Cornell Student at Risk of Deportation After Pro-Palestine Protest

A Cornell University student is on the verge of losing his student visa and being deported over taking part in a pro-Palestine protest.

Mamadou Taal, a Ph.D. student in Africana Studies, was suspended Monday by the university after he took part in a protest against a career fair attended by defense contractors L3Harris and Boeing last week. Taal is studying at Cornell on an F-1 student visa, which can be terminated by a suspension.

On Thursday, Taal posted on X that his appeal to the university was rejected by the vice president of student and campus life, Ryan Lombardi, and that there was no investigation or due process.

“I maintain that all my actions have been peaceful and in accordance with my First Amendment rights,” Taal’s post reads. “This is a deliberate targeting of a Black Muslim student at an institution where those two identities are increasingly unwelcome. When it comes to Palestine the university will abandon all commitments to academic freedom and free speech to protect its corporate interests.”

Taal is still able to appeal to the university’s provost, but believes he’ll be deported if that appeal is rejected. The university accuses Taal and other protesters of entering the career fair by pushing and shoving campus police officers, but Taal told The Nation he had no part in this. According to student journalists at the Cornell Daily Sun, there wasn’t any physical violence toward police, although recruiters, students, and administrators appeared to be distressed.

“I can say categorically that I shoved no police officer, nor did I not listen to a lawful directive, like they’re claiming,” Taal said. He told the Sun that he only gave a speech outside before taking part in the career fair protest, and only attended that protest for five minutes before leaving.

If Taal is deported, it would be a drastic new step in university attempts across the country to tamp down on pro-Palestinian protests. Taal’s case has already drawn backlash, with a petition calling on the university to reverse its suspension drawing 2,700 signatures from Cornell students and faculty. It seems that many campuses will go to any lengths to make these protests go away, even if it means deporting students and ignoring the First Amendment.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams held a chaotic, short-lived press conference Thursday morning to address his damning public corruption indictment—only for the charges to be made public while he was speaking to the press.

Adams  was indicted Wednesday in a federal case, though the specific charges against him were not immediately released. 

“I always knew that if I stood my ground for New Yorkers that I would be a target—and a target I became,” Adams said in a statement that night. He said that charges against him were “entirely false, based on lies,” though it was not yet clear what those charges were. 

“Despite our pleas when the federal government did nothing as its broken immigration policies overloaded our shelter system with no relief, I put the people of New York before party and politics,” said Adams, suggesting this might be the reason he’d been “targeted.”

The next morning, the mayor held an official press conference on a public street outside of Gracie Mansion in Manhattan. Flanked by supporters, who were there to voice their confidence in the embattled mayor, Adams was also greeted by protesters. 

“This is not a Black thing! This is not a Black thing! This is a you thing! This is a you thing, Eric Adams!” shouted one protester as Adams chuckled awkwardly. 

“Your policies are anti-Black. You are a disgrace to all Black people in this city!” the protester continued. “This is not a Black thing, this is a justice thing!”

As Adams began speaking, he insisted he was “not surprised” by the indictment. “This is not surprising to us at all. The actions that have unfolded over the last 10 months. The leaks. The commentary. The demonizing,” he said.

Adams confirmed that he would not be stepping down as New York City’s mayor but instead “continue to do the job for 8.3 million New Yorkers that I was elected to do.” (The indictment alleges that Adams swindled more than $10 million in public funds for his 2021 mayoral campaign.) 

Adams enlisted several speakers, including the Reverend Herbert Daughtry; Hazel Dukes, head of the NAACP New York State Conference; and activist Jackie Rowe Adams, who had to scream to be heard above the hecklers and protesters. 

When a reporter notified Adams that the indictment had been unsealed, his face fell. The reporter also asked him to clarify his suggestion that he’d been targeted by the federal government. 

“I think we should ask the federal investigators and prosecutors who directed them to the actions that we are witnessing right now,” Adams responded. 

