Trump attends police officer's funeral
MASSAPEQUA PARK, N.Y. -- Former President Donald Trump attended Thursday's wake of a New York City police officer killed in the line of duty and called for "law and order."
The visitation for officer Jonathan Diller, who was fatally shot during a traffic stop Monday, was held in Massapequa on Long Island.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Thursday the president has spoken with New York City's mayor, but she said she didn't have any "private communications to share" when asked if Joe Biden had spoken to the family of the officer who was killed.
"Violent crime surged under the previous administration," Jean-Pierre said aboard Air Force One. "The Biden-Harris administration have done the polar opposite, taking decisive action from the very beginning to fund the police and achieving a historic reduction in crime."
After visiting in the funeral home with Diller's family, Trump spoke outside to news reporters with about a dozen local police officers.
Trump called Diller's killing "such a sad, sad event, such a horrible thing." He spoke about Diller's wife and 1-year-old son, saying he "doesn't know how his life has been changed."
"We have to get back to law and order. We have to do a lot of things differently. This is not working. This is happening too often," Trump said.
Diller, 31, was the first New York City police officer killed in the line of duty in two years.
Mayorkas impeachment to move forward
WASHINGTON -- House Speaker Mike Johnson indicated Thursday he will send articles of impeachment against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to the Senate shortly after Congress returns to Washington next month.
Johnson, R-La., said he would send the two articles April 10. Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., plans to swear in senators as jurors in the trial the next day, according to his office.
The House impeached Mayorkas on a razor-thin party-line vote in February.
Republicans took the action against Mayorkas, who would be the first Cabinet secretary to receive the punishment in nearly 150 years, to rebuke his handling of the nation's southern border.
"House Republicans failed to present any evidence of anything resembling an impeachable offense," Schumer said after the House acted.
But Johnson argued in a statement that Mayorkas has "willfully refused to follow federal immigration laws."
Two-thirds of the Senate would have to vote to convict as opposed to the simple majority needed to impeach in the House. Johnson urged Schumer to hold "a full public trial" to show he cared about "ending the devastation caused by Biden's border catastrophe."
Menendez declines to appeal ruling
NEW YORK -- New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez will not appeal a judge's ruling on constitutional grounds that would have delayed his May trial, his lawyers said Thursday.
The Democrat's lawyers notified the Manhattan federal judge who will preside over the May 6 trial in a letter that the senator's decision was "principally motivated by his desire to proceed to trial and establish his innocence without further delay."
He has pleaded innocent to corruption charges filed after investigators discovered gold bars and cash at his home.
Prosecutors say the gold and cash resulted from bribes that he and his wife received in exchange for favors Menendez carried out for three New Jersey businessmen.
Earlier this month, Judge Sidney Stein ruled that multiple warrants used to conduct 2022 searches of the Democrat's email accounts and his home were properly sought and carried out.
The warrants had been contested by Menendez under provisions of the Constitution that would have allowed an appeal to the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals prior to a trial if the senator chose to go that route.
Menendez also was charged with helping another New Jersey business associate get a lucrative deal with the government of Egypt.
Missing swimmer sought off Puerto Rico
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico -- The U.S. Coast Guard said Thursday it is searching for a U.S. Marine who went swimming in high surf off Puerto Rico's northeast coast while on vacation.
Officials identified him as 26-year-old Samuel Wanjiru from Massachusetts and said he was visiting the island with his family. He disappeared Wednesday afternoon after going into the water at La Pared beach in Luquillo.
Also Wednesday, another American tourist died in northwest Puerto Rico after authorities said he rescued his teenage children who had been swept away by heavy surf.
"People need to realize that the situation is serious enough to limit our ability to respond to search and rescue cases with surface vessels without further endangering our crews and assets," said Capt. Jose Diaz, commander of the U.S. Coast Guard Sector San Juan.
A high surf advisory was issued late Tuesday for Puerto Rico's northwest, north and northeast coasts and remained in effect until late Thursday, with waves of up to 12 feet.