spoken publicly. In fact, the judge who made the call last month to release the information said she was doing so largely because much of it is already public.<a href="https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/4355835/giuffre-v-maxwell/?filed_after=&amp;filed_before=&amp;entry_gte=&amp;entry_lte=&amp;order_by=desc">Click here to read </a>the documents released 1/5/24 (caution Adult content)The plan to release the documents had&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/fact-check-jeffrey-epstein-list-released-006487910615">prompted rumors</a>&nbsp;that they contained a list of “clients” or “co-conspirators,” and misinformation about their contents is continuing to&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/epstein-court-documents-misinformation-3a1df03616ec6b58684be434398de4b7">run rampant</a>&nbsp;on social media.Still, the records&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/jeffrey-epstein-court-records-e5a924b6e97413850517df9237715a44">do include fresh details</a>&nbsp;about the financier’s sexual abuse of teenage girls, and offer a reminder of how he leveraged his powerful connections to recruit his victims and help cover up his crimes.The documents unsealed this week are the latest of thousands previously made public in lawsuits involving Epstein.Here’s what we know about the documents released so far:WHO IS JEFFREY EPSTEIN?A millionaire known for associating with celebrities, politicians, billionaires and academic stars, Epstein became the subject of a police investigation in Palm Beach, Florida, in 2005 after he was accused of paying a 14-year-old girl for sex. He was arrested in 2006.Dozens of other underage girls described similar sexual abuse, but prosecutors ultimately&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/jeffrey-epstein-florida-e2a4431f7319afd037023d9a586aa291">allowed the financier to plead guilty</a>&nbsp;in 2008 to a charge involving a single victim. He served 13 months in a jail work-release program.Some famous acquaintances abandoned Epstein after his conviction, including former Presidents Bill Clinton and Donald Trump, but many did not. Epstein continued to mingle with the rich and famous for another decade, often through philanthropic work.Reporting by the Miami Herald renewed interest in the scandal, and federal prosecutors in New York charged Epstein in 2019 with sex trafficking. He&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/jeffrey-epstein-suicide-department-of-justice-investigation-50c229b7953096f0301bfa1e7f0b7703">killed himself in jail</a>&nbsp;while awaiting trial.The U.S. attorney in Manhattan then prosecuted Epstein’s former girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell for helping recruit his underage victims. She was convicted in 2021 and is&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/ghislaine-maxwell-jeffrey-epstein-sentencing-aeac127f9cc3811d975ce8e10d171260">serving a 20-year prison term</a>.WHAT ARE THESE RECORDS ABOUT?The documents being unsealed are part of a 2015 lawsuit filed against Maxwell by one of Epstein’s victims,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/ghislaine-maxwell-entertainment-lifestyle-virginia-prince-andrew-60348f70fd605c26c26615ffc5ed5f14">Virginia Giuffre</a>. She is one of the dozens of women who sued Epstein saying he had abused them at his homes in Florida, New York, the U.S. Virgin Islands and New Mexico.Giuffre said the summer she turned 17, she was lured away from a job as a spa attendant at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club to become a “masseuse” for Epstein — a job that involved performing sexual acts.Giuffre also claimed she was pressured into having sex with men in Epstein's social orbit, including Britain's Prince Andrew, former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, former U.S. Sen. George Mitchell and the billionaire Glenn Dubin, among others. All of those men said her accounts were fabricated.Giuffre&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/prince-andrew-virginia-giuffre-lawsuit-settlement-8b04c775aa46f761d81c05ef12e3a94f">settled a lawsuit against Prince Andrew</a>&nbsp;in 2022. That same year, Giuffre withdrew an accusation she had made against Epstein's former attorney, the law professor Alan Dershowitz, saying she “&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/ghislaine-maxwell-new-york-lawsuits-prince-andrew-jeffrey-epstein-2a7202e552c38ed03c5fe39d6a29721b">may have made a mistake</a>&nbsp;” in identifying him as an abuser.Giuffre’s lawsuit against Maxwell was settled in 2017, but the Miami Herald went to court to access court papers initially filed under seal, including transcripts of interviews the lawyers did with potential witnesses.About 2,000 pages were unsealed by a court in 2019. Additional documents were released in 2020, 2021 and 2022.The batch currently being released contains around 250 records with sections that were blacked out or were sealed entirely because of concerns about the privacy rights of Epstein’s victims and other people whose names had come up during the legal battle but weren’t complicit in his crimes.Nearly 200 have been released as of Friday. The judge hasn’t set a target for when all the documents should be made public, but more are expected to come.WHAT DO THE DOCUMENTS SHOW?U.S. District Judge Loretta A. Preska, who evaluated the documents to decide what should be unsealed, said in her December order that she was ordering the records released because much of the information within them is already public.Some records have been released, either in part or in full, in other court cases.The people named in the records include many of Epstein's accusers, members of his staff who told their stories to tabloid newspapers, people who served as witnesses at Maxwell's trial, people who were mentioned in passing during depositions but aren't accused of anything salacious, and people who investigated Epstein, including prosecutors, a journalist and a police detective.There are also boldface names of public figures known to have associated with Epstein over the years, but whose relationships with him have already been well documented elsewhere, the judge said.One of them is Jean-Luc Brunel, a French modeling agent close to Epstein who was awaiting trial on charges that he raped underage girls when he&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/europe-arts-and-entertainment-paris-jeffrey-epstein-edfbdb84c6cdd5f736ac7e1c2bac657b">killed himself in a Paris jail</a>&nbsp;in 2022. Giuffre was among the women who had accused Brunel of sexual abuse.His name was peppered throughout the documents released Wednesday.Clinton and Trump both factor in the court file, partly because Giuffre was questioned by Maxwell's lawyers about inaccuracies in newspaper stories about her time with Epstein. One story quoted her as saying she had ridden in a helicopter with Clinton and flirted with Trump. Giuffre said neither of those things actually happened. She hasn't accused either former president of wrongdoing.The judge said a handful of names should remain blacked out in the documents because they would identify people who were sexually abused. The Associated Press does not typically identify people who say they are victims of sexual assault unless they decide to tell their stories publicly, as Giuffre has done.WHAT MISINFORMATION IS SPREADING ABOUT THE DOCUMENTS?In addition to false claims that the documents represent some kind of list identifying Epstein’s “clients,” the internet is rife with misinformation about exactly who is named in the records and what that means.Ahead of the release, social media users wrongly claimed that late-night host Jimmy Kimmel’s name might appear, spurred by a joke New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers made Tuesday on ESPN’s “The Pat McAfee Show.”Kimmel said in a response on X that he had never met Epstein and that Rodgers’ “reckless words put my family in danger.” His name did not appear in the documents released so far.After the documents began emerging, social media users seized on names that appeared in passing, falsely suggesting it was proof of wrongdoing.For instance, some suggested that the documents included allegations about Stephen Hawking, who died in 2018. In reality, the theoretical physicist's name appears, misspelled, in a 2015 email Epstein sent proposing a reward be paid to anyone who could debunk a baseless claim about Hawking.Other social media users are&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/epstein-court-documents-misinformation-3a1df03616ec6b58684be434398de4b7">spreading fabricated images</a>&nbsp;made to look like documents that they claim show people making allegations against Hawking and Kimmel. The quotes in the images don't appear anywhere in the records.

