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      US attorney resists pressure from Trump to prosecute Letitia James

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      A career federal prosecutor in Virginia has told colleagues she does not believe there is probable cause to file criminal mortgage fraud charges against New York attorney general Letitia James, according to a person familiar with the matter.The prosecutor, Elizabeth Yusi, oversees major criminal cases in the Norfolk office for the US attorney for the eastern district of Virginia and plans to soon present her conclusion to Lindsey Halligan, a Trump ally, who was installed as the US attorney for the eastern district of Virginia last month. Yusi’s thinking was first reported by MSNBC on Monday.The justice department declined to comment. The US attorney for the eastern district of Virginia did not return a request for comment.The case sets up another high profile confrontation between the justice department and Trump, who has fired attorneys who have refused to punish his enemies. Halligan, who has no prosecutorial experience, was put in the role at the urging of Trump after her predecessor concluded there wasn’t probable cause to file criminal charges against James Comey, the former FBI director. Halligan personally presented the case against Comey to a grand jury after she was appointed and secured a two-count indictment.Trump has openly asked Pam Bondi, the US attorney general, to prosecute James, who led a civil fraud case against the president that led to a $500m fine, which was recently overturned by a New York state appellate court.William Pulte, the Federal Housing Finance Agency head and a staunch Trump ally, made a criminal referral of James to the justice department in April, alleging she may have committed mortgage fraud. Pulte pointed to mortgage documents related to a 2023 Norfolk, Virginia, home James helped purchase for her niece in which James appeared to indicate on a document she intended to use the home as her primary residence. James was serving as the attorney general of New York at the time.Prosecutors empaneled a grand jury in May to investigate, but struggled to build a case against James, despite pressure from Trump allies. Emails from the time of the home purchase and other mortgage documents show James clearly indicating that she did not intend for the home to be her primary residence. That evidence makes it difficult for prosecutors to prove that James knowingly lied on the mortgage documents.Multiple prosecutors in the eastern district of Virginia have either been fired or resigned in recent weeks as Trump has increased pressure on the office to bring charges against Comey and James.Erik Siebert, Halligan’s predecessor, resigned on 19 September after facing pressure from Trump to file charges. Maya Song, a top Siebert deputy, was also fired in late September. Michael Ben’Ary, a top national security prosecutor in the office, was also fired last week after Julie Kelly, a pro-Trump media personality, falsely accused him of working on the Comey case.“The leadership is more concerned with punishing the President’s perceived enemies than they are with protecting our national security,” he wrote in his farewell letter to colleagues.“Justice for Americans killed and injured by our enemies should not be contingent on what someone in the Department of Justice sees in their social media feed that day.” More

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      Make green great again: Can appeals to the wallet make climate policy an election-winner?

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      At stuffy United Nations press conferences, in swanky auditoriums and at sticky socialist dance parties, one word was on everyone’s lips at this year’s Climate Week NYC: affordability.The US energy secretary, Chris Wright, said under that under President Trump the United States is “returning to commonsense energy policies that focus on affordability”. The former energy secretary, Jennifer Granholm, said Democrats must focus on renewable power’s ability to shrink power bills to win elections. And supporters of the almost certainly soon-to-be New York City mayor, Zohran Mamdani, trumpeted their efforts to link green policies with efforts to lower city residents’ rent and make transit affordable.The attempt to link everyday cost issues to global warming is not new. The concept was a key part of the Green New Deal, a progressive policy platform popularized by youth-led climate group the Sunrise Movement and New York representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in 2018. Joe Biden picked up the framing in the White House, naming his signature green carbon-cutting policy the Inflation Reduction Act, from 2022.Now, as utility bills soar around the country, Americans on every part of the political spectrum are framing their energy and climate proposals as ways to protect ordinary people’s pocketbooks.More on that after the most important reads from the week.Essential reads

