# Need last-minute gifts? Presidential hopefuls offer ornaments, gift wrap - and Trump mug shot merch
By **MEG KINNARD**
December 22, 2023. 12:06 AM EST

---

**COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP)** - The field of 2024 presidential candidates may have some options for shoppers scrambling for a last-minute holiday gift.

As the campaign for the White House kicks into full gear, the contenders are offering an onslaught of holiday-themed merchandise, many of which capture some of the surreal aspects of the 2024 race. Donald Trump, for instance, is embracing his status as the first former president to face criminal charges by emblazoning his mug shot on Christmas sweaters, gift wrap and stockings.

Trump and his supporters have embraced the image of him intensely glaring into a Fulton County Jail camera since he surrendered on charges that he illegally tried to interfere in Georgia's 2020 election.

Trump's campaign is hardly backing away from his status, offering items emblazoned with the mug shot almost immediately after it was taken in August, with nearly daily emails offering supporters a mug, T-shirt or poster bearing the image, along with the words "Never Surrender."

Nearly all of the 2024 candidates have online stores and most have tchotchkes that riff on the year's politics.

You can snag a Nikki Haley tree ornament and wrapping paper emblazoned with the hopeful's campaign logo, or a litany of more traditional items like hats, shirts, and even "Past my prime?" drink koozies that harken back to the comment that led in part to Don Lemon being bounced from CNN.

Don't forget Ron DeSantis' set of golf balls whose box bares the phrase that he "has a pair" - a slight at Trump for not participating in the GOP primary debates. Or Vivek Ramaswamy's "Nikki = Corrupt" T-shirt, the phrase the entrepreneur wrote on a notepad after a debate night tirade against Haley's service on the board of aerospace giant Boeing Co.

Democrats are also taking advantage of the chance to pump up their sales - and the associated campaign donations that come with them. President Joe Biden's reelection campaign has a slew of the usual apparel fare. There's also its line of "Dark Brandon" shirts, signs, mugs and even holiday gift wrap with the president's red-eyed caricature that embraces the 2021-era "Let's Go Brandon" phrase intended as an insult (but which Democrats have aimed to operationalize in a tongue-in-cheek battle cry).

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s store has apparel, stickers and a number of items with "No shirt, no shoes, no Secret Service," recalling the independent candidate's ongoing denial of federal protection despite security issues during his campaign.

You're out of luck, though, if you're looking for official Chris Christie or Dean Phillips merch - holiday or otherwise - although there are a number of third-party purveyors ready to hook you up with shirts, hats and even beach towels.

The Trump mug shot merch has been popping up along the campaign trail as Trump and others have been stumping across Iowa ahead of the Jan. 15 caucuses.

A Christmas version features a red and white Santa hat atop Trump's head. There's also a mug shot Christmas stocking and with wrapping paper to match, as well as another version with the candidate pumping his fist in the air.

At a recent Trump campaign event in Cedar Rapids, there was plenty of Trump merchandise in the crowd of at least 700, with the former president's name, "Make America Great Again" slogan and his mug shot blazoned on hats, T-shirts signs and more. One couple, who declined to speak to an Associated Press reporter, were wearing matching red and green MAGA Christmas sweaters.

Pat Sand, a 57-year-old from Marcus, Iowa, who was wearing a Trump campaign hat and button, said Trump's use of his mug shot on merchandise, including on Christmas-themed items, "puts the name and the face out there, good or bad."

Sand said he has novelty toilet paper that features Trump's mug shot on it - although he added, with a laugh, that he does not use it.

"My daughter got it for me," he said. "It was sarcasm."

Outside the event, Scott Bohac from the Cleveland, Ohio, area was one of a handful of sellers of unofficial merchandise that set up tables and tents outside Trump's events.

As the crowd was streaming home and a winter storm was starting to roll in, Bohac - who has spent the last three years traveling the country selling shirts outside Trump rallies - was folding the last few T-shirts he made for that day's event.

"Some of these vendors got like 20 different shirts. I push one shirt," said Bohac, who said he designs a new one for each event with the date and location of the rally - like a concert - along with a word like "Trump" and some kind of image in the center, which he said is "usually always eagles."

Saying he has not started selling the designs featuring Trump's mug shot, Bohac said sales have gone up for him since Trump started facing criminal indictments, and that it's smart for the campaign to use it.

"I just left that for everybody else," he said. "I do my thing."

Campaigns use their merchandising opportunities - from "Dark Brandon" to "Nikki = Corrupt" to the mug shot - to seize on the moment, said J. Mark Powell, a GOP strategist and longtime collector of political memorabilia in South Carolina.

"What we're seeing in this cycle is making the most of things that are talked about at this very moment, but which will soon turn into trivia questions for political junkies," he said, adding that the fast fashion way that campaigns utilize third-party vendors to make and sell their wares also brings in donations and user data, as well as visibility and generates pride among supporters.

"Giving someone a Biden coffee mug or a roll of Trump wrapping paper isn't going to change the mind of a single undecided or independent voter," said. "It just makes existing supporters feel good about their candidate."

In the future, Powell said that he imagines a campaign merchandising strategy that might reflect fewer novelty items and more ideology.

"Could liberals one day have the opportunity to buy an electric scooter to show their support for green energy, or conservatives purchase a barrier to be placed on a border wall?" he asked. "It sounds farfetched now, but who would have imagined Trump wrapping paper five years ago?"


# New Mexico parties certify 5 GOP candidates for June presidential primary amid challenge to Trump
By **MORGAN LEE**
December 22, 2023. 2:46 PM EST

---

**SANTA FE, N.M. (AP)** - Donald Trump is among a slate of presidential candidates New Mexico's major political parties certified Friday to appear on the state's June 4 primary ballots, amid uncertainty about whether any state can bar the former president from contention under anti-insurrection provisions of the U.S. Constitution.

Trump is among five contenders for the GOP nomination who a presidential primary nominating committee certified for New Mexico's primary ballot. The Republican Party reserved the option to withdraw candidates from the primary until mid-February if any drop out of national contention.

For now, the certified Republican candidates include former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley and businessman Vivek Ramaswamy.

"If nobody drops out, fine, we'll keep it the way it is," state Republican Party Chairman Steve Pearce said.

New Mexico Supreme Court Chief Justice C. Shannon Bacon oversaw the committee meeting with one or more representatives from each party, including the Libertarian Party of New Mexico that earned major party status with a strong showing in the 2016 presidential election. Lars Mapstead was presented as the sole contender for the Libertarian presidential nomination.

Party-certified presidential candidates will be vetted in February by the New Mexico secretary of state's office to ensure they meet administrative requirements to run for the office. New Mexico Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver, a Democrat, said she won't exclude candidates that meet administrative requirements - unless a court with jurisdiction intervenes.

The Colorado Supreme Court on Tuesday barred Trump from the state's ballot under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, which prohibits anyone from holding office who swore an oath to support the Constitution and then "engaged in insurrection" against it. It's the first time in history the provision has been used to prohibit someone from running for the presidency, and the U.S. Supreme Court is likely to have the final say over whether the ruling will stand.

Little-known presidential candidate John Anthony Castro has challenged Trump's eligibility to appear on the ballot in New Mexico and Arizona in federal court based on anti-insurrection provisions of the 14th Amendment. The Arizona lawsuit was dismissed earlier this month and a ruling is pending in New Mexico. Trump lost the New Mexico vote in 2016 and again in 2020 by a wider margin.

Pearce, the GOP chairman, said Trump should be allowed to compete for the nomination in New Mexico regardless of litigation, arguing that the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol was not an insurrection.

"Even if (Trump) gets convicted of something in all of these cases, that doesn't prohibit him from running and serving," Pearce said after Friday's meeting. "Everybody should be treated fairly under the law, and I don't think that's occurring."

A county commissioner in southern New Mexico last year was removed and banished from public office by a state district court judge for engaging in insurrection at the Jan. 6, 2021, riots that disrupted Congress from certifying Joe Biden's presidential victory.

Former Otero County commissioner Couy Griffin has appealed that ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court after the New Mexico Supreme Court declined to hear the case based on missed filing deadlines. It's unclear whether the U.S. Supreme Court will take up Griffin's case once it's fully briefed next year.

The constitutional provision used to bar Griffin - and now Trump in Colorado - has only been used a handful of times. It originally was created to prevent former Confederates from returning to government positions.

"These are constitutional issues and it is not the secretary of state's role to make this kind of a legal finding in New Mexico," said Alex Curtas, a spokesperson to Secretary of State Toulouse Oliver. "As long as a candidate meets all the administrative requirements to be placed on the ballot in 2024, they would not be excluded from the ballot unless a court with jurisdiction made a legal finding and ordered that person to be excluded."

Democratic Party-certified candidates in New Mexico include not only President Joe Biden but also Minnesota Congressman Dean Phillips and self-help author Marianne Williamson.


# A voter pushed Nikki Haley to call Donald Trump a 'grave danger' to the US. Here's how she responded
By **THOMAS BEAUMONT**
December 21, 2023. 6:30 PM EST

---

**ANAMOSA, Iowa (AP)** - Nikki Haley stopped short Thursday of answering one Iowa voter's question the way he'd hoped.

Asked by 44-year-old Jacob Schunk to label Donald Trump a "grave danger to our country," Haley ticked through criticisms of the former president ranging from foreign policy to government spending. And then the former United Nations ambassador addressed the challenge that she and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, her closest rival for second place behind Trump, are facing just weeks before primary voting begins.

"The problem is, what I have faced is anti-Trumpers don't think I hate him enough. Pro-Trumpers don't think I love him enough," Haley told Schunk at a town hall in eastern Iowa.

