Saturday's shooting at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh that took the lives of 11 people has been classified as a hate crime, and is likely the deadliest attack in American history on Jewish people in the U.S., according to the Anti-Defamation League.
Why it matters: The ADL's most recent audit of anti-Semitic incidents found that the number of such incidents in the U.S. went up 57% last year — "the largest single-year increase on record and the second highest number reported since ADL started tracking." The most recent FBI data shows that in 2016, more Jewish people in the United States were victims of reported hate crimes than any other religious minority.
President Trump fed off the energy of hundreds of young black conservatives yesterday who piled into the White House in red MAGA hats to hear him speak, later telling Charlie Kirk, a prominent Trump supporter and founder of Turning Point USA, that unlike most speaking events at the White House, he "loved" this one, comparing it the feeling he gets during rallies, Kirk told Axios.
Why it matters: In recent weeks, Trump has boasted about his rising popularity among African Americans, touting the low unemployment rate and pointing to his work with Kanye West and football legend Jim Brown. But despite his recent rhetoric and claims of newfound support, Trump is still severely unpopular among black voters. According to the latest Gallup ranking, only 10% of black voters approve of the job he's doing.
President Trump condemned anti-semitism and called the Pittsburgh shooting "hard to believe" and "unimaginable" at the Future Farmers of America Conference in Indianapolis on Saturday.
What's new: He confirmed that a bris, a traditional Jewish baby naming ceremony, was being performed at the Tree of Life synagogue when the gunman opened fire. "Our nation and the world are shocked and stunned by the grief," he said. The president confirmed at the event that the Indianapolis rally this evening will go on as scheduled, despite considerations to postpone.
Before boarding Air Force One on his way to the Future Farmers of America convention, President Trump responded to the Pittsburgh shooting saying the U.S. should "stiffen up" death penalty laws and people who commit such crimes should "pay the ultimate price."
Trump also added that places of worship should consider adding armed guards at doors. "If there was an armed guard inside the temple they would have been able to stop him, maybe there would have been nobody killed, except for him frankly," he said. The president says he will release a statement when he attends the Future Farmers of America event Saturday.
Imagine the agony and contortions another politician might have gone through if a signature chant from his rallies ("CNN SUCKS") was found emblazoned on the van of a rabid supporter charged with mailing bombs to political opponents?
Not Trump. At a rally last night at Bojangles' Coliseum in Charlotte, N.C., the president started with a line that could have come from any president: "These terrorist actions must be prosecuted and punished to the fullest extent of the law."
A single fingerprint taken from a mail bomb sent to Rep. Maxine Waters gave investigators their key break in arresting 56-year-old Cesar Altieri Sayoc, The Wall Street Journal reports.
The details: "Officials ran the fingerprint through a national database, which returned Mr. Sayoc as a possible match... With Mr. Sayoc’s name in hand, investigators were able to locate a possible phone number... [a] court order allowed them to triangulate Mr. Sayoc’s cellphone data to find his location."
President Trump told reporters today that he is unlikely to call the Clintons and Obamas after they they were sent suspicious packages containing potentially explosive devices.
The backdrop: The FBI has taken Cesar Sayoc in custody as a suspect of mailing a string of bombs to prominent Trump critics. The Clintons and the Obamas are two of the most prominent Democrats who were targeted, but others include Joe Biden, Sen. Cory Booker and Rep. Maxine Waters.
The Department of Defense has approved the Department of Homeland Security and Customs and Border Protection’s request for additional support at the southern border as a caravan of Central American migrants travels north through Mexico.
Why it matters: This will provide engineering support, including temporary barriers and fences, medical teams, temporary housing and personal protective equipment for CBP personnel.
The man who's suspected of sending 13 pipe bombs to Democrats and other critics of President Trump has a lengthy criminal history and financial troubles, and "appears to be a partisan," according to Attorney General Jeff Sessions.
Driving the news: At an afternoon press conference, Sessions said Cesar Sayoc faces five federal charges in connection with the mail bombs. He also could face as much as 48 years in prison. FBI Director Christopher Wray warned that it may not be over — there's no guarantee that other bombs aren't in transit.
Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross may have violated a criminal conflict-of-interest law when discussing oil and gas developments, tax reform and trade issues with Chevron executives in a March 2017 meeting, while his wife still owned a more than $250,000 stake in the company, Forbes' Dan Alexander reports.
Our thought bubble: If Democrats win the House, Ross will be at the top of their list of investigative targets. Here’s the latest on his conflicts of interest:
The New Jersey Senate race is now looking like a toss-up, according to the the Cook Political Report— a sign that Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez is in serious trouble after years of questions about his ethics.
Why it matters: If Republicans pick up that seat, a Senate majority would be out of reach for the Democrats. Federal prosecutors dropped their corruption charges against Menendez earlier this year, but the Senate Ethics Committee admonished him for accepting gifts from a friend. What the race comes down to is Menendez "and his ethics problems," Cook reports, and if the "voter who goes to the polls...decides to send Menendez a message."
When we turn control over our lives to others, we expect there to be rules that keep us safe. But we're far from having any in place around autonomous vehicles. So it's no surprise that a recent AAA study found73% of Americans are afraid to ride in a fully self-driving car.
Where it stands: Automakers and tech companies are lobbying for a bill in the Senate, the AV START Act, that would allow millions of self-driving vehicles to come on the market that are exempt from existing federal rules while requiring no new ones to ensure autonomous vehicles are safer than the cars we have today — a system where 37,133 people died on U.S roads last year.
President Trump is planning on closing off the southern border to any Central Americans traveling toward the U.S. in the migrant caravan and denying any requests for asylum, the Washington Post reports.
The big picture: He wants to invoke the same powers as he did during the 2017 travel ban, which says he can reject certain migrants from receiving asylum because it would be "detrimental to the interests of the United States," per the Post. Doing this could bring legal action from U.S. courts. He also plans to send around 1,000 additional troops for added security at the border.
Of the 34 midterm rallies President Trump has held or will hold by Oct. 31, only nine of them are in congressional districts that voted for Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election.
Why it matters: It shows the main GOP strategy in the 2018 midterm elections: deploy the president to energize and encourage the party's base, and don't spend a lot of time trying to win converts.
Half of Hispanics in the United States say their situation has deteriorated in the past year, and 62% say they are unhappy with how the country is going today — the highest levels since the Great Recession, a new Pew Research Center study says.
The big picture: Hispanics are the largest minority group in the U.S. Two-thirds of Hispanics consider the Trump administration's policies harmful, higher than those of either Barack Obama (15%) or George W. Bush (41%).
