Month: March 2019

Former Democratic Rep. Beto O’Rourke stated on Thursday that he would remove the existing border barrier in his hometown of El Paso if he had the ability to do so, a question proposed to him by his fellow Texan, Republican Rep. Dan Crenshaw.

Prior to President Donald Trump’s rally in El Paso on Monday, Crenshaw tweeted at O’Rourke asking “if you could snap your fingers and make El Paso’s border wall disappear, would you?”

“Yes, absolutely. I’d take the wall down,” O’Rourke responded to MSNBC’s Chris Hayes when presented with Crenshaw’s question.

O’Rourke claimed that since a barrier was constructed on the U.S.-Mexico border through the Secure Fence Act, American citizens have not “in any demonstrative way” made Americans safer. However, Crenshaw’s tweet provided data from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which showed that illegal border crossings reduced significantly since the wall was in place. He also provided data showing a similar pattern in other border cities.

“[The border wall] has cost us tens of billions of dollars to build and maintain and it has pushed migrants and asylum seekers and refugees to the most inhospitable, the most hostile stretches of the U.S.-Mexico border, ensuring their suffering and death,” O’Rourke continued. “More than 4,000 human beings — little kids, women and children — have died. They’re not in cages, they’re not locked up, they’re dead.”

The failed senatorial candidate has long argued against a border wall. Following Trump’s executive order in September to erect an 18-foot steel bollard wall to replace the existing pedestrian fencing in El Paso, he called the existing chain-link fence “bad enough.”

In the past, O’Rourke has emphasized that the way to improve safety and security is to “ensure that we are maximizing the potential from everyone … [and] treating each other with respect and dignity,” and referred to Trump’s request to fund a wall an “expression of our smallness, our meanness, our fear to the rest of the world.”

O’Rourke, who has claimed to oppose open borders, has faced backlash for refusing to clarify where he stood on the migrant caravan that was heading toward the United States. O’Rourke dodged commenting on the topic despite immigration and border security overwhelmingly being the top issues for voters in Texas during his unsuccessful run to unseat Republican Texas Sen. Ted Cruz in November.

He also raised eyebrows in December when he blamed a border wall as the reason for why an increasing number of migrants have died as they illegally attempt to cross into the country.

Apprehensions of illegal migrants at the southwest border in January increased dramatically from the same time last year, and experts predict 2019 will experience increases in illegal migrant arrests overall.

The U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) — a subset agency of the Department of Homeland Security — reported a total of 47,893 apprehensions of illegal migrants in January at the southwest border, a region of the U.S.-Mexico border that is the most active. The number marked an increase of nearly 22,000 arrests, or 84 percent, from January 2018.

The huge uptick could suggest more illegal immigrants will try to cross the U.S.-Mexico border in 2019 than originally anticipated. Princeton Policy Advisors, a group that analyzes immigration trends, is currently forecasting 606,000 apprehensions for the entire year, but left the door open to increase this projection.

“The January numbers don’t yet warrant an upward revision in our forecast of 606,000 apprehensions in 2019. But we are on notice,” Steven Kopits, president of Princeton Policy Advisors, stated to the Washington Examiner. “Buckle your seat belts: 2019 could be a wild ride at the southwest border.”

The January numbers reflect a growing trend at the U.S.-Mexico border.

Nearly 467,000 apprehensions took place at the U.S. southern border in 2018, more than any other calendar year since at least 2012, according to an analysis by the Pew Research Center. The spike in arrests was lead in large part by migrant families attempting to reach the U.S. illegally at the tail end of 2018.

While rising apprehensions can be indicative of more migrants attempting to enter the U.S., the numbers also reflect an evolving strategy among illegal migrants.

Many illegal immigrants reach the border with the intention of getting caught by border patrol where they can then make an asylum claim. The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), for example, recorded 78,564 asylum requests in 2017, a huge increase from the 13,880 requests made in 2012.

“Remember, the problem right now isn’t people crossing the border illegally. It’s people presenting themselves to border patrol agents – people who want to get apprehended so they can lodge a frivolous asylum claim,” RJ Hauman, director of government relations for the Federation for American Immigration Reform, stated to The Daily Caller News Foundation. “They know we don’t have the detention space, so we just release them into the interior of the country.”

