Feds Handcuff Rep. Jerry Nadler’s Aide During Office Sweep

(Luis CornelioHeadline USA) Federal officers briefly detained a staffer for Rep. Jerry Nadler on Monday after she allegedly blocked them from entering his office during a security sweep for suspected rioters. 

The brief detention occurred in the same building that houses an immigration courtroom. Dozens of pro-illegal immigration hecklers demonstrated outside earlier that day. 

Officers with the Federal Protective Service, the law enforcement arm of DHS, entered Nadler’s office for what was supposed to be a brief safety check of federal employees, including Nadler’s staff. However, they were met with aides who allegedly refused them entry. 

“You’re harboring rioters in the office,” one of the officers said in the video, prompting the brief handcuffing of an aide.  

Video of the incident, which showed the aide in tears, has gained viral attention on social media. 

In a statement to Fox News, a DHS spokesperson explained what transpired in the altercation. 

“Officers identified themselves and explained their intent to conduct a security check, however, one individual became verbally confrontational and physically blocked access to the office,” the spokesperson said.  

The officers then detained the individual “for the purpose of completing the security check. All were released without further incident,” the spokesperson added. 

Nadler disputed the DHS account, though he was not present. He said the officers “forcefully” entered his office and handcuffed his aide. 

“The decision to enter a Congressional office and detain a staff member demonstrates a deeply troubling disregard of proper legal boundaries,” Nadler said. “If this can happen in a Member of Congress’s office, it can happen to anyone—and it is happening.” 

No one was arrested during the altercation. 

Hegseth Says US Ready to ‘Fight and Win’ a War With China Over Taiwan

(Dave DeCamp, Antiwar.comThe Chinese Foreign Ministry on Sunday slammed US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth for a “Cold War mentality” in response to his remarks about China at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, which included him warning that the US is ready to “fight and win” a war over Taiwan.

During his speech on Saturday, Hegseth took aim at China over a range of issues, including Taiwan and the South China Sea. “China seeks to become a hegemonic power in Asia. No doubt. It hopes to dominate and control too many parts of this vibrant and vital region,” he said.

Hegseth accused China of wanting to “fundamentally alter the region’s status quo” and said Beijing’s “behavior towards its neighbors and the world is a wake-up call.”

Regarding Taiwan, Hegseth claimed that it was “public” that Chinese President Xi Jinping had ordered his forces to be prepared for an invasion by 2027. However, that claim is based on comments from US officials and has never been confirmed by Beijing. In 2023, Xi reportedly raised the issue with President Biden, saying there were “no such plans.”

The claim that China will be ready to invade by 2027 has helped the Pentagon secure more funding from Congress for its military buildup in the Asia Pacific, and Hegseth is also looking to prioritize the region. According to The Washington Post, Hegseth sent out a memo in March that ordered the Pentagon to put its focus on preparing for a war with China over Taiwan despite the obvious risk of nuclear war.

In his speech on Saturday, Hegseth said the US was “reorienting toward deterring aggression by Communist China.” While pushing the claim that China will be ready to invade Taiwan by 2027, Hegseth also suggested it could happen sooner.

“Any attempt by Communist China to conquer Taiwan by force would result in devastating consequences for the Indo-Pacific and the world. There’s no reason to sugarcoat it. The threat China poses is real,” he said. “And it could be imminent. We hope not. But it certainly could be.”

Hegseth said the US would focus on deterring a Chinese invasion of Taiwan, although recent US efforts to increase support for Taipei have only raised tensions in the region and led to an increase in Chinese military activity around the island. Hegseth said that if deterrence fails, the US would be ready to fight.

“But if deterrence fails, and if called upon by my Commander in Chief, we are prepared to do what the Department of Defense does best – fight and win — decisively,” Hegseth said.

US military officials have been openly preparing for a war with China over Taiwan for years now, but for the US secretary of defense to make such comments in a Southeast Asian nation marks a significant provocation toward Beijing.

“Hegseth deliberately ignored the call for peace and development by countries in the region, and instead touted the Cold War mentality for bloc confrontation, vilified China with defamatory allegations, and falsely called China a ‘threat.’ The remarks were filled with provocations and intended to sow discord,” the Chinese Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

“No country in the world deserves to be called a hegemonic power other than the US itself, who is also the primary factor undermining the peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific,” the ministry added.

