WWE’s Vince McMahon resigns after sexual assault and trafficking lawsuit
Former employee files lawsuit accusing McMahon and another executive of sexual assault, trafficking and emotional abuse. Vince McMahon has resigned from wrestling giant TKO Group and the subsidiary World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) he founded after a lawsuit that accused him of sexual assault and trafficking. McMahon stepped down from his position as executive chairman of the board of directors at WWE’s parent company, TKO Group Holdings, according to a statement released late on Friday. Former employee Janel Grant sued the company, McMahon and former head of talent relations John Laurinaitis, alleging sexual assault, trafficking and emotional abuse. Grant filed the complaint on Thursday in a court in the US state of Connecticut, where WWE is based, accusing McMahon of coercing her into a “sexual relationship”, sharing sexually explicit photos and videos of her with male colleagues, and subjecting her to “increasingly depraved sexual demands” that included sexual encounters with Laurinaitis and others. McMahon’s statement said he was leaving the board “out of respect” for WWE and TKO Group. “I stand by my prior statement that Ms Grant’s lawsuit is replete with lies, obscene made-up instances that never occurred, and is a vindictive distortion of the truth,” he said in the statement. “I intend to vigorously defend myself against these baseless accusations, and look forward to clearing my name.” On Thursday, Grant’s lawyer Ann Callis said in a statement that Grant hopes her lawsuit will prevent other women from being victimised. “The organisation is well aware of Mr McMahon’s history of depraved behavior, and it’s time that they take responsibility for the misconduct of its leadership,” she said. Grant is seeking unspecified monetary damages and to have the court void a $3m nondisclosure agreement, of which she alleges she received only $1m. Ongoing accusations In 2022, McMahon stepped down as WWE’s CEO amid an investigation into allegations that match those in Grant’s lawsuit. His daughter Stephanie McMahon was named interim CEO as the investigation continued amid widening allegations of misconduct and payments of millions of dollars to women formerly associated with WWE to keep quiet about affairs and alleged misconduct. After buying what was then the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) from his father in 1982, McMahon turned the second-rate league into an entertainment giant. He used scripted matches, celebrity wrestlers and glitz to make the brand more acceptable to television audiences, and created the concept of pay-per-view matches for bigger events such as “WrestleMania” to build its revenue base. The organisation passed the billion-dollar mark in annual sales last year and on Tuesday Netflix sealed a 10-year, $5bn broadcast deal with WWE. TKO was formed after WWE merged last April with the company that runs the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) to create the $21.4bn sports entertainment company. Adblock test (Why?)
Femicide in Kenya: What’s causing an epidemic of violence against women?
The murders of two Kenyan women this month are spotlighting a worrying regularity in gender-based violence in the East African country, with activists calling for more government measures to protect women. Rita Waeni, a 20-year-old student was killed and dismembered in a shortlet apartment in the capital Nairobi on January 14. Days before, a popular Instagram figure, Starlet Wahu, 26, was found dead in an Airbnb room, bleeding out from a fatal stab wound inflicted by a man she met online. They are only two of at least four reported gender-based murders in Kenya since the start of the year, as the country faces an increasing number of killings and abuses meted on women, rights groups say. Amid social media outrage, women say they plan to assemble in protest on January 27 to demand more action from authorities. Here’s what happened in the recent cases, an overview of gender-based violence, and what activists are demanding: What do we know about the recent murders? CCTV footage captured Starlet Wahu, a social media influencer, walking with a male figure into a shortlet in a mid-class neighbourhood in Nairobi on the evening of January 3. The man left the premises the next morning with bloodied clothes and a possible leg injury, a guard told the police. Wahu was found lifeless, with stab wounds and bite marks. Police found HIV test kits and a bloodied knife in the room. A suspect, believed to be a serial offender, has been arrested. Several women have stepped up to accuse the same man of previous assaults. Nearly two weeks later, on January 14, the dismembered body of Rita Waeni, a fourth-year student of Nairobi’s agriculture university, was found in a bag dumped at a trash