Haley's comment reflects one of the central challenges facing her campaign as she tries to win over those who still admire the former president without alienating them. It's a balancing act that will likely intensify in final weeks ahead of the Jan. 15 Iowa caucuses, where a stronger-than expected showing could give Haley a boost heading into the New Hampshire, where she has gained support and appears right now to be the best-positioned Trump alternative.

Her chief rival to become Trump's leading foil, DeSantis, is facing a similarly challenging dynamic as he steps up criticism of the former president while criticizing the litany of court cases that could remove him from the ballot in some states. On Wednesday, DeSantis attacked the Colorado Supreme Court's ruling that Trump was ineligible for the ballot under to the U.S. Constitution, suggesting the court was trying to boost Trump and help Democrats who want to run against him.

Speaking with the Christian Broadcasting Network on Thursday, DeSantis argued that the criminal indictments had made it harder to run against Trump by "distorting the primary."

"I would say if I could have one thing change, I wish Trump hadn't been indicted on any of this stuff," he said. "It's just crowded out, I think, so much other stuff, and it's sucked out a lot of oxygen."

Trump and his campaign team have mostly tried to tear down DeSantis but are devoting new attention to Haley in recent days. Allies of both Trump and DeSantis have aired ads in which she is accused of reversing her position to not raise South Carolina's gas tax when she served as governor.

The ads left out that Haley said she would only sign the 2015 measure to raise the gas tax if lawmakers agreed to cut state income taxes. The plan ultimately died.

"I'm getting it from all angles," she said. "And I get it. That means we're surging."

Haley addressed an audience of about 100 people on Thursday as she wrapped up a four-day campaign trip through small Iowa cities. Haley didn't cite the indictments against Trump but suggested as she often does that his leadership is too chaotic given the threats the U.S. faces.

Schunk said afterward that he is leaning toward supporting her even if she didn't say exactly what he wanted.

"She was 95% there," Schunk said after the event. "I think there's some strategy there in terms of she's not quite saying Donald Trump is a danger to the country. I think she thinks it. But she's not willing to say it."


# Man accused of texting death threats to Ramaswamy faces similar charges involving 2 more candidates
By **KATHY McCORMACK**
December 21, 2023. 1:56 PM EST

---

**CONCORD, N.H. (AP)** - A New Hampshire man who was released from jail after he was accused of sending text messages threatening to kill a presidential candidate now faces two more charges that he threatened the lives of different candidates.

Tyler Anderson, 30, of Dover, was indicted by a federal grand jury Wednesday on three counts of sending a threat using interstate commerce. He is scheduled to be arraigned on Jan. 5.

A message seeking comment was sent to his lawyer.

Anderson was arrested on Dec. 9 and was released Dec. 14. A federal judge set forth several conditions for his release, including that he avoid contact with any presidential candidate and their political campaigns. Anderson, who is receiving mental health treatment, must also take all of his prescribed medications. Guns in his home, belonging to a roommate, must be removed.

The U.S. Attorney's office did not name the candidates. When Anderson was arrested, a spokesperson for Republican candidate Vivek Ramaswamy said that the texts were directed at his campaign. According to court documents, Anderson received a text message from the candidate's campaign notifying him of a breakfast event in Portsmouth. The campaign staff received two text messages in response. One threatened to shoot the candidate in the head, the other threatened to kill everyone at the event and desecrate their corpses.

Anderson had told the FBI in an interview that he had sent similar texts to "multiple other campaigns," according to a court document.

The latest charges say similar texts were sent to two different candidates before the Ramaswamy messages, on Nov. 22 and Dec. 6.

On Nov. 22, a campaign received texts threatening to "impale" and "disembowel" a candidate. On Dec. 6, texts were sent to another candidate's campaign with threats to shoot the candidate in the head and conduct a mass shooting.

A court document filed when Anderson was arrested included a screenshot of texts from Dec. 6 threatening a mass shooting in response to an invitation to see a candidate "who isn't afraid to tell it like it is." Republican Chris Christie calls his events "Tell it Like It Is Town Halls."

A spokesperson for the Christie campaign had thanked law enforcement officials for addressing those threats.

Each charge provides for a sentence of up to five years in prison, up to three years of supervised release, and a fine of up to $250,000.


# Harris to kick off 2024 with stops in Nevada, South Carolina, home to some of Democrats' first votes
By **MEG KINNARD**
December 21, 2023. 1:14 PM EST

---

**COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP)** - Vice President Kamala Harris is visiting Nevada and South Carolina next month, two of the earliest states on the Democratic presidential calendar, where she'll court voters she and President Joe Biden hope to win over.

Harris will meet with members of the powerful casino workers' Culinary Union in Las Vegas on Jan. 3, which offers one of the most powerful endorsements in Nevada Democratic politics, the White House said Thursday.

Three days later, she plans to head to Myrtle Beach in South Carolina, home of the Democrats' leadoff primary, to address an annual women's retreat of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, the oldest historically Black denomination in the U.S.

Harris has been touring the country to tout the administration's accomplishments, most recently angling to energize younger voters during a multi-stop college tour. Next month she plans to embark on a nationwide series of events to rally voters to give Biden a second term and regain full control of Congress.

Both South Carolina and Nevada are critical early-voting states for Biden and Harris as they seek reelection next year. The visit will be Harris' seventh as vice president to South Carolina, where Black voters play a critical role in Democratic politics - one of the reasons for the White House-led schedule overhaul that placed the state's primary first on the 2024 voting calendar on Feb. 3.

New Hampshire, which has traditionally voted first, is still holding its contest on Jan. 23. Biden isn't participating or campaigning there, and the state is risking possible penalties over its decision.

The White House says Harris' stop in Nevada will be her ninth while in office. The state, which has a 29% Latino population will hold its primary three days after South Carolina on Feb. 6.

When she ran for president in 2019, Harris held a town hall meeting with the union's rank-and-file members. Though most of the 2020 Democratic candidates held private meetings with the union's leaders, Harris was the first to get a coveted invite to speak to members. Ultimately, the union didn't endorse anyone in the Democratic primary.

Culinary's 60,000 members are mostly women and immigrants - immigration reform, health care and worker issues are among the union's top priorities. Last month, the union ended a lengthy labor dispute that had brought the threat of a historic strike to the Strip, voting to approve their contract agreement with casino giant Caesars Entertainment. The White House said Harris intends to celebrate the victory with union members.


# Biden should keep expanding approach to Black voters, group of Democratic strategists says
By **BILL BARROW**
December 21, 2023. 12:37 PM EST

---

**ATLANTA (AP)** - Some top Democrats are worried that a dip in Black voter turnout, along with other challenges, could doom President Joe Biden and his party in 2024.

A group of Democrats is offering a new analysis of the most recent campaigns in Georgia and Michigan, pitching those battlegrounds as models for drawing in more Black voters next year and beyond. They argue that Democratic power players need to think - and spend money - in new ways, going beyond efforts that can be last-minute or superficial as they try to reassemble Biden's 2020 coalition.

"The days of the symbolic fish fry and one-time church visit are over," wrote the authors of the analysis by strategists widely credited for helping flip Georgia and Michigan to Biden. "Black voters have always required an approach to voter engagement as diverse as the Black voting coalition."

Biden has long depended on Black voters - first as a Delaware senator and most notably in the 2020 South Carolina primary, which delivered him a decisive win that led much of the Democratic field to consolidate behind him. And his campaign says the president's reelection effort already reflects the priorities and approach advocated by the outside strategists.

"The campaign is designing comprehensive and robust programs in battleground states to mobilize and engage Black voters," said Michael Tyler, the campaign's communications director. He noted the campaign already is running targeted digital ads and building outreach programs in Black communities, months earlier than presidential campaigns typically have launched such efforts.

Yet just 50% of Black adults said they approve of Biden in a December poll by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs. That is compared with 86% in July 2021, with the gap fueling concerns about his reelection prospects.

The new report, shared exclusively with The Associated Press and being presented privately to Democratic power players, contends as part of several recommendations that the left must more regularly engage all Black voters, including the most reluctant, while amplifying arguments about abortion rights in Black communities.

Said Lauren Groh-Wargo, a leader of the push and longtime adviser to Georgia Democrat Stacey Abrams: "People need to see something different; they need to see you coming to them and asking for their vote in their cultural spaces."

The authors include veterans of Abrams' operation and Michigan's efforts to approve an abortion-rights referendum and re-elect Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. Abrams lost her second bid against Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, but Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock beat Herschel Walker to retain his Senate seat, bolstered in part by years of work by Abrams and other organizers.

The report explores why the two states' 2022 electorates differed from other racially diverse battlegrounds. The contributors want to share their conclusions with the party's biggest donors and top strategists, including those running Biden's 2024 campaign. One of Biden's top campaign aides, Quentin Fulks, managed Warnock's campaign, a point Tyler noted in his response to the report. Fulks and Tyler are both Georgia natives.

The campaign's approach so far is "happening through the leadership of ... a native Georgian from a rural county who won statewide in Georgia last cycle and helped drive historic turnout in one of the most competitive states in the country," Tyler said.

Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin are the seven states that will be critical in deciding the Electoral College next year. Across those states in 2022, Black turnout dropped, on average, about 22% from the 2018 midterms, according to multiple Democratic firms' data analysis. Lagging Black support for Biden in any three of those states next fall could cut off his path to the required 270 electoral votes.

Michigan's Black turnout in 2022 was about 90% of its 2018 totals, according to the analysis. But among Black voters under 35, the 2022 turnout was 96% of 2018 levels - notably outpacing other battlegrounds, Georgia included. That bolstered Whitmer's nearly 11-point victory and the abortion rights referendum, which passed by 13 points. The analysis found Michigan's Black voters supported the initiative by a higher proportion than any other race or ethnicity; that finding was repeated recently in Ohio's abortion referendum, authors said.

"We were open to the research that showed us just how much this would resonate in Black communities," said Michigan Democratic Chairwoman Lavora Barnes, the first Black woman to hold her post and a co-author of the report.

