Patrick Clancy, husband of woman accused of strangling three kids, speaks out - CBS News

Patrick Clancy speaks out for first time since death of his three children

Patrick Clancy speaks out for first time since death of his three children 01:05

Patrick Clancy, whose wife is accused of killing their three children and attempting to take her own life, is speaking out about the incident. Clancy said his wife, Lindsay, had a condition – although he did not specify what it was – but said their "marriage was wonderful and diametrically grew stronger as her condition rapidly worsened."

Lindsay, 32, allegedly strangled her 5-year-old daughter, Cora, 3-year-old son, Dawson, and 8-month-old son, Callan, earlier this month. All three were taken to the hospital, where Cora and Dawson were pronounced dead and Callan died a few days later, according to CBS Boston.

Lindsay Clancy is in police custody, said Plymouth County District Attorney Tim Cruz, and has been charged with two counts of homicide and three counts each of strangulation and assault and battery. 

"The shock and pain is excruciating and relentless," Patrick Clancy wrote in a statement shared Saturday via a GoFundMe on the family's behalf. "I'm constantly reminded of them and with the little sleep I get, I dream about them on repeat."

"Any parent knows, it's impossible to understand how much you will love your kids until you have them," he said. "The same goes for understanding the devastation of losing them. Cora, Dawson, and Callan were the essence of my life and I'm completely lost without them."

Clancy said Cora "had an infectious laugh and was stunningly beautiful." He remembered Dawson's "beautiful, bold, brown eyes that beamed with friendship." And he called Callan "an incredibly happy and vibrant baby, constantly smiling." GoFundMe/Clancy Family

Clancy said Cora "had an infectious laugh and was stunningly beautiful." He remembered Dawson's "beautiful, bold, brown eyes that beamed with friendship." And he called Callan "an incredibly happy and vibrant baby, constantly smiling."

"Callan died with enormous courage despite being so little," Clancy said. "Maybe it was his way of demonstrating what I need to do to press forward. I'll always try to draw inspiration from him. He'll always be my little hero."

He also shared thoughts about his wife. "She's recently been portrayed largely by people who have never met her and never knew who the real Lindsay was," he said. "Our marriage was wonderful and diametrically grew stronger as her condition rapidly worsened. I took as much pride in being her husband as I did in being a father and felt persistently lucky to have her in my life."

He remembered her as a loving wife, mother and nurse, saying: "She loved being a nurse, but nothing matched her intense love for our kids and dedication to being a mother. It was all she ever wanted. Her passion taught me how to be a better father."

"I want to ask all of you that you find it deep within yourselves to forgive Lindsay, as I have," he said, adding that "the real Lindsay was generously loving and caring towards everyone - me, our kids, family, friends, and her patients."

"The very fibers of her soul are loving. All I wish for her now is that she can somehow find peace," he wrote. 

The Massachusetts State Police said in a statement that their prayers are with the family and their "thoughts and concerns also rest with the police officers, firefighters, EMTs and Troopers who responded to the scene of unfathomable pain."

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Caitlin O'Kane

Caitlin O'Kane is a digital content producer covering trending stories for CBS News and its good news brand, The Uplift.

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Wall Street Is Counting on a Debt Limit Trick That Could Entail Trouble - The New York Times

If the debt limit is breached, investors expect Treasury to put bond payments first. It’d be politically and practically fraught.

Washington’s debt limit drama has Wall Street betting that the United States will employ a fallback option to ensure it can make good on payments to its lenders even if Congress doesn’t raise the nation’s borrowing limit before America runs out of cash.

But that untested idea has significant flaws and has been ruled out by the Biden administration, which could make it less of a bulwark against disaster than many investors and politicians are counting on.

Many on Wall Street believe that the Treasury Department, in order to avoid defaulting on U.S. debt, would “prioritize” payments on its bonds if it could no longer borrow funds to cover all its expenses. They expect that America’s lenders — the bondholders who own U.S. Treasury debt — would be first in line to receive interest and other payments, even if it meant delaying other obligations like government salaries or retirement benefits.

Those assumptions are rooted in history. Records from 2011 and 2013 — the last time the U.S. tipped dangerously close to a debt limit crisis — suggested that officials at the Treasury had laid at least some groundwork to pay investors first, and that policymakers at the Federal Reserve assumed that such an approach was likely. Some Republicans in the House and Senate have painted prioritization as a fallback option that could make failure to raise the borrowing cap less of a disaster, arguing that as long as bondholders get paid, the U.S. will not experience a true default.

But the Biden administration is not doing prioritization planning this time around because officials don’t think it would prevent an economic crisis and are unsure whether such a plan is even feasible. The White House has not asked Treasury to prepare for a scenario in which it pays back investors first, according to multiple officials. Janet L. Yellen, the Treasury secretary, has said such an approach would not avoid a debt “default” in the eyes of markets.

“Treasury systems have all been built to pay all of our bills when they’re due and on time, and not to prioritize one form of spending over another,” Ms. Yellen told reporters earlier this month.

Perhaps more worrisome is that, even if the White House ultimately succumbed to pressure to prioritize payments, experts from both political parties who have studied the temporary fix say it might not be enough to avert a financial catastrophe.