Read 3rd batch of Epstein documents released Friday

WASHINGTON (AP) — The&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/us-supreme-court">Supreme Court</a>&nbsp;said Friday it will decide whether former President Donald Trump can be kept off the ballot because of his efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss, inserting the court squarely in the 2024 presidential campaign.

The justices acknowledged the need to reach a decision quickly, as voters will soon begin casting presidential primary ballots across the country. The court agreed to take up a case from Colorado stemming from Trump’s role in the events that culminated in&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/congress-confirm-joe-biden-78104aea082995bbd7412a6e6cd13818">the Jan. 6, 2021, attack</a>&nbsp;on the U.S. Capitol.

Arguments will be held in early February.

The court will be considering for the first time the meaning and reach of a provision of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-14th-amendment-insurrection-2024-election-ballot-9c5f79203109ba221b35a48e708ad725">the 14th Amendment</a>&nbsp;barring some people who “engaged in insurrection” from holding public office. The amendment was adopted in 1868, following the Civil War. It has been so rarely used that the nation's highest court had no previous occasion to interpret it.

Colorado's Supreme Court, by a 4-3 vote, ruled last month that Trump should not be on the Republican primary ballot. The decision was the first time the 14th Amendment was used to bar a presidential contender from the ballot.

Trump is separately appealing to state court&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/maine-trump-presidential-ballot-election-insurrection-081fd38ce1f20be9b8423cb2f8c66dee">a ruling by Maine’s Democratic secretary of state</a>, Shenna Bellows, that he was ineligible to appear on that state’s ballot over his role in&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/congress-confirm-joe-biden-78104aea082995bbd7412a6e6cd13818">the Capitol attack</a>. Both the Colorado Supreme Court and the Maine secretary of state’s rulings are on hold until the appeals play out.

Three of the nine Supreme Court&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-14th-amendment-immunity-supreme-court-d3f001f66c5c3e85302b8772753ed769">justices were appointed by Trump</a>, though they have repeatedly ruled against him in 2020 election-related lawsuits, as well as his efforts to keep documents related to Jan. 6 and his tax returns from being turned over to congressional committees.

At the same time, Justices Amy Coney Barrett, Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh have been in the majority of conservative-driven decisions that overturned the five-decade-old&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/abortion-supreme-court-decision-854f60302f21c2c35129e58cf8d8a7b0">constitutional right to abortion</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/politics-mississippi-state-government-delaware-california-massachusetts-3983cecfd1107c263d5309ec0d80a966">expanded gun rights</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/supreme-court-affirmative-action-college-race-f83d6318017ec9b9029b12ee2256e744">struck down affirmative action in college admissions</a>.

Some Democratic lawmakers have called on another conservative justice, Clarence Thomas, to step aside from the case because of his wife's support for Trump’s effort to overturn the results of the election, which he lost to Democrat Joe Biden. Thomas is unlikely to agree. He has recused himself from only one other case related to the 2020 election, involving former law clerk John Eastman, and so far the people trying to disqualify Trump haven’t asked him to recuse.

The 4-3 Colorado decision cites a ruling by Gorsuch when he was a federal judge in that state. That Gorsuch decision upheld Colorado's move to strike a naturalized citizen from the state's presidential ballot because he was born in Guyana and didn't meet the constitutional requirements to run for office. The court found that Trump likewise doesn't meet the qualifications due to his role in the U.S. Capitol attack on Jan. 6, 2021. That day, the Republican president had held a rally outside the White House and exhorted his supporters to&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/election-2020-joe-biden-donald-trump-capitol-siege-media-e79eb5164613d6718e9f4502eb471f27">“fight like hell”</a>&nbsp;before they walked to the Capitol.

The two-sentence provision in Section 3 of the 14th Amendment states that anyone who swore an oath to uphold the constitution and then “engaged in insurrection” against it is no longer eligible for state or federal office. After Congress passed an amnesty for most of the former confederates the measure targeted in 1872, the provision fell into disuse until dozens of suits were filed to keep Trump off the ballot this year. Only the one in Colorado was successful.

Trump had asked the court to overturn the Colorado ruling without even hearing arguments. “The Colorado Supreme Court decision would unconstitutionally disenfranchise millions of voters in Colorado and likely be used as a template to disenfranchise tens of millions of voters nationwide,” Trump’s lawyers wrote.

They argue that Trump should win on many grounds, including that the events of Jan. 6 did not constitute an insurrection. Even if it did, they wrote, Trump himself had not engaged in insurrection. They also contend that the insurrection clause does not apply to the president and that Congress must act, not individual states.

Critics of the former president who sued in Colorado agreed that the justices should step in now and resolve the issue, as do many election law experts.

“This case is of utmost national importance. And given the upcoming presidential primary schedule, there is no time to wait for the issues to percolate further. The Court should resolve this case on an expedited timetable, so that voters in Colorado and elsewhere will know whether Trump is indeed constitutionally ineligible when they cast their primary ballots,” lawyers for the Colorado plaintiffs told the Supreme Court.

