List of All Articles with Tag 'erica'

Former president Donald Trump denied that he ever possessed a secret document about attacking Iran despite the fact a recording exists that had him discussing a document he kept from his presidency. Mr Trump spoke in an interview with Fox News anchor Bret Baier at his property in Bedminster, New Jersey less than a week after he pleaded not guilty to 37 charges in a federal court in Miami at his arraignment. A federal grand jury had indicted him for allegedly willfully mishandling classified documents, obstruction of justice and making false statements. The former president was also confronted by Baier over his insistence that he won the 2020 election — which he did not, as the Fox News host made clear in a testy exchange. Voters may be growing sick of Mr Trump as well. In a new poll, voters were most likely to describe Donald Trump in one word: a “criminal”. Mr Trump also complained about the latest Quinnipiac University poll being cited by Fox News that shows Joe Biden beating him in the 2024 election as the network prepared to broadcast an interview with him. Read More Voters think Trump is a criminal, Biden is too old and DeSantis is a fascist, new poll finds Trump’s defence secretary says his hoarding of secrets was ‘unauthorised, illegal and dangerous’ Trump, other Republicans conjure a familiar enemy in attacking Democrats as 'Marxists,' 'communists' Trump is incredibly guilty: that doesn’t mean he’ll get the prison time he deserves

Former president Donald Trump denied that he ever possessed a secret document about attacking Iran despite the fact a recording exists that had him discussing a document he kept from his presidency. Mr Trump spoke in an interview with Fox News anchor Bret Baier at his property in Bedminster, New Jersey less than a week after he pleaded not guilty to 37 charges in a federal court in Miami for his arraignment in Miami. A federal grand jury had indicted him for allegedly willfully mishandling of classified documents, obstruction of justice and making false statements. Late last month, CNN reported that federal prosecutors had obtained audio of a recording in the summer of 2021 where Mr Trump acknowledged that he had held onto a classified document from the Pentagon detailing a potential attack on Iran. But Mr Trump denied there was a document. “I had lots of paper, I had copies of newspaper articles, I had copies of magazines,” he said. Mr Baier responded by reading back from the indictment wherein Mr Trump reportedly said that the plan to attack Iran was “highly confidential” and “secret,” and that “as president, I could have declassified it.” The president said “Now I can’t, you know, but it’s still a secret.” “When I said I couldn’t declassify it now, that’s because I wasn’t president, I’ve never made any bones about that,” Mr Trump said. “When I’m not president, I can’t declassify.” Mr Trump repeated his denial that such a document existed. “That was a massive amount of papers and everything else talking about Iran and other things,” he said. “And it may have been held up or it may not but that was not a document. I did not have a document per se.” Mr Baier responded by saying he was reading what the indictment said about a recording, as well as from people in the room who testified about Mr Trump’s. “These people are very dishonest people,” he said. “They’re thugs. If you look at what they’ve done, to other people and overturned in the US Supreme Court, these are thugs.” The unsealed indictment said that Mr Trump met with a writer and a publisher of his former White House chief of staff Mark Meadow’s book. Upon the meeting, the indictment says, Mr Trump said “Look what I found” and showed an unnamed military official’s plan of attack on Iran. The official was Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley. At the time, neither the writer nor the publisher had security clearances. Mr Baier said that the suggestion was Mr Trump had requested the documents because there was evidence that the US military and Gen Milley had pre-emptively sent him for plans on an attack on Iran and that Mr Trump did not order such an attack to occur. But Mr Trump denied that he had done so, and proceeded to attack Gen Milley. “Milley, frankly, was incompetent,” he said. “The last one I’d want to attack with as my leader would be Milley.” The instance Mr Baier discussed was one of allegedly two instances where Mr Trump supposedly showed classified information to people who were not authorised to see them. On the second occasion in August or September 2021, also in Bedminster, Mr Trump commented that a military operation that was not going well and reportedly showed a representative from his political action committee a classified map of the country, before saying he should not be showing it. The interview is Mr Trump’s first interview with Fox News, a network with which he has regularly feuded since leaving office. Mr Trump has maintained his innocence. Mr Trump also explained to Mr Baier why he failed to return documents to the National Archives and Records Administration. “The only way NARA could ever get this stuff, this back, would be ‘please, please, please, could we have it back?” he said. He also said that many of the documents were “interspersed” with personal effects. “I want to go through the boxes and get all my personal things out. I don’t want to hand that over to (National Archives) yet. And I was very busy, as you’ve sort of seen,” he said. -Bevan Hurley contributed to this report Read More Trump gives Fox News new excuse for not giving back boxes of secret documents Trump news – live: Trump angry as Fox tells him he lost in 2020, as he floats new excuse over secret papers Ivanka and Jared split over attending Trump 2024 launch – follow live Why was Donald Trump impeached twice during his first term? Four big lies Trump told during his 2024 presidential announcement

A primary candidate for Mexico’s June 2024 presidential elections proposed Monday giving the president’s son a central role in the next administration. The proposal by candidate Marcelo Ebrard raised the specter of a national political dynasty being born in Mexico, where traditionally they were frowned on. Ebrard said that if he wins the nomination of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s Morena party, he would appoint the president’s son, Andrés Manuel López Beltrán — better known as Andy — to a newly created Cabinet post to ensure his father’s legacy. While López Beltrán has not publicly commented on the proposal, it would appear to be a way to solve a central problem for Morena. The young, disparate party was largely found around, and centered on, López Obrador's personal popularity and charisma, which all the contenders to succeed him lack. The six-way primary race will be decided in September by a series of polls. The inclusion of his son was an obvious bid by Ebrard, the centrist former foreign relations secretary, to ensure continuity and perhaps to attract some of the president's most devoted followers. Ebrard said the son would be put in charge of a Cabinet-level department “to continue building on the legacy” left by López Obrador. López Beltrán has not held any formal post in his father's administration, but has been widely reported to be a behind-the-scenes dealmaker and influencer in political and economic matters. While family dynasties have governed some parts of Mexico at the municipal or even state level, for nearly 100 years an ironclad rule has prevailed on the federal level: the outgoing president agrees to retire from political activity, as does his immediate family. In exchange, incoming presidents have seldom investigated corruption on the part of their predecessors. Read More Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide

