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More than a dozen Democratic members of Congress are expected to speak out on Wednesday against a potential agreement that would see the U.S. and Iran return to a nuclear deal, in which Iran accepts limitations on its nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief.

The 15 House Members will raise concerns about the looming Iran deal in a news conference outside the U.S. Capitol, according to a media advisory.

The conference is being organized by Josh Gottheimer, a moderate Democrat from New Jersey who serves as co-chair of the bipartisan House Problem Solvers Caucus, and Elaine Luria, a second-term Democrat from Virginia. Both were elected to Congress after the implementation of the 2015 nuclear deal, and expressed support for new sanctions imposed by former President Donald Trump after the U.S. withdrawal from that deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action or JCPOA. Wednesdays gathering follows a letter Gottheimer and Luria spearheaded last month, which 12 Democrats signed onto, urging the administration to address their concerns about the deal.

Image by Getty Images

Rep. Grace Meng from New York, the first Democrat to announce her opposition to the deal in 2015, is among the speakers at the event.

As a presidential candidate and since his election, President Joe Biden has said he wants to see the resurrection of the nuclear deal. Wendy Sherman, the deputy secretary of state who served as lead negotiator on the deal for the Obama administration in 2015, said during her confirmation hearing last year that the administration is clear-eyed about its goals, and mindful of Irans continued progress on its nuclear program.

But recent reports that the administration is considering giving in to Irans demand to remove the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps from the State Departments Foreign Terrorist Organization list have caused alarm in Israel and among Democrats.

Ritchie Torres, a first-term Democrat representing the South Bronx, suggested in a brief conversation broadcast Tuesday with the American Israeli Public Affairs Committee that a majority in both the House and the Senate would oppose an agreement if brought to a vote. I suspect there would be bipartisan opposition, he said.

The Jewish American community was divided over the issue in 2015. A survey conducted by the Jewish Journal at the time showed that 49% of American Jews supported the nuclear deal with Iran while 31% were opposed. Congress rejected the deal in the House by a 269-162 margin and in the Senate by a 56-42 majority but it wasnt enough to override a promised veto by former President Barack Obama.

Torres said that he objects to sanctions relief because the agreement under discussion would slow but not dismantle Irans nuclear program.

He also maintained on the call, streamed on AIPACs smartphone app, that a deal between Washington and Tehran that lacks bipartisan support would undermine the credibility of the U.S. I worry about an endless cycle of a Democratic president renegotiating the Iran deal, followed by a Republican president who withdraws from it, Torres said. We should have an agreement that can stand the test of time.

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett called the deal under discussion in Washington shorter and weaker than the 2015 pact.

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Democratic members of Congress will gather to denounce Iran deal under negotiation - Forward

Joe Biden will next month end a controversial pandemic-related expulsion policy that effectively closed Americas asylum system at its border with Mexico, it was announced on Friday.

The decision to lift the Title 42 public health order, which will take effect on 23 May, is seen as long overdue by immigration advocates who regard the order as inhumane. But it was seized on by Republicans and some electorally vulnerable Democrats, who warned of chaos at the border.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which issued Title 42 in March 2020 in response to the coronavirus outbreak, said it was no longer needed.

After considering current public health conditions and an increased availability of tools to fight Covid-19 (such as highly effective vaccines and therapeutics), the CDC director has determined that an order suspending the right to introduce migrants into the United States is no longer necessary, the CDC said.

Since Title 42 went into effect under Donald Trump, migrants have been expelled more than 1.7m times. Biden kept Title 42 after taking office in January 2021 despite campaign promises to reverse Trumps immigration policies.

Many Democrats, medical experts and the UN have condemned Title 42, arguing it expels migrants to danger in Mexico and that scientific evidence does not support its goal of limiting virus spread. They welcomed Fridays announcement.

Pramila Jayapal, chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, said: This is a momentous day for immigrant rights activists and immigrants and refugees everywhere. Title 42 was a cruel and discriminatory policy that circumvented US law, preventing people from accessing protections established by Congress.

Today is the product of years of advocacy from both inside and outside Congress. Im thrilled to see the Biden administration do the right and moral thing by ending this extremely harmful, xenophobic and shortsighted policy that disproportionately impacted Black and brown migrants.