Regarding Taiwan, the ministry said the US was “playing with fire” on the issue. “The Taiwan question is entirely China’s internal affair. No country is in a position to interfere. The US should never imagine it could use the Taiwan question as leverage against China,” it said.

This article originally appeared at Antiwar.com.



More White South Africans Arrive In the US Under a New Refugee Program

(Headline USA) A second group of White South Africans has arrived in the United States under a refugee program announced by the Trump administration, officials and advocacy groups said Monday.

Nine people, including families, arrived late last week, said Jaco Kleynhans, head of international liaison at the Solidarity Movement, a group representing members of South Africa’s White Afrikaner minority. The group traveled on a commercial flight to Atlanta, he said.

A spokesperson for the U.S. Embassy said in an email to The Associated Press that “refugees continue to arrive in the United States from South Africa on commercial flights as part of the Afrikaner resettlement program’s ongoing operations.”

An initial group of 59 White South Africans arrived at Dulles International Airport in Virginia on a chartered flight last month under the new program announced by U.S. President Donald Trump in February. The Trump administration fast-tracked the resettlement of White South Africans.

The Trump administration said it is offering refugee status to White South Africans who are being persecuted by their Black-led government and are victims of racially motivated violence. 

Trump claimed that White South African farmers are targeted in widespread attacks that amount to genocide and are having their land taken away. Trump confronted South African President Cyril Ramaphosa with those claims during a meeting at the White House last month.

The Trump administration initially said the refugee program was aimed at members of South Africa’s Afrikaner minority, who are descendants of mainly Dutch and French settlers. In new guidance published by the U.S. Embassy last month, applicants must be “a member of a racial minority” in South Africa and “must be able to articulate a past experience of persecution or fear of future persecution.”

There are approximately 2.7 million Afrikaners among South Africa’s population of 62 million, which is more than 80% Black. They are not the only White minority. There are around 4.5 million Whites in total, including those with British or other heritage.

The U.S. Embassy spokesperson said the U.S. “continues to review inquiries from individuals who have expressed interest to the embassy in resettling to the United States and is reaching out to eligible individuals for refugee interviews and processing.”

While U.S. officials have not said how many South Africans have applied to be relocated, Kleynhans said there have been around 8,000 applications. Another group helping White South Africans apply for refugee status has said tens of thousands have applied.

Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press.

Stabbing Attack at Oregon Homeless Shelter Sends 11 People to Hospital, Man in Custody

(Headline USA) A man was arrested on suspicion of stabbing multiple people at a homeless shelter Sunday night, injuring 12 people and sending 11 to the hospital.

Five men who were still in the hospital Monday with serious but non-life-threatening injuries after the stabbing attack at the Union Gospel Mission, Deputy Chief Treven Upkes said.

Officers were called out at about 7:15 p.m. Sunday to the shelter, the Salem Police Department said in a statement, saying the victims suffered “varying types of injuries.”

The suspect — identified as Tony Latrell Williams, 42 — was traveling by bus from Portland to Deschutes County when he got off in Salem on Saturday, May 31, according to Salem Police Violent Crimes Unit detectives. The next night, Williams arrived at the shelter shortly before the call for police assistance. The preliminary investigation suggests the altercation was not a targeted attack.

“I’m in disbelief that something like this could happen. We are most concerned with those who are still in hospital and for those who were just there. It’s a difficult thing to process,” said Salem Mayor Julie Hoy.

Craig Smith, executive director of the center, told NBC News late Sunday that the attacker was new to the mission, having spent Saturday night there, and was about to check in for a second night when he got into a fight.

“Something … set him off, and he evidently had a knife in his bag,” Smith said.

The altercation happened right before the man would have handed over his belongings to staff, and at least two staffers, on who was working the mission’s check-in desk, was injured in the attack, Smith said.

Bobby Epperly was on the second floor when he said he saw the man screaming outside at traffic and holding a knife, the Salem Statesman Journal reported.

“It’s like a horror movie,” said Epperly, 48. He said he didn’t realize some people had already been stabbed inside the building until he went downstairs and saw “blood everywhere.”

Messages seeking comment were left with the hospital and at the mission, where up to 150 homeless men seek refuge each night, according to its website.

Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press.

To Prevent Blackouts, Trump Administration Keeps Another Aging Power Plant Online Through Summer

(Headline USA) The U.S. Department of Energy has ordered another power plant, this time an oil and gas plant in Pennsylvania, to keep its turbines running through the hottest summer months as a precaution against electricity shortfalls in the 13-state mid-Atlantic grid.