Donald Trump has floated a new excuse for refusing to return classified documents — he was “very busy”. The former president claimed in a new interview with Fox News’ Bret Baier that the hundreds of top secret papers he took to Mar-a-Lago after leaving the White House were “interspersed” with his personal effects. “I want to go through the boxes and get all my personal things out. I don’t want to hand that over to (National Archives) yet. And I was very busy, as you’ve sort of seen,” he said. Mr Trump was arraigned in Miami last week on 37 federal counts related to willful mishandling classified documents, obstruction of justice and making false statements. In the Fox interview which aired on Monday night, Mr Baier asks the former president why he failed to comply with the request from the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) to return the documents. “The only way NARA could ever get this stuff, this back, would be ‘please, please, please, could we have it back?’” he replied. Mr Baier then points out that NARA had asked for them back, and then sought a subpoena from the Department of Justice when he refused. The sensitive documents included the US’s nuclear capabilities, invasion plans and defence capabilities, according to the DoJ indictment. The Fox host then asked Mr Trump about allegations in the indictment that he ordered his aide Walt Nauta to move documents “after telling lawyers to say you’d fully complied with the subpoena when you hadn’t”. “Before I send boxes over, I have to take all of my things out. These boxes were interspersed with all sorts of things.” Mr Trump went on to repeat lies about the 2020 presidential election being stolen, insult his Republican primary opponents, and quip that Fox was losing viewers. Watchdog Citizens for Ethics tweeted that Mr Trump’s comments would be admissible in court. “The most damning evidence against Trump is Trump talking.” His excuses echoed a speech Mr Trump made to supporters at his Bedminster private club last Tuesday. “Many people have asked me why I had these boxes, why did you want them?” he said. “The answer, in addition to having every right under the Presidential Records Act, is that these boxes were containing all types of personal belongings — many, many things, shirts and shoes, everything.” Read More Trump news – live: Trump gives Fox News interview after attacking network over poll showing 2024 Biden win The indictment has helped Trump in the primaries – but there’s a catch Sketch artist defends controversial take on Trump arraignment Ivanka and Jared split over attending Trump 2024 launch – follow live Why was Donald Trump impeached twice during his first term? Four big lies Trump told during his 2024 presidential announcement

Former president Donald Trump reacted angrily on Monday after Fox News highlighted a Quinnipiac University poll showing him as trailing President Joe Biden by a four-point margin. Mr Trump wrote on his Truth Social website that the respected polling organisation had released a “bad poll” and accused Quinnipiac of using too few Republican voters in the sample of Americans who were surveyed. Mr Trump argued that the poll actually showed that he was in the lead over Mr Biden. “It under samples Republicans by 10 points, which means, instead of being down 4 points, I am up 6 points,” he said. “Other Polls show me much higher than that, but FoxNews will always attempt, as they did in 2016, to only show negatives on MAGA & TRUMP. We’re winning BIG, they don’t like it, the RINOS don’t like it, the Democrats don’t like it but, most of all, the Marxists & Communists don’t like it!” Mr Trump’s unsubstantiated claim echoes grievances that GOP figures aired in the run-up to the 2012 election, in which they alleged that reputable, mainstream polls were somehow “skewed” against Republicans and therefore were inaccurately showing that then-GOP nominee Mitt Romney was trailing then-president Obama, who was running for re-election at the time. Mr Obama, of course, ended up winning the 2012 election handily. Read More Trump news – live: Bill Barr slams Trump’s ‘absurd’ classified papers defence as ex-attorney quits CNN lawsuit Petition seeks to ban Donald Trump Jr from Australia visit over ‘white supremacy, transphobia and misogyny’ Trump faces questions about whether he'll drag down the Republican Party after his indictments

Mexico’s president announced Monday the appointment of a 35-year-old lawyer as interior secretary, considered the country’s top Cabinet post. Luisa María Alcalde previously served as secretary of labor. In that post, she oversaw the implementation of reforms meant to ensure fair and transparent voting procedures and free organizing in Mexico's corruption-riddled union sector. Alcalde will become the second woman to be interior secretary, which is the Mexican government's top domestic affairs position. Early in his administration, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador named Olga Sánchez Cordero to the post, but she left to return to the Senate. Alcalde was appointed to replace Adán Augusto López, who resigned as interior secretary last week in order to compete in the primary race for the 2024 presidential nomination of López Obrador’s Morena party. The Morena party required all primary candidates to resign their official posts by last week, to avoid the appearance of government, money or influence skewing the race. The country's foreign relations secretary, Marcelo Ebrard, also resigned to compete in the Morena primary and was replaced by a woman, veteran diplomat Alicia Bárcena. The new Cabinet members are expected to serve until López Obrador leaves office in September 2024. Read More Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide