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      In focusView image in fullscreenEvery year, Climate Week in New York City brings together government officials, corporate actors, scholars and activists for a vast array of climate-focused events, timed to coincide with the United Nations general assembly.This year, the Trump administration’s anti-environmental blitz cast a massive shadow over the event. In appearances through the week, White House officials aimed to peg its deregulatory agenda as a win to lower Americans’ bills, with Trump calling green energy a “scam” and Wright saying: “The more people have gotten into so-called climate action, the more expensive their energy has become.”Climate advocates attempted to expose those statements as false while getting Americans on board with green policies on the grounds that they can cut costs. For instance, two Democratic representatives, from Illinois and California, unveiled a proposal to speed new power-line construction and restore green energy incentives which Trump repealed earlier this year. Its name: the Cheap Energy Act.It’s a framework that Jennifer Granholm, who served as US energy secretary under Biden, said she expected as climate slips down the list of political concerns for Americans, while economic worries rise. “My guess is you’re not going to see a lot of politicians using the word ‘climate’, because people see that as a nice-to-have [concern], not a must-have, and right now they’re in the must-have mode,” she told reporters over avocado toast one morning. “Affordability is key.”Those well to Granholm’s left also called for a focus on affordability in the climate fight. But many called for more ambitious solutions that deliver more immediate benefits. Instead of merely tinkering with the tax code to incentivize green technology buildout – a hallmark of Biden’s climate efforts – politicians should prioritize less wonky, “green economic populist” campaigns such as fare-free transit and the build-out of decarbonized public housing.“These kinds of programs do have decarbonization benefits, but they’re extremely important for starting to build up a mass base [who have] trust in public institutions and trust in the government,” Batul Hassan, labor director at the left-leaning thinktank Climate and Community Institute, said at a panel.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionMamdani, the socialist who achieved a stunning win in the New York City mayoral primary this summer, embodies this kind of agenda, said Hassan. On Wednesday of Climate Week, progressives gathered for a dance party at the legendary Sounds of Brazil music venue to celebrate the candidate’s success.“It has long been understood that if we’re going to build a mass movement, people need to see the connection between the transition to renewable energy and spending less money,” New York City comptroller Brad Lander said in an interview with the Guardian at the party, shouting over the thrum of Charli xcx.Messaging is important, but merely talking about affordability is not enough, Alexa Avilés, a New York City council member and democratic socialist, told the Guardian at the Mamdani event. Trump, for instance, has failed to deliver on his promise of lowering bills while handing massive benefits to oil giants and other corporations. And many Democrats are also guilty of prioritizing their corporate donors’ interests, Avilés said.“Some people talk about working-class folks, but then they make policies that are designed for the rich. We’ve been living with that frustration for a long time,” she said. “We need to focus on actually bringing relief to people. And we see that when we really center people over profit, people respond to that. People can tell who is for real.”Read more:

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      Eric Adams drops out of New York City mayoral race

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      The mayor of New York City, Eric Adams, announced on Sunday that he is abandoning his faltering bid to win re-election, just over a month before election day, delivering the message in a social media video set to the strains of My Way.Adams, who was trailing in the polls, was elected as a Democrat but ran for re-election as an independent after he was indicted on federal corruption charges, which were then dropped by the Trump administration in exchange for his cooperation on immigration raids.In his video statement, seated on the steps of the mayor’s residence beside a photograph of his late mother, Adams said that it had been impossible for him to mount a winning campaign, blaming “constant media speculation about my future” and a decision by the city’s campaign finance board’s decision to withhold millions of dollars in matching funds over suspicious donations.View image in fullscreenHe also acknowledged that he had lost the trust of some New Yorkers after being charged with corruption but claimed the charges were unjust. “I was wrongfully charged because I fought for this city, and if I had to do it again, I would fight for New York again” Adams said, without explaining how allegedly obtaining illegal campaign contributions and luxury travel from foreign nationals for himself was in the best interest of New Yorkers.The mayor will serve the remainder of his term in office, which ends on New Year’s Eve, and his name remains on the ballot for the November election since the deadline to remove it has passed.The withdrawal of Adams narrows the race to lead the country’s largest city to a three-way contest between the Democratic nominee, Zohran Mamdani; the former governor, Andrew Cuomo; and the Republican candidate, Curtis Sliwa.Three weeks ago, when Adams had insisted that he would stay in the race, amid reports that he had been offered an ambassadorship by the Trump administration if he would drop out to make it easier for Cuomo to defeat the democratic socialist frontrunner, Mamdani, the mayor was scathing about the former governor. “Andrew Cuomo is a snake and a liar,” Adams told reporters. “Andrew has had a career of pushing Black candidates out of races.”After Adams announced the end of his campaign on Sunday, Cuomo nonetheless praised him for “putting the well-being of New York City ahead of personal ambition”.Without mentioning Mamdani by name, Cuomo added: “We face destructive extremist forces that would devastate our city through incompetence or ignorance, but it is not too late to stop them.”Mamdani, a New York state assembly member who defeated Cuomo to win the Democratic nomination earlier this year, did not immediately comment on the mayor’s withdrawal.Earlier on Sunday, he posted video on Instagram of an influential Black pastor welcoming him to address the congregation of a Black Christian megachurch in East New York. The pastor, A R Bernard, pointed out to congregants that, if elected, Mamdani would not be the first democratic socialist mayor on the city, since the late David Dinkins, the city’s first Black mayor, was also a member of the Democratic Socialists of America.Sliwa, the Republican nominee, said last week that he had turned down multiple offers of millions of dollars to end his own campaign.Recent polls of the four-way contest have shown Mamdani leading Cuomo by more than 20 points, with Sliwa and Adams far behind. When pollsters asked likely voters for their preferences in a race without Adams, Mamdani still led Cuomo by a sizable margin. More