"We made it part of a broader message about rights and freedom," she added, saying Black Americans, because of their historical experience with oppression, are especially attuned to "having our rights taken away."

Whitmer, who embraced the nonpartisan abortion-rights campaign, said the lessons must carry forward as some Republicans propose national abortion restrictions.

"My generation assumed that these rights would always be intact for us and our children," the governor, 52, said recently. "Lo and behold, here we are having to fight over and over again to protect these rights."

Black turnout in Georgia, meanwhile, was about 92% of 2018 levels; Black voters over 50 exceeded their 2018 marks.

If Georgia's Black turnout had tracked the 2022 battleground average, the analysis calculates that about 175,000 fewer voters would have cast November ballots. With Warnock winning more than 9 out of 10 Black votes, that shortfall almost certainly would have meant his defeat to Walker, the only GOP statewide nominee who lost in Georgia last year.

And if Black turnout in other 2022 battlegrounds reflected Georgia's, Democrats almost certainly would have defeated Republican Sen. Ron Johnson in Wisconsin and may have won a North Carolina Senate seat, expanding their narrow majority, the authors argue.

Biden was in Milwaukee on Wednesday touting his economic arguments and his administration's support for minority owned businesses. Milwaukee also is the site of one of the campaign's earliest organizing efforts aimed at Black voters, a commitment of money and personnel that Biden's advisers say demonstrates their commitment to engaging the full electorate.

Indeed, those kinds of programs and some of the recommendations from Georgia are challenging and expensive. Abrams' operation began a decade ago trying to expand voter participation in Georgia, focusing on Black and other nonwhite residents who rarely or never voted. Now Georgia's political footprint involves hundreds of paid canvassers, sophisticated digital outreach, voter registration drives and door-knocking campaigns even in non-election years.

The report argues that the investment over time creates so-called "super voters" who make the Democratic investment worth it. The document details tactics Georgia and Michigan Democrats have used and that the authors say can be scaled in other states.

The authors note that in 2018, when Abrams first ran for governor, Georgia had more than 1.1 million Black voters deemed "low propensity" and unlikely to vote. After the 2022 election, that has dropped to between 700,000 and 800,000.

Conversely, the "super voter" measure - defined as people who have cast three consecutive general election ballots - has climbed from about 525,000 Black Georgians after 2016 to more than 850,000 after 2022.

Donors and most campaigns, though, still gravitate to traditional turnout models aimed at regular or semi-regular voters. They see the Abrams approach as costing too much money per vote.

"We need other groups out there making contacts with inactive voters because most campaigns just aren't cut out to do that," said Preston Elliot, Whitmer's 2022 campaign manager, who was not involved in the analysis. He complimented figures like Groh-Wargo, Abrams and Barnes but cautioned that the latest effort comes down to resources.

"There are enough tasks out there for everyone to play their parts," Elliot said. "But ultimately we're talking about finite money here."


# Donald Trump's GOP rivals once again compelled to rally to his defense after Colorado ruling
By **JILL COLVIN** and **HANNAH FINGERHUT**
December 20, 2023. 7:27 PM EST

---

**AMES, Iowa (AP)** - With less than a month to go before voting begins, Donald Trump 's Republican rivals are once again rallying to his defense, this time after Colorado's Supreme Court ruled to remove him from the state's presidential primary ballot under the U.S. Constitution's insurrection clause.

Just as they had following Trump's successive indictments as he racked up 91 criminal charges, the GOP front-runner's opponents cast the landmark decision - the first time in history the 14th Amendment has been used to disqualify a presidential candidate and one the former president has vowed to appeal - as inappropriate, a "stunt" and an "attack on democracy."

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis charged the court's ruling was a plot to ensure Trump wins the nomination because Democrats view him as the weakest Republican candidate.

"Look, it's unfair. They're abusing power, 100%," he told an audience in Urbandale, Iowa, on Wednesday morning. "But the question is: Is that going to work? And I think they have a playbook that unfortunately will work and it'll give Biden or the Democrat or whoever, the ability to skate through this thing. That's their plan."

The court's ruling once again highlighted a defining dynamic of the GOP primary: While the trail of lawsuits and criminal charges following Trump had been expected to seriously damage his candidacy, they have instead had the opposite effect among Republicans. Primary voters - including many who had been open to backing rival candidates - have rallied around the former president, who has cast himself as the victim of a politically motivated effort by Democratic President Joe Biden and his administration to damage his chief political rival.

"I think that it confirms Americans' deepest suspicions that many of our institutions can be weaponized against them. So it serves as a proof point for the former president," said Republican strategist Devin O'Malley, who served as communications chief to former Vice President Mike Pence's campaign.

O'Malley noted all of the justices on the Colorado court were appointed by Democratic governors. "On its face this is just so plainly partisan that it only helps him," he said.

Indeed, even former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, a fierce Trump critic who has blasted the other candidates for being overly deferential to the former president, slammed the ruling as ill-advised.

"I don't think it's appropriate to take him off the ballot through the courts," he told The Associated Press in an interview Wednesday. "I think we have to beat him at the ballot box. And that's the way that that defeat will be most validated by the American people."

Former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley told reporters Tuesday that the "last thing we want is judges telling us who can and can't be on the ballot." And entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, who has cast himself as the heir to Trump's "Make America Great Again" movement, pledged to withdraw his name from the Colorado GOP primary unless Trump is allowed on the ballot, and demanded DeSantis, Christie and Haley to do the same.

The Colorado Republican Party, however, said he wouldn't have to and the party would instead convert their election from a primary to a caucus if the decision is allowed to stand. The party had previously laid out a contingency plan in which delegates would be chosen at an April 6 state convention instead of a March primary, according to a copy provided to The Associated Press.

The Colorado case is one of dozens of lawsuits that have been filed nationally to disqualify Trump from the ballot under Section 3, which was designed to keep former Confederates from returning to government after the Civil War. It bars from office anyone who swore an oath to "support" the Constitution and then "engaged in insurrection or rebellion" against it, and has been used only a handful of times since the decade after the Civil War. Trump had won all of the cases until Tuesday night.

Trump faces four criminal indictments, including one in Washington alleging he illegally sought to overturn the results of the 2020 election and fueled the riot on Jan. 6, 2021, when his supporters violently stormed the U.S. Capitol in an effort to prevent the peaceful transition of power.

Many Republicans have long rejected those allegations or suggested Trump's conduct before leaving office didn't break the law.

In an August AP-NORC poll, just 15% of Republicans said they think Trump did something illegal with regard to the Jan. 6 riot, compared with 47% of adults overall. Another 23% of Republicans said Trump did something unethical, but not illegal, while 46% said they think he did nothing wrong.

Several Iowans who came to see DeSantis on Wednesday said they disagreed with the Colorado court's decision and expected it would bolster the former president's support.

"I definitely think it will entrench the Trump supporters, those who have already made up their mind," said Sean Ealy, 46 of Ellsworth, Iowa, who said he voted for Trump in both 2016 and 2020. "It will be another thing that will be on a list of things of, you know, them attacking Trump and the unconstitutionality of it."

Ealy said he won't be supporting Trump in the caucus next year in part because of the prosecutions against him. But the court's decision is "awful" and "unconstitutional," Ealy said, and "it certainly feels like there's a vendetta against Trump."

Roger Fritz, a 57-year-old engineer from Jewell, Iowa, called the decision "bogus" and "wrong" and argued citizens should have the opportunity to vote for any candidate. But Fritz, attending a DeSantis event in Ames Tuesday, said he was concerned Trump's legal battles would ultimately make him unelectable.

"I don't agree with it," he said. "But the other party and those people are hell-bent on putting Trump in jail and I don't see how he can win if he's in jail."

Biden's campaign and White House officials repeatedly declined to comment on the Colorado ruling. That's despite his re-election team ramping up its efforts to highlight Trump's most controversial and radical statements and policy proposals.

"The president is not involved, we're not involved in this," White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre. "This is a legal process and we're not involved in this.

But Biden, during a trip to Milwaukee, said there was "no question" Trump was an insurrectionist, saying that's "self evident. You saw it all."

"Whether the 14th Amendment applies or not, we'll let the court make that decision. But he certainly supported an insurrection. There's no question about it. None. Zero. And he seems to be doubling down on it," Biden said.


# Chris Christie outlines his national drug crisis plan, focusing on treatment and stigma reduction
By **HOLLY RAMER**
December 20, 2023. 2:58 PM EST

---

**ROCHESTER, N.H. (AP)** - Calling the latest wave of the nation's drug crisis "a test of our national resolve," Republican presidential hopeful Chris Christie returned to a New Hampshire recovery center Wednesday to outline a people-focused, not punitive, policy plan.

"This is a test to see who we want to be as both a people and as a country," he said at the Hope on Haven Hill wellness center, which services pregnant women and mothers struggling with substance use disorder. "We need an approach that remembers and reflects on the very basic humanity of every single one of those 100,000 victims, as well as the treasures each one of them could have brought to this country."

Christie led a White House commission on opioid misuse in 2017, and he praised former president Donald Trump for endorsing all 56 of its recommendations. But only about half have been enacted, and both Trump and President Joe Biden have treated the problem as a crisis in name only, Christie said. Meanwhile, other Republican presidential candidates, have focused too narrowly on preventing drugs from getting into the country, he said.

Without mentioning them by name, he described Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis's vow to shoot drug dealers at the border, former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley's plan to cut off trade with China and Trump's threat to take military action against Mexico.

"It will be important to stem some of the flow of this stuff into our country, but that's not going to be what fixes this problem by itself. And people who say that's what will do it just are not telling the truth," he said.

With 110,000 people dying of drug overdoses last year, reducing stigma and providing treatment is the only thing that's going to get the problem under control, he said.