Russian agents reportedly attempted to assassinate a CIA informant on American soil in 2020, a dramatic ploy that has since been blamed for a sudden deterioration of relations between Washington and leaders of the Russian Federation. Their target was a former Russian agent whose defection to the United States led to a counterintelligence investigation that resulted in the capture and expulsion of nearly a dozen spies embedded along the US eastern seaboard. His attempted murder is just the latest alleged effort by agents of Vladimir Putin, formerly head of the country’s feared intelligence service and now its leader, to get revenge against Russian defectors living abroad. Three former senior US officials told The New York Times that Russian agents targeted Aleksandr Poteyev with an operation in early 2020 that involved an effort to tail Mr Poteyev around his new hometown of Miami. A Mexican scientist, coerced into being the face of the effort after members of his family were prevented from leaving Russia, is reported to have rented an apartment near Mr Poteyev’s residence for the purpose of surveiling the ex-spy. That scientist, Hector Alejandro Cabrera Fuentes, would later be instructed by his Russian handlers to tail Mr Poteyev, leading to an incident where he and his wife were spotted by security agents and cameras (apparently at their victim’s apartment complex) photographing Mr Poteyev’s license plate. Realising they had likely just blown their cover, the two fled for Mexico, but were stopped at the US border and arrested. According to one former official, Mr Fuentes was likely unaware of the eventual goals of the operation and was merely tasked with providing initial intelligence regarding Mr Poteyev’s whereabouts. More follows... Read More The Body in the Woods | An Independent TV Original Documentary The harrowing discovery at centre of The Independent’s new documentary

Former president Donald Trump will be barred from viewing the evidence the Department of Justice has collected against him except when in the presence of his attorneys, according to a new order by one of the judges overseeing the criminal case against him. In a four-page order signed on Monday, Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart granted a prosecution request for a protective order meant to shield the information that must be disclosed to Mr Trump about the case against him from public view. It covers “non-classified discovery produced by the United States to the Defendants in preparation for, or in connection with, any stage” of the case that began when a Florida grand jury indicted the ex-president on 37 separate counts of violating the federal criminal code earlier this month, and requires that those materials can only be used “in connection with the defense of this case, and for no other purpose, and in connection with no other proceeding”. Magistrate Judge Reinhart also ordered that the discovery materials be kept only by Mr Trump’s legal team and stored securely on premises controlled by them. He further specified that Mr Trump (and his co-defendant Walt Nauta) “shall only have access to Discovery Materials under the direct supervision of Defense Counsel or a member of Defense Counsel’s staff,” and prohibited either of them from retaining copies of the materials themselves or taking any notes with them after viewing any of the materials. The protective order and the restrictions it places upon Mr Trump are meant in part to prevent him from directing his followers to harass any witnesses against him or any FBI or DOJ personnel involved in the case. After FBI agents searched his Palm Beach, Florida property on 8 August last year, the former president’s camp leaked an unredacted copy of a property receipt provided to his counsel at the time of the search to right-wing Breitbart News. The document named multiple FBI agents involved in the search of his property, and in subsequent court filings the government disclosed that those agents had been targeted for harassment by Mr Trump’s supporters. Read More Blinken meets Xi in Beijing at climax of high-stakes China visit The 25-year-old party chairwoman who wants to turn North Carolina blue Anger as Fox guest says it’s time for someone to ‘pull a trigger’ over ‘the left’

A spate of weekend mass shootings and violence across the US killed at least nine people, including a Pennsylvania state trooper, and left dozens injured. The shootings follow a surge in homicides and other violence over the past several years that experts say accelerated during the coronavirus pandemic. They happened in suburban Chicago, Washington state, central Pennsylvania, St. Louis, Southern California and Baltimore. “There’s no question there’s been a spike in violence,” said Daniel Nagin, a professor of public policy and statistics at Carnegie Mellon University. “Some of these cases seem to be just disputes, often among adolescents, and those disputes are played out with firearms, not with fists.” Researchers disagree over the cause of the increase. Theories include the possibility that violence is driven by the prevalence of guns in America, or by less aggressive police tactics or a decline in prosecutions for misdemeanor weapon offenses, Professor Nagin said. Here's a look at the shootings this weekend: Willowbrook, Illinois At least 23 people were shot, one fatally, early Sunday in a suburban Chicago parking lot where hundreds of people had gathered to celebrate Juneteenth, authorities said. The DuPage County sheriff’s office described a “peaceful gathering” that suddenly turned violent as a number of people fired multiple shots into the crowd in Willowbrook, Illinois, about 20 miles (32 kilometers) southwest of Chicago. A motive for the attack wasn’t immediately known. Sheriff’s spokesman Robert Carroll said authorities were interviewing “persons of interest” in the shooting, the Daily Herald reported. A witness, Markeshia Avery, said the celebration was meant to mark Juneteenth, Monday's federal holiday commemorating the day in 1865 when enslaved people in Galveston, Texas, learned they had been freed, two years after the Emancipation Proclamation. “We just started hearing shooting, so we dropped down until they stopped,” Avery told WLS-TV. The White House issued a statement calling the violence a tragedy and saying the president was thinking of those killed and injured. Illinois Governor JB Pritzker said in a statement that he was monitoring the investigation. “Gathering for a holiday gathering should be a joyful occasion, not a time where gunfire erupts and families are forced to run for safety,” Pritzker said. Washington state Two people were killed and two others were injured when a shooter began firing “randomly” into a crowd at a Washington state campground where many people were staying to attend a nearby music festival on Saturday night, police said. The suspect was shot in a confrontation with law enforcement officers and taken into custody, several hundred yards from the Beyond Wonderland electronic dance music festival. A public alert advised people of an active shooter in the area and advised them to “run, hide or fight." The festival carried on until early Sunday morning, Grant County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Kyle Foreman said. Organizers then posted a tweet saying Sunday’s concert was canceled. Central Pennsylvania One state trooper was killed and a second critically wounded just hours apart in central Pennsylvania on Saturday after