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      Rare orange lobster found in New York supermarket returned to sea

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      A rare orange lobster was released back into the wild this week after being spotted by an enthusiast at a local grocery store.The lobster, swiftly nicknamed Jean-Clawed Van Damme, is a one-in-30m catch, according to Humane Long Island, a wildlife rescue group, and the New York Aquarium, who aided in releasing it.Given that seeing an orange lobster typically means it is dead and boiled and on a plate, shopper Kyle Brancato did a double take when he spotted the lobster moving among the others for sale at a Tops grocery store in upstate New York.“I walked by the lobster tank, and I saw this bright orange lobster,” Brancato told WHAM, a local CNN affiliate. “Very different from all the other ones in the tank.”He suspected other shoppers mistook the lobster as diseased and passed it by.View image in fullscreenBrancato decided to buy it, with the hopes of ultimately freeing it, but without much experience in crustacean care he improvised at first.“I borrowed some tank water from Palmer’s, down the road,” said Brancato, referring to a local restaurant. “That bought me enough time to go to [pet supply store] Petco and pick up a 20-gallon tank, and I got 20 gallons of sea water that they sell in the store in boxes. And I emptied it into the tank, and cooled it down to the proper temperature.”The lobster was released into the open waters of the Long Island Sound on Wednesday, just a day before National Lobster Day, which marks the peak of the annual US lobster harvesting season.Amid seasonal special offers from eateries, thousands more lobsters than usual suffered a different fate from their wild orange cousin and ended up boiled, buttered, and eaten.In 2021 an orange lobster was rescued in Ontario by a Canadian couple, after being held captive in a grocery store tank, where it had languished for weeks after being shunned by shoppers because of its rare hue and was apparently being picked on by the other lobsters. That one ended up in an aquarium. More

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      Zohran Mamdani withdraws from ABC town hall in Kimmel protest