collection point in the central business district. Waeni had also entered a short-term rental with a man the day before, but eyewitnesses say only the man left the room, and that blood traces led them to the bag. Waeni’s family members said they received texts for a ransom, possibly after her murder. Local papers report that Waeni may have been lured by her murderer through the social app, Instagram. Three male suspects are in custody – one was arrested at the airport on his way out of Kenya. Kenyan media have also reported the murders of two other women in the last week. Police say Christine Aume was cooking in her detached kitchen in Homa Bay, western Kenya, when she was attacked and beheaded on January 17. On the same day, police found a woman murdered and dumped by a road in Kiambu County, central Kenya. How many women have been murdered? Activists in Kenya say the country is experiencing increasing rates of femicide, which is defined as the intentional murder of women or girls primarily because of their gender, and usually by their partners or other persons they know like family members. The Kenyan government doesn’t collect figures on women murders. However, Femicide Count Kenya, which monitors killings reported in local news, recorded 58 deaths it labelled as femicides between January and October 2022. In 2023, the organisation said it recorded at least 152 killings – the highest in the past five years. Some 500 Kenyan women were murdered between 2017 and 2024, according to another estimate by investigative platforms Africa Uncensored and Africa Data Hub. 2 weeks into 2024, headlines tell of women killed by men close to them. The cases only scratch the surface, countless deaths go unrecognized. This Friday, with @AfUncensored & @Africa_DataHub, we launch “#SilencingWomen“: a database of femicide cases since 2016. #EndFemicideKE pic.twitter.com/kalubrYM0t — VybeCast (@VybeCast) January 16, 2024 Abuse cases are rife. News reports document women being beaten, stabbed and raped. Nonprofit Usikimye, which runs a helpline for female survivors of violence, says it receives more than 150 calls daily, including from people who refer to a third party suffering abuse. A 2022 national survey also found that about a third of Kenyan females – some nine million women – have experienced some form of physical violence. Although many of the deaths occurred in private spaces, women in Nairobi say there’s a general atmosphere of fear in the city, and that they are finding safety in measures like travelling in groups because they have little faith in the authorities. “We as Kenyan women are not being listened to,” said Inyika Odero, an activist and model who helped organise a virtual protest and discussion on Sunday after authorities refused her a protest permit. “What else can we do apart from travel in groups and try to get home before it’s dark which is almost impossible because people have jobs and take public transportation?” Odero said. “We are not allowed to have tasers or pepper spray, that’s illegal.” Why is femicide on the rise? Kenya, like many African countries, has adopted treaties that address gender-based violence, including the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights. National laws like the Sexual Offences Act also criminalise violence against women. In addition, the Kenyan police have a specialised gender desk. But activists say government policies are scarcely effective. “We have seen no government-sponsored national campaigns addressing GBV [gender-based violence] or its consequences,” said Shyleen Bonareri, director of Nairobi-based Young Women’s Leadership Institute (YWLI). “The justice system remains sluggish and ineffective in prosecuting the perpetrators and corruption continues to cause gaps in the implementation of these ambitious laws,” she told Al Jazeera. Instead, many women say, there’s a deep-seated “misogynistic” culture that sees women as objects to be “owned” and that focuses on shaming them for being victims, rather than their male perpetrators. Even as shock and outrage grew over the killings of Wahu and Waeni on social media, activists point out how some Kenyans, notably men, have chosen to blame the women, questioning everything from why they were meeting up and entering shortlets with the men. Idk if the media was careless in reporting
BJP appoints state poll in-charges, co-incharges for upcoming Lok Sabha elections, check full list here
Uttar Pradesh will see Baijayant Panda taking charge, while Vinod Tawde is set to lead the BJP’s election efforts in Bihar amidst a dynamic political landscape.
‘Alliance with Congress off to good start with 11 strong seats’: Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav
The state sends 80 members to the Lower House of Parliament and Lok Sabha elections are set to take place in the coming months of 2024.