Senator Ted Cruz, center, and other Republicans during a news conference on debt ceiling on Capitol Hill last week.Haiyun Jiang/The New York Times

“Prioritization is really default by another name,” said Brian Riedl, formerly chief economist to former Republican Senator Rob Portman and now an economist at the Manhattan Institute. “It’s not defaulting on the government’s debt, but it’s defaulting on its obligations.”

Congress must periodically raise the nation’s debt ceiling to authorize the Treasury to borrow to cover America’s commitments. Raising the limit does not entail any new spending — it is more like paying a credit-card bill for spending the nation has already incurred — and it is often completed without incident. But Republicans have occasionally attempted to attach future spending cuts or other legislative goals to debt limit increases, plunging the United States into partisan brinkmanship.

Today’s debt limit episode could be especially fraught, much like the 2011 episode that tiptoed the nation so close to the brink of default that America’s credit rating was downgraded for the first time. House Republicans have made clear that they want to attach spending stipulations in exchange for raising the borrowing cap, while the White House has said that it will not negotiate.

President Biden and Speaker Kevin McCarthy of California are expected to discuss the debt limit on Wednesday.

The drama is likely to escalate this summer. The government hit its debt limit on Jan. 19, and the Treasury Department has said that it can use temporary measures to keep covering expenses until at least June. After those are exhausted, the debt limit must be raised or suspended in order for the United States to borrow money to pay its bills.

“The odds of Treasury missing a payment — which is normally unthinkable — are higher than they have been in many years,” said Alec Phillips, an economist at Goldman Sachs. Mr. Phillips thinks a last-minute deal will be struck, but like many of his colleagues at big banks and asset managers, he has been studying what could happen if one is not.

The Fed, Treasury and industry groups have in the past made contingency plans addressing what they could do if payments on bonds were missed or delayed — including central bank purchases of defaulting bonds.

But those were last-ditch options. Transcripts and other documents from 2011 and 2013 show that officials assumed it was most likely that bondholders would be paid back first if the government did not have enough money to cover all its bills — which is why investors expect a prioritization plan if there is a debt limit breach.

Prioritizing payments would involve politically tough choices between making good on military bills and other day-to-day payments.Kenny Holston for The New York Times

“Prioritization is the linchpin of calmness,” said Ralph Axel, an interest rate strategist at Bank of America, explaining that he believes avoiding an outright default could mitigate the fallout of a debt ceiling breach in bond and stock markets. “Markets will come to expect a prioritization plan much more than they did in 2011.”

---

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Several investors noted that the White House had no reason to acknowledge prioritization planning in public, since doing so could reduce the pressure for lawmakers to negotiate, but they still considered it the most likely outcome.

“I am not concerned about a bond default,” said Ajay Rajadhyaksha, the global chairman of research at Barclays who served on a Treasury borrowing advisory committee until 2022. “This has been settled in the past.”

Many Republicans also take it as a given that prioritization of debt payments would happen, and believe it would help to mute any market reaction.

“There is a pretty sizable group that thinks as long as we are current on our bond obligations, we’re basically fine,” Michael Strain, director of economic policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute, said of Republicans in the House of Representatives.

“They do not adequately appreciate the risk of that course of action,” he added. 

Republicans in the House have been developing legislation — which is unlikely to pass — that would direct Treasury to carry out some payments, including those on the debt, while delaying others. But the Biden administration has firmly ruled out the idea that it would put payments on the government’s debt first. Administration officials say privately that the political optics of choosing to favor bondholders over recipients of government aid would be anathema to Mr. Biden.

“This so-called ‘prioritization’ scheme makes Republicans’ priorities pretty clear — crystal clear, if I may add,” Karine Jean-Pierre, the White House press secretary, said on Jan. 17. “They want to put wealthy bondholders over ordinary Americans who want safe food, safe skies, safe communities and secure borders.”

Attempting to prioritize payments would carry severe political, practical and legal risks. Paying back bondholders might be critical to protecting the bedrock of financial markets, but it would put the administration in the position of looking like it was supporting wealthy investors over retirees, disability beneficiaries and military personnel.

It could also be subject to legal challenges, given that the executive branch would be deciding which congressional spending decisions to ignore and which ones to carry out. That could call into question “the balance of power between Congress and the president over spending priorities and the potential for use of prioritization in ways that Congress might not intend,” according to a Congressional Research Service analysis published in 2015.

And it might not even work. In 2011, officials had made rough plans for a very straightforward version of prioritization. But the Treasury worried about its ability to prioritize payments within its own systems if it needed to cherry-pick between a range of obligations, rather than just repaying interest and principal on debt while delaying everything else. Fed staff members thought the department could figure it out given time, based on transcripts from that August.

But “it’s something that until you have developed the procedures and tested the procedures, your comfort level is pretty low,” said Louise Roseman, a former Fed staff member who was working with Treasury on contingency planning. The Fed serves as the government’s banker and so it would have helped carry out the prioritized payments.

Even after contingency planning in the 2013 showdown, a top Treasury official called prioritization “entirely experimental” and said it carried “unacceptable risk.” 