The issue of whether Trump can be on the ballot is not the only matter related to the former president or Jan. 6 that has reached the high court. The justices last month&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-january-6-justice-department-90b93eeb663ebaf67a2e0bc266390fa0">declined a request from special counsel Jack Smith</a>&nbsp;to swiftly take up and rule on Trump’s claims that he is immune from prosecution in a case charging him with plotting to overturn the 2020 presidential election, though the issue could be back before the court soon depending on the ruling of a Washington-based appeals court.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/us-supreme-court">Supreme Court</a>&nbsp;said Friday it will decide whether former President Donald Trump can be kept off the ballot because of his efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss, inserting the court squarely in the 2024 presidential campaign.The justices acknowledged the need to reach a decision quickly, as voters will soon begin casting presidential primary ballots across the country. The court agreed to take up a case from Colorado stemming from Trump’s role in the events that culminated in&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/congress-confirm-joe-biden-78104aea082995bbd7412a6e6cd13818">the Jan. 6, 2021, attack</a>&nbsp;on the U.S. Capitol.Arguments will be held in early February.The court will be considering for the first time the meaning and reach of a provision of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-14th-amendment-insurrection-2024-election-ballot-9c5f79203109ba221b35a48e708ad725">the 14th Amendment</a>&nbsp;barring some people who “engaged in insurrection” from holding public office. The amendment was adopted in 1868, following the Civil War. It has been so rarely used that the nation's highest court had no previous occasion to interpret it.Colorado's Supreme Court, by a 4-3 vote, ruled last month that Trump should not be on the Republican primary ballot. The decision was the first time the 14th Amendment was used to bar a presidential contender from the ballot.Trump is separately appealing to state court&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/maine-trump-presidential-ballot-election-insurrection-081fd38ce1f20be9b8423cb2f8c66dee">a ruling by Maine’s Democratic secretary of state</a>, Shenna Bellows, that he was ineligible to appear on that state’s ballot over his role in&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/congress-confirm-joe-biden-78104aea082995bbd7412a6e6cd13818">the Capitol attack</a>. Both the Colorado Supreme Court and the Maine secretary of state’s rulings are on hold until the appeals play out.Three of the nine Supreme Court&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-14th-amendment-immunity-supreme-court-d3f001f66c5c3e85302b8772753ed769">justices were appointed by Trump</a>, though they have repeatedly ruled against him in 2020 election-related lawsuits, as well as his efforts to keep documents related to Jan. 6 and his tax returns from being turned over to congressional committees.At the same time, Justices Amy Coney Barrett, Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh have been in the majority of conservative-driven decisions that overturned the five-decade-old&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/abortion-supreme-court-decision-854f60302f21c2c35129e58cf8d8a7b0">constitutional right to abortion</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/politics-mississippi-state-government-delaware-california-massachusetts-3983cecfd1107c263d5309ec0d80a966">expanded gun rights</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/supreme-court-affirmative-action-college-race-f83d6318017ec9b9029b12ee2256e744">struck down affirmative action in college admissions</a>.Some Democratic lawmakers have called on another conservative justice, Clarence Thomas, to step aside from the case because of his wife's support for Trump’s effort to overturn the results of the election, which he lost to Democrat Joe Biden. Thomas is unlikely to agree. He has recused himself from only one other case related to the 2020 election, involving former law clerk John Eastman, and so far the people trying to disqualify Trump haven’t asked him to recuse.The 4-3 Colorado decision cites a ruling by Gorsuch when he was a federal judge in that state. That Gorsuch decision upheld Colorado's move to strike a naturalized citizen from the state's presidential ballot because he was born in Guyana and didn't meet the constitutional requirements to run for office. The court found that Trump likewise doesn't meet the qualifications due to his role in the U.S. Capitol attack on Jan. 6, 2021. That day, the Republican president had held a rally outside the White House and exhorted his supporters to&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/election-2020-joe-biden-donald-trump-capitol-siege-media-e79eb5164613d6718e9f4502eb471f27">“fight like hell”</a>&nbsp;before they walked to the Capitol.The two-sentence provision in Section 3 of the 14th Amendment states that anyone who swore an oath to uphold the constitution and then “engaged in insurrection” against it is no longer eligible for state or federal office. After Congress passed an amnesty for most of the former confederates the measure targeted in 1872, the provision fell into disuse until dozens of suits were filed to keep Trump off the ballot this year. Only the one in Colorado was successful.Trump had asked the court to overturn the Colorado ruling without even hearing arguments. “The Colorado Supreme Court decision would unconstitutionally disenfranchise millions of voters in Colorado and likely be used as a template to disenfranchise tens of millions of voters nationwide,” Trump’s lawyers wrote.They argue that Trump should win on many grounds, including that the events of Jan. 6 did not constitute an insurrection. Even if it did, they wrote, Trump himself had not engaged in insurrection. They also contend that the insurrection clause does not apply to the president and that Congress must act, not individual states.Critics of the former president who sued in Colorado agreed that the justices should step in now and resolve the issue, as do many election law experts.“This case is of utmost national importance. And given the upcoming presidential primary schedule, there is no time to wait for the issues to percolate further. The Court should resolve this case on an expedited timetable, so that voters in Colorado and elsewhere will know whether Trump is indeed constitutionally ineligible when they cast their primary ballots,” lawyers for the Colorado plaintiffs told the Supreme Court.The issue of whether Trump can be on the ballot is not the only matter related to the former president or Jan. 6 that has reached the high court. The justices last month&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-january-6-justice-department-90b93eeb663ebaf67a2e0bc266390fa0">declined a request from special counsel Jack Smith</a>&nbsp;to swiftly take up and rule on Trump’s claims that he is immune from prosecution in a case charging him with plotting to overturn the 2020 presidential election, though the issue could be back before the court soon depending on the ruling of a Washington-based appeals court.

History: Supreme Court will decide if Trump can be kept off ballots

DENVER (AP) — The U.S. Supreme Court is expected to determine whether former President Donald Trump can keep running for the White House.

<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-insurrection-14th-amendment-supreme-court-5d179c97c6fb861980f4ba2994589c69">Trump on Wednesday</a>&nbsp;appealed a&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-insurrection-14th-amendment-2024-colorado-d16dd8f354eeaf450558378c65fd79a2">ruling</a>&nbsp;from the Colorado Supreme Court that he's ineligible for the presidency because he violated a&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-insurrection-14th-amendment-2024-colorado-79373b5043976588b599fc00ede049e8">rarely used constitutional prohibition</a>&nbsp;on those who hold office having “engaged in insurrection.” On Tuesday, he&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-supreme-court-colorado-maine-14th-amendment-24e92ece8a13531ded8975a651127cde">appealed</a>&nbsp;a similar ruling from Maine's Democratic secretary of state, but it's the Colorado appeal that's most significant.