“You know I have ran many campaigns. I have been part of many campaigns. And um, the scrutiny of those campaigns always revealed the same thing. I follow the rules, I follow the law. I do not do anything that’s going to participate in illegal campaign activity. And I will not do that.

“And I’ve instructed not only in writing, but in verbal conversations with the team, we do not participate in straw donors, we do not participate in foreign donors,” Adams said. “We know what those rules are, we comply with those rules. And I think that my attorneys are going to reveal that as we move forward.”

The 57-page indictment alleged precisely the opposite, claiming that Adams had sought out and received luxurious trips and straw-man payments facilitated by a senior Turkish official. Those perks were then allegedly covered up by Adams and members of his staff. In return for all the favors, Adams allegedly pressured the New York Fire Department to sign off on a new Turkish consulate skyscraper without a fire inspection. The full indictment includes other charges as well, alleging hefty straw-man payments from a construction company owner and the owner of a Turkish university.

One reporter asked Adams to respond to the charges, which went back to before his 2021 mayoral campaign, despite Adams implying the indictment was payback for complaining that the federal government had helped to create an immigration surge in New York City. The mayor was also asked, point-blank, whether he had taken kickbacks from foreign countries or intervened on behalf of the Turkish government—and that seemed to be all he could take. 

“My legal team will peruse the entire indictment. We got it today when it was released,” said a pained-looking Adams. “The news media received information before we did.”

“It appears as though the goal is to try to try this case publicly, and not in the criminal justice system that’s in place,” he said. 

“If it’s campaign violations, I know I don’t violate the campaign. If it’s foreign donors, I know I don’t take money from foreign donors,” Adams said. 

Adams then abruptly ended the news conference and shuffled away with his herd of supporters, as some in the crowd cheered, “RESIGN! RESIGN! RESIGN!”

Democratic Senator Ron Wyden proposed a new bill Wednesday that would pack the Supreme Court and dramatically overhaul the nation’s highest court.

Wyden’s bill would expand the court from nine justices to 15 over 12 years, and require two-thirds of the Supreme Court and federal circuit courts of appeals to overturn any law passed by Congress. The bill would require the Senate to automatically schedule a vote on nominees to the high court if they are held up in committee for more than 180 days.

Senators would be barred from blocking nominees to the court by refusing to vote on them. Federal judicial circuits would be expanded to 15 from 13, which would add 60 appellate court judges and 100 to district courts.

The bill would also increase financial transparency measures for Supreme Court justices, requiring them to make their tax filings public. The IRS would be required to audit their tax returns and release the results. Anyone nominated to the court would have to disclose three years of tax returns.

Court proceedings would also be affected, with a two-thirds majority of the court having the ability to force a fellow justice to recuse themselves from a case. Justices would be required to release opinions to the public and detail their votes on issues decided on an emergency basis, upending the infamous “shadow docket.”

The bill stands little chance of passing, particularly in the Republican-controlled House. But it is the strongest proposal from Democrats for reforming the judiciary, not only tackling the Supreme Court but making changes to the federal circuit as well. In July, President Biden announced his own ideas for judicial reform, but only called for 18-year term limits for Supreme Court justices as well as a binding code of conduct.

Calls for court reform blew up after April 2023, when a ProPublica investigation revealed Thomas received previously undisclosed luxury vacations from billionaire Republican donor Harlan Crow. Four months later, more revelations of undisclosed gifts followed, including at least 38 vacations and 26 private jet flights given to Thomas from an array of right-wing billionaires. Thomas in 2003 also accepted a free trip to visit Vladimir Putin’s hometown in Russia.

Justice Samuel Alito has had his own scandals, involving political advocacy in the form of political flags flying outside of his home, and he was also implicated for receiving gifts from Crow and other right-wing billionaires. Wyden’s proposal may not survive Congress or even legal challenges, but it is the first serious proposal to expand the court. The question is whether Wyden can get any other Democrats to sign on.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams’s indictment was unsealed Wednesday, revealing his five damning public corruption charges. 