"We don't solve this crisis unless we focus on substance use disorder and what gets us there and what helps to help get people out of it and into recovery," he said.

Christie said he finds Biden's inaction particularly galling given Hunter Biden's struggles with addiction.

"He owes it to this country as a father who understands the pain that every family member goes through when there's someone with active addiction in their family," he said. "It's astonishing to me he's not talking about this."

Christie said he would increase access to medication-assisted treatment by making the telehealth policies created during the coronavirus pandemic permanent, requiring all federally qualified health centers to provide such treatment and creating mobile opioid treatment programs.

He also called for expanding block grants to states, tied to specific requirements for data collection and sharing. The pandemic, he argued, showed that vast amounts of data can be gathered and shared quickly, and the same should be done to track overdose deaths and identify the areas of greatest need.

"We've been told for decades it's just too difficult to accurately track and understand," he said. "If we keep saying that these things are too hard, what we're saying is that working harder at this is too much and that the lives that we're losing are not worth it. I'm sorry, I just don't believe that."

Jackie Lacrosse, who lives in Hope on Haven Hill's transitional shelter with her three-year-old daughter, asked Christie what he would do to help those in recovery secure housing. She was pleased with his answer - reallocating money in federal programs to target that population - as well as his approach overall.

"I think Chris is super knowledgeable, and I think he can bring that knowledge and his history to the campaign," she said.

Christie met the recovery center's founder during his 2016 campaign for president when she was just getting the program off the ground and has visited its facilities since. While the types of drugs have changed - from overprescribed painkillers to heroin to street-drugs laced with fentanyl - the stories he hears from voters have not, he said in an interview before his speech.

"The sad thing is, I see no difference eight years later, and I think that's the thing that is the most concerning and frustrating," he said.


# The Constitution's insurrection clause threatens Trump's campaign. Here is how that is playing out
By **NICHOLAS RICCARDI**
December 20, 2023. 6:05 PM EST

---

**DENVER (AP)** - Former President Donald Trump's bid to win back the White House is now threatened by two sentences added to the U.S. Constitution 155 years ago.

The Colorado Supreme Court on Tuesday barred Trump from the state's ballot under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, which prohibits anyone who swore an oath to support the Constitution and then "engaged in insurrection" against it from holding office. It's the first time in history the provision has been used to prohibit someone from running for the presidency, and the U..S. Supreme Court is likely to have the final say over whether the ruling will stand.

If it does - which many legal experts say is a longshot - it's the end of Trump's campaign because a Supreme Court decision would apply not just in Colorado, but to all states. It also could open a new world of political combat, as politicians in the future fish for judicial rulings to disqualify their rivals under the same provision.

Some conservatives have even considered using it against Vice President Kamala Harris, who raised bail money for those jailed during the violence following the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis. They said that also should be considered an "insurrection" against the Constitution.

Some answers related to the 14th Amendment cases seeking to remove Trump from the ballot:

## WHAT'S THE IMPACT OF THE RULING?
So far, very little in the real world. Aware that the case was very likely going to the U.S. Supreme Court, the 4-3 Colorado Supreme Court majority stayed their own order until Jan. 4 - the day before the state's primary ballots are due at the printer - or until the Supreme Court rules.

Technically, the ruling applies only to Colorado, and secretaries of state elsewhere are issuing statements saying Trump remains on the ballot in their state's primary or caucus.

But it could embolden other states to knock Trump off the ballot. Activists have asked state election officials to do so unilaterally, but none have. Dozens of lawsuits have been filed, but all failed until Colorado.

The U.S. Supreme Court has never ruled on the meaning of Section 3. The justices can take the case as quickly as they like once Trump's campaign files its appeal, which is not expected this week. The high court then could rule in a variety of ways - from upholding the ruling to striking it down to dodging the central questions on legal technicalities. But many experts warn that it would be risky to leave such a vital constitutional question unanswered.

"It is imperative for the political stability of the U.S. to get a definitive judicial resolution of these questions as soon as possible," Rick Hasen, a law professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, wrote shortly after the ruling. "Voters need to know if the candidate they are supporting for president is eligible."

## WHAT WILL THE US SUPREME COURT DO?
It's always dangerous to try to predict a Supreme Court ruling. The high court is comprised of six justices appointed by Republicans, including three nominated by Trump himself. Partly because this is completely new legal ground, it's hard to predict how individual justices will rule based on their ideology.

Some of the strongest advocates of using Section 3 against Trump have been prominent conservative legal theorists and lawyers who argue that courts have to follow the actual words of the Constitution. Here, they argue, there's no wiggle room - Trump is clearly disqualified.

The Colorado high court's seven justices were all appointed by Democrats. But they split 4-3 on the ruling. The majority quoted a ruling from Neil Gorsuch, one of Trump's conservative Supreme Court appointees, from when he was a federal judge in Colorado. He ruled then that the state properly kept a naturalized citizen born in Guyana off the presidential ballot because he didn't meet the constitutional qualifications.

Courts are very hesitant to limit voters' choices, however. There's even a term for that - the "political question," whether a legal dispute is better settled by the people the voters have selected to make the laws than by unelected judges. That's one reason all the other Section 3 lawsuits had failed so far.

Sometimes courts have dodged the essential question. That's what happened in Minnesota, where the state Supreme Court allowed Trump to stay on the ballot because, it found, the state party can place whomever it likes on its primary ballot. A Michigan appeals court came to the same conclusion. A New Hampshire judge dismissed a lawsuit by a little-known longshot Republican presidential candidate, saying the question of whether Trump belonged on the ballot was "non-justiciable."

## WHAT IS SECTION 3 OF THE 14th AMENDMENT?
Section 3 of the 14th Amendment was written to keep former confederates from returning to government office. It reads:

"No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability."

The provision was used often in the years immediately after the Civil War, but fell into disuse after Congress granted an amnesty to many confederate veterans in 1872. The only record of it being used in the 20th century, according to legal scholars, was as justification in refusing to seat a socialist congressman in 1919 because he opposed U.S. involvement in World War I.

## WHAT ARE TRUMP'S LEGAL ARGUMENTS?
The argument to disqualify Trump is that he clearly held an office under the United States, swore an oath and broke it in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. So he can't return to office unless two-thirds of Congress lets him back in.

The arguments against disqualifying Trump are many. Trump's lawyers have argued that, technically, the president isn't an officer "under the United States" - that it's a legal term of art that refers to government appointees and therefore the provision doesn't apply to him.

Even if it did, they've argued the Jan. 6 attack wasn't an insurrection - it was more of a riot. And even if it was an insurrection, Trump didn't "engage" in it - all he did was exercise his rights to free speech under the First Amendment. And state courts, the argument goes, aren't in a position to determine whether Jan. 6 was an insurrection - it would take months at least to hold a trial and get all the facts, and most witnesses are out of their jurisdiction.

Finally, even if the courts concluded Jan. 6 was an insurrection and Trump was barred, that's not their decision to make - it's a political question for Congress.

## WHAT THE COLORADO JUSTICES SAID
The majority opinion said the Colorado Supreme Court did have jurisdiction to decide the matter, that the presidency was clearly an office in the United States and that Trump's actions related to the Capitol attack fit the insurrection clause, in part because he urged his supporters during a rally beforehand to fight.

"President Trump asks us to hold that Section 3 disqualifies every oathbreaking insurrectionist except the most powerful one and that it bars oathbreakers from virtually every office, both state and federal, except the highest one in the land," the court's majority opinion said. "Both results are inconsistent with the plain language and history of Section 3."

It's worth noting that three of the judges on the Colorado high court agreed with some of Trump's arguments. They particularly chafed at the rushed and improvised nature of the groundbreaking case, which was heard by a district court judge in Denver judge in less than two months. That included a week of testimony from a handful of police and protesters who were at the Jan. 6 attack, two constitutional law professors and experts on a president's emergency powers and on right-wing political speech..

"I have been involved in the justice system for 33 years now, and what took place here doesn't resemble anything I've seen in a courtroom," Justice Carlos Samour wrote in a scathing dissent.

"If President Trump committed a heinous act worthy of disqualification, he should be disqualified for the sake of protecting our hallowed democratic system, regardless of whether citizens may wish to vote for him in Colorado," Samour concluded. "But such a determination must follow the appropriate procedural avenues. Absent adequate due process, it is improper for our state to bar him from holding public office."


# Cleveland businessman Bernie Moreno lands Trump endorsement in Ohio's US Senate GOP primary
By **JULIE CARR SMYTH**
December 20, 2023. 4:39 PM EST

---

**COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP)** - Republican U.S. Senate candidate Bernie Moreno has landed Donald Trump's endorsement in the GOP race for a 2024 contender to unseat third-term Democrat Sherrod Brown, one of his party's most vulnerable incumbents.

The former president and 2024 presidential candidate backed Moreno, a wealthy Cleveland businessman, in a post on his social media network, Truth Social, Tuesday.

"Bernie Moreno, a highly respected businessman from the GREAT State of Ohio, is exactly the type of MAGA fighter that we need in the United States Senate," Trump wrote. He said Moreno would "always stand up to the Fascist 'nut jobs' and the spineless RINOS" and is the "successful political outsider" needed to defeat Brown, whom he labeled a "Liberal career politician."

The endorsement stands to elevate Moreno against his two Republican rivals: Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose and state Sen. Matt Dolan, whose family owns the Cleveland Guardians baseball team. In the 2016 and 2020 presidential races, Trump twice won Ohio by wide margins, and he retains a strong following in the state.

As in 2022, when he backed venture capitalist and memoirist JD Vance, Trump's pick for Senate is a former critic of the man.

Moreno supported Marco Rubio for president in the 2016 Republican primary, and once tweeted that listening to Trump was "like watching a car accident that makes you sick, but you can stop looking." In 2021, NBC News reported on an email exchange around the time of Trump's first presidential run in which Moreno referred to Trump as a "lunatic" and a "maniac."