That's because the nation's highest court has never before ruled on Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, adopted in 1868 to prevent Confederates from regaining their former government posts. Whatever the Supreme Court decides applies to Colorado will apply to all other 49 states, including Maine.

Trump remains on the ballot in both states until the appeals are done.

The provision is only two sentences and seems relatively straightforward.

Section 3 reads: “No Person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.”

Trump's lawyers say this part of the Constitution wasn't meant to apply to the president. Notice how it specifically mentions electors, senators and representatives, but not the presidency, they say.

Also, it says those who take an oath to “support” the United States, but the presidential oath doesn't use that word — instead, the Constitution requires presidents to say they will “preserve, protect and defend” the document. And, finally, Section 3 talks about any other “officer” of the United States, but Trump's lawyers argue that language is meant to apply to presidential appointees, not the actual president.

That was enough to convince the initial Denver judge who heard the case, who agreed it wasn't clear that Section 3 applied to the president. But that judge's decision was reversed by the Colorado Supreme Court.

The majority of the state's highest court wrote: "President Trump asks us to hold that Section 3 disqualifies every oathbreaking insurrectionist except the most powerful one and that it bars oath-breakers from virtually every office, both state and federal, except the highest one in the land.”

WHAT ARE THE TRUMP TEAM'S OTHER ARGUMENTS?

His lawyers contend that the question of who is covered by a rarely used, once obscure clause is political and cannot be decided by unelected judges. They contend that Jan. 6 wasn't an insurrection — it wasn't widespread, they say, and didn't involve large amounts of firearms or other markers of sedition. They say Trump didn't “engage” in anything that day other than in exercising his protected free speech rights.

Their final argument is the one that convinced the dissenting three of Colorado's seven high court justices — the ad hoc way the court went about finding that Trump violated Section 3, in turn, violated the former president's due process rights. They contend he was entitled to some structured, adversarial legal process rather than a court in Colorado trying to figure out if the Constitution applied to him.

That gets at the unprecedented nature of the cases. Section 3 has rarely been used after an 1872 congressional amnesty excluded most former Confederates from it. The U.S. Supreme Court has never heard such a case. Arguments about legal precedents go back to a sole 1869 opinion from Chief Justice Salmon Chase, who was hearing an appeal as a circuit judge rather than for the high court.

Trump's critics have filed dozens of lawsuits seeking to disqualify him, and all failed until Colorado. But they usually failed because the judges dodged the constitutional issues or declared themselves unqualified to rule on them. Presuming it takes the case — and every observer expects it will — the Supreme Court doesn't have much room left to dodge.

Colorado's Republican Party has&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-ballot-insurrection-colorado-supreme-court-c51a09d231a5b29475505b0c402a2d89">already appealed</a>&nbsp;the Colorado ruling, so the justices have had time to think about what they'll do.

The high court has dozens of different ways it can rule.

It could uphold the Colorado ruling and say Trump is no longer qualified to be president.

The court could say Trump is qualified to be president. That would end all Section 3 challenges, including in Maine.

It could dodge by overruling Colorado on a technicality about the procedures used to get the case there and set itself up for another case in the fall.

It could say Congress makes the final decision.

When the court might rule is another mystery. In Bush v. Gore, the 2000 case that ended the Florida recount and made George W. Bush president, the court ruled in three days. The court could also go slowly and wait until the end of its term on June 30 to rule.

Obviously, that could open the door to more chaos and leave it uncertain during the primaries whether Republicans are voting for someone qualified to be president. That's why all the parties have sought an expedited appeal and a ruling as quickly as possible.

AREN'T REPUBLICANS JUST GOING TO RULE FOR TRUMP?

The Colorado high court’s seven justices were all appointed by Democrats. Six of the nine U.S. Supreme Court Justices were appointed by Republicans, three by Trump.

But the Colorado court split 4-3 on the ruling. The majority quoted a ruling from Neil Gorsuch, one of Trump’s conservative Supreme Court appointees, when he was a federal judge in Colorado. He ruled then that the state properly kept a naturalized citizen born in Guyana off the presidential ballot because he didn’t meet the constitutional qualifications.

Democrats have already begun to suggest that Justice Clarence Thomas should recuse himself because his wife, a Republican activist, supported Trump's effort to overturn his 2020 election loss to President Joe Biden. Thomas has only recused himself from one other case related to the 2020 election and so far the people trying to disqualify Trump haven't asked him to do so here.

Some of the strongest advocates of using Section 3 against Trump have been prominent conservative legal theorists and lawyers who argue that courts have to follow the actual words of the Constitution. They argue there’s no wiggle room here — Trump is clearly disqualified.

The question of whether Trump is qualified hasn't broken on traditional partisan lines in the legal world, partly because this is completely new legal ground, it’s hard to predict how individual justices will rule based on their ideology.

But the reason most legal observers expect Trump to win at the high court is because courts are very hesitant to limit voters’ choices. There’s even a term for that — the “political question,” whether a legal dispute is better settled by the people the voters have selected to make the laws than by unelected judges.

If that doesn't happen, some critics warn, and Trump's campaign is ended by Section 3, expect it to become weaponized in political races. Imagine a world where any politician's career can end in a moment when a court or an election official decides that person “engaged in insurrection,” they caution.