Adams, who was once lauded as the future of the Democratic Party, was charged with one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, federal program bribery, and to receive campaign contributions by foreign nationals.  He was also charged with one count of wire fraud, two counts of solicitation of a contribution by a foreign national, and one count of bribery. 

The 57-page indictment alleged that starting in 2014, when Adams was the Brooklyn borough president, he “sought and accepted improper valuable benefits” as contributions, including luxury travel. In 2015, Adams traveled to Turkey and began to “establish corrupt relationships,” according to the filing. 

The indictment refers to “a senior official in the Turkish diplomatic establishment” who “facilitated many straw donations” to Adams. Adams allegedly sought and received benefits from this Turkish official, who apparently organized for Adams and associates to fly for free, or at a discount, on Turkish Airlines and set them up with lavish accommodations around the world. 

Adams allegedly provided “favorable treatment in exchange for the illicit benefits he received” from his foreign-national benefactors, according to the indictment. 

Throughout 2016 and 2017, Adams allegedly received free flights and discounted hotel accommodations (he once paid only $600 for a $7,000 room at the St. Regis Istanbul), but he did not report receiving any gifts to New York City’s Conflicts of Interest Board.

Adams allegedly received more than $60,000 worth of free or discounted airline tickets on Turkish Airlines between October 2016 and November 2017.

In 2018, when Adams made clear his intention to run for mayor in 2021, he allegedly received unlawful campaign contributions through “straw” donors, who contributed money to his campaign on behalf of foreign nationals and businesses.

Through New York City’s program to match small-dollar campaign contributions from New York City residents, Adams also allegedly misused public funds while falsely certifying their compliance with campaign finance law. 

“As a result of those false certifications, ADAMS’s 2021 mayoral campaign received more than $10,000,000 in public funds,” the indictment alleged. 

In 2021, Adams’s campaign employees allegedly coordinated with the head of a construction company, who was not Turkish but “a prominent member of a different ethnic community in New York City,” to contribute $10,000 worth of straw-man contributions. The businessman purportedly donated $2,000 and had four of his employees donate the rest, which he then reimbursed—and was matched by the city. In return, Adams helped the businessman to organize events and appeared to assist him in lifting a work-stop order, according to text messages between the two.

The indictment alleged that Adams and some others working at his behest attempted to conceal his wrongdoing by insisting that they had actually paid for free services, creating a fake paper trail and even deleting text conversations. Adams allegedly “deleted messages with others involved in his misconduct, including, in one instance, assuring a co-conspirator in writing that he ‘always’ deleted her messages.”

In September 2021, the senior Turkish official who’d allegedly plied Adams with free trips attempted to cash in on all of the favors to Adams. The official asked the mayor to pressure the New York City Fire Department to open a new Turkish consular building, a 36-story skyscraper, without a fire inspection. Adams allegedly acquiesced.

“Because of ADAMS’S pressure on the FDNY, the FDNY official responsible for the FDNY’s assessment of the skyscraper’s fire safety was told that he would lose his job if he failed to acquiesce,” the indictment said. “And, after ADAMS intervened, the skyscraper opened as requested by the Turkish Official.”

Donald Trump has never seen a silly little item he didn’t want to peddle.

Yesterday, it may have been assassination-themed sneakers, NFTs, or Bibles, but today it is watches. And of course, the Republican presidential nominee promises that “these Watches are truly special.”

As he lags behind Kamala Harris in fundraising and with Truth Social stock plummeting, Trump is desperate to raise money for his campaign and legal fees any way he can.

Trump promoted the ugly new merch on Thursday morning, encouraging customers to “Join President Trump’s Watch Community” and “Be a part of history.” 

The “Trump Victory Tourbillon” watch is for sale for the low price of $100,000 and is available in gold or rose gold. It features “classic sophistication combined with President Trump’s symbol of success: Gold.” The caseback features a personalized thank-you message from Trump himself.

Alternatively, if you can’t drop that much for a limited-edition watch, you could always grab the much less grand “Fight Fight Fight” watch for $499, including one color in MAGA red. The back of this watch features the image of Trump, post–assassination attempt, with his fist in the sky. The copy of the website reads, “With its timeless design and flexible style, you’re ready for any situation, just like President Trump!”