It also remains unclear whether prioritization would actually avert a financial meltdown. Markets may still balk in response to any breach of the debt limit that meant the United States could not make good on its obligations, whether it was an official bond default or not.

Mr. Phillips at Goldman Sachs pointed out that if the government was holding back payments to state and local authorities or other entities to make good on its debt, for instance, problems could ricochet through other debt markets.  

Still, many on Wall Street — including Mr. Phillips — think prioritization would be likely if push came to shove because it could avoid some of the worst possible outcomes. 

Credit default swaps, which provide insurance for bondholders in case borrowers fail to pay them back, would not be triggered. Rating agencies might also look more kindly on America’s situation: S&P, which downgraded U.S. debt in 2011, said it would only consider the U.S. to be in default if it failed to pay lenders. Moody’s, another rating agency, said it expected a deal to be struck but added that if the government failed to reach an agreement, debt would be prioritized “over all other payments.”

Still, most doubt that prioritization’s workability will be tested at all. Both Moody’s and S&P have left their assessments of the United States unchanged, expecting a deal to be struck.

“We are sticking our necks out,” said Joydeep Mukherji, the primary credit rating analyst for the United States at S&P. “If we are wrong, it will be the biggest mistake we have ever made.”

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18 Best Pancake Recipes - Pancake Breakfast Ideas - The Pioneer Woman

Mornings are just better when they include a big, fluffy stack of pancakes—and that's a fact! Even Ree Drummond is a fan. "I happen to be obsessed with pancakes," she says. And while you can certainly use boxed pancake mix for busy mornings, there's something so special about homemade pancakes with plenty of butter and syrup on top. "I love the experience of making pancakes from scratch," The Pioneer Woman explains, "hearing them sizzle as I pour them onto a hot griddle and watching everyone in my family gather around the stove and tell me how much they love me." Sounds like a good way to start the day, if you ask us! That's why we've rounded up the best pancake recipes that are sure to make your own family praise you with rave reviews!

Whether you're looking for a simple short stack bursting with fresh blueberries or a giant dutch baby pancake that's fit for a crowd, this list of pancake recipes has something for every type of morning. There are even Greek yogurt pancakes that double as a healthy breakfast idea. Looking for some seasonal pancakes? Try the pumpkin pancakes in fall, the hot cocoa pancakes in winter, and the peachy pancakes for a summer or springtime brunch party. Of course, there are also popular year-round pancake recipes, like the sheet pan pancakes studded with chocolate chips. Set up an array of pancake toppings (fresh fruit, whipped cream, or even bacon) and your family will thank you!

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10+ Dietitian-Favorite High-Protein Casserole Recipes - EatingWell

This casserole has all the elements of cabbage rolls—ground beef, onion and rice cooked in tomato sauce—and skips the fuss of rolling. The cabbage is chopped instead and layered with the saucy filling, then topped with cheese, for a satisfying and easy casserole. Feel free to substitute other ground meats, such as turkey, for the ground beef—this recipe would also be great with a vegetarian meat substitute.

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California Has More Than 100 Gun Laws. Why Don’t They Stop More Mass Shootings? - The New York Times

The state is still reeling from back-to-back attacks that left at least 19 people dead. The killings have spurred lawmakers to call for more regulations.

SACRAMENTO — California bans guns for domestic violence offenders. It bans them for people deemed a danger to others or themselves. There is a ban on large-capacity magazines, and a ban on noise-muffling silencers. Semiautomatic guns of the sort colloquially known as “assault weapons” are, famously, banned.

More than 100 gun laws — the most of any state — are on the books in California. They have saved lives, policymakers say: Californians have among the lowest rates of gun death in the United States.

Yet this month, those laws failed to stop the massacres of at least 19 people in back-to-back mass shootings. The tragedies in Monterey Park and Half Moon Bay have confounded Americans who regard California as a best-case bastion of gun safety in a nation awash with firearms.

Inside the state, gun rights proponents say the shootings show that California’s strategy is a failure. Gun safety groups, meanwhile, have already begun mobilizing for more laws and better enforcement. As details emerge in the investigations, numerous shortcomings have been highlighted, even with California’s voluminous law.

For instance, the state’s regulatory net does not necessarily force gun owners to relinquish weapons that were legal for them to buy in the past but now are banned. California cannot remove guns from people who may have exhibited dangerous behavior, but aren’t properly flagged to courts or law enforcement. And the state must contend with the illegal gun trade, a river of unregistered “ghost” guns and the flow of firearms from neighboring states with less strict regulations.

More broadly, however, the shootings are offering a lesson in the limits of state power to stop American gun violence, even with the political will at all levels of the state government to do so. Recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions have thrown key California laws into question, and the most recent shootings themselves have highlighted the difficulty of using state law to balance safety and liberty.

Police and FBI officials at the scene of a mass shooting in Half Moon Bay.Jim Wilson/The New York Times

“I don’t mean to sound forlorn, but I’ve been watching this for decades and I’m a gun control type guy, and I just see nothing coming out of it,” said Steve Wagstaffe, the district attorney in San Mateo County, where seven agricultural workers were fatally gunned down. “California has had some good laws, but they’re not as good as they could be.”

