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      Army Report Links Pentagon Equipment Glitch to Aborted Landings at D.C. Airport

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      The diversion of two commercial flights on May 1 has raised new questions about equipment and safety in some of Washington’s busiest airspace.Two commercial flights were diverted from Ronald Reagan National Airport on May 1 in part because of a communications glitch between an Army Black Hawk helicopter and Pentagon air traffic controllers, according to an Army official who was briefed on an internal review of the matter.The Black Hawk helicopter had tried to land on the helipad near the Pentagon but was asked to fly around and land a short while later, according to an Army statement issued Friday. That request, which came from air traffic controllers at the Pentagon, arose from a short period in which the controllers lost audio and visual contact with the helicopter just moments before it was set to land, the official said.The helicopter “initiated a go-around due to a delay in clearance from the Pentagon Tower,” the Army wrote in its statement. The Associated Press earlier reported details of the Army review.The Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board are also investigating the event and declined to comment.The May 1 episode, which included the aborted landings of a Delta Air Lines flight and a Republic Airways flight, has been under unusual scrutiny because of the recent spate of problems in U.S. aviation.In January, a midair collision near National Airport between a different Army Black Hawk helicopter and a commercial flight from Wichita, Kan., killed 67 people. And in recent weeks, air traffic control centers from Philadelphia to the Denver area have been affected by equipment outages that have frightened controllers, raising concerns about air safety.The F.A.A. oversees the National Airport air traffic control tower and has been working to address the equipment and staffing troubles. At a Senate hearing last week, Franklin McIntosh, then the deputy chief operating officer of the F.A.A., said that his agency had not known until the May 1 episode that a hotline linking the Pentagon’s controllers to their counterparts at the National Airport tower had been inoperable for three years. In the meantime, the two entities were communicating over a landline, officials have said.“We were extremely troubled by the incident that occurred,” Mr. McIntosh said, adding that the Defense Department had suspended certain operations in the National Airport airspace afterward. A repaired hotline would be necessary in order for the flights to resume, the F.A.A. official added.The aviation agency recently restricted a particularly treacherous helicopter flight route in the National Airport vicinity and mandated that Army flights operate with a location broadcasting system called ADS-B Out. The Army said on Friday that the Black Hawk in the May 1 episode was using ADS-B Out at the time and that it was also flying on an approved route.The Army also said in its statement that one of the commercial flights was diverted because of a problem with National Airport controllers’ “sequencing” of air traffic. The second diversion request stemmed from conflicting aircraft location data, the statement added, without providing details. More

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      in US Politics

      US judge overturns Trump order targeting major law firm Jenner & Block

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      A US judge on Friday overturned Donald Trump’s executive order targeting Jenner & Block, a big law firm that employed a lawyer who investigated him.Trump’s executive order, called Addressing Risks from Jenner & Block, suspended security clearances for the firm’s lawyers and restricted their access to government buildings, officials and federal contracting work.Trump accused the law firm of engaging in activities that “undermine justice and the interests of the United States”, claiming that it participated in politically driven legal actions. In the executive order, Trump specifically criticized the firm for hiring Andrew Weissmann, an attorney who worked on Robert Mueller’s investigation into allegations of Russian influence in Trump’s 2016 campaign.The firm sued to block Trump’s order, arguing it violated the constitution’s first and fifth amendments.US district judge John D Bates ruled on Friday that Trump’s directive violated core rights under the US constitution, mirroring a 2 May ruling that struck down a similar executive order against law firm Perkins Coie.Bates did not mince words when calling a Trump executive order unconstitutional, which sought to target Jenner & Block.Trump’s order, Bates wrote, “makes no bones about why it chose its target: it picked Jenner because of the causes Jenner champions, the clients Jenner represents, and a lawyer Jenner once employed”.“Going after law firms in this way is doubly violative of the constitution,” Bates said.The justice department and the White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The administration can appeal Bates’ order to the US court of appeals for the District of Columbia circuit.Trump signed an executive order in March, targeting Jenner & Block by suspending security clearances and restricting their access to government buildings, officials and federal contracting work. This was, Trump claimed, because of politically motivated “lawfare” the firm engaged in.By attempting to push forward this executive order, Trump attempted to “chill legal representation the administration doesn’t like, thereby insulating the executive branch from the judicial check fundamental to the separation of powers”.Bates added that the Trump executive orders against law firms “follow the same recipe: other than personalized touches in their first sections, they generally direct the same adverse actions towards each firm and decry the threat each firm poses to national security and the national interest”.Bates was appointed to the District of Columbia in 2001 by George W Bush. He blocked Trump’s executive order completely.Apart from Jenner and Perkins Coie, two other firms – WilmerHale and Susman Godfrey – have sued the Trump administration to permanently block executive orders he issued against them.Nine law firms, including Paul Weiss, Milbank, Simpson Thacher and Skadden Arps, have pledged nearly $1bn in free legal services to causes the White House supports and made other concessions to avoid being targeted by Trump.The justice department has defended Trump’s executive orders against Jenner and other law firms as consistent with the broad reach of presidential authority.Reuters contributed reporting More