Despite being shared by the former president on Truth Social, and like the heavily marked-up “Trump Coins” he introduced the day before, the website claims it “is not political and has nothing to do with any political campaign.”

J.D. Vance is not polling well among 18- to 29-year-olds nationwide.

A Harvard Youth poll found that only 18 percent of respondents had a favorable view of Donald Trump’s running mate. The Bulwark editor Jonathan V. Last argued Wednesday that this was a particularly bad number for Vance, especially when compared with the favorability of North Carolina Lieutenant Governor Mark Robinson.

A recent Elon University poll found that 27 percent of female respondents had a favorable opinion of the now-disgraced Republican gubernatorial candidate. The poll was taken before Robinson’s scandal broke last week—but after he’d said and done a slew of other insane things.

“The guy who says the Holocaust was overblown and Hitler was great, who wants to own slaves, who was a frequenter of backroom porn video booths, and who bragged about banging his wife’s sister.… That guy was able to get to 27 percent favorable with women in North Carolina,” Last wrote.

A closer look at the Elon University poll found that 15 percent of female respondents found Robinson “very favorable” and 13 percent found him “favorable.” Forty-two percent of female respondents said Robinson was “very unfavorable.”

Meanwhile, in the Harvard poll, 46 percent of respondents found Vance to be “unfavorable” and only 33 percent found his opponent, Tim Walz, unfavorable.

Last tried to throw Vance a bone.

“This Harvard poll did not test favorability ratings for the Taliban, or Vladimir Putin, or herpes. If they had, I’m sure all three would have been less popular than JD Vance,” Last wrote. “But not by much.”

New York City Mayor Eric Adams is finding some strange defenders in the wake of a federal indictment: the MAGA crowd.

Donald Trump’s fans—who are eager to demonize the Department of Justice, New York courts, and what they claim is the “weaponization of our country’s prosecutorial resources”—came to Adams’s defense in droves Wednesday night.

Adams is expected to face federal charges in a federal corruption investigation. Federal agents raided his residence Thursday morning, and top officials in his administration have similarly been raided by the FBI and indicted, with several resigning.

In a Trumpian turn, Adams has protested his innocence by implying that the probe is a witch hunt and saying that the charges are “based on lies.” The New York City mayor also cast blame on the federal government’s immigration response in the city, stating, “The federal government did nothing as its broken immigration policies overloaded our shelter system with no relief.”

Republicans pounced on Adams’s comments about migrants and decided the investigation must be a hoax. “If you’re wondering why the system turned on one of its own …” wrote commentator Tomi Lauren, attaching a separate video of Adams complaining about the pressure on public services from increased immigration.

“He was told to shut up by the ‘Democratic’ Party after this,” wrote Elon Musk, responding to a right-wing account posting the same speech. Some even suggested it was Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s doing.

Billionaire Bill Ackman agreed. “Eric loudly spoke the truth on the migrant problem in NYC and what the consequences would be for New Yorkers and the country,” wrote Ackman. “Doing so required bravery, as sharing these views publicly as a Democratic mayor did not win him any friends in the Party or with the Biden/Harris administration.” (Ackman later stated he believed the indictment was “devastating and credible.”)

Overall, it could become the GOP party line that because Adams criticized the Biden-Harris immigration policy, he had to be punished.

In reality, though the specific charges Adams will face are currently under wraps, the investigation is likely related to illegal campaign contributions from foreign sources and a violation of the Foreign Agents Registration Act, not his policy on migrants.

This story has been updated.

Rudy Giuliani was disbarred Thursday by the District of Columbia Court of Appeals, ending the legal career of another one of Donald Trump’s former lawyers.

It’s the second disbarment for Giuliani, who lost his law license in New York in July over his many false statements about the 2020 presidential election. In May, Giuliani’s D.C. law license was suspended after the D.C. Board on Professional Responsibility recommended that he lose the license over his involvement in lawsuits alleging election fraud in 2020.