Trump's decision to back Moreno is a blow to LaRose, who has taken a number of steps to win his favor. Just days after entering the Senate race this summer, LaRose endorsed Trump for president - reversing an earlier stance that the state's elections chief should remain politically neutral. The next month, he fired a long-time trusted aide after old tweets surfaced in which the staffer criticized Trump.

Dolan is the one candidate in the GOP field who has not sought to align himself with Trump. Both he and Moreno ran last year for the open Senate seat won by Vance. Though Dolan was a late entrant into the crowded and bitter GOP primary, he managed a third-place finish.

Moreno had dropped out of the 2022 contest at Trump's behest.

Following the endorsement, the conservative We the People Convention organization and Freedom for All PAC joined Trump in praising and endorsing Moreno - and called on both LaRose and Dolan to step aside.

Convention President Tom Zawistowski said in a statement that Brown's lack of a costly primary will otherwise give the Democrat an advantage headed into the fall.

Moreno, too, called for consolidation.

"(Trump's) support makes clear that there is only one Pro-Trump, America First candidate in this race," he said in accepting the endorsement. "It's time for Ohio Republicans to unite around our campaign so we can end Sherrod Brown's 50-year political career in the fall."

Representatives of both LaRose's and Dolan's campaigns said the candidates are staying in the race.

Ohio Democratic Party spokesperson Reeves Oyster predicted a heated fight.

"Bernie Moreno has made it clear he won't fight for Ohioans and doesn't understand the issues facing their daily lives," she said in a statement. "As this primary heats up, it's clear this slugfest is only going to get messier, nastier, and more expensive from here."


# Trump defends controversial comments about immigrants poisoning the nation's blood at Iowa rally
By **HANNAH FINGERHUT** and **ALI SWENSON**
December 19, 2023. 11:59 PM EST

---

**WATERLOO, Iowa (AP)** - Former President Donald Trump on Tuesday defended his comments about migrants crossing the southern border "poisoning the blood" of America, and he reinforced the message while denying any similarities to fascist writings others had noted.

"I never read 'Mein Kampf,'" Trump said at a campaign rally in Waterloo, Iowa, referencing Adolf Hitler's fascist manifesto.

Immigrants in the U.S. illegally, Trump said Tuesday, are "destroying the blood of our country, they're destroying the fabric of our country."

In the speech to more than 1,000 supporters from a podium flanked by Christmas trees in red MAGA hats, Trump responded to mounting criticism about his anti-immigrant "blood" purity rhetoric over the weekend. Several politicians and extremism experts have noted his language echoed writings from Hitler about the "purity" of Aryan blood, which underpinned Nazi Germany's systematic murder of millions of Jews and other "undesirables" before and during World War II.

As illegal border crossings surge, topping 10,000 some days in December, Trump continued to blast Biden for allowing migrants to "pour into our country." He alleged, without offering evidence, that they bring crime and potentially disease with them.

"They come from Africa, they come from Asia, they come from South America," he said, lamenting what he said was a "border catastrophe."

Trump made no mention of the Colorado Supreme Court's decision Tuesday to disqualify him from the state's ballot under the U.S. Constitution's insurrection clause, though his campaign blasted out a fundraising email about it during his speech.

The former president has long used inflammatory language about immigrants coming to the U.S., dating back to his campaign launch in 2015, when he said immigrants from Mexico are "bringing drugs, they're bringing crime, they're rapists."

But Trump has espoused increasingly authoritarian messages in his third campaign, vowing to renew and add to his effort to bar citizens from certain Muslim-majority countries, and to expand " ideological screening " for people immigrating to the U.S. He said he would be a dictator on "day one" only, in order to close the border and increase drilling.

In Waterloo on Tuesday, Trump's supporters in the crowd said his border policies were effective and necessary, even if he doesn't always say the right thing.

"I don't know if he says the right words all of the time," said 63-year-old Marylee Geist, adding that just because "you're not fortunate enough to be born in this country," doesn't mean "you don't get to come here."

"But it should all be done legally," she added.

It's about the volume of border crossings and national security, said her husband, John Geist, 68.

"America is the land of opportunity, however, the influx - it needs to be kept to a certain level," he said. "The amount of undocumented immigrants that come through and you don't know what you're getting, things aren't regulated properly."

Alex Litterer and her dad, Tom, of Charles City said they were concerned about migrants crossing the southern border, especially because the U.S. doesn't have the resources to support that influx. But the 22-year-old said she didn't agree with Trump's comments, adding that immigrants who come to the country legally contribute to the country's character and bring different perspectives.

Polling shows most Americans agree, with two-thirds saying the country's diverse population makes the U.S. stronger.

But Trump's "blood" purity message might resonate with some voters.

About a third of Americans overall worry that more immigration is causing U.S.-born Americans to lose their economic, political and cultural influence, according to a late 2021 poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.

Jackie Malecek, 50, of Waterloo said she likes Trump for the reasons that many people don't - how outspoken he is and "that he's a little bit of a loose cannon." But she thought Trump saying immigrants are "poisoning the blood" took it a little too far.

"I'm very much for cutting off what's happening at the border now. There's too many people pouring in here right now, I watch it every single day," Malecek said. "But that wording is not what I would have chosen to say."

Malecek supports allowing legal immigration and accepting refugees, but she is concerned about the waves of migrants crossing the border who are not being vetted.

Sen. JD Vance, a Republican from Ohio, lashed out at a reporter asking about Trump's "poisoning the blood" comments, defending them as a reference to overdoses from fentanyl smuggled over the border.

"You just framed your question implicitly assuming that Donald Trump is talking about Adolf Hitler. It's absurd," Vance said. "It is obvious that he was talking about the very clear fact that the blood of Americans is being poisoned by a drug epidemic."

At a congressional hearing July 12, James Mandryck, a Customs and Border Protection deputy assistant commissioner, said 73% of fentanyl seizures at the border since the previous October were smuggling attempts carried out by U.S. citizens, with the rest being done by Mexican citizens.

Extremism experts say Trump's rhetoric resembles the language that white supremacist shooters have used to justify mass killings.

Jon Lewis, a research fellow at George Washington University's Program on Extremism, pointed to the 2018 Pittsburgh synagogue shooter and the 2019 El Paso Walmart shooter, who he said used similar language in writings before their attacks.

"Call it what it is," said Lewis. "This is fascism. This is white supremacy. This is dehumanizing language that would not be out of place in a white supremacist Signal or Telegram chat."

Asked about Trump's "poisoning the blood" comments, Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell replied with a quip about his own wife, an immigrant, who was an appointee in Trump's administration.

"Well, it strikes me that didn't bother him when he appointed Elaine Chao Secretary of Transportation," McConnell said.

Trump currently leads other candidates, by far, in polls of likely Republican voters in Iowa and nationwide. Trump's campaign is hoping for a knockout performance in the caucuses that will deny his rivals momentum and allow him to quickly lock up the nomination. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has staked his campaign on Iowa, raising expectations for him there.

"I will not guarantee it," Trump said of winning Iowa next month, "but I pretty much guarantee it."


# Tim Scott endorses Donald Trump ahead of New Hampshire Republican primary
By **MEG KINNARD**, **JILL COLVIN**, and **JONATHAN J. COOPER**
January 19, 2024. 11:02 PM EST

---

**CONCORD, N.H. (AP)** - Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina endorsed Donald Trump Friday ahead of next week's New Hampshire primary, the latest sign the Republican party is rallying around the former president's candidacy after his historic Iowa win.

The decision marks a major blow to Scott's fellow South Carolinian Nikki Haley, the former U.N. ambassador who is banking on a strong showing in New Hampshire to keep her presidential hopes alive.

Scott flew with Trump from Florida to New Hampshire to deliver his effusive endorsement in a rousing call-and-response speech that resembled a vice presidential tryout.

The U.S. needs a president who will close the southern border, unite the country, protect social security and restore order, and one who doesn't see race, Scott said.

"We need a president who sees Americans as one American family, and that's why I came to the very warm state of New Hampshire to endorse the next president of the United States, President Donald Trump," Scott said.

Scott did not mention Haley, who as South Carolina governor elevated him from the House to the Senate and made him one of the nation's most prominent Black Republicans.

With four days to go before the first-in-the-nation primary, Trump asked New Hampshire voters to deliver a decisive victory that could end the GOP primary and allow him to fully turn his attention to the November contest against Democratic President Joe Biden.

"We want to win by big numbers," he said, "so everybody has to vote."

Before he spoke, Trump's crowd was warmed up by New York Rep. Elise Stefanik, a rising GOP star whose tough questioning of the presidents of elite universities led two of them to resign after they gave milquetoast responses to antisemitism.

Trump later invited Stefanik for her moment onstage - giving the appearance of vice presidential auditions.

Trump surrogates, many believed to be angling for his vice presidential nod, have fanned out to heap praise on the former president ahead of the New Hampshire primary and last week's Iowa caucuses.

Trump all but ruled out Haley for the role during his rally in Concord. He has been under considerable pressure from the right to make clear he won't pick Haley, including from his eldest son, Donald Trump Jr.

"She is not presidential timber," Trump said of Haley. "Now when I say that, that probably means that she's not gonna be chosen as the vice president."

Scott last May launched his own bid to challenge Trump before shuttering his effort about six months later, having had trouble gaining traction in the polls despite millions invested by high-profile donors.

In his efforts to run a positive campaign, Scott was often overshadowed by other candidates - particularly on the debate stage, where he seemed to disappear as others sparred.

In a sign that the GOP is increasingly coalescing around the front-runner, Trump has been appearing on the campaign trail with several other former rivals who have endorsed him, including North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum and biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy.

Unlike those two, however, who were more reticent to critique Trump as they ran against him, Scott was at times critical of the former president during his own campaign.