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      Woman Arrested for Spitting on Ed Martin, Former Trump Justice Dept. Official

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      Ed Martin, the former interim U.S. attorney for Washington, stepped down from the position earlier this month.Federal police arrested a Washington woman on Thursday and charged her with assault for allegedly spitting on Ed Martin, who was at the time the chief prosecutor for the nation’s capital appointed by President Trump.Earlier this month, Emily Gabriella Sommer, 32 confronted Mr. Martin, the interim U.S. attorney for Washington, during an interview with journalists outside of his office in Northwest Washington. Ms. Sommer, who was walking a dog on a leash, approached Mr. Martin, asked him “Who are you?” using an expletive, and then spat on him. As she walked away, she told Mr. Martin, “You are a disgusting man.”Later that evening, a social media account — “@EmilyGabriellaS” with the username “leftits” — then repeatedly confronted Mr. Martin in the replies to his social media posts, mocking him and claiming responsibility for the incident.Mr. Martin stepped down from his position as the interim U.S. attorney earlier this month after it became clear his work for Jan. 6 rioters would stop him from getting confirmed by the Senate. He is now the self-described “captain” of the Justice Department’s “weaponization” group, among other roles, leading President Trump’s campaign to carry out retribution against his perceived enemies. He often appeared to do just that in his role as the top prosecutor in Washington, and it was one of the obstacles in his ultimately doomed path to Senate confirmation to be the capital’s permanent U.S. attorney.According to the criminal complaint submitted in federal court, U.S. marshals interviewed a witness at Ms. Sommer’s home, who identified her as the person who spat on Mr. Martin. In a statement on Thursday, the Justice Department announced that they had arrested and charged Ms. Sommer with one count of assaulting, resisting, or impeding a government official.Although spitting is considered a form of assault in most U.S. jurisdictions, prosecutors do not usually pursue assault cases for spitting unless there is some aggravating circumstance. In 2020, for example, a New York woman was charged with assault of a federal employee for spitting on a postal worker and claiming to have been infected with the coronavirus. A study published in “Forensic Science International” in 2021 found that “spitting is generally considered more of a nuisance than a truly violent act,” adding that one of the exceptions would be potential exposure to an infectious disease. More

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      Gunman Fired Repeatedly at Young Couple Outside Jewish Museum, F.B.I. Says

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      The authorities said the shooter was motivated by opposition to the war in Gaza when he killed two young Israeli Embassy employees in Washington.The gathering at the Capital Jewish Museum was quintessential Washington — a nighttime reception hosted by a national advocacy group, bringing together young professionals and foreign diplomats in a neighborhood not far from the Capitol.On the street outside, a man who looked like just another young Washingtonian in a blue jacket and a backpack was pacing back and forth.As two young aides at the Israeli Embassy who were dating left the reception, he turned to face their backs and pulled a 9-millimeter handgun from his waistband, according to an F.B.I. affidavit that cited surveillance video. Then he shot them again and again, reloading his pistol, shooting even after they fell and as the young woman was trying to crawl away.The gunman then went inside the museum, where guests thought he was a bystander who had fled the shooting, and someone offered him a glass of water. Moments later, when the police apprehended him, he let out a cry that has become familiar on college campuses and at protests around the world: “Free, free Palestine!”The killings punctuated a moment of rising tension in the United States and around the world, as college campuses, European capitals and American politics have been transformed by anger over the deadly Hamas-led attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and Israel’s devastating bombing campaign in Gaza.Across the world, offenses against Jewish people and property have increased sharply since the Hamas attacks and have remained at historically high levels as Israel has waged a military offensive and aid blockade that the Gaza Health Ministry says has killed more than 50,000 Palestinians and left the population on the brink of starvation.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      What to Know About Suspect in D.C. Shooting That Killed Israeli Embassy Aides