Experts Turley, Painter say Texas on shaky legal ground in border razor-wire fight
Texas is battling President Biden in the courts and on the ground over illegal immigration at the southern border. The Lone Star State defied the Biden administration this week after the Supreme Court granted an emergency appeal to allow federal officials to cut razor wire Gov. Greg Abbott ordered to be installed at the southern border. The Republican governor responded to the court by posting pictures of the Texas National Guard bolstering the border, declaring on Wednesday that Texas has a right to “self-defense” from a migrant “invasion” at the southern border. BORDER BATTLE LINES: DEMS CALL ON BIDEN TO SEIZE CONTROL OF TEXAS NATIONAL GUARD, AS GOP ALLIES BACK ABBOTT Abbott’s move led to Democrats’ calls for Biden to take control of the Texas National Guard. George Washington University law professor and Fox News contributor Jonathan Turley told Fox News Digital that while “many agree” with Texas’ objections and “oppose” how the Biden administration is handling the border, the federal government now has a “sufficient basis” to “move forward.” “After the Supreme Court lifted the injunction on the removal, Texas is without legal cause to prevent access by the federal agents,” Turley said. “Texas would need to secure another injunction, but it is hard to imagine what that basis would be in light of the decision of the court. “It can resume litigation, but legally it could be ‘all hat, no cattle’ in defying the federal orders,” Turley added. “Texas can seek an alternative means to secure the border. However, it is unlikely to get much support in the federal courts.” University of Minnesota law professor Richard Painter told Fox News Digital the issue boils down to federal supremacy doctrine and that “the general problem here is we have no consistent arguments from anybody about who’s in charge of immigration law.” “Whether it’s the federal government only, the federal government and the states … and do we have combined control or a partnership or do we have just the federal government?” Painter wondered. Painter said “neither party is being completely consistent here,” criticizing the Democrats for supporting sanctuary city policies and adding it is “unacceptable” that there are cities that will not enforce immigration law. Additionally, Painter said Texas is going against Biden on the issue because “they believe that Biden is not adequately protecting the United States against illegal immigration, even though that’s really the Biden administration’s job.” “And so Texas now is taking advantage of some ambiguity in the law, to do what it wants to do itself to address the problem they feel that President Biden is not adequately addressing,” Painter said. “And states have the right to do that unless they’re clearly preempted by federal law.” Abbott issued a lengthy statement Wednesday, saying the federal government broke the compact between the U.S. and the individual states. “The executive branch of the United States has a constitutional duty to enforce federal laws protecting states, including immigration laws on the books right now,” Abbott said. “President Biden has refused to enforce those laws and has even violated them.” Abbott is fighting multiple legal battles with the Biden administration, which has threatened legal action over Texas’ seizure of Shelby Park near Eagle Pass. Texas has also filed lawsuits against the administration, which cut razor wire set up by the state on the Rio Grande to prevent migrants from illegally crossing into Texas. Fox News Digital’s Adam Shaw and Greg Wehner contributed reporting.
Energy developer delivers major blow to blue state’s climate agenda by canceling offshore wind contracts
Multinational energy developer Orsted unexpectedly withdrew from agreements with the State of Maryland to develop two offshore wind projects, citing worsening economic conditions. Orsted announced that it had pulled out of orders which the Maryland Public Service Commission (PSC) issued years ago greenlighting the so-called Skipjack Wind 1 and Skipjack Wind 2 projects, and selecting the projects for a 20-year Offshore Renewable Energy Credit (OREC). Maryland Democrats repeatedly pointed to the Skipjack Wind development as a key part of the state’s aggressive decarbonization agenda. “Today’s announcement affirms our commitment to developing value creating projects and represents an opportunity to reposition Skipjack Wind, located in a strategically valuable federal lease area and with a state that is highly supportive of offshore wind, for future offtake opportunities,” David Hardy, Orsted’s group executive vice president and CEO of its Americas division, said Thursday in a statement. “As we explore the best path forward for Skipjack Wind, we anticipate several opportunities and will evaluate each as it becomes available,” he continued. TOP OFFICIALS WARNED BIDEN ADMIN ABOUT DANGERS WIND ENERGY PROJECTS POSE TO FISHING INDUSTRY, LETTER SHOWS Hardy added that the decision was made in light of “challenging economic circumstances.” According to Orsted, the ORECs set forth under the company’s agreement with the state are no longer commercially viable as a result of market conditions, including inflation, high interest rates and supply chain constraints. The developer, though, hasn’t canceled the project altogether and will continue to advance its development and permitting, additionally