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      Zohran Mamdani, the New York Democratic mayoral candidate, has announced he is withdrawing from a televised town hall hosted by a local ABC station in protest of the network’s suspension of Jimmy Kimmel’s talkshow.ABC indefinitely pulled Kimmel’s late-night show off air on 17 September after the chair of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) threatened to pull ABC affiliate broadcast licenses if the network did not act against Kimmel. Kimmel had criticized the Trump administration’s reaction to the killing of rightwing youth organizer Charlie Kirk.The suspension sparked backlash from politicians, media figures and free-speech organizations, and it has prompted boycotts and protests against both ABC and its parent company, Disney.Mamdani, who was set to participate in a town hall event with New York’s WABC on Thursday, said he would no longer take part.“I am withdrawing not as an indictment of the local affiliate or the hard-working journalists, but rather in response to the corporate leaders who have put their bottom line ahead of their responsibility in upholding the freedom of the press,” Mamdani said on Monday during a news conference.“We cannot understand this moment of authoritarianism as solely coming from the White House, when it is also characterized by the cowardice of those in response to it.”He also mentioned his opponents in the mayoral race, former New York governor Andrew Cuomo and incumbent Eric Adams. The Trump administration has reportedly explored offering Adams a position in exchange for the incumbent’s dropping out of the race, with polling suggesting the contest would tighten in favor of Cuomo, whom the president prefers to Mamdani.Mamdani said: “I am running to be the next mayor of the city to finally make clear what it looks like to stand up, not just for this city, but also for the constitution.“We have to understand who suffers in these moments. It’s not just a question of Jimmy Kimmel himself, it’s also a question of the engineers, the writers, the musicians who are feeling this attack on the very city they call home. The message that it sends to each and every American across this country is a message that [free speech] is no longer a right that can be counted on, but rather that it is the government which will determine what should and should not be discussed, what can and cannot be spoken.”Disney did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Guardian.On Friday, Variety reported that Disney and Kimmel were working on a compromise that would bring his talkshow back on air.Meanwhile, a report from Front Office Sports explored some potential complications to such a compromise. The outlet reported that Disney could be facing a choice between putting Kimmel back on air and completing a multibillion-dollar deal with the National Football League to swap the NFL Network, RedZone brand, NFL Fantasy Football and other media assets for a 10% stake in Disney-owned sportscaster ESPN.Mamdani, a state assembly member from Queens, won the Democratic nomination in June, defeating Cuomo. With less than two months until the 4 November general election, Mamdani has continued to hold a commanding lead in the polls.A recent poll showed Mamdani with 43% support among registered New York City voters. Cuomo, who is now running as an independent, received 28% support in the poll.Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa polled at 10% support, and Adams, also running as an independent, polled at 8%. Nine percent of respondents said they were still undecided.Kathy Hochul, the Democratic New York governor, has endorsed Mamdani in his race to become the next mayor of one of the world’s most prominent cities. More

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      Chinese executive jailed for 25 years in US for trafficking fentanyl chemicals

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      A Chinese company executive has been sentenced to 25 years in prison for trafficking in chemicals used to manufacture fentanyl, the US justice department has said.Qingzhou Wang, 37, principal executive of Amarvel Biotech, a company based in Wuhan, and Yiyi Chen, 33, the firm’s marketing manager, were convicted in New York in February of fentanyl precusor importation and money laundering.District judge Paul Gardephe sentenced Wang to 25 years in prison on Friday. Chen was sentenced to 15 years in prison on 22 August.“These executives turned a Chinese chemical company into a pipeline of poison, shipping hundreds of kilos of fentanyl-related precursors into the United States, disguising them as everyday goods, and cashing in through cryptocurrency,” Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) chief Terrance Cole said in a statement.Wang and Chen were among eight Chinese nationals and four Chinese companies charged by the justice department in June 2023 with trafficking fentanyl precursor chemicals into the US.It was the first time the United States had charged Chinese companies for trafficking fentanyl precursor chemicals inside the United States, rather than shipping them to Mexico, the origin of most of the fentanyl found in the country.Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid that is 50 times more powerful than heroin and much easier and cheaper to produce. It has largely replaced heroin and prescription opioids such as oxycodone as a cause of overdoses in the United States.The June 2023 indictment of the Chinese executives and companies drew protests from Beijing.“It is completely illegal and seriously damages the basic human rights of Chinese citizens and Chinese companies,” the Chinese foreign ministry said at the time. “China strongly condemns this.”Although Mexico has been the main source of fentanyl sold in the United States, Washington has increasingly focused its attention on China-based suppliers of ingredients. More

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      New York lawmakers arrested for blocking Ice access to federal building