In Concord, supporters waited hours in 17-degree weather, snaking through a dark hotel parking lot, to see Trump in person Friday evening.

Among them was Nancy Catano, a 72-year-old part-time schoolteacher who spent three hours in the frigid cold and was thrilled to learn about Scott's planned endorsement.

"Oh awesome. I love him. That's wonderful," she said. "That's going to be wonderful. That's great support for him."

Catano said it was notable that former Trump rivals were now rallying around him as the front-runner. "So they're realizing that we need to unite to win. We have to win," she said.

She said she has zero doubt Trump will be the nominee at this point.

"I think Tuesday is gonna be an exciting day," she said. "He wiped out Iowa and I'm expecting the same here in New Hampshire."

Trump celebrated his decisive victory in Iowa and heaped scorn on his rivals. He called Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis ' fall to a distant second place "one of the great self-destructions I think I've ever witnessed." Haley, he said, is "not capable of doing this job."

There has been speculation that Scott could potentially be a running mate option for Trump, should the former president win the GOP nomination. When Scott entered the race in May, Trump welcomed his latest competitor with open arms, wishing him "good luck" with hospitality that some suggested was an acknowledgment that Trump saw an increased number of competitors as beneficial to his own bid.

Scott's endorsement was sought by the remaining major contenders in the Republican primary, particularly ahead of South Carolina's Feb. 24 primary, which has historically been influential in determining the eventual nominee.

DeSantis, who placed just ahead of Haley in Iowa's caucuses this week, has been shifting his campaign resources from Iowa to South Carolina. He planned to stump in the state on Saturday, aiming to continue his effort to take on Haley - who has been pinning much of her early-states campaign on New Hampshire - directly in her home state.

Haley appointed Scott to the Senate in 2012. On Friday, a spokesperson for her campaign downplayed Scott's impending endorsement of Trump.

"Interesting that Trump's lining up with all the Washington insiders when he claimed he wanted to drain the swamp," Olivia Perez-Cubas said. "But the fellas are gonna do what the fellas are gonna do."

Beth Scaer, 61, of Nashua, said she briefly considered Ramaswamy but quickly decided "he wasn't a serious candidate" and is now backing DeSantis, whom she praised for being pro-life and for protecting children "from the gender cult."

Scott's decision to endorse Trump made no difference to her.

"No one's endorsement would matter to me," Scaer said.

David Josko, 76, of Rollinsford, said he'll probably vote for DeSantis now that former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has dropped out. He said he would have supported Trump "if he just kept doing his job instead of having to pull a bear's tail," he said, using an expression he said described Trump's provocative behavior.

"It seemed to me like the press was pushing more for Trump because they can make more money off of Trump," Josko said at an Irish pub in Dover where he went to see DeSantis speak. "And so, like, anytime anybody burped, it became big news."


# Biden and Netanyahu have finally talked, but their visions still clash for ending Israel-Hamas war
By **AAMER MADHANI** and **ZEKE MILLER**
January 19, 2024. 7:13 PM EST

---

**WASHINGTON (AP)** - President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu finally spoke Friday after a glaring, nearly four-week gap in direct communication during which fundamental differences have come into focus over a possible pathway to Palestinian statehood once the fighting in Gaza ends.

Biden and his top aides have all but smothered Netanyahu with robust support, even in the face of global condemnation over the mounting civilian death toll and humanitarian suffering in Gaza as the Israelis have carried out military operations in the aftermath of the Oct. 7 attack on Israel.

But the leaders' relationship has increasingly shown signs of strain as Netanyahu has repeatedly rebuffed Biden's calls for Palestinian sovereignty, gumming up what the U.S. president believes is the key to unlocking a durable peace in the Middle East - the oft-cited, elusive two-state solution.

Neither side shows signs of budging.

Friday's phone call came one day after Netanyahu said that he has told U.S. officials in plain terms that he will not support a Palestinian state as part of any postwar plan. Biden, for his part, in Friday's call reaffirmed his commitment to work toward helping the Palestinians move toward statehood.

"As we're talking about post-conflict Gaza ... you can't do that without also talking about the aspirations of the Palestinian people and what that needs to look like for them," said National Security Council spokesman John Kirby.

The leaders spoke frequently in the first weeks of the war. But the regular cadence of calls between Biden and Netanyahu, who have had a hot-and-cold relationship for over three decades, has slowed considerably. Their 30- to 40-minute call Friday was their first conversation since Dec. 23.

Both sides are hemmed in by domestic political considerations.

The chasm between Biden, a center-left Democrat, and Netanyahu, who leads the most conservative government in Israel's history, has expanded as pressure mounts on the United States to use its considerable leverage to press Israel to wind down a war that has already killed nearly 25,000 Palestinians.

There is also growing impatience with Netanyahu in Israel over the lack of progress in freeing dozens of hostages still held by Islamic militants in Gaza.

"There is certainly a reason to be concerned," says Eytan Gilboa, an expert on U.S.-Israeli relations at Israel's Bar-Ilan University, "The more and more we see political considerations dominating the relationship between Biden and Netanyahu, which is likely to continue because of the upcoming presidential election and the weakness of both leaders, the more we will see them pulling apart."

In their most recent calls, Biden's frustration with Netanyahu has grown more evident, even though the U.S. leader has been careful to reaffirm his support for Israel at each step, according to U.S. officials who requested anonymity to discuss the leaders' private interactions.

Yet, Biden, at least publicly, has not given up on the idea of winning over Netanyahu. Asked by a reporter on Friday if a two-state solution is impossible while Netanyahu is in office, Biden replied, "No, it's not."

Aides insist Biden understands the political box Netanyahu finds himself in with his hard-right coalition and as he deals with ongoing corruption charges that have left the prime minister fighting for his freedom, not just his political future.

Biden, meanwhile, faces American voters in November, in a likely rematch with former President Donald Trump. Netanyahu and Trump forged a close relationship during the Republican's term in office. Biden faces criticism from some on his left who believe he hasn't pushed the Israelis hard enough to demonstrate restraint as it carries out military operations.

Key Democratic lawmakers, including Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy, this week warned that Netanyahu's position on statehood could complicate negotiations in the Senate on a spending package that includes military aid for Israel.

Expect Netanyahu to "use every trick that he has to keep his coalition together and avoid elections and play out the clock," said Michael Koplow, chief policy officer at the Israel Policy Forum. "And I'm sure that part of it is a conviction that if he waits until November, he may end up with Donald Trump back in the Oval Office."

In recent weeks, some of the more difficult conversations have been left to Ron Dermer, a top aide to Netanyahu and former Israeli ambassador to the U.S., and Biden's national security adviser, Jake Sullivan. The two top aides talk almost daily - sometimes multiple times during a day, according to a U.S. official and an Israeli official, who were not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity.

Other senior Biden administration officials including Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, as well as senior advisers Brett McGurk and Amos Hochstein, have been at the forefront of the administration's push to engage the Israelis and other Middle East allies as the Biden-Netanyahu dialogue has become less constructive.

Netanyahu, who has opposed calls for a two-state solution throughout his political career, told reporters this week that he flatly told U.S. officials he remains opposed to any postwar plan that includes establishment of a Palestinian state.

The prime minister's latest rejection of Biden's push in that direction came after Blinken this week said at the World Economic Forum in Davos that Israel and its Middle East neighbors had "a profound opportunity" to solve the generational Israel-Palestinian conflict. Asked if he thought Netanyahu was up to making the most of the moment, Blinken demurred.

"Look, these are decisions for Israelis to make," Blinken said. "This is a profound decision for the country as a whole to make: What direction does it want to take? Does it see - can it seize - the opportunity that we believe is there?"

The Biden-Netanyahu relationship has seen no shortage of peaks and valleys over the years. As vice president, Biden privately criticized Netanyahu after the the Israeli leader embarrassed President Barack Obama by approving the construction of 1,600 new apartments in disputed East Jerusalem in the middle of Biden's 2010 visit to Israel.

Netanyahu publicly resisted, before eventually relenting to, Biden's calls on the Israelis to wind down a May 2021 military operation in Gaza. And in late 2019, during a question and answer session with voters on the campaign trail, Biden called Netanyahu an "extreme right" leader.

The path to a two-state solution - one in which Israel would co-exist with an independent Palestinian state - has eluded U.S. presidents and Middle East diplomats for decades.

But as the war grinds on, Biden and his team have pressed the notion that there is a new dynamic in the Middle East in which Israel's Arab and Muslim neighbors stand ready to integrate Israel into the region once the war ends, but only if Israel commits to a pathway to a Palestinian state.

Biden has proposed that a "revitalized" Palestinian Authority, which is based in the West Bank, could run Gaza once combat ends. Netanyahu has roundly rejected the idea of putting the Palestinian Authority, which is beset by corruption, in charge of the territory.

Netanyahu argues that a Palestinian state would become a launchpad for attacks on Israel. So Israel "must have security control over the entire territory west of the Jordan River," Netanyahu said. "That collides with the idea of sovereignty. What can we do?"

White House officials have sought to play down Netanyahu's public rejection of Biden's call for a two-state solution, noting that the prime minister's rhetoric is not new.

They hold out hope Israel could eventually come around to accepting a Palestinian state that comes with strong security guarantees for Israel.

"I don't think Biden has any illusions about Netanyahu," said Daniel Kurtzer, who served as U.S. ambassador to Egypt during the Bill Clinton administration and to Israel under George W. Bush. "But I don't think he's ready to slam the door on him. And that's because he gets the intersection between the policy and the politics."


# Donald Trump goes from calm to indignant in newly released deposition video of civil fraud lawsuit
By **MICHAEL R. SISAK**
January 19, 2024. 8:31 PM EST

---

**NEW YORK (AP)** - Months before Donald Trump's defiant turn as a witness at his New York civil fraud trial, the former president came face-to-face with the state attorney general who is suing him when he sat for a deposition last year at her Manhattan office.