a gunman attacked a state police barracks. The suspect drove his truck into the parking lot of the Lewistown barracks about 11am Saturday and opened fire with a large-caliber rifle on marked patrol cars before fleeing, authorities said Sunday. Lt. James Wagner, 45, was critically wounded when he was shot after encountering the suspect several miles away in Mifflintown. Later, Trooper Jacques Rougeau Jr., 29, was ambushed and killed by a gunshot through the windshield of his patrol car as he drove down a road in nearby Walker Township, authorities said. The suspect was shot and killed after a fierce gunbattle, said Lt. Col. George Bivens, who went up in a helicopter to coordinate the search for the 38-year-old suspect. “What I witnessed ... was one of the most intense, unbelievable gunfights I have ever witnessed,” Lt Col Bivens said, lauding troopers for launching an aggressive search despite facing a weapon that “would defeat any of the body armor that they had available to them.” A motive was not immediately known. St Louis An early Sunday shooting in a downtown St. Louis office building killed a 17-year-old and wounded nine other teenagers, the city’s police commissioner said. St. Louis Metropolitan Police Commissioner Robert Tracy identified the victim who was killed as 17-year-old Makao Moore. A spokesman said a minor who had a handgun was in police custody as a person of interest. Teenagers were having a party in an office space when the shooting broke out around 1 a.m. Sunday. The victims ranged from 15 to 19 years old and had injuries including multiple gunshot wounds. A 17-year-old girl was trampled as she fled, seriously injuring her spine, Tracy said. Shell casings from AR-style rifles and other firearms were scattered on the ground. Southern California A shooting at a pool party at a Southern California home left eight people wounded, authorities said Saturday. Authorities were dispatched shortly after midnight in Carson, California, south of Los Angeles, KABC-TV reported. The victims range in age from 16 to 24, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said in a statement. They were taken to hospitals and two were listed in critical condition, the statement said. Authorities said they found another 16-year-old boy with a gunshot wound when they responded to a call about a vehicle that crashed into a wall nearby. Baltimore Six people were injured in a Friday night shooting in Baltimore. All were expected to survive. Officers heard gunshots in the north of the city just before 9 p.m. and found three men with numerous gunshot wounds. Medics took them to area hospitals for treatment. Police later learned of three additional victims who walked into area hospitals with non-life-threatening gunshot wounds. The wounded ranged in age from 17 to 26, Baltimore Police Department spokesperson Lindsey Eldridge said. Kellogg, Idaho Four people were killed in a horrific Father’s Day mass shooting at a home in Kellogg, Idaho, with a 31-year-old suspected gunman now in police custody. The Shoshone County Sheriff’s Office said that it responded with the Kellogg Police Department to a home in the city of Kellogg on Sunday evening. Officers arrived at the multi-dwelling units on Brown Avenue behind Mountain View Congregational Church at around 7.30pm where they discovered four victims suffering gunshot wounds. All four were dead on arrival. A suspected gunman was detained and police reassured the community that there is no ongoing threat to the community. Details about the victims, the suspect and the shooting remain scant at this time. The Idaho State Police said that a 31-year-old man was arrested in connection to the shooting, KXLY-TV reported. A neighbour told the local outlet that they believed the shooting was the culmination of an ongoing dispute between neighbours. Read More Four victims killed in Father’s Day mass shooting at home in Kellogg, Idaho Biden says US is at ‘tipping point’ on gun control: ‘We will ban assault weapons in this country’ Parking lot party shooting leaves many people hurt in suburban Chicago

The world first heard the story of American teenager Heather Mack and her mother Sheila von Wiese-Mack when the 62-year-old’s body was found stuffed in a suitcase in Indonesia. But the story actually begins many years earlier. Behind the headlines about the so-called “Suitcase Killer” is a tragic story of a mother who endured years of domestic violence at the hands of her child inside the home they shared in the Oak Park suburb of Chicago. Abuse which ultimately escalated to that day in 2014 when the 18-year-old and her 21-year-old boyfriend bludgeoned her to death at a 5-star resort in Bali. Rasul Freelain, a retired Oak Park Police sergeant who arrested Mack multiple times for allegedly abusing her mother, tells The Independent that the warning signs were there as soon as he met the pair for the first time back in 2010. What he saw was a sadly typical case of a domestic abuse victim reluctant to speak out or take action against the abuser that she loved. The violence grew progressively worse over the next few years until January 2013, when von Wiese-Mack made the chilling admission that she believed her daughter was going to kill her. But – due to the current lack of laws around child to parent domestic abuse – Sgt Freelain and the Oak Park authorities were ultimately helpless to save von Wiese-Mack from her fate. Nineteen months later, her tragic prediction became a reality. “It was like watching a slow-moving train derailment – we can see it and we all look and see it falling off into a ravine,” says Sgt Freelain. “I feel that on some level the entire criminal justice system failed Sheila.” He adds: “Her daughter of course failed her the most. Her child who she loved and raised and doted on and did everything she could to win her affection and approval betrayed her in a way no one could match.” Suitcase murder On 12 August 2014, Mack, then 18, and her then-boyfriend Tommy Schaefer, 21, bludgeoned von Wiese-Mack to death with the metal handle of a fruit stand at the luxury 5-star St. Regis resort in Bali. They then stuffed her body into a suitcase, hailed a taxi and loaded it into the trunk of the car. When they were unable to check out of the luxury resort – using her mother’s credit card – the couple fled the scene, leaving the bloodstained suitcase behind. They were soon tracked down to a budget motel and arrested on suspicion of murder. At the time of the murder, Mack – the daughter of socialite von Wiese-Mack and famed musician James L Mack – was pregnant with Schaefer’s child. Prosecutors revealed that she had flown her lover out on a $12,000 business-class ticket just hours earlier charged to her mother’s credit card. Chilling text messages also showed how the couple likened themselves to the notorious duo Bonnie & Clyde and plotted methods of murder with the help of Schaefer’s cousin Ryan Bibbs. They were both convicted of premeditated murder in Indonesia and narrowly avoided facing the firing