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      The suspect, Elias Rodriguez, was charged with gunning down two Israeli Embassy workers outside a Jewish museum in Washington. Here is what we know about him.Elias Rodriguez, a Chicago resident, was charged on Thursday with first-degree murder and other crimes in the killings of two Israeli Embassy aides outside a Jewish museum in Washington.By some accounts, Mr. Rodriguez, 31, led a life typical of a college-educated young professional in Chicago, residing in an apartment in a middle-class North Side neighborhood, with friends and family nearby.But he was also increasingly active in left-wing politics, posting on social media and joining demonstrations in Chicago in opposition to Israel’s war in Gaza, large corporations and racism.When Mr. Rodriguez was taken into custody after the shooting on Wednesday night, he told police officers, “I did it for Palestine, I did it for Gaza,” according to an F.B.I. affidavit filed in federal court.Here’s what else we know about him.A school and work life that raised no concernsBorn and raised in Chicago, Mr. Rodriguez graduated from the University of Illinois Chicago, a school west of downtown that attracts many local residents.Sherri McGinnis Gonzalez, a university spokeswoman, said that Mr. Rodriguez attended from the fall of 2016 through the spring of 2018 and was awarded a Bachelor of Arts degree.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      in US Politics

      Suspect charged with murder in shooting of Israeli embassy staffers

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      The US justice department on Thursday charged the lone suspect in a brazen attack that killed two young Israeli embassy staff members outside an event at the Jewish museum in downtown Washington DC with two counts of first degree murder.Jeanine Pirro, the interim US attorney for Washington, said at a press conference on Thursday afternoon that authorities were also investigating as a “hate crime and a crime of terrorism” the killings that left the US capital in shock as world leaders condemned the “horrible” and “antisemitic” shootings.Early on Thursday morning, federal agents in tactical gear descended on a Chicago apartment believed to be the alleged gunman’s home. According to a post on X from the FBI’s Washington field office, agents in Chicago were “conducting court-authorized law enforcement activity” that it said was “in relation to yesterday’s tragic shooting in Washington, DC”.The FBI director, Kash Patel, described the slaying as an “act of terror” and “targeted anti-Semitic violence”. The US attorney general, Pam Bondi, said that US authorities believed the suspect acted alone. “We are doing everything we can to protect our entire community, and especially our Jewish community right now,” said Bondi, who was at the crime scene. “It was horrific,” she added.At the White House, press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Donald Trump was “saddened and outraged” by the deadly act and vowed that the US Department of Justice “will be prosecuting the perpetrator of this to the full extent of the law”. She said Trump spoke with Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday.The killings occurred shortly after 9pm on Wednesday evening, outside the Capital Jewish Museum, where, according to officials, a gunman approached a group leaving an event hosted by the American Jewish Committee and opened fire at close range.The victims, identified as Yaron Lischinsky, who grew up in Germany and Israel, and Sarah Milgrim, a US citizen from Kansas, were a young couple about to be engaged, according to Yechiel Leiter, the Israeli ambassador to the US. Leiter told reporters Lischinsky had “purchased a ring this week with the intention of proposing to his girlfriend next week in Jerusalem”.The suspect, identified as Elias Rodriguez, was observed pacing outside the museum before the shooting, the Metropolitan police chief, Pamela Smith, said. After opening fire, he walked into the museum, was detained by event security and began to chant “Free, free Palestine,” she said.Officials have said the suspect was not on any security watchlists and there were no heightened security threats before the shooting. The firearm believed to be used in the killings was retrieved as well, officials said.The FBI deputy director, Dan Bongino, said the suspect was interviewed by authorities within hours of being taken into custody. Officials were aware of “certain writings” possibly authored by the suspect that have been circulated online, he wrote in a post on