The shooting in Monterey Park, in Southern California, left 11 people dead and eight wounded at a ballroom dance studio. Police said the suspect, 72-year-old Huu Can Tran, opened fire at a Lunar New Year party, then shot himself dead as officers approached the van in which he had fled.

Two days later, sheriff’s deputies in Half Moon Bay arrested 66-year-old Zhao Chunli hours after an explosion of workplace violence at two plant nurseries.

Both accused gunmen had previous brushes with law enforcement. Both appeared to have been in the throes of a mental health crisis. And both had highly regulated weapons that cannot be acquired legally in California without numerous safeguards. Yet both slipped through the overlapping public safety and health regulations that California imposes to mitigate the risk of gun death.

The weapon used by the gunman in Monterey Park — a Cobray M-11/9 semiautomatic pistol outfitted with a 30-round magazine and what appeared to be a homemade silencer wrapped in duct tape — is illegal to buy or sell in California. Manufactured in the 1970s and 1980s, the gun is an illegal “assault weapon” under the state’s definition, with an apparently threaded barrel, an illegal suppressor and the ability to accept a detachable magazine.

Yet in 1999, authorities said, Mr. Tran purchased the weapon in Monterey Park. Sheriff Robert Luna of Los Angeles County did not specify how he acquired the gun, which licensed retailers stopped selling decades ago in California, but said it was not registered in the state.

The sale, manufacture and import of high-capacity magazines also have been generally banned in California since 2000. But Mr. Tran’s might have been legal, gun rights experts say, if he bought it before it was outlawed or during a weeklong window in 2019.

The Star Ballroom, where people were gunned down in a mass shooting.Mark Abramson for The New York Times

The exception arose from a well-known critic of state gun laws, Judge Roger T. Benitez of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California, a federal judge who once compared the AR-15 assault rifle, used in many mass shootings, to a Swiss army knife, in that both are “a perfect combination of home defense weapon and homeland defense equipment.”

Judge Benitez later stayed his own ruling, pending an appeal, that the state magazine ban violated the Second Amendment, but sales of large capacity magazines spiked in the state in the interim.

California also requires extensive background checks to prevent the sale of guns to people who might harm themselves and others. People with felony convictions are barred from gun ownership for life, and even certain misdemeanor convictions can mean a decadelong ban.

Sheriff Luna said Mr. Tran had been arrested in 1990 for unlawful possession of a firearm. It is unclear if he was ever convicted, and law enforcement officials are still examining how he was able to purchase his weapons. Gun law experts said California’s laws would not have prevented Mr. Tran from legally buying a gun if he was not formally charged or convicted, or if he was convicted of a nonviolent misdemeanor and had completed his probation.

In Half Moon Bay, a former roommate of the accused gunman had in 2013 successfully sought a temporary restraining order, alleging that Mr. Zhao had threatened to kill him and tried to suffocate him. Yet Mr. Zhao told authorities the Ruger semiautomatic he had used in Half Moon Bay had been legally purchased two years ago in California. Mr. Wagstaffe said investigators were still looking into where and how he acquired the gun.

Restraining orders can disqualify a person from owning guns in California. But court records show the temporary order against Mr. Zhao was never made permanent, and it expired in July 2013.

California also has a “red flag” law that allows police, family members, employers, co-workers and others to petition a court for a gun violence restraining order to remove firearms from people who may be a threat to themselves or others. But those laws do not work if nobody uses them.

The number of gun violence restraining orders issued in the state has risen to nearly 1,400 in 2021 from 85 in 2016. But that law is an underused resource, experts say.

A 2021 study by the Violence Prevention Research Program at the University of California, Davis, found that although gun violence restraining orders had been available in California for five years, two-thirds of the Californians surveyed had never heard of them.

Dr. Garen J. Wintemute, who directs the program, said many mass shooters signal their intentions in advance, or leave hints in their planning. At any point in time in California, he said, one in eight adults knows at least one person they believe is at risk of harming someone else or themselves, research shows.

One model may be the city of San Diego, where the city attorney, Mara Elliott, has requested more than a thousand gun violence restraining orders since 2017. This month, the city requested and won the removal of a gun from an individual who threatened to kill people at a local hospital.

“I think most people second-guess their judgment. They think, ‘I don’t know who to call,’ or ‘I don’t want to bother law enforcement, it’s probably nothing,’’’ Ms. Elliott said. “Now our community knows to make phone calls.’’

Acquaintances and court records painted the Monterey Park suspect, Mr. Tran, as an embittered, paranoid and divorced loner. In Hemet, Calif., where he lived, police said he came to the station two weeks before the shooting to complain, without evidence, that he was the victim of fraud and theft and that his family had previously tried to poison him.

In Half Moon Bay, Mr. Zhao told NBC Bay Area in a jailhouse interview that he “was not in his right mind” and had felt mistreated for years at his workplace. Authorities confirmed a report that the accused gunman appeared to have snapped after a supervisor billed him $100 for a forklift accident.