The department’s order to the grid operator, PJM Interconnection, regarding the Eddystone power plant just south of Philadelphia on the Delaware River, is the department’s second use of federal power under President Donald Trump to require a power plant to keep operating on the mainland United States.

Constellation Energy had planned to shut down Eddystone’s units 3 and 4 on Saturday, but Trump’s Department of Energy ordered the company to continue operating the units until at least Aug. 28. The units can produce a combined 760 megawatts.

The department, in its order, cited PJM’s growing concerns about power shortfalls amid the shutdown of aging power plants and rising electricity demand.

PJM last year approved Constellation’s request to shut down the units, but it welcomed the department’s order to keep them operating, saying it’s a “prudent, term-limited step” that allows PJM, the department and Constellation to study the longer-term need and viability of Eddystone’s units.

The department took a similar step last week, ordering Consumers Energy to keep the J.H. Campbell coal-fired power plant open in Michigan past its Saturday retirement.

The grid operator there, the Midcontinent Independent System Operator, said the order was unnecessary, that there was no energy emergency there and that there should be enough energy in the region through the summer.

An environmental advocacy group, the Delaware Riverkeeper Network, criticized the move to keep Eddystone operating as an “environmental injustice.” Shutting down the units would reduce hazardous pollution and carbon emissions from the decades-old facility and help the region meet federal clean air standards for smog, it said.

Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press.

U.S. Supreme Court to Decide Jurisdiction On Illinois’ Late Ballot Counting

(Catrina Barker, The Center Square) In a move that could have major implications for election procedures across the country, the U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to take up a case brought by Judicial Watch challenging whether federal courts have jurisdiction to hear disputes over ballots received after Election Day.

Illinois U.S. Rep. Mike Bost, R-Murphysboro, and two electors sued over ballots counted after Election Day. Illinois allows for mail-in ballots to be counted up to two weeks after Election Day, if the ballots are postmarked by Election Day. 

The case was dismissed for lack of jurisdiction in a lower court, but the U.S. Supreme Court announced Monday it will review it, according to Bost’s attorney Russell Nobile.

“This isn’t about whether counting ballots after Election Day is unlawful – that’s not what’s being decided yet,” Nobile told The Center Square shortly after SCOTUS agreed to look at the case. “The Supreme Court is first going to decide whether federal courts even have the power to hear these types of challenges.”

Nobile explained the case is key to resolving a split between appeals courts, with the Fifth Circuit calling late ballot counting unlawful and the Seventh refusing to hear such cases.

“This practice of counting late ballots is relatively new – it really started gaining ground after Bush v. Gore,” Nobile saidd. “For most of American history, ballots had to be received by Election Day.”

If the Supreme Court affirms jurisdiction, the case returns to the Seventh Circuit. A win there could affect federal elections in that circuit. A possible Supreme Court ruling on the issue down the road could apply nationwide.

Nobile explained it’s important to have courts open to candidates to promote election integrity and confidence in the electoral process.

“The public needs to know that these concerns can be heard and ruled on,” said Nobile. “Even if a candidate doesn’t win on the merits, the process has to be transparent. That’s essential to maintaining trust in our elections.”

The plaintiffs argue that extending the ballot-counting period burdens campaigns. Bost, representing 34 counties, faces financial and logistical costs for keeping his campaign open 14 extra days. Judicial Watch claims these costs create a constitutional injury, establishing standing.

“If you’ve ever run any kind of organized effort, like a campaign or even a Girl Scout troop, you understand that extending things by 14 days costs time, energy and money,” Nobile said. “This is an institutional issue. It’s about ensuring there’s a legal forum where candidates can raise legitimate questions about how our elections are run. That’s crucial to a well-functioning democracy.”

What’s Next for U.S. Steel After $14B Merger?

(Lauren Jessop, The Center Square) What’s next for U.S. Steel after its $14 billion merger?

It’s either the golden age or a clever mirage, depending on who gets asked. That’s because the final details, while still scant, don’t satisfy critics about the iconic Pittsburgh company’s new partnership with Japanese-owned Nippon Steel.