A Duke University professor was asked to step down from an administrative role following an email she sent to students Friday, advising them not to speak Chinese in order to improve on speaking English and better their chances of getting jobs.

Megan Neely, an assistant professor for Biostatistics & Bioinformatics, sent the email after receiving complaints from two unnamed professors of students talking in Chinese loudly in public spaces. The email was sent to first and second year students in the masters program, Inside Higher Ed reported Monday.

“I had two separate faculty members come to my office today and ask if I had pictures of the [master’s in biostatistics] students. I shared with them the head shots of the first- and second-year cohorts taken during orientation. Both faculty members picked out a small group of first-year students who they observed speaking Chinese (in their words, VERY LOUDLY) in the student lounge/study areas. I asked why they were curious about the students; names. Both faculty members replied that they wanted to write down the names so they could remember them if the students ever interviewed for an internship or asked to work with them for a master’s project. They were disappointed that these students were not taking the opportunity to improve their English and were being so impolite as to have a conversation that not everyone on the floor could understand.”

Neely added she had the “utmost respect” for the students choosing to study in the U.S. and asked they “commit to using English 100 percent of the time” while at the school or in a professional setting.

“To be clear: there is absolutely no restriction or limitation on the language you use to converse and communicate with each other,” Duke University School of Medicine dean Mary Klotman said in an email to biostatistics students, according to the school’s website. “Your career opportunities and recommendations will not in any way be influenced by the language you use outside the classroom.”

Neely remains as an assistant professor at the university, but was asked to step down as the director of graduate studies for the biostatistics master’s program “effective immediately.”

Duke is not the only school concerned about English speaking capabilities for Chinese students, however.

The University of California at Santa Barbara found many of its Chinese students could not speak English at the college-level even though international students must score at an “intermediate level” on an English language proficiency test to study in the U.S., the Los Angeles Times reported.

Around 82 percent of Chinese students who studied overseas returned to China in 2016 as opposed to 72 percent in 2012, the South China Morning Post reported.

“As a Chinese person in the American workplace, I know I am limited in my career advancement,” Oliver Mao, who studied at Tufts University, said, according to the Morning Post.

Neely did not immediately respond to The Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.

Mob boss Francesco “Franky Boy” Cali, of the Gambino crime syndicate, was fatally shot outside his home in Staten Island Wednesday night, police sources said.

Cali, 53, was shot in the chest six times by an unidentified gunman who sped away in a blue pickup truck, reported The New York Daily News. Cali’s wife and children were inside his large brick home when it happened around 9:20 p.m., police sources told The New York Post.

He was declared dead at Staten Island University Hospital North.

Cali, a Sicilian native, is part of a “resurgence” in mob activity and reportedly concentrated on the heroin and OxyContin trade, according to The New York Post.

The Gambino crime family has been in the spotlight for years because of its high-profile former leaders, the late John Gotti and his son John “Junior” Gotti. The elder John Gotti grandson, also named John Gotti, was arrested on drug charges in the summer of 2016 in an investigation dubbed “Operation Beach Party.”

Cali is the first mob boss to be taken out since John Gotti Sr. orchestrated the assassination of then-Gambino boss Paul Castellano in 1985, according to The New York Post.

It’s unclear whether Cali’s murder was carried out by a rogue actor or approved by other members of the Italian American mafia in New York City. Police sources described Cali’s murder as “disrespectful” because it happened right outside his family home.

Cali was “a real quiet old-school boss,” a police source told The New York Post. He only had one criminal conviction, for extortion in 2008.

Co-host of CNN’s “New Day” John Berman tried to tie President Donald Trump to the New Zealand mosque shooting on Friday, during an interview with GOP Rep. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois.

Berman initially asked for Kinzinger’s reaction to the shooting that claimed 49 lives, but then pivoted to Trump and asked if the president’s rhetoric helped cause the massacre.

“This is a time where we need the God of the universe to step in and to change people’s hearts,” Kinzinger said. “Because for somebody to wake up, decide to grab a bunch of guns — decide to murder innocent people, even if they’re a different religion, to me is just the pure epitome of disgusting evil.”