submitting an up-to-date Construction and Operations Plan to the U.S. Department of the Interior. Orsted said the move allows it to reposition Skipjack Wind for future offtake opportunities. MAJOR WIND PROJECT WAS DEPENDENT ON BIDEN ADMIN WAIVING TAXPAYER SAFEGUARD: INTERNAL DOCS “Governor Moore is disappointed by the news of Ørsted’s repositioning of the Skipjack Wind project, an effort that has the capacity to impact the lives of so many Marylanders,” Carter Elliott, a spokesperson for Democratic Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, told Fox News Digital in an email. “However, he will continue to work with legislators, Maryland’s federal partners, offshore wind developers, and advocates that see Maryland’s potential in order to build a system to help Maryland reach the state’s goal of 100% clean energy by 2035,” Elliott added. “If this is going to be Maryland’s decade, we must continue to push forward to reach the state’s ambitious climate goals, and the governor is as committed as ever to doing just that.” Overall, the joint project was set to be constructed roughly 20 miles off the coast of the Delmarva Peninsula near the Maryland-Delaware border and be commissioned by 2026. The two projects were projected to have a total capacity of 966 megawatts, enough to power hundreds of thousands of homes. The announcement, though, leaves Maryland with just two proposed offshore wind projects: the 300-megawatt MarWin project and the 800-megawatt Momentum Wind project, which are both set to be built off the coast of Ocean City, Maryland, and are being developed by the Baltimore firm US Wind. BIDEN ADMIN MAKES STUNNING ADMISSION ON CLIMATE AGENDA IN LEAKED INTERNAL MEMO “Yesterday’s news from Orsted is disappointing — the Skipjack project was an important component in advancing Maryland’s clean energy goals,” Maryland PSC Chairman Frederick Hoover said in a statement. “However, the Commission remains optimistic about the future of the offshore wind industry in Maryland, and would note that the US Wind project continues to move through the federal approval process,” Hoover added. Republican Maryland Rep. Andy Harris, though, cheered Orsted’s decision, which came days after he and other lawmakers held a public hearing calling for the end of offshore wind industrialization in Maryland. “This is welcome news for the many watermen and residents in Maryland who have made it clear they don’t want foreign-owned offshore wind companies industrializing their coasts,” he said in a statement. DC GREENLIGHTS AGGRESSIVE ELECTRIC VEHICLE MANDATE DESPITE CRITICS SOUNDING ALARM ON HIGH CONSUMER COSTS Meanwhile, the Skipjack Wind projects are among several that have faced headwinds amid economic uncertainty. In November, Orsted announced that it had canceled its Ocean Wind 1 and Ocean Wind 2 twin projects off the coast of New Jersey, and, earlier this month, energy firms Equinor and BP pulled out of a contract with the State of New York for their Empire Wind 2 project. The actions threaten to crush green energy goals set by Democratic-led states and the Biden administration. President Biden has set goals of deploying 30 gigawatts of offshore wind energy by 2030, the most ambitious goal of its kind worldwide, and completely decarbonizing the power grid by 2035. “These projects are unaffordable, they are ridiculous,” Dave Stevenson, the director of the Center for Energy Competitiveness at Delaware-based free market think tank Caesar Rodney Institute, told Fox News Digital in an interview. “The question really does become, in light of these disruptions and price increases, why shouldn’t we expect more?” “It just gets worse and worse and worse,” said Stevenson, who is also the president of the American Coalition for Ocean Protection. “When you have bad news like this repetitively, it’s a clear message that this is not ready for primetime. These projects should just stop. Let’s take another path as to how we’re going to generate electricity down the road.”
Schumer-aligned super PAC meddling in GOP primary of key Senate race: ‘Terrified of conservative outsider’
A Democratic super PAC, which is aligned with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York, is behind a shadowy group buying ads boosting potential Republican Senate candidate Rep. Matt Rosendale, who is mulling a Senate bid to challenge conservative firebrand Tim Sheehy. In 2022, Democrats spent more than $40 million to boost Republican candidates ahead of their state’s primary in the hopes that they would win and be the more beatable candidate in the general election – and in some cases the strategy actually proved successful. As Democrats grip onto their slim Senate majority in 2024, they are honing in on the Montana Senate race, which sees Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., attempting to hold onto the only statewide blue seat in the state. A Democrat-tied Facebook page, under the name “Treasure State Truths,” has already bought several ads in the Montana Senate primary race – bashing Sheehy, while simultaneously boosting his potential GOP opponent Rep. Matt Rosendale, R-Mont. FORMER NAVY SEAL HAS MAJOR FUNDRAISING HAUL IN BID TO UNSEAT VULNERABLE Their page shows ads running from December 13 that attempt to paint Navy SEAL Sheehy in a negative light by writing that voters “can’t trust” him, while other ads link to articles praising Rosendale for his pro-life advocacy. The group is managed