Month: January 2024

Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson announced Tuesday that he is suspending his campaign for the Republican presidential nomination, after coming in last place at the Iowa caucuses. Hutchinson earned just 0.2% of the vote in Monday’s caucuses, finishing a distant sixth place.

Hutchinson, who ran an anti-Trump campaign, said in a statement: “My message of being a principled Republican with experience and telling the truth about the current front-runner did not sell in Iowa. I stand by the campaign I ran.” The former Arkansas governor spent much of his campaign in Iowa and New Hampshire, where he was a vocal critic of Trump, even suggesting that the former president might be disqualified from running in 2024 under the 14th Amendment to the Constitution, which has a provision barring candidates who have engaged in insurrection. Hutchinson said last year in an interview with NBC News: “Whenever you’re looking at four indictments, and the fact that not everybody can recite what each of those indictments entail, they know this is not good for our country, and that no one under that kind of pressure can lead our country, particularly with a mindset that he wants to get revenge as the next president. And so if anyone should drop out, it should be Donald Trump.”

Hutchinson highlighted his two terms as Arkansas governor while campaigning, as well as touting prior leading roles at the Drug Enforcement Administration and Department of Homeland Security in the George W. Bush administration. Hutchinson also criticized the Biden administration’s economic and border policies while calling for the U.S. to become more energy independent. And while Hutchinson reached the Republican National Committee’s polling threshold to qualify for the party’s first debate in Milwaukee in August, he did not meet the higher polling requirements for subsequent debates.

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The suspect in the Gilgo Beach killings in Long Island was charged with the murder of a fourth victim on Tuesday. On Jan. 16, the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office announced that 60-year-old Rex Heuermann, a former architect from Massapequa Park, had been linked to the killing of Maureen Brainard-Barnes through DNA evidence and has been charged with second-degree murder. Defense attorney Michael Brown entered a not guilty plea on Heuermann’s behalf.

Brainard-Barnes was last seen on July 9, 2007, in New York City after checking out from a Super 8 Motel. She was found bound with three leather belts, one of which was used to tie her ankles, and was among three other women found buried in the same desolate, marsh area in Gilgo Beach in Long Island, N.Y., in December 2010, all within about 500 feet of each other. The other victims were previously identified as Amber Costello, Melissa Barthelemy and Megan Waterman. All four women had worked as online sex workers and were missing between 2007-2010. Heuermann, who was previously charged with the murders of Costello, Barthelemy and Waterman in July, has pleaded not guilty to those murders.

Prosecutors claimed in Tuesday’s filing that burner phones were discovered that connected Heuermann to online searches for sex workers as well as porn searches, audio accounts of rape and a search that read: “autopsy photos of female.” He allegedly used the alias “Andy” to communicate with sex workers online. Prosecutors further alleged that Heuermann was alone while his now-estranged wife was out of town with their children when Brainard-Barnes was killed in July 2007. Prosecutors said in the court documents released Tuesday that this fit a pattern of Heuermann being alone during the other alleged murders which granted him “unfettered time to execute his plans for each victim without any fear that his family would uncover or learn of his involvement in these crimes.” Heuermann was allegedly linked to the previous three cases by other burner phones, which were used to arrange meetings with the victims, as well as by a piece of his hair allegedly found at the bottom of a burlap bag used to wrap Waterman’s body. He was also traced to a Chevrolet Avalanche registered to him that was allegedly seen at the time of Costello’s disappearance. In searches, authorities also found evidence that Heuermann was allegedly obsessed with the case and searched for articles about the task force that was formed to investigate the murders. Investigators also allegedly found hundreds of internet searches about raping and torturing women, child porn and rape porn as well as searches for his victims and their families.

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With about 100% of counties reported, former President Donald Trump won Iowa’s caucus on Monday. Trump held 51% of the vote, more than 56,000 votes, while Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis earned 21.2% and former U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley had 19.1%. Forty delegates are at stake in Iowa, and Trump is expected to earn 17 or more of them. To win the Republican nomination a candidate must secure at least 1,215 delegates. Haley held an advantage over DeSantis in Johnson and Story County, where the University of Iowa and Iowa State University are located. She also earned the second-most votes in Dallas and Linn County.

Entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy earned the third-most votes in Buchanan County, however during his watch party Ramaswamy announced that he is suspending his campaign: “There is no path for me to be the next president absent things we don’t want to see happen in this country.”