“You asked for God to change people’s hearts,” Berman replied. “I have a question for you. Does God need to change people’s language? And I ask you that because this killer apparently in a screed, some people call it a manifesto, said he is a supporter of President Trump as a symbol of white identity. Why would anyone see the President as a symbol of white identity?”

“I think God needs to change people’s hearts, and I beg he does. He needs to change their language. But you cannot put this on President Trump,” Kinzinger shot back.

“The person who is giving a sign of allegiance to President Trump is the killer here. He calls him a symbol of white identity. The language he uses in this manifesto is all about invaders. It’s all about invaders, which is similar language to the killer at the synagogue in Pittsburgh,” Berman replied. “It’s also language that President Trump used in a campaign ad before the midterm election. The word ‘invader’ means something to white supremacists around the world. Why?”

Kinzinger continued to defend the president and said you can’t blame Trump for someone else’s decision to murder innocent people.

“I don’t have any idea, frankly, what was in [the shooter’s] mind. But what I know is this. It cannot be connected. We cannot sit here and say, ‘What is it that President Trump is doing that’s somehow triggering these people?’ This is an evil man that made a decision to murder 49 people. And that is on him. And frankly, the evil in his heart,” he said.

Berman continued to fan the flames and implied Trump’s use of the word invader has only made matters worse.

“If this monster is hearing something in the word ‘invader’ and the president is using the word ‘invader,’ can the president really not do anything?” Berman asked. “You’ve just been at the border. And I know and I’ve heard you talk about that. I haven’t ever heard you use the word invader.”

Kinzinger continued to tell Berman he would not try to link random acts of violence back to the White House or the president.

“I think the president shouldn’t use terms like invasion and hordes. But I also think though that — that doesn’t mean he can’t be passionate about the fact that he wants to stop illegal immigration,” he said.

The Trump Administration announced legal action Friday to stop two pharmacies, their owner, and three pharmacists from dispensing controlled substance medications, including powerful opioids that have been linked to abuse and diversion. The action is part of a coordinated effort by the Justice Department’s Prescription Interdiction & Litigation (PIL) Task Force to deploy all available criminal, civil, and regulatory tools to reverse the tide of opioid overdoses in the United States.

In a civil complaint unsealed today in the Middle District of Tennessee, the United States alleges that Celina, Tennessee, pharmacies, Oakley Pharmacy, Inc., d/b/a Dale Hollow Pharmacy (Dale Hollow) and Xpress Pharmacy of Clay County (Xpress), the pharmacies’ owner, Thomas Weir, and pharmacists John Polston, Michael Griffith, and Larry Larkin were dispensing, and billing Medicare for, prescriptions in violation of the Controlled Substances Act and the False Claims Act. According to the United States’ complaint, the defendants’ unlawful dispensing of opioids has been tied to the deaths of at least two people and numerous others have been treated at hospitals for serious overdoses within a short time of obtaining controlled substances from the pharmacies.

“Pharmacies and pharmacists have a legal obligation to dispense controlled substances properly, so as not to put patients’ health at risk,” said Assistant Attorney General Jody Hunt for the Department of Justice’s Civil Division. “The Department of Justice will use every available tool to stop individuals and entities responsible for the improper distribution of controlled substances.”

The complaint alleges that the pharmacies and pharmacists filled numerous prescriptions for controlled substances outside the usual course of professional practice and in violation of the pharmacists’ corresponding responsibility to ensure that prescriptions were written for a legitimate medical purpose. Specifically, the complaint alleges that the defendants routinely dispensed controlled substances while ignoring numerous “red flags” or warning signs of diversion and abuse, such as unusually high dosages of oxycodone and other opioids, prescriptions for opioids and other controlled substances in dangerous combinations, and patients traveling extremely long distances to get and fill prescriptions.  The complaint further asserts that the pharmacies falsely billed Medicare for illegally dispensed prescriptions.

Judge Aleta A. Trauger of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee issued the temporary restraining order.  Along with injunctive relief, the United States seeks civil monetary penalties and treble damages.