Congresswoman Cori Bush of Missouri, who has urged Biden to review the disparate treatment of Black migrants under Title 42, said: This racist, inhumane relic from the Trump era has been devastating for migrants fleeing persecution, war, poverty, climate catastrophe and violence in their home countries and who have been forced to seek asylum in the United States.

It is a legal right and our moral obligation to open our doors to asylum seekers.

Campaigners expressed frustration that Title 42 would not be rescinded until 23 May.

Eleanor Acer, senior director for refugee protection at Human Rights First, said: The Biden administration and the CDC have rightly decided to terminate this Trump policy a policy we have spent two years opposing due to the horrific human rights abuses it inflicts on people seeking asylum, and we urge a swift end to this humanitarian travesty.

Nicole Melaku, executive director of the National Partnership for New Americans, a coalition of state-level advocacy organisations, said: The Biden administrations decision to stop using Title 42 is a victory for human rights and for recognising the dignity of asylum seekers and others seeking refuge.

However, every day this policy remains in effect endangers highly vulnerable individuals facing persecution or violence in their home countries.

Asked why Title 42 could not be revoked immediately, Jen Psaki, the White House press secretary, said doing so required an interagency process and attention to Covid protocols.

It was always going to be important to have an implementation period and the timeline reflects that, she said.

Homeland security officials said earlier this week about 7,100 migrants were coming to the border daily after an average of about 5,900 a day in February on pace to match or exceed highs from last year and other peak periods.

They also said they were prepared for an increase once Title 42 was rescinded and were planning for as many as 18,000 arrivals daily an increase likely to be weaponised by Republicans ahead of Novembers midterm elections.

Trump has used recent rallies to draw a comparison with Ukraine, suggesting America is suffering a violent invasion.

Kevin McCarthy, the Republican minority leader in the House of Representatives, said: Bidens border crisis is worse than ever but the president has decided to eliminate yet another vital tool: Title 42. This decision is wrong and will invite a lawless surge of illegal border crossings to enrich human traffickers and overwhelm border patrol.

This will inflict suffering, pain and tragedy throughout our country. Make no mistake, the president will own the calamity his policies have created.

Shelley Moore Capito, the top Republican on the Senate homeland security appropriations subcommittee, said: Through policy decision after policy decision, President Biden has created a crisis that is about to balloon into a full blown catastrophe.

Our facilities are already well over capacity, and without Title 42 authority, the crisis on our southern border will become even worse. Our immigration system is not designed for persistent irregular mass migration that will result from this poorly thought out decision.

The conservative Democrat Joe Manchin, of West Virginia, described a frightening decision, adding: Title 42 has been an essential tool in combating the spread of Covid-19 and controlling the influx of migrants at our southern border. We are already facing an unprecedented increase in migrants this year.

Mark Kelly, a Democratic senator from Arizona who faces a tough re-election fight, said: This is a crisis and in my estimation, because of a lack of planning from the administration, its about to get worse.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) insists it will be ready. Alejandro Mayorkas, the DHS secretary, said: We will increase personnel and resources as needed and have already redeployed more than 600 law enforcement officers to the border.

We are referring smugglers and certain border crossers for criminal prosecution. Over the next two months, we are putting in place additional, appropriate Covid-19 protocols, including ramping up our vaccination program.

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Biden ends Trump-era asylum curbs amid border-region Democrat backlash - The Guardian

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While the Democratic Party's increasingly leftward shift does not go far enough for Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y, former Democrats are sharing a different story of how the party has changed so much that they decided to run for office as Republicans.

On "Fox & Friends" Thursday, a panel of former Democrats -- John Lee, Harriet Holman and Mick Bates addressed AOC's latest advice for the party to move even further left ahead of November's midterms.

AOC BECOMES 5TH HOUSE DEMOCRAT TO CALL ON CLARENCE THOMAS TO RESIGN OR BE IMPEACHED OVER WIFE'S JAN. 6 TEXTS

"Her full support for socialism is not going to work for the American people," Holman, a council member in Dorchester County, S.C., told host Steve Doocy.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., speaks during a rally for immigration provisions to be included in the Build Back Better Act outside the U.S. Capitol, Dec. 7, 2021 in Washington. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images) (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

"She is actually hurting the Democratic Party. I think Americans are starving for hope right now. We, the Republicans, are focusing on individuals and what their issues are we want to make life better for individuals," she added.