The turnout was low in comparison to 2016, when more than 186,000 caucused. Monday’s turnout was about 102,000 with a majority of the most-populated counties reported.The winner of Monday’s caucus will not necessarily become the Republican nominee for president, but performing well in Iowa can give a campaign momentum moving forward. The New Hampshire primary will be held on Tuesday, Jan. 23.

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Joseph Tacopina, an attorney on former U.S. President Donald Trump’s legal team who is known for representing high-profile clients, is withdrawing from Trump’s cases. Tacopina said he will no longer represent Mr. Trump in a criminal case in Manhattan related to alleged hush money payments or a separate appeal of a civil case. Tacopina is a frequent cable news commentator who has represented high-profile clients including rapper Meek Mill, former Yankees baseball star Alex Rodriguez, Donald Trump Jr.’s fiancée Kimberly Guilfoyle, Michael Jackson, and is currently representing rapper A$AP Rocky.

Tacopina confirmed to Reuters and The Hill that he has withdrawn from representing Trump in two of the former president’s ongoing legal battles.  Trump has pled not guilty to the charges, and will face a trial this year, although the  dates remain to be determined.  Tacopina also confirmed will no longer represent Trump in his appeal of a verdict in a civil case brought by writer E. Jean Carroll, who accused him of rape. A jury in May awarded Carroll $5 million after finding Trump liable for sexual assault and defamation (Trump has also maintained his innocence in that case.). Tacopina’s withdrawal comes one day before Carroll is set to take him to trial a second time seeking damages for defamation.  The shift in Trump’s legal team comes as Iowans are set to cast the first votes in the 2024 campaign, with Trump as an early favorite in the caucuses.

Trump spokesperson Steven Cheung said regarding Tacopina’s withdrawal in a statement: “President Trump has the most experienced, qualified, disciplined, and overall strongest legal team ever assembled as he continues to fight for America and Americans against these partisan, Crooked Joe Biden-led election interference hoaxes.” At least three members of Trump’s legal team in Florida stepped down after Trump was indicted in June on charges he unlawfully kept national-security documents when he left office.

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The principal of Perry High School, the school involved in a deadly shooting on January 4 in Perry, Iowa, died early Sunday as the result of injuries he sustained in the incident. The wife of Principal Dan Marburger, Elizabeth, wrote on a GoFundMe page for the family: “At 8:00 am, Jan (14), Dan lost his battle. He fought hard and gave us ten days that we’ll treasure forever.” Marburger worked in the Perry school district for nearly 30 years (Perry is located in a rural part of Iowa about 40 miles northwest of the state capital of Des Moines).

Marburger is the second fatality of the school shooting at Perry High School on the first day of classes following winter break. The other victim is 11-year-old sixth grader Ahmir Jolliff, who died last week when 17-year old Dylan Butler opened fire on students and staff in the cafeteria of Perry High School, a common area that connected the high school and middle schools, after making ominous social media posts from what was believed to be a high school bathroom. After killing Jolliff and injuring several other students and staff, Butler died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, with police saying he was found with a handgun and modified rifle near his body.

Marburger told the Perry Chief when he started there in 1995: “I always knew I’d be a teacher. I had great teachers I wanted to be like.” Early in his career, Marburger taught social studies for four years and then middle school computer skills for two years; he also taught physical education and had been an athletic director and middle school administrator.

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Four people were killed and one critically injured Sunday in a hot air balloon crash in Arizona. The tragedy took place at approximately 7:50 a.m. in the desert area east of Sunshine Boulevard and Hanna Road in Eloy, a small town with a population just over 15,000, and some 65 miles northwest of Phoenix known as “the skydiving capital of the world.” The cause of the crash was not immediately known.

According to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), there were five people on board at the time of the deadly crash. Police said they’re looking into the incident alongside the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and the FAA to determine the cause of the deadly crash. Investigators were on scene examining the downed balloon, identified by the NTSB as a Cameron Balloons A160 aircraft. An NTSB spokesperson said that “the preliminary information is that the balloon impacted desert terrain following an unspecified problem with its envelope.” The aircraft will be brought to a secure facility for additional evaluation.

The Eloy Police Department confirmed by email that all of those on board the balloon were adults but declined to offer additional specifics pending the result of the investigation, sharing in a statement: “The Eloy Police Department regretfully confirms that there are four deceased individuals and one person in critical condition as a result of this incident. Further information will be provided as it becomes available. We thank the community for their support and understanding as we navigate this tragic event.”

Eloy is home to two parachute manufacturers: Firebird USA and Sun Path Products, as well as the world’s largest skydive drop zone, Skydive Arizona, which is located around five miles from the site of the balloon crash.

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