“The civil complaint unsealed today contains disturbing allegations of high-risk dispensing practices by the defendants,” said U.S. Attorney Don Cochran.  “Given the national public health emergency resulting from the opioid crisis in our nation, the U.S. Attorney’s Office will use every resource at our disposal, including seeking injunctive relief and civil monetary penalties as we have here, to stop pharmacies and pharmacists from continuing to abuse their dispensing authority to fuel this epidemic.”

“The action supported today by the Drug Enforcement Administration should serve as a warning to those in the pharmacy industry who choose to put profit over customer safety,” said D. Christopher Evans, Special Agent in Charge of DEA’s Louisville Field Division, which covers Tennessee, Kentucky, and West Virginia. “Pharmacists serve on the front lines of America’s opioid epidemic and they share responsibility with physicians to protect those whom they serve from the dangers associated with prescription medications.  We will be vigilant in holding them accountable,” Evans added.

“The opioid epidemic has been devastating for Tennessee and neighboring states,” said Derrick L. Jackson, Special Agent in Charge at the HHS Office of Inspector General. “Physicians and pharmacists have a dual responsibility to ensure that these medications are only prescribed and dispensed when they are medically necessary.”

With the Mueller report expected to drop any day now, here is a guide to what the special counsel has investigated and how this heavily-anticipated document will be released.

Spoiler alert: a lot of questions about the report’s release and its contents have no clear answer. That’s largely a function of the lack of leaks from the special counsel’s office and the stoic approach that Mueller has taken during the 22-month investigation.

When will report be finished?

All signs point to Mueller nearing the very end of the investigation.

Several top prosecutors working on the investigation are leaving the special counsel’s office, including Andrew Weissmann and Zainab Ahmad. Weissmann was the lead prosecutor on Mueller’s case against Paul Manafort, the former Trump campaign chairman who was sentenced to prison on charges related to his work for the Ukrainian government.

Reporters have also seen Mueller team members removing boxes of files from their offices in Washington, D.C.

The grand jury that Mueller has used in the investigation has also reportedly not heard from witnesses since Jan. 24, the same day that Trump confidant Roger Stone was indicted.

What happens when Mueller finishes the report?

Once Mueller finalizes his report, he is expected to notify Attorney General William Barr. What happens then is up in the air.

Barr could announce that he has received the report, or he could provide portions of it directly to leaders on the House and Senate Judiciary Committees.

Congressional sources familiar with those committees’ business say they are as in the dark as anyone else about how the process will unfold. Barr could announce that he has the Mueller document before or after he informs Congress. He could avoid a public announcement and inform Congress that Mueller has concluded the investigation.

What will be in the report?

As with most questions about Mueller’s findings, it is unclear what he will actually say in the document provided to Barr.

Barr testified at his confirmation hearing that under the current statute governing special counsel’s, Mueller will be required to provide a summary of his findings to the Justice Department along with a rationale for any decisions to decline specific prosecutions.

Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who oversaw the investigation since its inception on May 17, 2017, recently laid out what information Barr is legally required to share with Congress.

“If the special counsel proposes to take an action and is overruled by the attorney general … we’re required to report that to the Congress,” he said at an event on Feb. 25.

The report may also be hindered by legal restrictions against indicting sitting presidents. But Mueller could, if he sees fit, suggest areas where Trump could face impeachment proceedings.

What will the public see? 

That also remains unclear.

Barr could release as much of the report as he wants, but he is first expected to write a summary of Mueller’s findings.

Whatever documents are eventually made public are likely to contain redactions for classified information. It is also unlikely that the report will contain any information gleaned from grand jury testimony.

Legal observers have cautioned the public against expecting Mueller to lay out all of the details of his investigation. But they have also said that it is unlikely that Mueller and Barr can completely avoid explaining whether or not Trump colluded with Russia or obstructed justice.

Congressional Democrats have vowed to subpoena the report if Barr withholds it. House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff has also pledged to subpoena Mueller if details of the report are withheld from Congress.

What will Trump do?

The answer to that question likely hinges on what the report says.

Trump has given mixed signals about how he will handle Mueller’s findings. On Wednesday, he said that the public should see the document, but he added that he would like to review it beforehand.

“Let it come out. Let people see it,” he said, before adding that the final decision is up to Barr.

The Republican has long decried the Mueller probe as a “witch hunt.”