squad. Mack’s baby Stella was born in Bali prison and was allowed to stay with her there for the first two years of her life. She is now being raised by von Wiese-Mack’s niece in Colorado. Bibbs was also convicted of conspiracy to kill von Wiese-Mack and sentenced to nine years in prison. After Mack served seven years in an Indonesian jail, she was extradited to the US, where she was arrested on charges of conspiracy to murder in a foreign country in November 2021. Since then, she has been behind bars in Illinois awaiting trial. On Friday (16 June), she pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to murder a US national under a plea agreement with prosecutors despite believing – by her own admission – that she has already done her time for her crime. It’s a horror case that has transfixed the nation for the past eight years and raised several questions due to the sheer brutality of von Wiese-Mack’s demise: How could a daughter have plotted her own mother’s death? How could she have then stuffed her own mother’s corpse in a suitcase? And why did she do it? But the bigger question – and one that has rarely been asked over the years – is could von Wiese-Mack’s murder have been prevented? History of violence In the years leading up to the murder, police records reveal that officers responded to a string of violent incidents committed by Mack against her mother at their home in Illinois. Oak Park Police records show at least 35 interactions with officers since 2008 including reports of Mack breaking her mother’s arm, biting her and punching her. The records also include reports of stealing credit cards and money – an apparent motive for the murder. While only Mack now knows when the violence first began, the first record of police being called to the home came in April 2008 for a report that the then-13-year-old had locked her mother in a room and threatened her. The next police report came in January 2010 when Mack allegedly punched her mother’s broken ankle. Sgt Freelain first met von Wiese-Mack in November of that year when she reported that her daughter had stolen her credit card and $1,060 cash. A detective specialising in youth and family issues at the time, he was assigned the case and says he met von Wiese-Mack in person and spoke with her on the phone several times. It was also the first time he met Mack, then aged 15. After interviewing her, Mack admitted that she stole her mother’s credit card but denied stealing the cash. “In that first meeting, I certainly saw how Sheila was torn in terms of what to do about Heather,” Sgt Freelain recalls. “She suspected and then knew that she had stolen from her but didn’t want to follow through on pressing charges against her daughter which is understandable but as things progressed that infliction would make things very difficult for us to be able to help Sheila. “In that first meeting it was clear something was wrong – in terms of both the financial side of things but also her daughter’s behaviour. “But it was the next time when I met Sheila in February 2011, that alarm bells really went off.” Sgt Freelain says that von Wiese-Mack turned up at the police department that night with her right arm broken and in a cast. In one violent incident that January, Mack had pushed her mother causing her to fall and break arm, according to a police report later filed. “Her body language – she looked so beaten back,” Sgt Freelain says of that day in February 2011. “In November, it was clear there was some kind of domestic dynamic that wasn’t good but Sheila hadn’t been forthright in elaborating about what was going on. “But that night I got her more comfortable talking and she opened up about the physical and verbal abuse. We established a good rapport that night that stayed over the next two-and-a-half years.” Von Wiese-Mack told him what had happened to her arm. “I told her ‘I’ve worked with families where the kids abuse the parents and it doesn’t fix itself’,” he says. “I told her about one case where a kid went on to murder their mother.” But when Sgt Freelain says he told von Wiese-Mack that they would have to arrest Mack and that she needed to press charges over the alleged attack, he says “reality hit” and she ran out of the police precinct. “She was so fearful of the idea of Heather being arrested,” he says. “I figured I would never see her again but she came back the next day to say she’d been attacked by Heather again. “An officer came and got me from the detective division and said a ‘woman is asking for you’. “I went out and it was Sheila Mack. She had been attacked and was crying and said ‘I’m sorry, I should have listened to you. Can you help me?’” He adds: “And that was the first day that I arrested Heather.” On 17 February 2011, Mack was arrested for the first time for domestic battery over the January attack on her mother that resulted in her broken arm. This marked a major step forward for von Wiese-Mack. Up until that point, Sgt Freelain says there was a pattern of her calling 911 to report Mack’s alleged attacks but then refusing to cooperate when police urged her to press charges. But it was a cycle von Wiese-Mack ultimately couldn’t get out of. Victim’s conflict “Her behaviour was completely consistent with other families I’ve worked with where kids have been abusive to the parents and in other broader situations of domestic or family abuse,” says Sgt Freelain. “It’s mirrored in what we see in intimate partner violence where the victim is very reluctant to speak out against their abuser. “Sheila’s conflict was ‘I don’t believe she wanted to break my arm, she was just mad at me.’ “It’s what we hear from so many victims of domestic violence.” Following Mack’s first arrest, von Wiese-Mack was given all the options for next steps and decided she did not want the case to go to court. But, by 14 April – less than two months later – Mack was arrested for a second time for biting her mother’s arm. Sgt Freelain was not the arresting officer in that case but, when he heard about it, he contacted von Wiese-Mack and urged her to seek court protection against her daughter. “The situation was escalating and I was trying to both keep Sheila safe and help Heather change her behaviour,” he says. “But Heather didn’t give things a chance and by the summer more and more reports were coming in about her behaviour.” Between that first arrest in February and the end of 2011, Oak Park Police records reveal no fewer than 10 separate interactions where police were called to the suburban home. The reports include incidents of biting her mother’s bicep, threatening her, running away and one where she is described as “out of control”. In early 2012, Mack was convicted of battery in juvenile court over the violence against her mother, according to Cook County juvenile records, obtained by The Chicago Tribune. Under the juvenile conviction, she was ordered to attend counselling, with a specific focus on anger management. Sgt Freelain says that the conviction initially caused von Wiese-Mack