In Half Moon Bay, a gunman accused of killing his co-workers said he was “not in his right mind.”Jim Wilson/The New York Times

But neither man appears to have alarmed anyone enough to seek a court order to take away their weapons. Neighbors and acquaintances said they did not know they were armed, suicidal or dangerous.

Victims of mass shootings make up about 1 percent of overall gun deaths in the United States, according to federal gun homicide data analyzed by the advocacy group Everytown for Gun Safety. The risk of dying in a mass shooting is even lower in California, the nonpartisan Public Policy Institute of California recently found. Nationally, suicides account for just over half of all gun deaths.

But what mass casualty events lack in numbers, officials say, they often make up in fear and calls for political action. Last year, after mass shootings in Buffalo, N.Y., and Uvalde, Texas, California fast-tracked the passage of more than a dozen new gun laws.

A memorial in Half Moon Bay for victims of a mass shooting that left seven people dead.Brian L. Frank for The New York Times

Gun rights advocates say more laws miss the point: Only a lawfully armed citizenry can ultimately ensure safety.

Mass murders are already illegal, says Sam Paredes, executive director of Gun Owners of California. “What do we want to do? Make them illegal-er?”

But Jesse Gabriel, a Los Angeles-area Democrat in the state Assembly who co-chairs a legislative working group on gun violence prevention, said the group has already moved up its February meeting to discuss new legislation.

Proposals include a state excise tax on ammunition and guns, a measure to add three years to an existing ban on gun ownership for people who have had domestic violence orders filed against them, a proposal to make the possession of an unregistered “ghost” gun a felony and a bill to let people suffering a mental health crisis put their own names on a “do not sell” list. A campaign to expand awareness of gun violence restraining orders also is underway.

Also in the pipeline, he added, is a bill to align the state’s laws on permits to carry concealed weapons in public with a sweeping June Supreme Court ruling that upended gun control laws in at least a half-dozen states, including California. Applauded by gun rights groups, the decision has unleashed a barrage of court challenges to California gun laws, including the bans on assault-style weapons and high-capacity magazines that are pending now before Judge Benitez.

Rob Bonta, the California attorney general, said the concealed carry revision is essential, as are tighter gun regulations.

“Is there something new that hasn’t been done?” Mr. Bonta said. “That’s what we’re asking ourselves.”

Adeel Hassan and Soumya Karlamangla contributed reporting.

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15 Restaurant Copycat Salad Recipes That Can Help You Lose Weight - Yahoo News

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15 Restaurant Copycat Salad Recipes That Can Help You Lose Weight

These high-fiber, low-calorie salad recipes mimic the flavors of your favorite restaurant dishes. From refreshing cobb salads to crunchy taco salads, these meals can help you meet your nutritional goals, and can help support weight loss. Recipes like our Shrimp Cobb Salad with Dijon Dressing and Pan-Seared Steak with Crispy Herbs & Escarole will have you wanting to make salad every night.

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1 dead, 4 injured in Baltimore shooting, crash: Police - ABC News

One person was killed and four others were injured following a mass shooting Saturday in Baltimore after a passenger was shot and crashed their car, police said.

The incident took place around 6:39 p.m. when a woman was driving in her car and crashed after being shot, police said. Central District officers responded to the intersection of Pennsylvania Avenue and Laurens Street in reference to a Shot Spotter alert, according to the Baltimore Police Department.

The police arrived at the scene to find two adult males, an adult female, and a 2-year-old boy, all of whom were suffering from apparent gun shot wounds.

Medics transported the victims to area hospitals, where one of the adult male victims was pronounced dead. The adult female and the other adult male are listed in critical condition. The 2-year-old is listed in stable condition.

An additional victim, a 6-year-old boy, was injured in a car accident following the shooting, police said.

The Baltimore Police Department released a statement and said they were aware of the incident.

"Commissioner Harrison and PIO are on scene of a shooting with multiple victims near the intersection of Pennsylvania Avenue and Laurens Street. Media staging area will be at the intersection of Laurens Street and Brunt Street," the department tweeted.

One man was detained by the police on Saturday.

"We are working to ascertain whether or not he is a victim or has some involvement if any. And we're not saying one way or the other, but we—detectives are working on that as we speak," Baltimore Police Commissioner Michael Harrison said in a statement.

ABC News' Ben Siu contributed to this report.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

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Trump hits the trail in New Hampshire and South Carolina as he looks to rejuvenate 2024 campaign - CNN

CNN  — 

Former President Donald Trump on Saturday will deliver the keynote address at the New Hampshire Republican Party’s annual meeting as he returns to the trail looking to ramp up his 2024 presidential campaign.

Trump will address hundreds of Republican leaders and grassroots activists at the meeting in Salem before headlining a second campaign event in South Carolina – also an early voting state – later in the day.

The pair of events offers Trump an opportunity to reinvigorate his campaign, which has been slow-moving since he announced his candidacy in November. The former president remains the only declared major 2024 candidate, but several Republicans have been either publicly weighing or fueling speculation about potential bids.

In New Hampshire, Trump is expected to formally announce that outgoing state GOP Chairman Stephen Stepanek will be added to his campaign operation in the Granite State as a senior adviser, a source familiar with the hire told CNN.