X, adding: “We hope to have updates as to the authenticity very soon.”The flags at Israeli diplomatic missions around the world were lowered to half mast, and Netanyahu ordered security to be stepped up following what he called “the horrifying antisemitic murder”.The attack comes as Israel expanded its ground offensive in Gaza, and faces growing international pressure, including from the US, to end its nearly three-month long blockade of food, medicine and other supplies that humanitarian groups say has pushed the enclave to the brink of famine.The shooting occurred in an area of the US capital crowded with federal buildings and embassies. The Capital Jewish Museum is located steps from the FBI’s Washington field office.Leaders in the US and Israel have said the attack was part of what Netanyahu called “the terrible price of antisemitism and wild incitement against Israel”.“When antisemitism is normalized, that’s where we start to see the real danger that results in the violence we saw last night,” Ted Deutch, a former Florida congressman and the chief executive of the American Jewish Committee, which had put on the reception for young diplomats on Wednesday night, said in an interview on MSNBC. “Everyone has a role to play in making sure that doesn’t happen.”In a social media post early on Thursday, Trump wrote: “These horrible D.C. killings, based obviously on antisemitism, must end, NOW! Hatred and Radicalism have no place in the USA.”Gideon Sa’ar, the Israeli foreign minister, blamed critics of the Israeli government, including the “leaders and officials of many countries and international organizations, especially from Europe” for inciting violence and hatred against his country since the Israel-Hamas war began on 7 October 2023.France on Thursday denounced Sa’ar’s comments as “unjustified” and “outrageous”. “France has condemned, France condemns and France will continue to condemn, always and unequivocally, any act of antisemitism,” the foreign ministry spokesperson Christophe Lemoine said.International criticism of Israel over the Gaza war has risen in recent weeks. On Tuesday, in an unprecedented, joint statement with Canada and the UK, France condemned “the appalling language” of members of Netanyahu’s government, and the “outrageous actions” and the “intolerable level of suffering” of civilians.The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) condemned the deadly attack as “completely unacceptable” and said that political violence “only undermines the pursuit of justice”.“While millions of Americans feel extreme frustration at the sight of the Israeli government slaughtering Palestinian men, women and children on a daily basis with weapons paid for with our taxpayer dollars, political violence is an unacceptable crime and is not the answer,” the group said in a statement.Tributes poured in for the slain victims of the attack from the US and overseas as those who knew Lischinsky and Milgrim described the couple as “bright” and “talented”.Lischinsky, 30, who worked as a research assistant in the political department of the Israeli embassy in Washington, was born in Nuremberg, according to the Israeli ambassador to Germany, Ron Prosor. “He was a Christian, a true lover of Israel, served in the IDF, and chose to dedicate his life to the State of Israel and the Zionist cause,” he wrote on X, sharing that he came to know Lischinsky as his master’s student at Reichman University in Israel.Milgrim, 26, an American from Kansas, organized trips to Israel, according to a spokesperson for the Israeli foreign ministry, officials said. She was also a volunteer with Tech2Peace, an advocacy group training young Palestinians and Israelis and promoting dialogue between them, according to the organization.KU Hillel, a Jewish student organization at her alma mater, the University of Kansas, described Milgrim as a “bright spirit” whose “passion for the Jewish community touched everyone fortunate enough to know her”. Those who knew her best said she was “the definition of the best person”, the statement said.Lischinsky was preparing to propose to Milgrim when they traveled to Jerusalem next week to meet his family, according to officials. Lischinsky had purchased an engagement ring, which Miligram’s family only learned of after the shooting.“The ironic part is that we were worried for our daughter’s safety in Israel,” her father, Robert Milgrim, told the New York Times in an interview. “But she was murdered three days before going.” More

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      The Future of Black History Lives on Donald Trump’s Front Lawn