What is known is that on Friday, President Donald Trump took a victory lap in West Mifflin to celebrate the agreement, surrounded by mill workers, labor unions and state and congressional lawmakers. Calling it the most significant investment in the history of the American steel industry, the president said it will ensure “the best and strongest steel in America will forever be made in America and made in Pennsylvania.”

It’s also an about-face for the 47th commander-in-chief. When Nippon first approached U.S. Steel for an acquisition deal 18 months ago, Trump and then-President Joe Biden said the federal government should block it. Both wanted to keep the company domestically owned and operated, though the latter said unfair trading practices on the foreign market would hurt national security.

Biden eventually stopped the sale in the waning days of his administration. Six months later, at the pleading of state and congressional leaders worried about the economic and psychological fallout of losing U.S. Steel’s Pittsburgh headquarters, Trump said Nippon’s renewed promises took care of the workers most of all.

As part of its commitment, Nippon will invest $2.2 billion to increase steel production in southwestern Pennsylvania, including $200 million in a planned Advanced Technology Research and Development Center. Trump said another $7 billion is earmarked to modernize steel mills, expand ore mines, and build facilities in Indiana, Minnesota, Alabama, and Arkansas. 

The bulk of expenditures would be made in the next 14 months, he said, and it will create and save over 100,000 American jobs, including 14,000 in Pennsylvania. As part of the deal, U.S. Steel will maintain all its current operating blast furnaces at full capacity for at least the next 10 years. 

For critics of the deal, the timing of the investments is suspicious.

The United Steelworkers Union noted the scant details of the “partnership” sound the same as what was proposed in December 2023 in a deal the organization said would move jobs south to avoid collective bargaining. The 14-month timeline touted by the president aligns closely with the end of its current member contract, the union said.

“Throughout recent months, as the public conversation has turned to Nippon ‘investing’ in U.S. Steel or ‘partnering with’ U.S. Steel, Nippon has maintained consistently that it would only invest in U.S. Steel’s facilities if it owned the company outright,” the union said. “We’ve seen nothing in the reporting over the past few days suggesting that Nippon has walked back from this position.”

The union represents 850,000 workers across the country, including some from Nippon, of which 4,000 work in Pennsylvania, Alabama, Virginia and West Virginia.

“We also cannot confirm how much of the publicly claimed $14 billion in proposed investment would be directed to our union-represented plants, or how much of that sum would go toward genuinely new capital improvements as opposed to routine repair and maintenance,” the union’s statement said. “Further, Nippon has not disputed reports that suggest up to $4 billion of the $14 billion would be earmarked for greenfield operations — and our members already know that our plants are not “greenfields,” and generally that means non-union.”

The skepticism, however, was nowhere to be found on Friday in West Mifflin, where the crowd of steel workers cheered when Trump announced there would be no layoffs or outsourcing, and every worker would soon receive “a well-deserved $5,000 bonus.”

The president also emphasized how tariffs protect the American steel industry, stating he would be increasing steel tariffs from 25% to 50%, and that U.S. Steel will maintain control as an American company.

Praising their role in shaping the deal, Trump brought several local union leaders up to the podium. 

Second-generation steel worker and president of USW Local 2227, Jack Maskil, said he researched and spoke with executives to get the answers they needed and then dug in.

“The chance for a significant investment was something I knew we couldn’t afford to lose,” he said. “It meant jobs in the valley for generations.”

The local’s vice president, Jason Zugai, is also a third-generation U.S. Steel employee. He said he knew there would be obstacles in standing up for the workers in the Mon Valley, and that they could have given up at any given point.

“But we are steel workers, and giving up just isn’t something we do,” he said.

U.S. Steel’s President and CEO David Burritt called it a new beginning, and said that with the right partner, the company are ready to build something better and bigger.

He took the opportunity to introduce Takahiro Mori, Nippon Steel’s executive vice president and vice chairman, explaining the two have forged a friendship over the past year and a half. “I’ve seen firsthand Mr. Mori respects U.S. Steel. He respects our legacy, and he respects our purpose.”

Takahiro Mori, executive vice president and vice chairman for Nippon, told the crowd the company will begin making the massive investments that will transform U.S. Steel on the world stage.

“You have placed your trust in us, and we will work hard in the years ahead to keep earning that trust,” he said.

Among the officials in attendance, and recognized by President Trump, were U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent; U.S. Secretary of Labor Lori Chavez-DeRemer; Republican U.S. Reps. Mike Kelly, Dan Meuser and Guy Reschenthaler; and Pennsylvania Senate President Pro Tempore Kim Ward, R-Greensburg.