Stepanek co-chaired Trump’s first presidential campaign before becoming the top GOP official in New Hampshire, serving two terms. He joins Trump’s team as the three-time presidential contender looks to repeat his 2016 victory in the first-in-the-nation primary, a task potentially complicated by waning support among state officials who are looking for a fresh face to top their party’s ticket.

Trump’s decision to tap Stepanek was first reported by Politico.

Stepanek had previously expressed enthusiasm about the former president’s upcoming address, saying in a statement, “President Trump has long been a strong defender of New Hampshire’s First in the Nation Primary Status and we are excited that he will join us to deliver remarks to our Members.”

Former US President Donald Trump during the America First Policy Institute's America First Agenda Summit in Washington, D.C., US, on Tuesday, July 26, 2022. Trumps remarks come on the heels of a House hearing that portrayed him standing by indifferently, even vindictively, for hours as a mob of his supporters battled police and chased lawmakers through the halls of the Capitol. Photographer: Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Al Drago/Bloomberg/Getty Images

Trump criticizes evangelical leaders for not backing his 2024 presidential bid

Trump’s visit comes days before the Democratic National Committee is set to meet to vote on a new proposed 2024 presidential primary calendar put forward by President Joe Biden that would strip New Hampshire of it’s first-in-the-nation primary status – a move strongly opposed by New Hampshire Democrats. Republicans have already locked in their early state lineup of Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada – the same lineup Democrats previously had.

New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu, seen as a potential contender for the 2024 GOP nomination, has been sharply critical of Trump. He argued in December that Trump is “not the influence he thinks he is” and said that the Republican Party was “moving on” from him.

After the New Hampshire event, Trump will fly to South Carolina, a state that helped pave his way to becoming the GOP nominee in 2016 and where he is expected to unveil a leadership team and a handful of endorsements. Among the top South Carolina Republicans scheduled to attend the event at the Statehouse in Columbia in support of the former president are Sen. Lindsey Graham, Gov. Henry McMaster and US Rep. Russell Fry, who won a primary last year over a GOP incumbent who had voted to impeach Trump.

Trump continues to be investigated by the Department of Justice, and special counsel Jack Smith is overseeing the criminal probes into the retention of classified documents at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort and into parts of the January 6, 2021, insurrection at the US Capitol. Both investigations implicate the conduct of Trump.

Trump’s Saturday campaign events come in the wake of recent revelations that classified documents were also found at locations tied to both Biden and former Vice President Mike Pence. Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed a separate special counsel to take over the investigation into the Obama-era classified documents found at Biden’s home and former private office.

Earlier this week, Facebook parent company Meta announced it would restore Trump’s accounts on Facebook and Instagram in the coming weeks, just over two years after suspending him in the wake of the January 6 attack.

This story and headline have been updated.

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3 killed and at least 4 wounded in overnight shooting in Los Angeles - CNN

CNN  — 

Three people were killed and at least four injured in a shooting in Los Angeles, the city’s fire department said Saturday, California’s fourth mass shooting in a week.

Police officers detain a man, believed by law enforcement to be the Half Moon Bay mass shooting suspect, in Half Moon Bay, California, U.S., January 23, 2023, in this screengrab taken from a social media video.

Kati McHugh/Reuters

'Tragedy upon tragedy': 44 hours. 3 mass shootings. 19 dead

The Los Angeles Fire Department responded to a call for help at 2:35 a.m. on a residential street northwest of downtown, a spokesperson said.

Responders found three people dead and two injured, which were taken to a hospital, the fire department said. Two others took themselves to a hospital, the spokesperson said.

CNN affiliate KCAL said the shooting occurred just outside of Beverly Hills in the Beverly Crest community. Three victims were shot inside a car and other four while standing outside a home.

Police said the first call came in about an “assault with a deadly weapon,” the station reported.

The four people hospitalized are reportedly in critical condition, the station said.

A week of bloodshed

This was the third mass shooting in California since January 21, when a gunman entered a dance studio in Monterey Park, in metro Los Angeles, and killed 11 people.

Seven people were killed Monday on farms in Half Moon Bay in northern California.

Hours later, five people were shot in Oakland. One man, 18, died.

Correction: A previous version of this story misstated the number of recent mass shootings in California. The shooting in the Beverly Crest community is the 4th mass shooting this week.

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Julian Khater sentenced to 80 months in Capitol officer assault - CBS New York

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George Santos Fraudulent Signature Could Be Final Nail in Coffin - Newsweek

George Santos has been accused of listing a man as his campaign financier against his wishes and using his signature without consent, in the latest controversy to hit the New York House Republican.

On Tuesday Santos filed an updated campaign finance report with the Federal Election Commission, in which Thomas Datwyler, an experienced campaign financial consultant, was listed as his new treasurer, with the filing signed with his name.

However, speaking to ABC News Datwyler's attorney, Derek Ross, said Santos had been informed Datwyler wouldn't be taking the position on Monday.

Ross said: "On Monday, we informed the Santos campaign that Mr. Datwyler would not be serving as treasurer.