Video made public Friday of the seven-hour, closed-door session last April shows the Republican presidential frontrunner's demeanor going from calm and cool to indignant - at one point ripping Attorney General Letitia James lawsuit against him as a "disgrace" and "a terrible thing."

Sitting with arms folded, an incredulous Trump complained to the state lawyer questioning him that he was being forced to "justify myself to you" after decades of success building a real estate empire that's now threatened by the court case.

Trump, who contends James' lawsuit is part of a politically motivated "witch hunt" was demonstrative from the outset. The video shows him smirking and pouting his lips as the attorney general, a Democrat, introduced herself and told him that she was "committed to a fair and impartial legal process."

James' office released the video Friday in response to requests from media outlets under New York's Freedom of Information Law. Trump's lawyers previously posted a transcript of his remarks to the trial docket in August.

James' lawsuit accuses Trump, his company and top executives of defrauding banks, insurers and others by inflating his wealth and exaggerating the value of assets on annual financial statements used to secure loans and make deals.

Judge Arthur Engoron, who will decide the case because a jury is not allowed in this type of lawsuit, has said he hopes to have a ruling by the end of January.

Friday's video is a rare chance for the public at large to see Trump as a witness.

Cameras were not permitted in the courtroom when Trump testified on Nov. 6, nor were they allowed for closing arguments in the case on Jan. 11, where Trump defied the judge and gave a six-minute diatribe after his lawyers spoke.

Here are the highlights from Trump's videotaped deposition:

## 'YOU DON'T HAVE A CASE'
Telling James and her staff, "you don't have a case," Trump insisted the banks she alleges were snookered with lofty valuations suffered no harm, got paid in his deals, and "to this day have no complaints."

"Do you know the banks made a lot of money?" Trump asked, previewing his later trial testimony. "Do you know I don't believe I ever got even a default notice and, even during COVID, the banks were all paid. And yet you're suing on behalf of banks, I guess. It's crazy. The whole case is crazy."

Banks "want to do business with me because I'm rich," Trump told James. "But, you know what, they're petrified to do business because of you."

Trump complained New York authorities "spend all their time investigating me, instead of stopping violent crime in the streets."

He said they'd put his recently jailed ex-finance chief Allen Weisselberg "through hell and back" for dodging taxes on company-paid perks.

At a previous deposition in the case, in August 2022, Trump invoked his Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination and refused to answer questions more than 400 times. He said he did so because he was certain his answers would be used as a basis for criminal charges.

## DON'T TAKE MY WORD FOR IT
Trump said he never felt his financial statements "would be taken very seriously," and that people who did business with him were given ample warning not to trust them.

Trump described the statements as "a fairly good compilation of properties" rather than a true representation of their value. Some numbers, he noted, were "guesstimates."

Trump claimed the statements were mainly for his use, though he conceded financial institutions sometimes asked for them. Even then, he insisted it didn't matter legally if they were accurate or not, because they came with a disclaimer.

"I have a clause in there that says, 'Don't believe the statement. Go out and do your own work," Trump testified. "You're supposed to pay no credence to what we say whatsoever."

## WHAT'S IN A NAME? $10 BILLION
Trump estimated that his "brand" alone is worth "maybe $10 billion."

He called it "the most valuable asset I have" and attributed his political success to the ubiquity of his name and persona.

"I became president because of the brand, OK," Trump said. "I became president. I think it's the hottest brand in the world."

## 'MOST IMPORTANT JOB IN THE WORLD'
After Trump was elected, he put the Trump Organization into a trust overseen by his eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., and longtime finance chief, Weisselberg.

Trump claimed he did so not because it was required but because he wanted to be a "legitimate president" and avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest.

Plus, Trump said, he was busy solving the world's problems - like preventing North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un from launching a nuclear attack.

"I considered this the most important job in the world, saving millions of lives," Trump testified. "I think you would have nuclear holocaust if I didn't deal with North Korea. I think you would have a nuclear war, if I weren't elected. And I think you might have a nuclear war now, if you want to know the truth."

## OBSTRUCTED VIEW
In one of his more animated moments, Trump urged his inquisitors to look right out the window for a view of his 40 Wall Street office tower - just across the street from James' office where he testified.

Asked how the building was doing, financially, Trump gestured toward the building with his thumb and answered: "Good. It's right here. Would you like to see it?"

"I don't think we're allowed to open the windows," Wallace said.

"Open the curtain," Trump suggested, bobbing his head around waiting for someone to oblige.

"No," Wallace said.

"Open the curtain, go ahead," Trump said. "It's right here. I just looked out the window."

"Can't open it?" defense lawyer Clifford Robert asked, after a beat.

"I wouldn't," Wallace said.

## 'BEAUTIFUL' AND 'INCREDIBLE'
Trump showed off his knack for superlatives, uttering the words "beautiful" and "incredible" 15 times each and "phenomenal" six times as he described his properties.

Trump called his Turnberry, Scotland, golf course "one of the most iconic places in the world," and the renovated villas at his Doral golf resort near Miami "the most beautiful rooms you've ever seen."

Trump described his 213-acre Seven Springs estate north of New York City as "the greatest house in New York State."

His golf courses in Aberdeen, Scotland? "Really incredible." Jupiter, Florida? "An incredible facility." Just outside Los Angeles? "An incredible property ... an unbelievable property ... a phenomenal property that fronts on the ocean."

"I don't want to sell any of them," Trump testified. "But if I ever sold them - if I ever put some of these things up for sale - I would get numbers that were staggering."

He said he could get $1.5 billion for his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida and maybe $2.5 billion for Doral.

Trump suggested he could get "a fortune" from the Saudi Arabia-backed LIV golf league for the Turnberry course, a former British Open site.

"There would be people that would do anything to own Doral. There are people that would do anything to own Turnberry or Mar-a-Lago or ... Trump Tower or 40 Wall Street."


# Microsoft says state-backed Russian hackers accessed emails of senior leadership team members
By **FRANK BAJAK**
January 19, 2024. 7:25 PM EST

---

**BOSTON (AP)** - State-backed Russian hackers broke into Microsoft's corporate email system and accessed the accounts of members of the company's leadership team, as well as those of employees on its cybersecurity and legal teams, the company said Friday.

In a blog post, Microsoft said the intrusion began in late November and was discovered on Jan. 12. It said the same highly skilled Russian hacking team behind the SolarWinds breach was responsible.

"A very small percentage" of Microsoft corporate accounts were accessed, the company said, and some emails and attached documents were stolen.

A company spokesperson said Microsoft had no immediate comment on which or how many members of its senior leadership had their email accounts breached. In a regulatory filing Friday, Microsoft said it was able to remove the hackers' access from the compromised accounts on or about Jan. 13.

"We are in the process of notifying employees whose email was accessed," Microsoft said, adding that its investigation indicates the hackers were initially targeting email accounts for information related to their activities.

The Microsoft disclosure comes a month after a new U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission rule took effect that compels publicly traded companies to disclose breaches that could negatively impact their business. It gives them four days to do so unless they obtain a national-security waiver.

In Friday's SEC regulatory filing, Microsoft said that "as of the date of this filing, the incident has not had a material impact" on its operations. It added that it has not, however, "determined whether the incident is reasonably likely to materially impact" its finances.

Microsoft, which is based in Redmond, Washington, said the hackers from Russia's SVR foreign intelligence agency were able to gain access by compromising credentials on a "legacy" test account, suggesting it had outdated code. After gaining a foothold, they used the account's permissions to access the accounts of the senior leadership team and others. The brute-force attack technique used by the hackers is called "password spraying."

The threat actor uses a single common password to try to log into multiple accounts. In an August blog post, Microsoft described how its threat-intelligence team discovered that the same Russian hacking team had used the technique to try to steal credentials from at least 40 different global organizations through Microsoft Teams chats.

"The attack was not the result of a vulnerability in Microsoft products or services," the company said in the blog. "To date, there is no evidence that the threat actor had any access to customer environments, production systems, source code, or AI systems. We will notify customers if any action is required."

Microsoft calls the hacking unit Midnight Blizzard. Prior to revamping its threat-actor nomenclature last year, it called the group Nobelium. The cybersecurity firm Mandiant, owned by Google, calls the group Cozy Bear.

In a 2021 blog post, Microsoft called the SolarWinds hacking campaign "the most sophisticated nation-state attack in history." In addition to U.S. government agencies, including the departments of Justice and Treasury, more than 100 private companies and think tanks were compromised, including software and telecommunications providers.

The main focus of the SVR is intelligence-gathering. It primarily targets governments, diplomats, think tanks and IT service providers in the U.S. and Europe.


# 121 unmarked graves in a former Black cemetery found at US Air Force base in Florida, officials say
January 19, 2024. 9:46 PM EST

---

**TAMPA, Fla. (AP)** - As many as 121 unmarked graves in a former Black cemetery have been discovered at a U.S. Air Force base in Florida, military officials confirmed.

A non-intrusive archaeological survey performed over the past two years at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa identified 58 probable graves and 63 possible graves, base officials said Thursday, WFTS-TV reported. The Tampa Bay History Center notified MacDill officials about the possible Black cemetery in 2019, and the base hosted a memorial service in 2021, dedicating a memorial on-site to those buried there.

"We know obviously there was wrong done in the past, but we're working together with our community members," base spokesperson Lt. Laura Anderson said. "We want to make what was wrong right."

Officials said they plan to expand the search area this year and will continue to work with the community to determine how to best document the site and to pay respect to the people buried there.


# Ousted Florida Republican chair cleared of rape allegation, but police seek video voyeurism charge
By **TERRY SPENCER**
January 19, 2024. 6:02 PM EST

---

Police cleared the ousted chair of the Florida Republican Party of rape allegations on Friday, but said they have asked prosecutors to charge him with illegally video recording the sexual encounter he had with a female acquaintance.