What has Mueller investigated?

Mueller was appointed special counsel on May 17, 2017, eight days after President Trump fired James Comey as FBI director. A former FBI director himself, Mueller inherited “Crossfire Hurricane,” the FBI’s code name for the counterintelligence investigation into Trump campaign associates’ possible ties to Russia.

FBI counterintelligence official Peter Strzok opened Crossfire Hurricane on July 31, 2016. The probe targeted Trump aides George Papadopoulos, Carter Page, Paul Manafort and Michael Flynn.

After Comey’s firing, FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe expanded the probe to include Trump himself. McCabe ordered an investigation into whether Trump himself was a Russian agent as well as whether he obstructed justice by firing Comey.

Mueller’s investigation has expanded in numerous directions since its beginning.

He has indicted or secured guilty pleas from 34 individuals, including six Trump associates. But so far, none of the indictments have involved coordination between Trump associates and Russians.

Mueller indicted 25 Russian operatives accused of hacking Democrats’ emails or planting disinformation on social media networks.

Four Trump associates — George Papadopoulos, Michael Flynn, Rick Gates, and Michael Cohen — have pleaded guilty in the special counsel’s investigation.

Longtime Trump confidant Roger Stone was indicted on Jan. 24 on seven counts related to the House Intelligence Committee’s Russia probe. Mueller’s team alleges that Stone lied about his communications with associates and Trump campaign officials regarding WikiLeaks.

Manafort was sentenced to seven-and-a-half years in prison on a variety of charges related to his consulting work in Ukraine.

Mueller also secured guilty pleas from Alex van der Zwaan and Richard Pinedo, both of who appear to have no direct links to Trump. Konstantin Kilimnik, a Manafort business partner suspected of having links to Russian intelligence, was also indicted on witness tampering charges.

Has Mueller found any evidence of collusion?

Most of what Mueller has found in his investigation remains secret, but some clues have come out through the numerous indictments and guilty pleas secured during the probe.

And so far, none of those cases have revealed evidence that members of the Trump campaign conspired or coordinated with Russians to influence the outcome of the 2016 election.

The source of the collusion conspiracy theory — the Steele dossier — has come under intense scrutiny since it was published in January 2017.

The dossier, which was funded by the Clinton campaign and Russian government, accused Trump associates Carter Page, Michael Cohen, and Paul Manafort of conspiring with Kremlin officials to influence the election. The dossier also alleged that the Russian government was blackmailing Trump with video of him with prostitutes in Moscow in 2013.

Circumstantial evidence has cut against the Steele dossier. Page has appeared before Mueller’s grand jury, but has not been charged with any crimes. Prosecutors have never accused Manafort of conspiring with Russia, even though he has already been sentenced in two cases brought by Mueller’s team.

Cohen, who is a cooperating witness for Mueller, undercut the dossier’s most specific allegation about collusion during congressional testimony last month.

The former Trump fixer testified under oath on Feb. 27 that he has never visited Prague. The dossier claims that Cohen visited there in August 2016 to meet with Kremlin officials to discuss paying off Russian hackers.

Are more indictments on the way?

This is another question that remains to be seen. Trump critics have held out hope that Mueller will issue a barrage of indictments against Trump family members like Donald Trump Jr. and Jared Kushner just as he submits his report to the Justice Department.

Mueller has investigated a variety of areas that have so far not resulted in indictments. Mueller’s prosecutors also offered a plea deal to Jerome Corsi, a conspiracy theorist who was in close contact with Stone during the 2016 campaign. Corsi has said that Mueller believes he may have had contact during the campaign with WikiLeaks, the group that published emails stolen from Democrats.

Mueller’s grand jury heard testimony from Corsi’s stepson on the same day that the indictment against Stone was handed down.

• A Republican-backed bill to make it legal for Georgians to obtain limited amounts of medical marijuana oil cleared its first hurdle in the state’s House of Representatives March 5.
• But its advocates were unsure if Republican Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp would be open to sign it even if it did pass the state Senate as well.
• Kemp signaled openness to the bill in an interview that the bill’s advocates greeted as “wonderful” and its opponents characterized as a “sad day for science.”