North Las Vegas Mayor John Lee said he believes AOC is eager to ready Americans to suffer more for the "values she espouses."

"I think this country is going in exactly the wrong direction. I think anyone that looks at [AOC] as the spokesman for the Democratic Party should really consider what party they belong to and maybe think about exiting it right now," he said.

Bates, an Australian-American serving in the West Virginia House of Delegates chimed in, saying, "the further the Democratic Party goes left, the more it drives moderate conservative Democrats to become independents or Republicans."

"I think AOC is right. They are in trouble; they're very right to be worried. But they're worried for the wrong reasons."

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Each guest said the Democratic Party's "extremism" compelled them to join the GOP and Holman particularly noted her pro-life and pro-law enforcement values as factors in making the change.

"The Republican Party is the party to be in right now," she said.

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Democrat-turned-GOP candidates slam AOC's call for party to move left: 'They are in trouble' - Fox News

Mob hitman Dominic Taddeo has been on the run before and he was exceptionally good at staying hidden then.

"He was in the windfor a long time," said retired FBI agent William Dillon, who was involved in a two-year-hunt for Taddeo in the late 1980s. "He was incredibly adept at staying very, very under the radar."

And now, only a year from a scheduled release from prison for racketeering crimes that included three homicides, Taddeo has disappeared again. On Monday, he escaped from a halfway house program overseen by the Bureau of Prisons in Florida.

On the run: Notorious Rochester mob hitman Dominic Taddeo escapes federal custody

He had been transferred there for programs to help him prepare for his scheduled 2023 re-entry into society.

"He could be hard to find," Dillon said.

Officials with the Bureau of Prisons said Friday that Taddeo, 64, was recently moved to the re-entry facility. Records show that Taddeo was scheduled for a medical appointment on Monday, March 28, and did not return.

Taddeo "was placed on escape status" on Monday, according to the Bureau of Prisons.

An official at the Orlando re-entry program declined to comment Friday, saying, "We can't say anything about that case."

The Bureau of Prisons alerted the U.S. Marshals Service to Taddeo's escape, and Marshals on Friday were searching for Taddeo in Florida while also keeping an eye on a possible Rochester return.

Taddeo in 1987 was on $25,000 bail, facing federal weapons charges, when he disappeared the first time. He was not found for two more years.

Taddeo became the focus of a national manhunt, and moved to different locations across the country, assuming two dozen aliaseswhile avoiding police. Law enforcement eventually learned of a payphone in Rochester at which Taddeo called local individuals, and police placed a tap on the phone as they surveilled people taking calls there.

Eventually, Taddeo made a call at which he arranged a meeting in Cleveland, Ohio. He was arrested there.

"Small, balding, and looking hardly like the mob hitman who investigators say gunned down three underground figures, Dominic Taddeo returned to federal court in shackles yesterday, two years after he skipped bail," the Democrat and Chronicle wrote in 1989 of Taddeo's return to court.

Taddeoshed 75 pounds and grew a beard during his two years on the run, the Democrat and Chronicle reported.

According to law enforcement and organized crime figures interviewed in the past by the Democrat and Chronicle, Taddeo had no allies in local mob battles. Instead, he was simply a mercenary for hire.

Bulgy and bespectacled, Taddeo was not a Hollywood version of a contract killer.

"You would never in a million years think this guy could be lethal," said a local man who was with Taddeo for an hour at the federal court house during Taddeo's court appearances. "It's like you're talking to Bugsy Siegel but he looks like a nebbish.

"I'm dumbfounded that the (expletive) continues to confound the jailers."

The Democrat and Chronicle was able to confirm that the individual, who asked not to be named, did meet with Taddeo. But, like some others contacted by the Democrat and Chronicle Friday, there was a hesitancy to discuss Taddeo openlynow that Taddeo has escaped.

In fact, two years ago, an organized crime figure from out of the area reached out to the Democrat and Chronicle about Taddeo's imprisonment. There were rumors they were wrong that Taddeo was then free and the former mobster was concerned that Taddeo might come gunning for him.