George Santos walks to a closed-door GOP caucus meeting at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. on January 10, 2023. Santos is under fire over claims he listed a man as his campaign financer against his wishes, in a move one expert said would have been "completely illegal." Drew Angerer/GETTY

"It appears that there's been a disconnect between that conversation and the filings today, which we did not authorize."

Newsweek has contacted Santos asking him to explain the disparity. Datwyler has also been contacted to enquire whether he plans to take any action against the newly elected Republican.

Adav Noti, senior vice-president at the nonprofit Campaign Legal Center (CLC), which pushes for campaign finance laws to be enforced, told ABC News it would be illegal for Santos' campaign to have used Datwyler's signature without his permission.

He said: "It's completely illegal to sign somebody else's name on a federal filing without their consent. That is a big, big no-no."

Noti added: "I'm not at all surprised that they're changing treasurers given that the campaign has legal exposure and Nancy Marks (a former campaign treasurer for Santos) has legal exposure, and they're presumably all lawyering up.

"It would be very difficult for them to maintain a business relationship while they're all being investigated in a potentially adverse position."

Marc E. Elias, a lawyer who previously worked for a number of senior Democrats, urged past treasurers for Santos' campaign to "get lawyers."

He tweeted: "This isn't going to end well. I would suggest that all of the treasurers, potential treasurers, past and future treasurers, and alleged treasurers for Santos' campaigns get lawyers asap."

This isn't going to end well. I would suggest that all of the treasurers, potential treasurers, past and future treasurers, and alleged treasurers for Santos' campaigns get lawyers asap.https://t.co/kmgpl8VMd1

— Marc E. Elias (@marceelias) January 26, 2023

Earlier in January the CDC filed a complaint against Santos with the Federal Election Commission, accusing the New Yorker of "a tasting menu of campaign finance law violations."

Santos has been battling calls to resign, including from within his local Republican Party, after it emerged he had fabricated much of his resume, including information on his past education and employment, and incorrectly claimed his mother was in the World Trade Center on 9/11.

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has refused to move against Santos, claiming he does "not have the power" as "his constituents voted for him."

However, McCarthy has said Santos will be removed from office if found to have "broken the law," making the claim he used Datwyler's signature without his consent potentially explosive.

In Santos' latest campaign finance filings, a box claiming a $500,000 loan to his campaign had come from "personal funds of the candidate" had been unticked, raising fresh questions about the money's origin.

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Alex Murdaugh trial coverage: South Carolina lawyer stands trial for double-murder of wife, son - Fox News

A pair of courtroom buffs drove three hours to visit the scene of Alex Murdaugh's trial

Dale Johnson, 54, and Ron Godwin, 42, of South Carolina, drove three hours Thursday on the first day of testimony in Alex Murdaugh's double murder trial and caught a glimpse of the jailed man's family leaving the courthouse.

Johnson and Godwin have tracked the fallen patriarch's case since his son, Paul, 22, and his wife, Maggie, 52, were found shot to death on the family's sprawling hunting estate June 7, 2021.

“We haven’t missed a minute of it,” said Johnson, who is from Kingstree.

The pair stared intently at Buster, his girlfriend Brooklynn White, and Murdaugh's brother, John Marvin, and other family members, as they climbed into an SUV to take them away from the Colleton County Courthouse during the lunch break. 

Godwint was clutching a four-inch thick binder with colored tabs, which included all the court documents in the case and other material.

“I think he’s innocent, they’ll never convict him,” Johnson told Fox News Digital. “It takes somebody very sick in my opinion to kill his wife and his child at the same time.”

Johnson, however, thinks Murdaugh may have hired someone else to do it, while Godwin is still on the fence as to the 54-year-old disbarred lawyer’s guilt.

Godwin, Johnson, his wife and another family friend convene weekly around his kitchen island to discuss the case.

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Holocaust survivor swindled out of his life savings by woman he met on a dating website, prosecutors allege - CNN

CNN  — 

A Holocaust survivor was swindled out of his life savings by a woman he met on a dating website, prosecutors allege in the latest romance scam targeting the elderly.

Peaches Stergo, a 36-year-old Florida woman also known as Alice, was arrested Wednesday on one count of wire fraud for allegedly duping an 87-year-old man out of over $2.8 million that she used to buy Rolex watches, a boat and other luxury items, the US Attorney’s Office of the Southern District of New York announced today.

“The defendant callously preyed on a senior citizen simply seeking companionship, defrauding him of his life savings,” said Michael J. Driscoll, the assistant director in charge of the FBI’s New York field office when announcing the charges.

Three men pleaded guilty to defrauding more than a dozen Rhode Island seniors out of more than $350,000.

Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg/Getty Images

3 men plead guilty to defrauding seniors out of more than $350,000 in 'Grandparent Scam,' officials say

The allegations are the latest in what has been a growing trend of swindlers targeting users of matchmaking websites. Romance scams have become cautionary tales highlighted in popular streaming series, such as Netflix’s “The Tinder Swindler,” which told the stories of several women who said they were defrauded by the same man they met on the dating app.