DENVER (AP) — The U.S. Supreme Court is expected to determine whether former President Donald Trump can keep running for the White House.<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-insurrection-14th-amendment-supreme-court-5d179c97c6fb861980f4ba2994589c69">Trump on Wednesday</a>&nbsp;appealed a&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-insurrection-14th-amendment-2024-colorado-d16dd8f354eeaf450558378c65fd79a2">ruling</a>&nbsp;from the Colorado Supreme Court that he's ineligible for the presidency because he violated a&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-insurrection-14th-amendment-2024-colorado-79373b5043976588b599fc00ede049e8">rarely used constitutional prohibition</a>&nbsp;on those who hold office having “engaged in insurrection.” On Tuesday, he&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-supreme-court-colorado-maine-14th-amendment-24e92ece8a13531ded8975a651127cde">appealed</a>&nbsp;a similar ruling from Maine's Democratic secretary of state, but it's the Colorado appeal that's most significant.That's because the nation's highest court has never before ruled on Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, adopted in 1868 to prevent Confederates from regaining their former government posts. Whatever the Supreme Court decides applies to Colorado will apply to all other 49 states, including Maine.Trump remains on the ballot in both states until the appeals are done.WHAT IS SECTION 3?The provision is only two sentences and seems relatively straightforward.Section 3 reads: “No Person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.”Nice and simple, right?Not so fast, Trump's attorneys say.WHAT DOES TRUMP'S LEGAL TEAM CONTEND?Trump's lawyers say this part of the Constitution wasn't meant to apply to the president. Notice how it specifically mentions electors, senators and representatives, but not the presidency, they say.Also, it says those who take an oath to “support” the United States, but the presidential oath doesn't use that word — instead, the Constitution requires presidents to say they will “preserve, protect and defend” the document. And, finally, Section 3 talks about any other “officer” of the United States, but Trump's lawyers argue that language is meant to apply to presidential appointees, not the actual president.That was enough to convince the initial Denver judge who heard the case, who agreed it wasn't clear that Section 3 applied to the president. But that judge's decision was reversed by the Colorado Supreme Court.The majority of the state's highest court wrote: "President Trump asks us to hold that Section 3 disqualifies every oathbreaking insurrectionist except the most powerful one and that it bars oath-breakers from virtually every office, both state and federal, except the highest one in the land.”WHAT ARE THE TRUMP TEAM'S OTHER ARGUMENTS?His lawyers contend that the question of who is covered by a rarely used, once obscure clause is political and cannot be decided by unelected judges. They contend that Jan. 6 wasn't an insurrection — it wasn't widespread, they say, and didn't involve large amounts of firearms or other markers of sedition. They say Trump didn't “engage” in anything that day other than in exercising his protected free speech rights.Their final argument is the one that convinced the dissenting three of Colorado's seven high court justices — the ad hoc way the court went about finding that Trump violated Section 3, in turn, violated the former president's due process rights. They contend he was entitled to some structured, adversarial legal process rather than a court in Colorado trying to figure out if the Constitution applied to him.That gets at the unprecedented nature of the cases. Section 3 has rarely been used after an 1872 congressional amnesty excluded most former Confederates from it. The U.S. Supreme Court has never heard such a case. Arguments about legal precedents go back to a sole 1869 opinion from Chief Justice Salmon Chase, who was hearing an appeal as a circuit judge rather than for the high court.Trump's critics have filed dozens of lawsuits seeking to disqualify him, and all failed until Colorado. But they usually failed because the judges dodged the constitutional issues or declared themselves unqualified to rule on them. Presuming it takes the case — and every observer expects it will — the Supreme Court doesn't have much room left to dodge.WHAT WILL THE SUPREME COURT DO AND WHEN?Colorado's Republican Party has&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-ballot-insurrection-colorado-supreme-court-c51a09d231a5b29475505b0c402a2d89">already appealed</a>&nbsp;the Colorado ruling, so the justices have had time to think about what they'll do.The high court has dozens of different ways it can rule.It could uphold the Colorado ruling and say Trump is no longer qualified to be president.The court could say Trump is qualified to be president. That would end all Section 3 challenges, including in Maine.It could dodge by overruling Colorado on a technicality about the procedures used to get the case there and set itself up for another case in the fall.It could say Congress makes the final decision.When the court might rule is another mystery. In Bush v. Gore, the 2000 case that ended the Florida recount and made George W. Bush president, the court ruled in three days. The court could also go slowly and wait until the end of its term on June 30 to rule.Obviously, that could open the door to more chaos and leave it uncertain during the primaries whether Republicans are voting for someone qualified to be president. That's why all the parties have sought an expedited appeal and a ruling as quickly as possible.AREN'T REPUBLICANS JUST GOING TO RULE FOR TRUMP?The Colorado high court’s seven justices were all appointed by Democrats. Six of the nine U.S. Supreme Court Justices were appointed by Republicans, three by Trump.But the Colorado court split 4-3 on the ruling. The majority quoted a ruling from Neil Gorsuch, one of Trump’s conservative Supreme Court appointees, when he was a federal judge in Colorado. He ruled then that the state properly kept a naturalized citizen born in Guyana off the presidential ballot because he didn’t meet the constitutional qualifications.Democrats have already begun to suggest that Justice Clarence Thomas should recuse himself because his wife, a Republican activist, supported Trump's effort to overturn his 2020 election loss to President Joe Biden. Thomas has only recused himself from one other case related to the 2020 election and so far the people trying to disqualify Trump haven't asked him to do so here.Some of the strongest advocates of using Section 3 against Trump have been prominent conservative legal theorists and lawyers who argue that courts have to follow the actual words of the Constitution. They argue there’s no wiggle room here — Trump is clearly disqualified.The question of whether Trump is qualified hasn't broken on traditional partisan lines in the legal world, partly because this is completely new legal ground, it’s hard to predict how individual justices will rule based on their ideology.But the reason most legal observers expect Trump to win at the high court is because courts are very hesitant to limit voters’ choices. There’s even a term for that — the “political question,” whether a legal dispute is better settled by the people the voters have selected to make the laws than by unelected judges.If that doesn't happen, some critics warn, and Trump's campaign is ended by Section 3, expect it to become weaponized in political races. Imagine a world where any politician's career can end in a moment when a court or an election official decides that person “engaged in insurrection,” they caution.

The Supreme Court is expected to determine whether Trump can keep running for president. Here's why

VALLEY FORGE, Pa. (AP) —&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/joe-biden">President Joe Biden</a>&nbsp;warned Friday that Donald Trump's efforts to retake the White House in 2024 pose a grave threat to the country, the day before the third anniversary of the violent riot at the U.S. Capitol by then-President Trump’s supporters aiming to keep him in power.

(Click below to watch President Biden's speech)

Speaking&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/biden-trump-2024-democracy-threat-national-traumas-66167f70a167592c23067180fbe55910">near Valley Forge, Pennsylvania</a>, where George Washington and the Continental Army spent a bleak winter nearly 250 years ago, Biden said that Jan. 6 2021, marked a moment where “we nearly lost America — lost it all.” He said the presidential race — a likely rematch with Trump, who is the far and away GOP frontrunner — is “all about” whether American democracy will survive.

The speech, the president's first political event of the election year, was intended to clarify the expected choice for voters this fall. Biden, who reentered political life because he felt he was best capable of defeating Trump in 2020, believes focusing on defending democracy to be central for persuading voters to reject Trump once again.

“We all know who Donald Trump is,” Biden said. “The question we have to answer is who are we?”