to distance herself from the help of police. “She went from thanking me for helping to navigate the chaos as Heather became more violent and aggressive to not speaking to me because Heather was detained,” he says. “You see it a lot in domestic abuse cases.” He adds: “We were going against Sheila’s hardwired desire to protect her own child. Heather was her only child – she was wired to keep her girl safe even though she was going to kill her.” As well as trying to protect von Wiese-Mack, authorities also tried to get Mack the help she needed to change her violent behaviour. Mack spent time at two separate facilities for juvenile offenders who suffer from mental health problems, receiving both inpatient and some outpatient treatment. As well as mental health services, Sgt Freelain connected the teenager with a female detective who specialised in connecting with at-risk girls who could act as her mentor. “My motivation was keeping Sheila safe but also saying what do we need to do for Heather to break this cycle,” he says. “It’s a duality we tried to balance.” Despite the efforts, the alleged domestic abuse continued. Throughout 2012, at least 15 police reports were made about Mack’s behaviour. ‘It wasn’t enough’ “Things then came to a head in January 2013,” says Sgt Freelain. As police records show, von Wiese-Mack confided in him for the first time that she feared her daughter was going to kill her. “When a victim says ‘I think this person is going to kill me, I believe them’,” he says. Sgt Freelain says he passed the information straight away to Mack’s probation officer who shared the same fears about the danger to von Wiese-Mack’s life. They tried to lay out a case that Mack had violated her court supervision and so should be jailed. But, von Wiese-Mack stopped cooperating again, he says, and so the case was dismissed in May 2013. The mother and daughter moved from Oak Park to Chicago, out of the jurisdiction of the police department. Fifteen months on from the case being dropped – and just over a year-and-a-half after von Wiese-Mack disclosed her fears for her life – her only daughter and her boyfriend beat her death. Sgt Freelain recalls the moment he heard about von Wiese-Mack’s murder. “I was driving my car and it came out on the local news radio… I had to pull the car over to the side of the road,” he says. “What Sheila said had happened. It was information overload. I started pounding the steering wheel and saying ‘no, no, no’ in the car. I couldn’t fathom that it had happened even though it was like watching a slow-moving train derailment.” Sgt Freelain says he also recognised the name of Mack’s accomplice Schaefer, having tried “to take him under my wing” while working as an officer at a school that he attended. For the retired detective, he is confident that he did everything he could under the law to try to save the 62-year-old. “In the police department, I felt we were very thorough in terms of documenting every interaction we had and trying to get Sheila to press charges,” he says. “I was the first person who arrested Heather and I arrested her four times in total. I worked to get her convicted and then tried to get her probation violated. “But it just shows it wasn’t enough.” Gaps in the law In the way was the lack of laws protecting parents from domestic violence at the hands of a child or teenager. In Illinois and many other states, there are laws protecting children from abuse by their parents and other adults. There are laws protecting elders from abuse. And there are also laws protecting adults from abuse by domestic partners and other adults in the home. But there are currently no laws in Illinois protecting parents from abuse from their minor children. What this meant was that, once von Wiese-Mack stopped cooperating and refused to press charges, authorities had no power to push ahead and take action against Mack. Sgt Freelain explains that if Mack had been 18 – and therefore an adult under the law – things would have been very different. As it was, Mack was just five months away from her 18th birthday when the case was dismissed. Sgt Freelain asks: “Why is Sheila any safer from a 17-and-a-half-year-old than from an 18-year-old?” “If Heather had been an adult, in Illinois there would have been all kinds of mandatory things that would have kicked in after even one attack,” he says. “She would have been put in jail overnight, there would be a list of restrictions, a mandatory appearance in domestic violence court, an almost guaranteed second court appearance and – even if Sheila stopped cooperating – we could have continued to prosecute Heather. “In other forms of domestic violence, we have things in place that even if the person tells the judge or prosecutors that they don’t want to cooperate, we can continue with the prosecution. But none of those things are in place for child to parent violence.” Because of the lack of laws recognising child to parent abuse, their hands were tied. Here was a case where the same laws that can be used to protect victims of abuse by their partner, child victims of abuse by their parents, victims of elder abuse, or abuse by any domestic adult within the home, could not protect a parent being abused by her child. The state of Illinois is far from alone with this issue. The very first law recognising child to parent abuse (CPA) also came into force in Florida six years ago. And von Wiese-Mack is also far from alone in her suffering. While CPA may be less common and rarely spoken about when compared to partner-to-partner violence or child abuse, it is still far too common. A 2018 study, which looked at 60 years of research, found that CPA exists in between 5 and 21 percent of families. Due to underreporting – perhaps in part due to a stigma on the issue – the true figures are actually expected to be higher. Von Wiese-Mack appears to have felt that stigma. Sgt Freelain recalls that she once attended a support group for domestic violence but, after finding herself the only person in the room being abused by their child, she never went back. While it’s impossible to know, Sgt Freelain believes that the system failed von Wiese-Mack and that her horrific and tragic death may well have been avoided. “I strongly believe that if the systems that are in place for adults who abuse women, if those laws and protocols had been in place for child and teenage abusers, then there would be a greater chance Sheila would not have been killed on August 12 2014,” he says. Logistically, he points out if the case hadn’t been dismissed by the court in May 2013 and Mack had been found in violation of the court order, she would have been sent to jail at 17 and turned 18 behind bars that October. Leaving jail as an adult, she would have then been on parole for any future domestic situations on her release. “It could have changed the dynamic,” he says. Need for change This is why the retired police officer is now pushing for a change in laws to recognise child to parent abuse and shore up the gaps in protections