The Federal Trade Commission said losses from romance scams hit a record $547 million in 2021, more than six times the $87 million lost in 2017. On Monday, the AARP issued a warning to members to be on the lookout for romance scams, which it said has hit the elderly community harder than other age groups.

Stergo, according to the indictment, met the unidentified victim, a then-Manhattan resident, on a dating website six or seven years ago. By 2017, she asked him for money to pay her attorney so she could receive settlement funds she claimed were owed to her, according to prosecutors. The settlement, prosecutors said, didn’t exist.

Over the next five years, prosecutors allege, Stergo fed the victim continuous lies to receive almost monthly checks often in increments of $50,000. She impersonated a bank employee, sent fake invoices, and created a phony email account to reassure the victim that he would be repaid if he continued to deposit money into the account, according to the indictment.

PHOTO: THINKSTOCK; ILLUSTRATION: EMILY CARTER/CNNMONEY

Americans lost $201 million in online romance scams last year. Here's how to avoid the con artists

Stergo used the money to buy a home in a gated community, a condominium, a boat, and numerous cars including a Corvette, the indictment says. Prosecutors allege she also used his money to travel, buy gold and silver bars, jewelry, and designer clothing.

CNN has attempted to reach Stergo for comment.

By 2021, the alleged victim confided in his son that he had given Stergo his life savings based on her promises that he would be paid back, according to court documents. After his son told him that he had been scammed, the victim stopped writing checks. He lost his apartment, according to the indictment.

If convicted, Stergo could face as many as 20 years in prison. She is expected to appear in federal court in Florida.

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These Republicans will serve on panels to probe COVID-19, ‘weaponization’ of government - The Hill

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Greg Nash

Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) backs House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) for Speaker during the first day of the 118th session of Congress on Tuesday, January 3, 2023.

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) has released the names of the Republicans who will serve on a pair of subcommittees as part of the GOP’s promise to launch investigations into the Biden administration. 

McCarthy in a tweet Tuesday announced the GOP membership of two select subcommittees on the “Weaponization of the Federal Government” and the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The House voted along party lines to establish the weaponization committee earlier this month to probe ongoing investigations from the Department of Justice. The subcommittee was part of a list of demands that hard-line GOP House members had for McCarthy to win their support to become Speaker. 

McCarthy later promised to create both the weaponization and COVID-19 subcommittees a couple of days ahead of the Speaker vote. Republicans have described the weaponization subcommittee as “Church-style,” referring to a Senate select committee led by former Sen. Frank Church (D-Idaho) that looked into intelligence agencies. 

McCarthy said in a letter to his Republican colleagues that the subcommittee will expose the “weaponization of government against our citizenry, writ large.” 

The subcommittee will be led by Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), who was a close supporter of McCarthy during his Speaker bid and who serves as the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee. McCarthy said earlier this month that Jordan would chair the subcommittee. 

The other GOP members of the committee will be Reps. Darrell Issa (Calif.), Thomas Massie (Ky.), Chris Stewart (Utah), Elise Stefanik (N.Y.), Mike Johnson (La.), Chip Roy (Texas), Kelly Armstrong (N.D.), Greg Steube (Fla.), Dan Bishop (N.C.), Kat Cammack (Fla.) and Harriet Hageman (Wyo.).  

Roy and Bishop withheld their support for McCarthy through more than 10 ballots of the Speaker vote before switching to back him after McCarthy agreed to additional concessions. 

McCarthy previously announced last week that Steube will serve on the weaponization subcommittee following Steube’s hospitalization from falling off a 25-foot ladder and receiving multiple “severe” injuries. 

Steube was released from the hospital on Saturday, but he said he will be “sidelined” from Washington, D.C., at his home in Sarasota, Fla., for several weeks. He said he is “eager” to rejoin his colleagues in D.C. “as soon as possible.” 

The subcommittee will also include five Democratic members. 

Rep. Brad Wenstrup (R-Ohio) will serve as the chairman of the COVID-19 committee. 

The other members rounding out the GOP membership will be Reps. Nicole Malliotakis (N.Y.), Mariannette Miller-Meeks (Iowa), Debbie Lesko (Ariz.), Michael Cloud (Texas), John Joyce (Pa.), Marjorie Taylor Greene (Ga.), Ronny Jackson (Texas) and Rich McCormick (Ga.). 

Bill to classify drag shows as ‘adult-oriented businesses’ clears Arkansas Senate Murdochs pull bid to combine News Corp and Fox Corp 

Cloud was also opposed to McCarthy through most of the Speakership votes until throwing his support behind him for the last few ballots. 

Greene has repeatedly voiced misinformation surrounding the pandemic since its start in 2020. Her personal Twitter account was suspended for violating the platform’s COVID-19 misinformation policies last January, but it was restored in November as part of several accounts that CEO Elon Musk reinstated after he took over the company. 

A Democratic-led House subcommittee released a report on the pandemic last month toward the end of the past session of Congress, blaming the Trump administration for harming the country’s response to the virus.

Tags Brad Wenstrup Chip Roy GOP investigations Greg Steube House COVID subcommittee House Oversight House weaponization committee Jim Jordan Jim Jordan Kevin McCarthy

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