Biden, laid out Trump’s&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/jan-6-committee-final-report-trump-bcfea6162fe9cfa0d120e86d069af0e4">role in the Capitol attack</a>, as a mob of the Republican’s supporters overran the building while lawmakers were counting Electoral College votes that certified Democrat Biden's win. More than 100 police officers were bloodied, beaten and attacked by the rioters who overwhelmed authorities to break into the building.

“What’s Trump done? He’s called these insurrectionists ‘patriots,’” Biden said, “and he promised to pardon them if he returns to office.” He excoriated Trump for “glorifying” rather than condemning political violence

At least nine people who were at the Capitol that day&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-crime-riots-donald-trump-capitol-siege-f7f8dead93998991cfc728e83ea31602">died during or after the rioting</a>, including several officers who died of suicide, a woman who was shot and killed by police as she tried to break into the House chamber, and three other Trump supporters who authorities said suffered medical emergencies.

Biden said that by “trying to rewrite the facts of Jan. 6, Trump is trying to steal history the same way he tried to steal the election."

Trump, who&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-investigations-other-charges-b8b064a00caad4306fb54d2f6a320468">faces 91 criminal charges</a>&nbsp;stemming from his efforts to overturn his loss to Biden and three other felony cases,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-biden-democracy-election-2024-f2f824f056ae9f81f4e688fe590f41b4">argues that Biden and top Democrats</a>&nbsp;are themselves seeking to undermine democracy by using the legal system to thwart the campaign of his chief rival.

“The only reason Biden is at Valley Forge abusing George Washington’s legacy to slander 75 million Americans is that he knows he can’t show his face at the Southwest Border, or in East Palestine, Ohio, or at the autoworkers’ factories in Michigan where he is destroying hundreds of thousands of jobs,” Trump was to say at a campaign event in Sioux Center, Iowa on Friday according to prepared remarks released by his campaign.

Biden, in his remarks, seized on Trump's grievances and his pledges to get retribution on his political enemies.

“Donald Trump’s campaign is about him," Biden said. "Not America. Not you. Donald Trump’s campaign is obsessed with the past, not the future.”

He added: “There’s no confusion about who Trump is or what he intends to do.”

Before his remarks, Biden, joined by his wife Jill, participated in a wreath laying ceremony at Valley Forge National Arch, which honors the troops who camped there from December 1777 to June 1778. He also toured the home that served as Washington’s headquarters.

Biden invoked Washington’s decision to resign his commission as the leader of the Continental Army after American independence was won — and the painting commemorating that moment that resides in the Capitol Rotunda — to cast Trump as unworthy of Washington’s legacy.

“He could have held onto that power as long as he wanted,” Biden said of Washington. “But that wasn’t the America he and the American troops of Valley Forge had fought for. In America, our leaders don’t hold on to power relentlessly. Our leaders return power to the people – willingly.”

Although the chaos of Jan. 6 came down on members of both political parties, it is being remembered in a largely polarized fashion now, like other aspects of political life in a divided country.

In the days after the attack, 52% of U.S. adults said Trump bore a lot of responsibility for Jan. 6, according to the Pew Research Center. By early 2022, that had declined to 43%. The number of Americans who said Trump bore no responsibility increased from 24% in 2021 to 32% in 2022.

A Washington Post-University of Maryland poll released this week found that about 7 in 10 Republicans say too much is being made of the attack. Just 18% of GOP supporters say that protesters who entered the Capitol were “mostly violent,” down from 26% in 2021, while 77% of Democrats and 54% of independents say the protesters were mostly violent, essentially unchanged from 2021.

Biden said that “politics, fear, money” have led many Republicans to abandon their criticism of Trump after the Jan. 6 attack.

"These MAGA voices who know the truth about Trump and Jan. 6th have abandoned the truth and abandoned democracy,” Biden said. “They’ve made their choice. Now the rest of us – Democrats, Independents, mainstream Republicans – we have to make our choice. I know mine. And I believe I know America’s.”

Biden has frequently invoked the dangers of Jan. 6 since his 2021 inauguration on the same Capitol steps where police officers were struggling to battle back rioters just two weeks earlier. On the first anniversary of the Jan. 6 attack, Biden had stood in the Capitol's Statuary Hall, a historic spot where the House of Representatives used to meet before the Civil War. On Jan. 6, rioters filled the area, some looking for lawmakers who had run for cover.

“They weren’t looking to uphold the will of the people,” Biden said of the rioters. “They were looking to deny the will of the people.”