“We conclude that disbarment is the only sanction that will protect the public, the courts, and the integrity of the legal profession, and deter other lawyers from launching similarly baseless claims in the pursuit of such wide-ranging yet completely unjustified relief,” the board’s recommendation at the time said.

This is a developing story.

Despite deleting an offensive, racist social media post against Haitian Americans on Wednesday, Representative Clay Higgins has doubled down, claiming that it was “all true.”

After making the post, which referred to multiple stereotypes, including the debunked racist rumor that Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, are capturing and eating pets, Higgins faced immediate backlash online, and Representative Steven Horsford introduced a resolution to censure him.

Higgins deleted the post, and was defended by House Speaker Mike Johnson, who called Higgins a “dear friend of mine” and told the press, “I’m sure he probably regrets some of the language he used. But you know, we move forward. We believe in redemption around here.”

But later Wednesday evening, Higgins said the exact opposite. “It’s all true. I can put up another controversial post tomorrow if you want me to,” he told CNN. “I mean, we do have freedom of speech. I’ll say what I want.

“It’s not a big deal to me. It’s like something stuck to the bottom of my boot. Just scrape it off and move on with my life,” Higgins said.

Horsford told CNN that he confronted Higgins on the House floor, trying to convince him that his comments had real consequences, and he was attacking people who have done nothing wrong.

“I asked him specifically to remove this post, and he said, ‘I’m going to pray about it.’ What do you need to pray about? Just do what is right and stop this hateful rhetoric that is causing people to feel targeted. He told me no,” Horsford said to Anderson Cooper. “And that is when I said, if you refuse, I will take this to the floor, we will move for a resolution to censure you, and that is exactly what we did.”

Republicans, led by Donald Trump and J.D. Vance, have continued peddling racist attacks against Haitian immigrants, with Trump using them to bolster his call for mass deportations. Vance has been unrepentant, even defending his fabrication of the story. Meanwhile, Springfield has faced violent threats to its hospitals, schools, and government buildings, and Trump is trying to spread the rumor to another small town: Charleroi, Pennsylvania. Will Republicans face any consequences for their racist fearmongering?

Did Donald Trump just make Jack Smith’s job that much easier by admitting that he knows he lost the 2020 election?

During a speech Wednesday in Mint Hill, North Carolina, Trump appeared to give up the game when speaking about his performance four years ago.

“We did much better by the way, in the election of 2020, than we did in 2016,” Trump said.

“Millions and millions of votes more—more votes than any sitting president in the history of our country,” Trump said. This election-denying claim simply isn’t true, because Trump got roughly 74 million votes, while President Joe Biden got 81 million.

“But they beat us by a whisker. They beat us by a little whisker,” Trump said. “He beat us from the basement.”

Of course, it’s important to know that pretty much every time Trump opens his mouth, his words are admissible in court. So admitting that he didn’t win the election could potentially hurt the former president in court—specifically, in his election interference case in Washington, D.C., where special counsel Smith is seeking to prove that Trump knew he lost the 2020 election but still tried to overturn the results.

Trump has said he lost the 2020 election “by a whisker” before, during an interview earlier this month with podcaster Lex Fridman.

“We had a man in there that should’ve never been in there,” Trump said, speaking about Biden. “They kept him in a basement, they used Covid, they cheated, but they used Covid to cheat. They cheated without Covid too.”

Moments later, the former president claimed he had “lost by a whisker” in 2020. But after his interview, Trump claimed he was just joking.

“I did that sarcastically,” he said. “All you have to do is look at it, and they should have sent it back to the legislatures for approval. I got almost 75 million votes, the most votes any sitting president has ever gotten. I was told if I got 63, which is what I got in 2016, you can’t be beaten.”

Despite the obvious confusion Trump’s little joke caused, the former president has decided that “lost by a whisker” will be part of the hot air he intends to blow on the campaign trail and that its meaning, like everything he says, is whatever suits him.