by Gambit Strategies LLC, a Washington D.C. based digital marketing group that works to “efficiently persuade” voters in favor of the Democrat party and Democrat candidates nationwide. According to the Federal Election Commission (FEC) website, the firm received millions of dollars from Biden’s re-election campaign last year in addition to six-figure payments from several Democratic campaigns dating back to 2021. CONSERVATIVE FIREBRAND PRAISES MATT ROSENDALE AHEAD OF POTENTIAL SENATE BID: ‘SHOCK TO THE SYSTEM’ “No one has overseen more spending on digital persuasion, mobilization, and issue advocacy programs than us in the Democratic Party since 2016,” the Gambit Strategies homepage reads. “That’s why we specialize in running digital campaigns that effectively and efficiently persuade and mobilize your audience by defining candidates, causes, and issues.” Another mysterious group, the Last Best Place PAC, has already spent millions of dollars on several ads against Sheehy, a signal his rising candidacy could be detrimental to the Democrats’ majority if he becomes the GOP nominee in 2024. The Senate Majority PAC, which is aligned with Schumer, confirmed to Fox News Digital that they are the group behind the Last Best Place PAC targeting Sheehy. According to AdImpact, an ad intel website, Last Best Place PAC is planning to spend over $5 million attacking Sheehy in the race to unseat Tester. “This confirmed what we knew all along that Chuck Schumer is spending millions of dollars interfering in Montana’s election to tear down combat veteran Tim Sheehy because they know he’s a strong conservative who will win in November, and they want the weakest candidate in this race who will give Two-Faced Tester another victory in November,” a spokesperson for Sheehy told Fox News Digital. “The career politicians back in DC are terrified of conservative outsider Tim Sheehy because he’s going to stand shoulder to shoulder with President Trump to drain the swamp, save our country, and put America and Montana First!” Sheehy has gained national attention after his campaign gained various prominent endorsements, including from all of Montana’s top leadership – Sen. Steve Daines, Rep. Ryan Zinke, R-Mont., and Gov. Greg Gianforte, R-Mont. The stakes were recently heightened last month after the Cook Report, an “independent, non-partisan” election forecaster, shifted the race from “Lean Democrat” to “Toss-Up.” Rosendale has not officially launched a bid for the Senate, but has confirmed several times that he is highly considering jumping into the race. Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.
Ex-FBI officials warn Congress of ‘new and imminent’ border danger: ‘The country has been invaded’
A coalition of former FBI officials has issued a warning about a “new and imminent danger” for the U.S. at the southern border, suggesting the country has “been invaded” by military-age foreign nationals. In a letter sent last week to congressional leaders in the House and Senate, the retired officials “express our concern about a current, specific threat that may be one of the most pernicious ever to menace the United States.” The letter warns “the United States is facing a new and imminent danger” and highlights what the officials say is a threat of an invasion at the southern border, where there were over 302,000 migrant encounters in December after a record fiscal 2023 in which there were 2.4 million migrant encounters. “In its modern history, the U.S. has never suffered an invasion of the homeland and, yet, one is unfolding now,” they say. “Military aged men from across the globe, many from countries or regions not friendly to the United States, are landing in waves on our soil by the thousands — not by splashing ashore from a ship or parachuting from a plane but rather by foot across a border that has been accurately advertised around the world as largely unprotected with ready access granted.” MIGRANT CRISIS BROKE NEW RECORD IN DECEMBER WITH 302K ENCOUNTERS, OFFICIALS CONFIRM The ten officials include former FBI assistant directors Kevin Brock and Chris Swecker, former Terrorist Screening Center Director Timothy Healy and former acting Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Mark Morgan, who is also a former FBI superintendent. The lawmakers note the releases of migrants into the country in large numbers, although federal officials have repeatedly claimed that migrants are only released after going through a multi-layered vetting process and biographical and biometric vetting. They also note numbers of gotaways, which are estimated to have exceeded 800,000 last fiscal year, and encounters of those on the FBI’s terror watch list. FBI Director Christopher Wray has also expressed concern about who is evading Border Patrol. The Biden administration has, however, also said it has greater awareness of the border now and that gotaways are a decades-old problem for the country. “With the investments that this Congress has made in the Border Patrol, CBP as a whole, we have greater situational awareness now than I’ve ever had,” Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz said in March last year. The former officials express concern, particularly in light of the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel. BORDER PATROL HAS ‘NO PLANS’ TO REMOVE RAZOR WIRE SET UP BY TEXAS AMID FEUD WITH BIDEN ADMIN “It is stark to say so, but having a large number of young males now within