Two bombings, one murder, five trials: The forgotten history of a Rochester bakery

As a hit man, Taddeo had a mixed record. He twice attempted to kill mob captain Thomas Marotta, but failed both times. One of his victims wasGerald Pelusio, but in that case Taddeo fatally shot the wrong family member.

His other two victims wereNicholas Mastrodonato and Dino Tortatice.

Rochester mob consigliereRene Piccarreto hired Taddeo for the assassinations at a time when local organized crime figures were largely fighting amongthemselves for power. Taddeo was largely unknown, andPiccarreto was successful at keeping the identity secret for years.

"Even as the shootings were going on, people still wondered (who the killer was)," said retired FBI agent Dillon. "We weren't able to develop anybody for the longest period of time."

In 1992 Taddeo pleaded guilty to racketeering crimes, including the homicides. He was scheduled to be released in February 2023.

In 2020, Taddeo made an appeal for compassionate release, saying he suffered from health conditions that could be a "death sentence" because of the coronavirus. He said he suffered from hypertension, partial blindness, obesity, and anemia. A judge denied his bid for release.

Prison records show that Taddeo had numerous disciplinary issues his early years in prison, including "setting a fire" and conducting a "gambling pool" and "possessing intoxicants."

But, since the late-1990s, his record appears exemplary except for a 2010 citation for "possessing an unauthorized item."

Bureau of Prisons records from 2020 recommended that Taddeo be part of a year-long re-entry preparation program. If released in 2023, he told prison officials, he planned to live with his mother in Daytona Beach and get a job.

Among the re-entry program plans were to offer "life lessons" about returning to society.

Taddeo entered the year-long program on Feb. 22.

Contact Gary Craig at gcraig@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at gcraig1.

Excerpt from:
'He could be hard to find': Escaped mob hitman Dominic Taddeo has been on the run before - Democrat & Chronicle

SALT LAKE CITY The deadline to switch your political party affiliation to vote in Utah Republican primaries is midnight tonight.

Republican Rep. Jordan Teuschers bill, H.B.197, passed the House and Senate early last year and was signed into law by Gov. Spencer Cox. The law set a deadline to switch party affiliations to vote in the GOP primaries months before the vote takes place.

The lawmaker joined Dave Noriega and guest host Leah Murray to discuss his reasons for pushing the bill.

If you have people coming in [to vote] who dont believe in those same values, that dont ascribe to the party platform or beliefs, to come in and pick who the nominee of that party is, that really undermines the process, Teuscher said.

In the 2020 Republican primary, more than 20,000 registered Democrats in Utah switched their affiliation to vote in that race, Teuscher said.

If you look at some of those races, like for example, the governors race, that primary was only won by 6,000 votes, Teuscher said, referring to when now-Gov. Spencer Cox defeated former Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr.

This came after calls from prominent members of the Democratic Party to do what they called the unthinkable to hold their nose and strategically register as members of the opposite party, he added.

Teuscher also pointed out the deadline only applies to those registered with a party right now.

So if youre an unaffiliated voter, and you want to vote in the Republican primary, you can still register up to the day of the election, he said.

Dave said critics point out a flaw in the primary election of discouraging the more moderate candidate and rewarding the more extreme candidates.

Do you see [limiting party participation as] being problematic for the moderates who are trying to bridge some of those gaps between Republicans and liberals? he asked.

I dont think so, Teuscher said. I really feel like if if these Democrats . . . put their efforts rather than trying to recruit people to register in the Republican Party to change the outcome into building up their party and maybe looking at their own policies and say, Hey, maybe we need to change. Maybe we need to moderate so that our candidates are more marketable in the general election. Theyd be much better served.

I completely agree with the representative on his last point, Murray said. Its very short-term gaming to only be thinking about this election.

The moderate plays much better in the general election than a primary election, Dave said. So why are Republicans and Democrats across the country so reluctant to learn that lesson?

Dave & Dujanovic can be heard weekdays from 9 a.m. to noon. on KSL NewsRadio. Users can find the show on the KSL NewsRadio website and app, as well as Apple Podcasts and Google Play.

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Are you a registered Utah Democrat seeking to vote in the Republican primaries? Deadline is midnight tonight to switch - KSL NewsRadio