“The Golden Age of America has only just begun, and together, we are going to make America great again, greater than ever before,” Trump said.

Tim Walz Equates ICE Agents w/ Nazis

(Luis CornelioHeadline USA) Democrats are ramping up their inflammatory rhetoric against federal immigration officers enforcing President Donald Trump’s policies on illegal aliens. 

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Rep. Dan Goldman, both Democrats, painted Immigration and Customs Enforcement as “Gestapo,” a reference to Nazi Germany’s secret police.  

Their comments come as ICE agents apprehend illegal aliens outside courtrooms once their asylum cases are dismissed or rejected, meaning they have no legal basis to remain in the U.S. 

At the May 17 commencement for University of Minnesota Law School graduates, Walz compared ICE raids to how the Gestapo targeted dissenters under Adolf Hitler. 

“Donald Trump’s modern-day Gestapo is scooping folks up off the streets,” Walz claimed. “They’re in unmarked vans, wearing masks, being shipped off to foreign torture dungeons, no chance to mount a defense, not even a chance to kiss a loved one goodbye, just grabbed up by masked agents, shoved into those vans and disappeared.” 

Goldman echoed these sentiments at an “emergency” press conference on Thursday.  

“This is Gestapo-like behavior where plain clothes officers wearing masks are terrorizing immigrants who are doing the right thing by going to court, following up on their immigration proceedings and trying to come into this country lawfully, which is through asylum,” Goldman misleadingly said.

San Diego City Councilman Sean Elo-Rivera similarly called ICE agents “terrorists” in an Instagram post on Saturday. 

“These are federal agents carrying out raids on under the false pretense of ‘safety.’ This isn’t safety. It’s state-sponsored terrorism,” he said without any evidence.

ICE raids outside or near courtrooms are part of President Donald Trump’s efforts to reverse the massive influx of illegal aliens who entered the country during Biden’s open-border era. 

In Just a Few Months, ICE Makes 1,000+ Worksite Enforcement Actions

(Bethany Blankely, The Center Square) In just a few months, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents have arrested more than 1,000 “illegal alien workers without employment authorization.”

It’s “the highest rate of arrest in HSI’s history,” HSI acting Executive Associate Director Robert Hammer said in April. “We’ve subpoenaed the business records of about 1,200 businesses, and as part of our review, we’ve proposed close to $1 million in fines.”

Fast forward into the end of May and hundreds more have been arrested through targeted worksite multiagency enforcement actions nationwide, with more than $8 million in fines levied in Denver alone.

On May 29, more than 100 citizens of Colombia, El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, Mexico, Nicaragua and Venezuela were arrested at construction sites in Tallahassee. One was “taken into state custody for resisting arrest and is being charged with four counts of assault on law enforcement officers. Another attempted to pull a weapon on officers,” ICE said.

In Tampa, 33 citizens of Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico were arrested at construction sites “in one of the fastest growing communities in the nation located 20 miles south of Ocala,” ICE said. Four were charged with felony reentry; more than 30 “could be seen fleeing from the construction sites,” ICE said.

In Atlanta, ICE agents found two unaccompanied minors (UACs) and five adults from Guatemala and Mexico during a worksite enforcement operation at a subdivision in Theodore. One of the adults was previously twice deported.

The minors illegally entered the U.S. in 2023, were apprehended by Border Patrol agents and transferred into the custody of U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Refugee Resettlement. ORR has a long history of documented abuse of minors within facilities it manages, paid for by taxpayers. Allegations and criminal charges include sex abuse, trafficking and forced labor, The Center Square has reported.

This case was no different. ICE agents learned that “neither UAC was enrolled in school nor had any relatives in the area.” The children were sent back to ORR, ICE said.

In Denver, three businesses received more than $8 million in fines after ICE worksite audits “uncovered widespread employment eligibility violations.” CCS Denver, Inc. was fined $6.18 million “after a 100% substantive violation rate and evidence of knowingly hiring and employing at least 87 unauthorized workers.” PBC Commercial Cleaning Systems, Inc., was fined nearly $1.6 million “for a 74% violation rate and a pattern of knowingly employing at least 12 unauthorized workers;” Green Management Denver was fined $270,195 “after a 100% violation rate and identification of 44 unauthorized employees.”