and available responses. He is also calling for more training for police and schools on CPA and improved access to mental health services to support young people like Mack. He is writing a book on the topic centred around this tragic case, with the blessing of von Wiese-Mack’s family. “There are gaps in the criminal justice system – do I feel it let Sheila and Heather down? Yes.” “Sheila lost her life and it’s had a catastrophic effect on people who cared about her and Heather. And it’s sad for Heather as well. I wanted the best for her too,” he says. “It’s a tragedy on all sides. “So I’m motivated by two things: to try to honour the memory of Sheila. We hear about her as someone shoved in a suitcase and about Bonnie and Clyde but what about the victim? She wasn’t perfect but she loved her daughter and wanted to give her the best life and no one deserves to be abused the way she was,” he says. “The second motive is to bring awareness of how this case is an extreme example of what can happen with child to parent abuse if we don’t bring about change in society. We have got to figure this out. “There’s not a day I don’t think about this case and about how families like Sheila and Heather need assistance. Where Sheila and I didn’t agree was because she accused me of pushing too hard and I kick myself now as I feel like I didn’t push hard enough.” This month von Wiese-Mack should be turning 75. Instead, her daughter has just pleaded guilty to conspiring to kill her and now faces up to 28 more years behind bars at her sentencing in December. The sad irony of Sheila’s case is that, were it not for the tragic ending, no one would ever have known the years of abuse she endured behind closed doors. “If it wasn’t for the suitcase, the world wouldn’t have known about this. The world knows because of the horror and because what they had to do to get her in there was unthinkable,” says Sgt Freelain. “But there’s more to it. It’s the unthinkable combination of years of unthinkable abuse.” Read More A body in a suitcase, Bonnie and Clyde fantasy and baby born in Bali prison: The chilling case of Heather Mack ‘Suitcase killer’ Heather Mack pleads guilty to conspiracy to murder – facing up to 28 years in US prison Heather Mack’s family reacts to ‘mastermind’ killer’s guilty plea for mother’s 2014 murder in Bali ‘Suitcase killer’ Heather Mack pleads guilty to conspiracy to murder – facing up to 28 years in US prison A body in a suitcase, Bonnie and Clyde fantasy and baby born in Bali prison: The chilling case of Heather Mack Heather Mack’s family reacts to ‘mastermind’ killer’s guilty plea for mother’s 2014 murder in Bali

Lashing out after his arraignment on federal charges last week, Donald Trump took aim at President Joe Biden and Democrats with language that seemed to evoke another era: He was being persecuted, he said, by “Marxists” and “communists.” Trump has used the labels since he first appeared on the political scene, but it lately has become an omnipresent attack line that also has been deployed by other Republicans. The rhetoric is both inaccurate and potentially dangerous because it attempts to demonize an entire party with a description that has long been associated with America's enemies. Experts who study political messaging say associating Democrats with Marxism only furthers the country's polarization — and is simply wrong: Biden has promoted capitalism and Democratic lawmakers are not pushing to reshape American democracy into a communist system. That hasn't mattered to Trump and other Republicans, who for years have used hyperbolic references to the associated political ideologies to spark fears about Democrats and the dangers they supposedly pose. Hours after pleading not guilty in federal court, Trump told a crowd of his supporters at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, that Biden, “together with a band of his closest thugs, misfits and Marxists, tried to destroy American democracy.” He added, “If the communists get away with this, it won’t stop with me.” He again hit on the Marxist theme days later during a telephone rally with Iowa voters. The comments came after numerous campaign emails and social posts in recent months in which Trump has claimed that Biden’s America could soon become a “third world Marxist regime” or a “tyrannical Marxist nation.” Other Republicans have piled on with similar messaging. Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene last week took to Twitter to lambast what she called the “CORRUPT AND WEAPONIZED COMMUNISTS DEMOCRAT CONTROLLED DOJ.” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Trump's closest rival for the GOP presidential nomination, has argued the U.S. risks falling victim to “woke” ideology, which he has defined in interviews as a form of “cultural Marxism.” Experts say there is a long history of U.S. politicians calling opponents Marxist or communist without evidence — perhaps most infamously the late Sen. Joseph McCarthy, who led efforts to blacklist accused communists in the 1950s. In a country that has historically positioned itself against Marxism, “red-baiting is as American as apple pie in political communications,” said Tanner Mirrlees, an associate professor at Ontario Tech University in Canada who has researched political discourse about “cultural Marxism.” The attacks are carefully constructed to hit voters emotionally, said Steve Israel, a former U.S. congressman from New York who studied political messaging as chair of the House Democratic Policy and Communications Committee. “Democrats tend to message to the part of the brain that is about reason and empirical evidence,” he said. “Republicans message to the gut.” For some Hispanic Trump supporters who gathered outside the federal courthouse in Miami where the former president was arraigned, the charges evoked memories of political persecutions their family members had once escaped. “This is what they do in Latin America,” said Madelin Munilla, 67, who came to Miami as a child when her parents fled Fidel Castro's Cuba. She carried a poster with a photo of Biden alongside Castro, Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro and Nicaragua’s Daniel Ortega — leftist leaders whose jailing of opponents has driven immigration to south Florida for decades. Unlike the U.S., which has a tradition of respect for the rule of law and constitutional separation of powers, the judiciary in many parts of Latin America lacks the same independence. In a region where corruption flourishes, poorly paid prosecutors and judges are routinely caught doing the bidding of powerful politicians seeking to settle scores or derail criminal investigations. A surge in immigration from Southeast Asia after the Vietnam War also brought a population of staunchly anti-communist voters, some of whom have aligned with the Republican Party in part because of its forceful messaging on the issue. Yet opposing an actual regime that suppresses individual freedom and opposes a free market economy is different from the