On the second anniversary,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/jan6-capitol-riots-second-anniversary-8014969520b61bf7f4d86689fc16e7f7">Biden presented the nation's second highest civilian award</a>&nbsp;to 12 people who were involved in defending the Capitol during the attack.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/1/1704488620969.png" alt="Biden's kicking off 2024 by delving into some of the country’s darkest moments-image from the campaign video" />
 <figcaption>Biden's kicking off 2024 by delving into some of the country’s darkest moments-image from the campaign video</figcaption>
 </figure>VALLEY FORGE, Pa. (AP) —&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/joe-biden">President Joe Biden</a>&nbsp;warned Friday that Donald Trump's efforts to retake the White House in 2024 pose a grave threat to the country, the day before the third anniversary of the violent riot at the U.S. Capitol by then-President Trump’s supporters aiming to keep him in power.(Click below to watch President Biden's speech)<div><iframe src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/video.php?height=314&href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fjoebiden%2Fvideos%2F893835879104758%2F&show_text=false&width=560&t=202" width="560" height="314" style="border:none;overflow:hidden" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="true" allow="autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowFullScreen="true"></iframe></div>Speaking&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/biden-trump-2024-democracy-threat-national-traumas-66167f70a167592c23067180fbe55910">near Valley Forge, Pennsylvania</a>, where George Washington and the Continental Army spent a bleak winter nearly 250 years ago, Biden said that Jan. 6 2021, marked a moment where “we nearly lost America — lost it all.” He said the presidential race — a likely rematch with Trump, who is the far and away GOP frontrunner — is “all about” whether American democracy will survive.The speech, the president's first political event of the election year, was intended to clarify the expected choice for voters this fall. Biden, who reentered political life because he felt he was best capable of defeating Trump in 2020, believes focusing on defending democracy to be central for persuading voters to reject Trump once again.“We all know who Donald Trump is,” Biden said. “The question we have to answer is who are we?”Biden, laid out Trump’s&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/jan-6-committee-final-report-trump-bcfea6162fe9cfa0d120e86d069af0e4">role in the Capitol attack</a>, as a mob of the Republican’s supporters overran the building while lawmakers were counting Electoral College votes that certified Democrat Biden's win. More than 100 police officers were bloodied, beaten and attacked by the rioters who overwhelmed authorities to break into the building.“What’s Trump done? He’s called these insurrectionists ‘patriots,’” Biden said, “and he promised to pardon them if he returns to office.” He excoriated Trump for “glorifying” rather than condemning political violenceAt least nine people who were at the Capitol that day&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-crime-riots-donald-trump-capitol-siege-f7f8dead93998991cfc728e83ea31602">died during or after the rioting</a>, including several officers who died of suicide, a woman who was shot and killed by police as she tried to break into the House chamber, and three other Trump supporters who authorities said suffered medical emergencies.Biden said that by “trying to rewrite the facts of Jan. 6, Trump is trying to steal history the same way he tried to steal the election."Trump, who&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-investigations-other-charges-b8b064a00caad4306fb54d2f6a320468">faces 91 criminal charges</a>&nbsp;stemming from his efforts to overturn his loss to Biden and three other felony cases,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-biden-democracy-election-2024-f2f824f056ae9f81f4e688fe590f41b4">argues that Biden and top Democrats</a>&nbsp;are themselves seeking to undermine democracy by using the legal system to thwart the campaign of his chief rival.“The only reason Biden is at Valley Forge abusing George Washington’s legacy to slander 75 million Americans is that he knows he can’t show his face at the Southwest Border, or in East Palestine, Ohio, or at the autoworkers’ factories in Michigan where he is destroying hundreds of thousands of jobs,” Trump was to say at a campaign event in Sioux Center, Iowa on Friday according to prepared remarks released by his campaign.Biden, in his remarks, seized on Trump's grievances and his pledges to get retribution on his political enemies.“Donald Trump’s campaign is about him," Biden said. "Not America. Not you. Donald Trump’s campaign is obsessed with the past, not the future.”He added: “There’s no confusion about who Trump is or what he intends to do.”Before his remarks, Biden, joined by his wife Jill, participated in a wreath laying ceremony at Valley Forge National Arch, which honors the troops who camped there from December 1777 to June 1778. He also toured the home that served as Washington’s headquarters.Biden invoked Washington’s decision to resign his commission as the leader of the Continental Army after American independence was won — and the painting commemorating that moment that resides in the Capitol Rotunda — to cast Trump as unworthy of Washington’s legacy.“He could have held onto that power as long as he wanted,” Biden said of Washington. “But that wasn’t the America he and the American troops of Valley Forge had fought for. In America, our leaders don’t hold on to power relentlessly. Our leaders return power to the people – willingly.”Although the chaos of Jan. 6 came down on members of both political parties, it is being remembered in a largely polarized fashion now, like other aspects of political life in a divided country.In the days after the attack, 52% of U.S. adults said Trump bore a lot of responsibility for Jan. 6, according to the Pew Research Center. By early 2022, that had declined to 43%. The number of Americans who said Trump bore no responsibility increased from 24% in 2021 to 32% in 2022.A Washington Post-University of Maryland poll released this week found that about 7 in 10 Republicans say too much is being made of the attack. Just 18% of GOP supporters say that protesters who entered the Capitol were “mostly violent,” down from 26% in 2021, while 77% of Democrats and 54% of independents say the protesters were mostly violent, essentially unchanged from 2021.Biden said that “politics, fear, money” have led many Republicans to abandon their criticism of Trump after the Jan. 6 attack."These MAGA voices who know the truth about Trump and Jan. 6th have abandoned the truth and abandoned democracy,” Biden said. “They’ve made their choice. Now the rest of us – Democrats, Independents, mainstream Republicans – we have to make our choice. I know mine. And I believe I know America’s.”Biden has frequently invoked the dangers of Jan. 6 since his 2021 inauguration on the same Capitol steps where police officers were struggling to battle back rioters just two weeks earlier. On the first anniversary of the Jan. 6 attack, Biden had stood in the Capitol's Statuary Hall, a historic spot where the House of Representatives used to meet before the Civil War. On Jan. 6, rioters filled the area, some looking for lawmakers who had run for cover.“They weren’t looking to uphold the will of the people,” Biden said of the rioters. “They were looking to deny the will of the people.”On the second anniversary,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/jan6-capitol-riots-second-anniversary-8014969520b61bf7f4d86689fc16e7f7">Biden presented the nation's second highest civilian award</a>&nbsp;to 12 people who were involved in defending the Capitol during the attack.

🎥Biden kicks off 2024 campaign in Valley Forge, rips MAGA

<a href="https://nebraskaexaminer.com/2024/01/05/u-s-rep-don-bacon-likely-to-face-a-challenger-on-his-right/">Nebraska Examiner</a>

OMAHA — Republican Dan Frei, a blast from Nebraska’s tea party past, said this week he is seriously considering running against Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb.

Frei’s upstart bid in the 2014 GOP primary fell six points short of upsetting U.S. Rep. Lee Terry, R-Neb., 53%-47%, in Nebraska’s 2nd Congressional District.&nbsp;

“I’ve not made any decision that I’m going to run, but my frustration is probably as great, if not greater, than it was with Lee Terry when I ran 10 years ago,” Frei said.

Multiple GOP sources said they expect Frei to announce a run soon. He recently repurchased the rights to his old political website,&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="http://www.votefrei.com/">www.votefrei.com</a>.

Some credit Frei’s insurgent campaign in 2014 with proving Terry’s vulnerability. Others blamed Frei for Terry losing the general election that year to Rep. Brad Ashford, D-Neb.

Frei had the ear of libertarian-leaning Republicans in 2014, including many who embraced his anger about Terry’s support for economic bailouts for big banks.

This time, Frei would be courting the populist wing of the Republican Party loyal to former President Donald Trump, the early favorite for the GOP nomination for president.

Trump has criticized Bacon and some of his votes, including his support for a bipartisan infrastructure package. During a 2022 visit to the state, Trump called Bacon “a bad guy.”

Frei’s prospects could depend on whether Trump endorses him, though some political observers have questioned how much weight the former president holds in the swing district.&nbsp;

Bacon has noted he outpolled Trump in the district in 2020. President Joe Biden beat Trump in the district, as well.

Trump’s political team and local Republicans devoted to him have tried for months to recruit a primary challenger for Bacon.