In Detroit, ICE filed a civil complaint against a Chinese money laundering organization and seized 14 properties, seven bank accounts and 15 vehicles worth millions of dollars. It was charged with operating “a staffing company to supply illegal workers to a factory in Ohio and harbored that illegal workforce.”

In Louisiana, 15 citizens of El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua were arrested at construction sites in the New Orleans area. In another operation, 11 citizens of Ecuador, Mexico and Nicaragua were arrested as part of an investigation “into the illegal hiring of unauthorized employees by commercial and industrial general contractors currently engaged in a construction project within the Port of Lake Charles.”

In Lowell, Mass., ICE agents arrested 11 Ecuadorians working for a roofing business; in Philadelphia they arrested four Brazilian nationals at a meat market; at the Port of New York/New Jersey, they arrested 16 illegal foreign nationals.

In Laredo, Texas, ICE agents arrested 31 citizens of El Salvador, Honduras and Mexico at business and construction sites with prior convictions, including “aggravated criminal sexual assault, bodily harm, possession of a controlled substance, evading arrest, transporting noncitizens, domestic violence/strangulation, terroristic threats,” weapons charges and others.

“Businesses that exploit and hire illegal workers are harming the American public,” Hammer said. “ICE’s statutory duties include protecting Americans and enforcing more than 400 laws that relate to immigration, so there are two aspects to our worksite enforcement operations.”

Investigators conduct I-9 inspections and audits in accordance with federal law, which requires employers to verify the identity and employment eligibility of everyone they hire using the Employment Eligibility Verification Form I-9. “These inspections are among the federal government’s most effective tools to enforce U.S. employment laws,” ICE says.

ICE imposes civil fines, makes criminal referrals, makes criminal arrests of employers and administrative arrests of unauthorized workers after uncovering “multiple forms of criminal activity,” including human trafficking, document fraud, and human rights abuses, including forced labor.

In fiscal 2024, the Department of Labor investigated 736 cases of child labor violations impacting more than 4,000 children. It fined employers more than $15 million, an 89% increase from the previous year.

 

Anthony Weiner Erects Comeback, Gets Saucy w/ Kamala

(Luis CornelioHeadline USA) Anthony Weiner, the disgraced former congressman, is mounting a political comeback—despite being a registered sex offender—and taking swipes at Kamala Harris along the way. 

Appearing on The View on Friday, Weiner defended his run for New York City Council, claimed locals urged him to jump in and then mocked Harris for “blowing up” her failed presidential campaign on the same set. 

“By the way, was this where Kamala Harris was sitting when she blew up her campaign?” Weiner asked as soon as the interview began. “Is this the spot? I hope I don’t have the same fate.” 

He alluded to Harris’s viral comment that there was “nothing that comes to mind” regarding what she’d have done differently than President Joe Biden in their disastrous four years in the White House. 

Later, Weiner reiterated his criticism of Harris. 

“The problem is, it’s a little bit too easy an answer, though, because also there were things that Kamala Harris – I made a joking reference to the answer she gave on this show: ‘Is there anything you would do different?’ That is the softest of softball that – every politician dreams to have that question,” Weiner replied. “You still have to be a good candidate.” 

Asked about his legal troubles and sex addiction, he said he has taken responsibility and come clean about his past mistakes. 

“I didn’t ask for a trial. I pled guilty, served my time in prison, served in a halfway house, served probation, went to try to do good work for the formerly incarcerated,” Weiner said. “And I guess what I’m saying to people is, maybe don’t vote for me in spite of what they know about me but maybe consider that journey that idea that we all go through things and we come out the other side.” 

Weiner began his political career on the same City Council he now seeks to join. He then served in the U.S. House from 1999 to 2011.  

He resigned in disgrace after using Twitter (now X) to send a photo of his private parts to a 21-year-old woman. He ran for New York City mayor in 2013 but came under fire after he continued his sexting affairs, triggering more leaked photos. 

In 2017, Anthony Weiner pleaded guilty to transferring obscene material to a minor and was sentenced to 21 months in federal prison. 

The conviction stemmed from a 2016 FBI investigation after Weiner sexted a 15-year-old. When authorities seized his laptop, they discovered emails linked to the Hillary Clinton email scandal. At the time, Weiner was married to Huma Abedin, a top aide to Clinton and now fiancée to Alex Soros, heir to the Soros family fortune.