way many Republicans use these terms now —- to falsely claim Marxists are U.S. society's ruling class. “Bluntly, there is no empirical ground beneath the Republican claim that Marxists rule the big institutions of American society,” Mirrlees said. Other Republicans, from DeSantis to Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, have used another term, “cultural Marxism,” to characterize fights for gender or racial equity that they argue are “woke” and threaten a traditional American way of life. Cruz used it in the title of his book. Though the term has become popular among mainstream Republicans, it has a darker past. Experts say the concept of “cultural Marxism” posing a threat was historically spread by antisemitic and white supremacist groups. For most voters who hear candidates say someone is communist or Marxist, the true meaning may matter less than the negative associations with the terms, said James Gardner, a University at Buffalo law professor who focuses on election law. “The tactic seems to be to pick an adjective that most people think describes something bad and try to associate it with the person you are denigrating,” he said. Still, while railing against communists and Marxists may be effective at animating voters who form the Republican base, it may not be an effective strategy in next year's general election, Israel said. That's because it doesn't as easily sway moderate and independent voters who don't see evidence that ties Democrats to those ideologies. “Moderate voters may succumb to the Republican argument that Democrats are for more spending, but they’re not going to fall for the argument that Democrats are Marxists,” Israel said. “The Republicans are overplaying their hand.” ____ Associated Press writer Joshua Goodman in Miami contributed to this report. ___ The Associated Press receives support from several private foundations to enhance its explanatory coverage of elections and democracy. See more about AP’s democracy initiative here. The AP is solely responsible for all content. Read More Ivanka and Jared split over attending Trump 2024 launch – follow live Why was Donald Trump impeached twice during his first term? 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A Fox News guest discussing last week’s “drag nuns” protest, the Trump prosecution and “the left” has suggested the time may be coming for someone in America to “pull the trigger” like at Concord, the battle which helped to spark the Revolutionary War. Retired MLB pitcher and conservative commentator Curt Schilling made the on-air comments Friday while in conversation with host Jesse Watters. Schilling complained that leaders on the right “talk, talk, that’s all they’re doing” without backing up ideology with action. “We’re up against a side and a force that doesn’t play by the rules – refuses to play by the rules,” Schilling said, adding of conservatives: “We get excited, and we get emotional; that’s it. They break the law; they do the things they need to do to ensure their agenda is driven forward – and we’re watching them gut our nation from the inside out, and I don’t know where the rubber’s gonna meet the road.” Referencing the American founding fathers and “the young men that signed the Constitution,” Schilling continued: “They sacrificed everything to come out from under a tyrannical government and, then, eventually, at some point, there was a man at Concord who decided he was gonna pull the trigger.” The Battles of Lexington and Concord on 19 April 1775 marked the start of America’s ultimately victorious War of Independence from Britain. “And I feel like we’re getting back to a point where somebody’s gonna have to pull a trigger, because everything we hold dear – everything this country was founded on – is being just dragged through the mud and mocked and made fun of,” he said. “This country was founded on godly principles – no matter how offensive that is to the left, it’s true.” When Watters asked whether his guest meant “pull the trigger” metaphorically, Schilling stumbled slightly over his words. “Absolutely. Well, no,” he said. “I mean, it doesn’t matter if I say ‘metaphorically,’ because they’re gonna run with that quote no matter how I put it. I could’ve phrased it in any possible way, saying ‘stand up and fight and blah blah blah’ – and I would be inciting a riot.” The backlash was swift on social media, where Schilling’s choice of words – despite the partial backtracking – was vilified as inciteful. The Intellectuast, @highbrow_nobrow, tweeted a clip of the interview on Saturday, writing: “This is a very clear dog whistle for stochastic terrorism” while deriding Fox as “dangerous propaganda.” “This is who MAGA are — they prefer violence over voting,” wrote Democratic Congressman Eric Swalwell, tweeting a clip of the comments. “It’s not going to work. RT if you plan to vote next November.” Author Brian O’Sullivan called Schilling’s comments “undeniably dangerous” in a tweet, suggesting charges should result “If some right-wing nut ever took his call-to-arms to heart.” Schilling is no stranger to political controversy. The All-Star pitcher was fired by ESPN in 2016 after promoting social media content that appeared to mock the transgender community. He was an outspoken Trump supporter and has espoused the 45th President’s aversion to finesse, coming under fire more than once for posts and statements many deemed offensive. The Independent has reached out to Fox News Media. Schilling, one day after his Fox interview made headlines, attempted clarification again on Twitter. “Be the first to admit it was a bad choice of words but it was clarified immediately,” he wrote on Saturday. “As I said then and we’ve seen now, doesn’t matter. They’ll outright lie and make up s**t to the point where they can quote you and create a fictional quote then jate {sic) you for it or talk s**t. Or the best one is when these clowns do the ‘dog whistle’ BS OR ‘what he meant to say was’ schtick. “No matter, like I said, when you call them out as the American hating lazy ass frauds they are they scream and make s**t up. Their ENTIRE EXISTANCE (sic) is based on race, sexual orientation, unfettered access to abortion, legalizing drugs and emotions. Facts elude them and destroy everything they claim. Facts and an honest days (sic) work that is.” Read More Curt Shilling: Pro-Trump All-Star pitcher blasts ‘coward’ baseball writers after ninth Hall of Fame rejection Fox News host criticised for ‘disturbing’ claim about immigrants Fox News producer out after onscreen message calling President Biden a 'wannabe dictator' A nun commends Dodgers' handling of Pride Night controversy; some archbishops call it blasphemy Former drag queen George Santos launches random vulgar attack on ‘drag nuns’ Trump says ‘Long live the King’ in rant day after Biden said ‘God save the Queen’ Nikki Haley's husband begins Africa deployment as she campaigns for 2024 GOP nomination Fox News producer out after onscreen message calling President Biden a 'wannabe dictator'