Bacon and the state GOP clashed last year over the party’s treatment of longtime Sarpy County GOP chair Nora Sandine, whom Bacon has defended. The state GOP helped local Republicans oust her.

Another candidate who has publicly flirted with running against Bacon, Robert Anthony, helped the Sarpy County GOP oust Sandine.

Anthony, reached Thursday, said he would support Frei but is willing to move back to Sarpy County from Cass County to give voters a choice if Frei decides against a bid. He called himself a “break glass in case of emergency candidate.”

Anthony, a real estate broker who ran for the Nebraska State Board of Education in 2020, knew Bacon from the Air Force. He has helped Bacon’s campaign in previous races, but has criticized him as insufficiently conservative.&nbsp;

Anthony has also worked with the Nebraska Freedom Coalition, which helped populist conservatives and others take over the Nebraska Republican Party in 2022.

Bacon, by the end of September, had raised $1.88 million in campaign funds and showed $1.06 million in cash on hand. In 2014, Frei raised and spent about $51,000 against eight-term incumbent Terry, who raised seven figures.&nbsp;

Waiting in the wings for whoever wins the GOP primary is State Sen. Tony Vargas, who reported raising nearly $868,000 by the end of September. He lost to Bacon in 2022 by less than 3 percentage points. Vargas is currently the only Democrat in the race.

In 2014, Frei described himself as a fiscal and social conservative. He told the Omaha World-Herald that he admired then-U.S. Reps. Steve King of Iowa and Trey Gowdy of South Carolina.

This week, Frei, of Omaha, said he is angry about the national debt. He said he’s also upset about border enforcement, an issue that Bacon and other Republicans have raised during negotiations with the Biden administration over funding bills.

“It doesn’t feel like we’re headed in any better direction,” Frei said.

Frei has worked in banking, sales and information technology. His LinkedIn profile described him as a regional sales director for GreatAmerica Financial Services.&nbsp;&nbsp;

On Friday morning, Bacon picked up his first official GOP primary opponent. Michael Connely of York filed to run as a pauper. Filing that way means he sought an exception to paying the filing fee. York is outside of the 2nd District.

Aaron Sanderford<a href="https://nebraskaexaminer.com/2024/01/05/u-s-rep-don-bacon-likely-to-face-a-challenger-on-his-right/">Nebraska Examiner</a>OMAHA — Republican Dan Frei, a blast from Nebraska’s tea party past, said this week he is seriously considering running against Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb.Frei’s upstart bid in the 2014 GOP primary fell six points short of upsetting U.S. Rep. Lee Terry, R-Neb., 53%-47%, in Nebraska’s 2nd Congressional District.&nbsp;“I’ve not made any decision that I’m going to run, but my frustration is probably as great, if not greater, than it was with Lee Terry when I ran 10 years ago,” Frei said.Multiple GOP sources said they expect Frei to announce a run soon. He recently repurchased the rights to his old political website,&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="http://www.votefrei.com/">www.votefrei.com</a>.Some credit Frei’s insurgent campaign in 2014 with proving Terry’s vulnerability. Others blamed Frei for Terry losing the general election that year to Rep. Brad Ashford, D-Neb.Frei had the ear of libertarian-leaning Republicans in 2014, including many who embraced his anger about Terry’s support for economic bailouts for big banks.<h2>The Trump factor</h2>This time, Frei would be courting the populist wing of the Republican Party loyal to former President Donald Trump, the early favorite for the GOP nomination for president.Trump has criticized Bacon and some of his votes, including his support for a bipartisan infrastructure package. During a 2022 visit to the state, Trump called Bacon “a bad guy.”Frei’s prospects could depend on whether Trump endorses him, though some political observers have questioned how much weight the former president holds in the swing district.&nbsp;Bacon has noted he outpolled Trump in the district in 2020. President Joe Biden beat Trump in the district, as well.Trump’s political team and local Republicans devoted to him have tried for months to recruit a primary challenger for Bacon.Bacon and the state GOP clashed last year over the party’s treatment of longtime Sarpy County GOP chair Nora Sandine, whom Bacon has defended. The state GOP helped local Republicans oust her.<h2>Anthony also considering bid</h2>Another candidate who has publicly flirted with running against Bacon, Robert Anthony, helped the Sarpy County GOP oust Sandine.Anthony, reached Thursday, said he would support Frei but is willing to move back to Sarpy County from Cass County to give voters a choice if Frei decides against a bid. He called himself a “break glass in case of emergency candidate.”Anthony, a real estate broker who ran for the Nebraska State Board of Education in 2020, knew Bacon from the Air Force. He has helped Bacon’s campaign in previous races, but has criticized him as insufficiently conservative.&nbsp;Anthony has also worked with the Nebraska Freedom Coalition, which helped populist conservatives and others take over the Nebraska Republican Party in 2022.Bacon, by the end of September, had raised $1.88 million in campaign funds and showed $1.06 million in cash on hand. In 2014, Frei raised and spent about $51,000 against eight-term incumbent Terry, who raised seven figures.&nbsp;<h2>Vargas waits</h2>Waiting in the wings for whoever wins the GOP primary is State Sen. Tony Vargas, who reported raising nearly $868,000 by the end of September. He lost to Bacon in 2022 by less than 3 percentage points. Vargas is currently the only Democrat in the race.In 2014, Frei described himself as a fiscal and social conservative. He told the Omaha World-Herald that he admired then-U.S. Reps. Steve King of Iowa and Trey Gowdy of South Carolina.This week, Frei, of Omaha, said he is angry about the national debt. He said he’s also upset about border enforcement, an issue that Bacon and other Republicans have raised during negotiations with the Biden administration over funding bills.“It doesn’t feel like we’re headed in any better direction,” Frei said.Frei has worked in banking, sales and information technology. His LinkedIn profile described him as a regional sales director for GreatAmerica Financial Services.&nbsp;&nbsp;On Friday morning, Bacon picked up his first official GOP primary opponent. Michael Connely of York filed to run as a pauper. Filing that way means he sought an exception to paying the filing fee. York is outside of the 2nd District.Connely was one of a host of Republicans who ran for governor in 2022. He earned 1% of the primary vote.Bacon’s campaign had no immediate comment Thursday on the prospect of a challenger to his right. Campaign surrogates have contended that Bacon is more popular than Terry was in 2014.Vargas’ campaign had no immediate comment.