our borders who could begin attacking gatherings of unarmed citizens, in imitation of 10/7 and at the behest of a foreign terror group, must be considered a distinct possibility,” they wrote. “We would be remiss not to call out this potentially grave threat in the most direct terms. The warning lights are blinking.” They warn that some of the men arriving to the border are from terror-linked areas as well as geopolitical foes like China and Russia. “For these reasons, elements of this recent surge are likely no accident or coincidence. These men are potential operators in what appears to be an accelerated and strategic penetration, a soft invasion, designed to gain internal access to a country that cannot be invaded militarily in order to inflict catastrophic damage if and when enemies deem it necessary,” they say. They encourage Congress and other federal leaders to take action and pay more attention to the threat. 5,000 ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS RELEASED EVERY DAY INTO US, ADMIN OFFICIALS PRIVATELY TELL LAWMAKERS “The country has been invaded, an invasion that will continue as long as the nation’s enemies perceive it will be tolerated,” they say. The letter was written at a time when border security is a top political issue. Republicans have blamed the migrant crisis on Biden-era policies and the reversal of Trump-era policies. The administration says it needs more funding and reforms to fix a “broken” system and deal with a hemisphere-wide crisis. DHS has also pointed to an increase in returns of illegal immigrants, including more since May than in the entirety of fiscal 2019. Lawmakers are debating a supplemental spending bill that includes $14 billion for border funding for staffing, processing, removals and aid to cities and organizations. Republicans, however, want to see tightened asylum restrictions and fewer parole releases.
Haley’s grassroots fundraising soars, but a top-dollar liberal donor wants to see ‘path to victory’
Nikki Haley is enjoying a surge in small dollar, grassroots fundraising. But following her 11-point loss to former President Donald Trump in New Hampshire’s primary — which was seen by political pundits as her best shot at slowing down Trump’s push for the GOP nomination — liberal megadonor and LinkedIn cofounder Reid Hoffman appears to be one of the first wealthy donors who’s apparently heading for an exit. A top adviser to the megadonor told Fox News that a “new potential path to victory” would be needed to appear before sending any further contributions to Haley. In the 24 hours after her runner-up finish to Trump in Tuesday’s Republican presidential primary in New Hampshire, the former two-term South Carolina governor who later served as U.N. ambassador in the Trump administration hauled in $1 million in grassroots online donations. As Fox News first reported on Thursday, Haley raked in another $1 million after she responded on social media to a warning Trump directed to GOP donors to stop contributing to his remaining major rival for the 2024 Republican nomination. Hours later, the campaign touted that total 48-hour haul had reached $2.6 million. Haley is campaigning this weekend in her home state, which on Feb. 24 will hold the next major primary on the Republican nominating calendar. HALEY RAKES IN CAMPAIGN CASH AFTER TRUMP WARNS TOP DOLLAR DONORS She will then head to New York City early next week to meet with some top Republican donors as she aims to replenish her campaign coffers. Sources in Haley’s political orbit told Fox News that a fundraiser on Tuesday co-hosted by billionaires Leonard Stern, Cliff Asness, Stanley Druckenmiller, Ken Langone and Henry Kravis remains on her schedule. TRUMP ALIGNED SUPER PAC SEES SURGE IN FUNDRAISING It is one of roughly 10 fundraisers with major Republican donors on Haley’s itinerary over the next couple of weeks. HALEY LIVES TO FIGHT ANOTHER DAY, BUT FACES A ‘CHALLENGING’ ROAD AHEAD Hoffman, a supporter of President Biden who contributed over three-quarters of a million dollars last year to the Biden Victory Fund, gave a quarter of a million dollars last month to SFA Fund, Inc, the Haley-aligned super PAC. “Prior to the primaries, we made an investment in Governor Haley because we saw that her performance in New Hampshire might give her a path to defeating Donald Trump,” Hoffman’s political philanthropy adviser Dmitri Mehlhorn said in a statement to Fox News. With the New Hampshire primary now in the rearview mirror, Mehlhorn said that “it is still possible that Governor Haley will be able to persuade voters that Trump is no longer stable and cannot carry their banner into the fall campaign.” But he emphasized that “before recommending another investment at this later stage in the process, however, I would need to see a new potential path to victory given that she did not win New Hampshire.” “The only way I can see a path happening is if Trump has a ‘senior moment,’ and she’s able to exploit it to persuade GOP voters that he’s lost it,” Mehlhorn added. Hoffman has long been a vocal critic of the former president. Mehlhorn said that “if it becomes clear that the GOP has decided to nominate Trump, we have no choice but to turn our attention to defeating Trump in the general election.” Trump and his allies have repeatedly blasted Haley since Hoffman’s contribution to her super PAC grabbed headlines in early December. Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.