Republican Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp signaled openness to a medical marijuana reform bill that passed the state House March 5 in an interview that the bill’s advocates greeted as “wonderful” and its opponents characterized as a “sad day for science.”

“When it passes with a constitutional majority,” Kemp said in an interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution published Monday, “it might not matter what I think.”

Kemp said he was impressed by the “strong vote” for HB 324, which passed the Georgia House 123-40, according to The AJC. The Republican-backed bill permits growing marijuana for the manufacturing of medical marijuana oil with up to 5 percent THC, the psychoactive component that causes the high. Patients with one of sixteen medical conditions must register for a medical marijuana card to legally possess it.

The bill does not legalize vaping or smoking marijuana, but its critics are afraid it will lead to the legalization of recreational use in the state. Its advocates say the bill will help children suffering from seizures whose parents have been traveling out of state to get oil for them, since Georgia’s current law makes it legal to possess the substance but provides no avenue to lawfully obtain it.

“I need to learn more about the bill, see what the Senate has to say,” Kemp continued in the interview. “And I’m trying to understand that we are probably putting people in violation of federal law.”

Georgia resident Dale Jackson said he was “very encouraged” by Kemp’s stance. Jackson has seen “quality of life” greatly increase for his 10-year-old son, Colin, because of medical marijuana oil. Jackson said it is a struggle to obtain the oil, but the benefits have been enormous. The change has been as simple as being able to take the whole family to a restaurant and not needing to worry about taking Colin home halfway through dinner.

“We’re really looking forward to the day my wife and I don’t have to worry about any law enforcement agency knocking on our door, but most importantly being able to give my son the medicine he needs,” Jackson told The Daily Caller News Foundation Tuesday.

Jackson has been actively advocating for HB 324 to Georgia’s state lawmakers and even the governor and lieutenant governor. He hopes proposed changes to the bill can be presented in committee next week and said talks have indicated the bill will become more “patient-focused” rather than “industry-focused.”

“A lot of people, especially in this particular movement, show up and have a rally and expect the world to change overnight. The world has changed every single day by one-on-one conversations, and that’s what a small group of us have been doing for five years now,” Jackson told TheDCNF. “I hope that we’re going to see the rewards of that effort this year.”

But others in Georgia believe the bill would do more harm than good. Sue Rusche of National Families in Action, a group that opposes the bill, told TheDCNF Tuesday that Kemp’s openness was “a sad day for science.”

“It means like many other states we’re going to be going down the road of rejecting safe and effective medicine and instead allowing unsafe or ineffective medicines,” Rusche told TheDCNF.

Her organization believes FDA-approved pharmaceuticals derived in some way from the marijuana plant are the better answer. She referenced Epidiolex, a seizure treatment made with a purified active ingredient derived from marijuana.

“It makes me very sad to see Georgia begin to think about cultivating marijuana, and if [Kemp’s] open that means that will happen,” Rusche told TheDCNF. “It means that we will have 60 dispensaries in our state dispensing a drug that has entirely too much THC for children, that has not been approved by the FDA, which means kids can be exposed to all kinds of potential problems including contaminants. That’s not good.”

Tom McCain is an advocate of the bill and executive director of Peachtree NORML, the Georgia chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws. He had been waiting for Kemp to say whether he would support HB 324.

“I think that is wonderful,” McCain said referring to Kemp’s comments, adding that he was “surprised.”

McCain said Kemp’s openness means that the bill has a much great chance of advancing out of the Regulated Industries and Utilities committee in the state Senate. That’s because the committee’s membership includes a “who’s who of the governor’s leadership,” McCain told TheDCNF. Its chairman, state Sen. Bill Cowsert, is Kemp’s brother-in-law.

“I was a little concerned that unless [Kemp] made some kind of statement that he was looking toward being favorable toward it, it wouldn’t get through the senate committee, but this is great news,” McCain told TheDCNF.

McCain, a 68-year-old former law enforcement officer, calls himself “illegally healed.” He was taking hydrocodone three times a day to deal with the toll his days on the force had taken. Returning to using marijuana like he did in his youth let him stop taking opiates and sleeping pills and get ride of their side effects, he told TheDCNF.