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      New York lawmakers, immigrants’ rights activists and religious leaders were arrested on Thursday at protests both inside and outside the complex in lower Manhattan where federal officials have been routinely detaining immigrants amid the Trump administration’s anti-immigration agenda.At least 70 demonstrators staged a direct-action protest to block access to and from the underground garage used by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) to transport people arrested by the agency. The nature of the protest prompted the New York police department (NYPD) to begin arresting people sitting in front of the access ramp.Others protesting were arrested by federal officers inside the federal building, which houses a number of facilities including offices for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) – the parent agency of Ice – as well as the FBI and an immigration court.Inside, 11 elected officials were detained after demanding to see the conditions inside the Ice intake facility on the 10th floor of the building, which has recently prompted reports of allegedly poor treatment.These included Brad Lander, the New York City comptroller, who was previously arrested there in June by masked federal agents, provoking uproar and objections from New York governor Kathy Hochul. Lander was a Democratic party mayoral candidate this year but teamed up to cross-endorse eventual primary winner Zohran Mamdani.View image in fullscreenIn recent months, breaking norms, Ice has been showing up outside immigration court and arresting people in the hallways as they come out of hearings in the small courtrooms.Tony Simone, a New York state representative who was arrested at the protest, said: “We will be back here time and time again,” and encouraged other officials to stand up to the administration’s aggressive immigration policies. “Ice is not welcome in our state,” he added.In a statement responding to the protests, DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said that Lander and the other politicians were “pulling a stunt in attempt to get their 15 minutes of fame while endangering DHS personnel and detainees”.“As a result of the chaos caused by Lander, Federal Protective Service called NYPD,” McLaughlin said, adding that local police and federal law enforcement “arrested 71 agitators and sanctuary politicians”, in a reference to New York being a sanctuary city where local law enforcement is supposed to limit or deny cooperation with federal immigration enforcement.In the statement, McLaughlin accused the immigrants who were kept inside the Ice intake facility of being gang members, possessing fentanyl or having a gun.“Brad Lander’s obsession with attacking the brave men and women of law enforcement, physically and rhetorically, must stop NOW,” McLaughlin said.View image in fullscreenOutside, dozens of protesters gathered with signs and banners as they crowded together to block the garage used by Ice – the only entry and exit for official vehicles at the complex at 26 Federal Plaza.As the protesters sat and chanted a few meters from the garage entrance, NYPD officers arrived and ordered them to disperse.When protesters refused, the officers, including members of the controversial Strategic Response Group, moved in to arrest them. New York City public advocate Jumaane Williams was the first to be detained from the demonstration outside.Others arrested near the garage included city council members Tiffany Cabán and Sandy Nurse and state assembly member Phara Souffrant Forrest.View image in fullscreenPolice motioned to the people who remained sitting, then lifted up some, cuffing them with zip ties while they continued to chant. The protesters were then moved and lined up before being placed in a police van.Inside, state senators Julia Salazar, Jabari Brisport and Gustavo Rivera and state representatives Jessica González-Rojas, Marcela Mitaynes, Emily Gallagher, Claire Valdez, Tony Simone, Robert Carroll and Steven Raga were arrested. The 11, including Lander, were charged with a federal misdemeanor for blocking the corridors, then released with a date to appear in court.View image in fullscreen“To be clear, Ice should be abolished,” Brisport said. He described how when the lawmakers had requested to enter the Ice intake facility, officials zip-tied the doors shut and added duct tape over windows to prevent the politicians from seeing inside.Cabán said: “As an elected official, it is my duty to protect my constituents from cruelty and violence. Ice is cruel and violent. Ice puts New Yorkers and our democracy in danger.”She called for the abolition of Ice and said federal enforcement officers were “kidnapping my neighbors”, detaining and sending people to “cruel for-profit detention camps”. She also called for proposed legislation to be passed, including the New York for All bill prohibiting local and state agencies from assisting in federal immigration enforcement.“Ice has terrorized over 3,000 New Yorkers this year, kidnapping them as they attempt to attend court dates and immigration check-ins, holding them in inhumane conditions, without medicine, changes of clothing, adequate food, beds or contact with the outside world, snatching away due process,” Cabán said. More

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      Why have top Democratic leaders failed to endorse rising star Zohran Mamdani?