White House says it is ‘deeply troubled’ by Alabama’s execution of man using nitrogen gas
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Friday that the Biden administration is “deeply troubled” by the experimental execution of a man in Alabama through the use of nitrogen gas and expressed concerns about the death penalty. Kenneth Eugene Smith, 58, was executed Thursday night by breathing pure nitrogen gas through a face mask, a controversial method of capital punishment used for the first time in the U.S. that causes oxygen deprivation. The execution method, which has been slammed for being inhumane and a form of torture, comes after a last-minute appeal to halt the death penalty from being carried out in this case was rejected by the Supreme Court. “The reports of Kenneth Smith and his death last night obviously is very troubling,” Jean-Pierre told reporters at a press briefing. “It is very troubling to us as an administration, it is very troubling to us here at the White House.” This was the first time that a new execution method had been used in the U.S. since lethal injection, which is now the most commonly used form of capital punishment, was introduced in 1982. ALABAMA DEATH ROW INMATE EXECUTED WITH NITROGEN GAS, NATION’S FIRST BY A NEW METHOD IN 42 YEARS The execution lasted about 22 minutes and Smith appeared to remain conscious for several minutes. For at least two minutes, he appeared to shake and writhe on the gurney, sometimes pulling against the restraints, before several minutes of heavy breathing until breathing was no longer perceptible. “The president has long said and has had deep deep concerns with how the death penalty is implemented and whether it is consistent … with our values,” she continued. “So, we are deeply troubled by it, by Kenneth Smith’s death. And so, you know, it is just troubling to hear.” Smith faced the death penalty for the 1988 murder-for-hire stabbing death of a preacher’s wife, Elizabeth Sennett, who was found dead in the home she shared with her husband in Colbert County. Prosecutors said Smith was one of two men who were each paid $1,000 to kill Sennett on behalf of her husband, who was in huge debt and wanted to collect insurance money. Her husband, Charles Sennett Sr., killed himself when the investigation began looking at him as a possible suspect. The other man convicted in the killing was executed in 2010. Alabama attempted to execute Smith by lethal injection in 2022 but failed to carry it out because of issues with inserting an IV into his veins, the second time in two months and the third since 2018 that the state was unsuccessful in putting an inmate to death. ALABAMA DEATH ROW INMATE FACING NITROGEN HYPOXIA EXECUTION LOSES LAST DITCH APPEAL Republican Gov. Kay Ivey announced the day after Smith’s failed execution that executions would be paused to allow an internal review of lethal injection procedures. Lethal injections in Alabama resumed last summer. In Smith’s last-minute appeal to the Supreme Court on Thursday to block his execution, he argued that his death sentence should not be carried out over the potential for the state to botch the procedure following the first failed attempt to put him to death. The court rejected the appeal but Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote in a dissenting opinion that Alabama was using Smith as a “guinea pig” to test a new method of execution. The United Nations and European Union condemned Smith’s experimental execution. “He was writhing and clearly suffering,” U.N. Human Rights Office spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani said at a U.N. briefing. “Rather than looking for novel, untested methods to execute people, let’s just bring an end to the death penalty. This is an anachronism that doesn’t belong in the 21st century.” The U.N. Human Rights Office previously warned that it believed the capital punishment method “could breach the prohibition on torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.” The European Union said in a statement Friday that nitrogen hypoxia was “particularly cruel and unusual punishment” and urged states to “move toward abolition, in line with the worldwide trend.” In 2021, Attorney General Merrick Garland imposed a moratorium on the federal death penalty, a move that President Biden supports. “[Smith’s execution] underscores why the president supports the attorney general’s moratorium on the federal death penalty, pending review of the policies and procedures governing its use,” Jean-Pierre said Friday. But despite the moratorium, federal prosecutors said earlier this month they will seek the death penalty against the gunman who in May 2022 killed 10 black people at a grocery store in Buffalo, New York. “The President always has had deep concerns with how the death penalty is implemented,” Jean-Pierre said. “He always has.”