Hochul to use National Guard in subway
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul announced plans Wednesday to send the National Guard to the New York City subway system to help police conduct random searches of riders' bags for weapons following a series of high-profile crimes on city trains.
Hochul, a Democrat, said she will deploy 750 members of the National Guard to the subways to assist New York City police with bag searches at entrances to busy train stations.
The move came as part of a larger effort from the governor's office to address crime in the subway, which included a legislative proposal to ban people from trains for three years if they are convicted of assaulting a subway passenger and the installation of cameras in conductor cabins to protect transit workers.
The deployment of the National Guard would bolster an enhanced police presence in the subway system. The governor said she will also send 250 state troopers and police officers from the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, a state agency, to help with the bag searches.
Hochul's subway plan is "another unfortunate example of policymaking through overreaction and overreach," Donna Lieberman, the executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union, said in a statement.
Public hearing set for Hunter Biden
WASHINGTON -- House Republicans have invited Hunter Biden and his former business associates to appear at a public hearing later in March as part of the next step in their lengthy impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden.
The House Oversight and Accountability Committee announced it will hold a hearing March 20 that is expected to include an appearance by the president's son and three former associates.
Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., chairman of the Oversight and Accountability Committee, said he expects Hunter Biden to appear, "given the president's son's repeated calls for a public hearing."
Hunter Biden was defiant last week as Republican questions touched on business matters and his personal life, which has included times of addiction and turmoil.
"It seems to me that the Republican members wanted to spend more time talking about my client's addiction than they could ask any question that had anything to do with what they call their impeachment inquiry," Abbe Lowell, Hunter Biden's attorney, told reporters last week.
Hunter Biden denied under oath that his father ever financially benefited or participated in any of his son's business work.
A request for comment from Biden's representatives was not immediately returned Wednesday.
No charges filed for Florida ex-GOP chair
SARASOTA, Fla. -- The ousted former chair of the Republican Party of Florida will not face a video voyeurism charge in the recording of a sexual encounter with a woman who accused him of rape, a case in which he was also not charged, prosecutors said Wednesday.
The woman made inconsistent statements about whether or not she consented to the video made by Christian Ziegler during the October encounter at her home, prosecutors said in a memo. The filming could be a crime if there was sufficient evidence the video was made without her knowledge and consent.
The woman told investigators that "she could have consented to the video being taken -- she is simply unable to recall one way or the other," the memo said.
Ziegler, 40, previously admitted having sex with the woman but insisted it was consensual. Court records show that his wife, Bridget Ziegler, told detectives the three had engaged in sex once more than a year ago. Police said Bridget Ziegler backed out of the recent planned encounter but that her husband went to the accuser's apartment alone.
"Mr. Ziegler is relieved to be completely cleared of the false allegations and any criminal wrongdoing. We cooperated at every stage of investigation," Christian Ziegler's attorney Derek Byrd said in an email.
High court to hear Trump claim April 25
The Supreme Court has scheduled argument for April 25 to review Donald Trump's claim that he is immune from criminal prosecution on charges of trying to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
The case will determine whether and how quickly Trump faces trial in Washington, D.C., for allegedly trying to block Joe Biden's election victory.
The former president, who is on the cusp of securing the 2024 Republican nomination, has tried to push the D.C. trial and others he faces until after the general election. It is Justice Department policy not to prosecute a sitting president.
Trump's pretrial proceedings in Washington remain on hold until a ruling is issued.
Trump has raised immunity issues in his federal case in Florida, where he is charged with illegally retaining classified materials after he left the White House and obstructing government efforts to retrieve them.
Trump has also brought up the issue of presidential immunity in Georgia, where he faces state charges for allegedly participating in a conspiracy to undo the 2020 election results in that state.