The Sarasota Police Department said in a statement that a review of a cellphone video Christian Ziegler made of the Oct. 2 encounter showed that it was "likely consensual," making it impossible to charge him with rape. However, police said the woman told investigators that she never consented to be video recorded and was unaware it had occurred.

Police turned their findings over to the office of Sarasota County State Attorney Ed Brodsky on Friday, recommending that Ziegler be charged video voyeurism. Under Florida law, that is a third-degree felony that is punishable by up to five years in prison.

Brodsky told The Associated Press that his prosecutors will begin an immediate examination of the evidence and recommendation. He said they will also review the decision not to charge Ziegler with rape or sexual assault.

"We want to be thorough," said Brodsky, an elected Republican.

Derek Byrd, Ziegler's attorney, said in a statement that "since day one, we have been confident Mr. Ziegler would be exonerated from these baseless allegations."

"He has been completely honest, forthright, and has been fully cooperative with law enforcement at every stage of this investigation," Byrd said. "While we are disappointed that the Sarasota Police Department 'punted' the decision on the remaining portion of the case to the State Attorney's office, we strongly believe that the State Attorney will not prosecute Mr. Ziegler for any crime."

Ziegler, 40, previously admitted having sex with the woman but insisted it was consensual and blamed political opponents for sensationalizing the matter. Court records show that his wife, Bridget Ziegler, told detectives the three had engaged in sex once more than a year ago. Police said Bridget Ziegler backed out of the planned encounter but her husband went to the accuser's apartment alone.

Bridget Ziegler is a prominent conservative who co-founded the Moms for Liberty organization and is also an elected member of the Sarasota County school board. She was also appointed by Gov. Ron DeSantis to the board that now oversees Walt Disney World's land development. DeSantis pushed through legislation last year disbanding a Disney-controlled board after the company opposed his bill that limits sex education in schools.

The Republican Party of Florida ousted Ziegler earlier this month as police investigated the rape accusation against him. The party had suspended Ziegler last month and demanded his resignation, saying he couldn't effectively lead during a critical election year with the allegations swirling around him. DeSantis, U.S. Sens. Marco Rubio and Rick Scott, and other Republican leaders had also called on Ziegler to step down.

It wasn't immediately clear what the conclusion of the rape investigation would mean for Ziegler's future with the state Republican Party. Evan Power, who had been vice chair of the state GOP, has already been chosen to replace Ziegler.

Earlier, Sarasota Police Detective Angela Cox said in search warrant affidavits that investigators were seeking emails, photos, videos, contacts and other information from Ziegler's cellphone and Google account as part of their investigation into the woman's accusation.

The woman told detectives that she and Ziegler have known each other for more than 20 years. She said that on Oct. 2, she agreed to have sex with Ziegler and his wife but backed out after being told that Ziegler's wife "couldn't make it."

The woman said that a while later, she left her apartment to walk her dog and found Ziegler standing in the hallway. She says he pushed her inside and raped her, according to the affidavits. Investigators say the apartment complex's security video shows Ziegler entering the building and leaving.

The woman's sister told Cox that the woman called her and told her she was raped. The woman reported the rape two days later.

In late October, after Ziegler tried to contact the woman, police had her exchange monitored phone and text message conversations with him. According to the affidavits, he insisted they are friends and at one point suggested that they meet in person.

"Hell no, not after what you did to me. Do you understand I am terrified of you?" she wrote to him.

He replied that he had to go.

In a phone call, the woman told Ziegler that he had sexually assaulted her.

"Those are big words, please don't, no I didn't," he replied. "You invited me in."

He offered her "financial help" before becoming suspicious that their calls were being recorded.

In a Nov. 2 interview with detectives with his attorney present, Ziegler said the sex was consensual and that he had recorded it. He said he then deleted the video, but after the accusation he recovered it and uploaded it to Google.


# Sports Illustrated staff could be laid off as the iconic magazine's publisher faces money troubles
By **JOE REEDY** and **DAVID BAUDER**
January 19, 2024. 5:21 PM EST

---

The jobs of people who produce Sports Illustrated were in limbo Friday after the company that paid to maintain the iconic brand's print and digital products told staff that its license was revoked.

In an email to employees Friday morning, the Arena Group, which operates Sports Illustrated and related properties, said that because of the revocation, "we will be laying off staff that work on the SI brand."

Authentic Brands Group owns the Sports Illustrated brand and had been licensing it to Arena. Authentic later said in a statement it intends to keep Sports Illustrated going. The company is negotiating with Arena and other publishing entities to determine who will do that, according to a person with knowledge of the talks who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the person was not authorized to speak publicly about them.

Until those negotiations are resolved, it's unclear which journalists would actually do the work of making Sports Illustrated. It was not clear how many jobs were affected.

Sports Illustrated's employee union said in a statement that the layoffs initially announced by Arena would be a significant number and possibly all, of the NewsGuild workers represented.

"We have fought together as a union to maintain the standard of this storied publication that we love, and to make sure our workers are treated fairly for the value they bring to this company. It is a fight we will continue," Mitch Goldich, NFL editor and unit chair, said in a statement.

The guild's statement also called for Authentic to "ensure the continued publication of SI and allow it to serve our audience in the way it has for nearly 70 years."

Authentic said it would do so, and that "we are confident that going forward the brand will continue to evolve and grow in a way that serves sports news readers, sports fans and consumers. We are committed to ensuring that the traditional ad-supported Sports Illustrated media pillar has best in class stewardship to preserve the complete integrity of the brand's legacy."

In a statement on Friday, the Arena Group said it was negotiating with Authentic about the license, "with plans to sustain our commitment to delivering quality content throughout the ongoing discussions."

Arena admitted that it had failed to make a quarterly payment of $3.75 million and Authentic had put it on notice that it intended to end the licensing agreement. As a result, Arena announced Thursday it would make a "significant reduction" in its workforce of more than 100 people.

The Arena Group acquired publishing rights from Authentic in 2019 for at least 10 years. The group's stewardship of Sports Illustrated has had many hurdles since then. In December, it fired chief executive officer Ross Levinsohn when the magazine's alleged use of AI-generated stories drew public backlash.

Sports Illustrated has had a rough six years. It was acquired by Meredith Publishing in 2018 as part of the purchase of Time Inc., which started the magazine in 1954.

Less than a year later, Meredith sold the magazine's intellectual property to Authentic for $110 million. Authentic owns the intellectual property of many brands and stars, including Marilyn Monroe, Elvis Presley, Muhammad Ali and Reebok.

Once a weekly publication, Sports Illustrated was reduced to biweekly publishing in 2018 and became a monthly in 2020.


# How to stay healthy during cold, flu and COVID-19 season
By **CARLA K. JOHNSON**
January 19, 2024. 5:45 PM EST

---

Winter is here, inflicting its usual array of symptoms - coughs, nasal congestion, fatigue and fever - and, this year, a new COVID-19 variant is dominating the scoreboard.

COVID-19 is leading hospital admissions among the respiratory viruses, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Last week, 25 U.S. states had high or very high levels for respiratory illnesses with fever, cough and other symptoms. That's down from 37 states the week before, the CDC said.

Since the beginning of October, there have been at least 16 million illnesses, 180,000 hospitalizations, and 11,000 deaths from flu so far this season. The CDC said 47 children have died of flu.

January can be the worst month for these illnesses. With vaccination rates low, what can you do to protect yourself from respiratory viruses, including influenza, COVID-19 and RSV?

## BACK TO BASICS
Hand-washing remains crucial to reducing the spread of viral infections. Take your time at the sink. Twenty seconds is recommended. If you feel silly singing "Happy Birthday" twice while you scrub with soapy water, count to 20. Slowly.

Use hand sanitizer with 60% alcohol when you don't have access to soap and water.

Also, wear a mask in crowded areas. Increase ventilation in your workplace and home.

## NOT TOO LATE TO VACCINATE
In the United States, only 17% of those eligible have received the updated COVID-19 vaccine, which provides good protection against the now-dominant JN.1 variant.

It's not too late to roll up your sleeve. While you're at it, make sure you've had your annual flu shot. Those 60 and older may want to get the RSV vaccine, which also is recommended during pregnancy to prevent RSV in infants.

## WHEN YOU HAVE CHILDREN AT HOME
Young children seem to pick up every germ going around. Can their parents avoid getting sick?

This time of year, children are indoors in close quarters with other kids, touching the same toys and surfaces, said Jennifer Sonney of University of Washington School of Nursing in Seattle. Some haven't learned to cover their coughs and they simply haven't been exposed to many illnesses, so their immune systems are still developing.

It's important to take care of yourself if you're a parent or caregiver of young children, said Sonney who is immediate past president of the National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners.

"We know if you are sleep deprived or dehydrated or experiencing a lot of stress, that can compromise your immune function," Sonney said.

Having young children is very demanding, "so all of this advice needs to be interpreted within the context of reality," she said. "Despite doing everything right, kids are still going to get colds."

A special note if your baby is sick: It's a good idea to have saline drops and a bulb syringe at home. They can be used to clear mucus from tiny nostrils.

"A couple drops of saline into one nostril and suction it and then do the other side," Sonney said. "Doing that before eating and sleep is going to help a lot."

A home kit for children could also include acetaminophen or ibuprofen for fevers, tissues for runny noses and water bottles of sippy cups for staying hydrated.

## TEST TO TREAT
If you do get sick, prompt testing can help determine whether you have COVID-19 or influenza. That's important to see if you need one of the medicines that can help prevent severe illness: Paxlovid for COVID-19 and Tamiflu for flu.

If you don't have a test kit at home, look for a test-to-treat site at a pharmacy clinic or health center near your. There is also a free home-based test-to-treat program for adults who are uninsured or rely on government health insurance.