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      He’s the hottest politician in the US, who managed to attract thousands of young and first-time voters to the Democratic party in his unexpected win in the New York City mayoral primary.With the Democrats suffering from historically low approval ratings, one might have thought the party would rally round Zohran Mamdani, to learn lessons from the media-savvy 33-year-old and bask in his soaring popularity.That hasn’t happened.The most influential political figures in New York state politics have instead studiously avoided any public endorsement of Mamdani, the self-described democratic socialist who has a 22-point lead over his nearest challenger.New York’s two senators, Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand, are yet to back Mamdani. Hakeem Jeffries, the House minority leader who represents a Brooklyn district, hasn’t endorsed him either – despite Jeffries endorsing a candidate for mayor last time round.View image in fullscreenKathy Hochul, the New York governor, endorsed Mamdani on Sunday, describing him as “a leader who is focused on making New York City affordable” in an op-ed for the New York Times – while stating she was not “aligned with him on every issue”.But the hesitation from New York’s top Democrats, all considered centrist politicians, has led to anger from the left. Bernie Sanders, the progressive Vermont senator who has campaigned with Mamdani, blasted the party as “crazy” in an interview with CNN on Wednesday.“He was in the polls, 2%, all right?” Sanders said, referencing the lowly start Mamdani had to his campaign.“He wins, wins by a lot. He has over 50,000 volunteers, people enthusiastic about his campaign. He brings out people, registers all kinds of new people, brings out non-traditional voters. Now, if you were a Democratic leader in a party which is now in the doldrums, you would be jumping for joy: ‘Oh, my God, this is just the guy we want. I want to see this all over the country.’Sanders described the lack of endorsement from party grandees as “absurd”.View image in fullscreenAlexandria Ocasio-Cortez was more diplomatic when asked about Mamdani last week, saying she was “very concerned about the example that is being set”, but it’s clear that grassroots political activists are furious.“Democratic leaders who refuse to endorse winners of Democratic primaries do massive damage to the party and should be politically defenestrated,” Ezra Levin, the co-executive director of progressive organization Indivisible, said.“We don’t have time for this post-primary bullshit in the middle of an authoritarian putsch.”Some from the center of the party have begun to urge Democrats to rally round Mamdani. Jamie Raskin, the Democratic congressman from Maryland, gave a glowing review of Mamdani in an interview with the New York Times this week, describing him as a “significant and inspiring leader”.“In these times, the Democratic party needs to stick together with the maximum solidarity and focus,” Raskin said.“Even though I’m not a New Yorker and have never been a New Yorker, I feel that Democrats must stand together to defend not only our party but our constitution and our country.”Raskin added: “He really wants to rebuild an FDR coalition that is fundamentally committed to the success of the working and middle classes in his city.”Some believe there are political reasons for the caution. With midterm elections looming next year – Democrats desperately need to pick up seats in Congress if they are to stymie Donald Trump’s agenda – the president and the rightwing media have already begun demonizing Mamdani as a “communist”. There appears to be a belief on the right that tying Mamdani to the wider Democratic party could be beneficial for the Republican party.View image in fullscreen“I do think some of the hesitation is because on some of the national Democrat level and some of the donor level, there is some type of fear that an association with a socialist mayor will hurt Democrats nationally,” said Trip Yang, a Democratic strategist and founder of Trip Yang Strategies.“That is a traditional viewpoint. I respectfully disagree with that. [But] I’m sure that people nationally who have this viewpoint have relayed this viewpoint to the top Democratic leaders in New York.”Before Hochul backed Mamdani over the weekend, she had shown tacit support: Yang pointed out that Hochul had sometimes spoken positively of Mamdani, something she has not done about Andrew Cuomo, the former governor, or the incumbent Eric Adams. Both, though, have abandoned the Democratic party to run for mayor as independents.Still, the stalling comes as Trump appears to be wading into the race. Trump advisers, according to numerous reports, have discussed offering Adams a job in the administration if he drops out of the race – something they believe would benefit Cuomo’s chances.View image in fullscreenMamdani’s campaign pledges to tax the very wealthiest New Yorkers appear to have deep-pocketed donors worried, and his stance on Israel’s war in Gaza may also have had an impact. Schumer and Jeffries are both staunch supporters of Israel, while Mamdani has repeatedly criticized the country, and described the situation in Gaza as a genocide – as have many human rights groups, including some from Israel.For Sanders, however, the motive comes down to money. In the CNN interview Sanders referenced a New York Times report that wealthy New York business leaders had met on Tuesday to, as the Times put it, “plot Mamdani’s defeat”.“So what you have is an oligarchal group in New York. But you know what they’re worried about? They’re not just worried about Mamdani. If Mamdani wins in New York, the idea will go all across the country. That in fact, you can take on the oligarchs, and you can beat them. That at the end of the day, grassroots organizing, ordinary people, working-class people, standing up and fighting back, are more powerful than the oligarchs and all of their money.“That is what the oligarchs are afraid of. That’s what the Republicans are afraid of. That is what I fear the Democratic leadership is afraid of.” More