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      I don’t know why I was surprised when President Trump went after the Smithsonian Institution, in particular the National Museum of African American History and Culture — or as it’s more informally known, the Black Smithsonian. If anything, I should have been surprised he held off for two months. On March 27, he issued “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History,” an executive order that accused the Smithsonian Institution of having “come under the influence of a divisive, race-centered ideology.” He called out the Black Smithsonian in particular for being subject “to ideological indoctrination or divisive narratives that distort our shared history.” The federal government, he declared, will no longer support historical projects that “degrade shared American values” or “divide Americans based on race.”I think Mr. Trump’s presidency is a national tragedy. But a stopped clock is right twice a day, and I have some sympathy for the concerns he raised about the agenda of much historical thinking these days. Too often it indulges in sloppy and even childish stereotypes, depicting America’s past as one extended hit job.The boldness of the American experiment, the emergence of the Constitution, the evolution of public schooling, the expansion of the right to vote, the rise of the conservationism and the flourishing of our diverse cultural life — reducing all of this to the machinations of a sinister white cabal is, like the 1980s power ballad, seductive but vapid. That white lady at the supermarket with her 6-year-old daughter has organized her life around defending her privilege? I’m not seeing it.President Trump visited the National Museum of African American History in 2017.Doug Mills/The New York TimesI shudder at suggestions that — as a graphic on the Black Smithsonian’s own website put it a few years ago — “objective, rational, linear thinking,” “quantitative emphasis” and “decision-making” are the purview of white culture. I despise equally the idea that Black people are communal, oral, “I’ll get to that tomorrow” sorts who like to circle around the answer rather than actually arrive at it.And I am especially dismayed at how this version of history implies that the most interesting thing about the experience of Black Americans has been their encounter with whiteness. I figured that the president was being typically hyperbolic when he said that institutions like the museum deepen “societal divides and fosters a sense of national shame, disregarding the progress America has made and the ideals that continue to inspire millions around the globe” — I mean, even something as stupid as that guide to whiteness might just be an outlying mistake. But I was wary that a national museum might squander its chance to illuminate complex topics and expand people’s curiosity, instead trying to corral everyone into caricatures and oversimplifications. As I read the executive order, however, it occurred to me that after all these years, I had yet to actually visit the museum. So, on a sunny Friday afternoon, I decided to zip over to the National Mall to take a look. I will not soon forget what I saw.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Trump’s Military Parade in D.C. Could Cost $45 Million, Officials Say

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      The parade is scheduled for June 14, the date of the Army’s 250th anniversary, and is billed as the “Army’s birthday celebration.” President Trump turns 79 that day.A military parade planned for next month could cost up to $45 million and is expected to include up to two dozen M1 Abrams tanks rolling through the streets of Washington, two defense officials said Thursday.The parade, according to the Army’s website, will be held on June 14, which is both the date of the Army’s 250th anniversary and President Trump’s 79th birthday.The officials who spoke about the costs said that the estimate, previously reported by Reuters, did not include the cleanup or repairs from damage to Washington’s roads from the tank traffic. They spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal planningThe Army has said the parade will include 150 vehicles, 50 warplanes and the participation of more than 6,600 soldiers.The thousands of visiting soldiers in Washington for the parade will stay in unused government buildings and sleep on cots, according to the Army. They will be provided three daily meals and a stipend, the Pentagon has said.A Bradley Fighting Vehicle on display for a Fourth of July event in Washington in 2019.Nicholas Kamm/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesThe anniversary celebration is expected to include a daylong festival with musical performances and displays of equipment. Mr. Trump also proposed a military parade for Veterans Day in November during his first term, but the notion was derailed by members of his administration over cost concerns.Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has said the parade is intended to honor the sacrifice of American troops who helped secure the country’s independence.“There are a lot of vapid things to celebrate, plenty of reality shows and garbage music and stuff on Netflix,” he said in a speech this month. “How about we hold up our special operations community? How about we recognize the Army and the Marine Corps?”But some Democratic lawmakers have cast the planned parade as wasteful and over-the-top. Representative Steve Cohen, Democrat of Tennessee, introduced a bill last month that would bar spending federal money on a military parade in Washington “primarily intended to celebrate the birthday, personal milestone, or private interest of any individual, including President Donald J. Trump.”Mr. Cohen suggested in a statement that Mr. Trump planned to “waste taxpayer dollars burnishing his insatiable ego.”Protests of the parade are planned in Washington and other American cities.Many countries — including France, China and North Korea — put on regular military parades, but such displays are rare in the United States. More