“I don’t go through all of that. I don’t go through the constipation. I don’t go through the sleeplessness,” he told TheDCNF. “If I want to go to bed, I take a couple tokes.”

Kemp had left open the possibility that he would be receptive to medical marijuana reform in January.

“I sympathize and empathize with them on that issue, and I support research-based expansion,” Kemp said when asked about medical marijuana in January. “Thankfully, there is some research that’s going on in this field that will give us some good data that will kind of tell us how to move forward.”

The Georgia Senate is not expected to vote on the measure for a few weeks.

Gregory Lepsky, 22, of Point Pleasant, New Jersey, was sentenced today to 16 years in prison for planning to construct and use a pressure cooker bomb in New York on behalf of a designated foreign terrorist organization, the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS).

Lepsky pleaded guilty March 13, 2018, before a U.S. District Court Judge, to an information charging him with one count of attempting to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization, specifically ISIS.  Judge Shipp imposed the sentence today in Trenton federal court.

According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:

On Feb. 21, 2017, Lepsky was arrested by the Point Pleasant Police Department in connection with an incident that occurred that day in his family’s home.  Following the arrest, law enforcement officers searched the residence and found a new pressure cooker stored behind a roll of bubble wrap in Lepsky’s bedroom closet.

During searches of computers and other digital evidence linked to Lepsky, law enforcement officers found evidence of Lepsky’s plan to build and detonate a bomb as part of his support for ISIS.  During several social media communications, Lepsky told others that he intended to fight on behalf of ISIS and that he would, if necessary, become a martyr by driving a “bunch of explosives” to where the “enemies” could be found and blowing himself up.

Law enforcement officers also located a series of instructions that had been published online by another terrorist group that gave specific, step-by-step instructions on how to build a pressure cooker bomb, which coincided with the delivery of the pressure cooker to Lepsky a short time before his arrest.  In addition, law enforcement officers recovered a message forwarded by Lepsky from another ISIS supporter stating that if a westerner could not travel to Syria to fight for ISIS, he could conduct a terrorist attack in his home country using improvised explosive devices.

At his plea hearing, Lepsky admitted that beginning in January 2017, he began to formulate a plan to detonate the pressure cooker bomb in New York City on behalf of ISIS.  Lepsky admitted that he used the internet to access ISIS directives, obtain bomb-making instructions, and purchase the pressure cooker and other items to be used in the attack.

In addition to the term of imprisonment, Judge Shipp imposed a life term of supervised release.

National Security Advisor John Bolton appeared to contradict the White House Sunday when he said that the United States withdrawal from Syria would not be immediate, but the Pentagon announced Thursday that without receiving any new direction, they’re moving forward with the mission.

“Timetables or the timing of the withdrawal occurs as a result of the fulfillment of the conditions and the establishment of the circumstances that we want to see,” Bolton said Sunday, which struck a different tone than the Dec. 19 announcement White House press secretary Sarah Sanders made, in which she said the U.S. had already begun pulling American troops.

Defense officials in the Pentagon told The Wall Street Journal that they haven’t received any new directives, and until they do, will move forward with the original withdrawal plans.

“Nothing has changed,” an anonymous defense official said. “We don’t take orders from Bolton.”

American troops sent to help with the pullout are reportedly already in the region, specifically in Kuwait and the al-Asad air base in Iraq.

President Donald Trump confirmed a Syria withdrawal Sunday, but shifted slightly on the timing, saying “we won’t be finally pulled out until [the Islamic State] is gone.”

The fate of U.S. troops in Syria was further muddled Tuesday when Turkish President Recep Erdogan said Bolton made a “grave mistake” when he demanded Turkey pledge protection of the American supported Kurdish fighters.

“It is not possible for us to swallow the message Bolton gave from Israel,” Erdogan said in the Turkish Parliament after refusing to meet with Bolton on his visit to Turkey.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo pushed back on reports that the administration was contradicting itself Thursday on a trip to Cairo, Egypt, saying “there’s no contradiction whatsoever.”

“This is a story made up by the media. That’s fine, you all write what you like, but the President’s been very clear, and Bolton and I have been very clear about this too, that the threat from radical Islamic terrorism is real,” Pompeo said.