Georgia
Democrat Rep. Tanya Miller announces bid for state AG
ATLANTA (AP) — Atlanta Democrat Rep. Tanya Miller announced Monday she’s running for Georgia attorney general, joining two Republicans and a Democrat.
Current Attorney General Chris Carr, a Republican, announced in December that he’s running for governor, leaving an open seat for the state’s chief legal officer.
Miller, a lawyer, became the chair of the House Democratic Caucus in 2024 after being elected to the legislature in 2023. At the Capitol on Wednesday, she promised to “usher in a new era of consumer protection” and crack down on sex traffickers. She accused Carr — without naming him — of being “asleep at the wheel” and more attentive to national political issues than protecting Georgians.
“While Georgia families were being squeezed by rising costs, scammed out of their savings, worried for their children’s safety and gauged after Hurricane Helene, the attorney general sat on the sidelines,” Miller said. “Georgians need more than a figurehead full of excuses. They need an attorney general who will fight for them every single day.”
Miller led a passionate opposition against Republican Gov. Brian Kemp’s priority legislation signed this year to limit lawsuits and large jury verdicts, arguing it was a handout to insurance companies at the expense of injured Georgians.
Having worked as a prosecutor, defense lawyer and civil rights attorney, Miller has also championed criminal justice issues during her time in the House.
“We will place safety and justice above politics,” Miller said. “We will uphold the rule of law. We will remain unbought and unbiased by powerful special interests.”
As the state’s top prosecutor, Miller said she would crack down on fraud and predatory lending. She would also go after online predators and negligent landlords and focus on holding corporations accountable.
Miller formerly worked as an assistant U.S. attorney in New York and prosecuted homicides and crimes against women and children in Fulton County. She now has a private practice.
Former Democratic House Minority Leader Bob Trammell joined the race last month. The former legislator from rural west Georgia also vowed to take on special interests, corporate corruption and push for a fair economy for Georgians.
Trammell was defeated in 2020 after Republicans poured $1 million into taking his seat.
Republican state Sen. Brian Strickland entered the race in April, followed by Republican state Sen. Bill Cowsert of Athens.
Washington
Trump moves to ban flag burning despite Supreme Court ruling that it’s constitutional
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Monday signed an executive order requiring the Justice Department to investigate and prosecute people for burning the American flag, an activity that the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled is legitimate political expression protected by the U.S. Constitution.
The order the Republican president signed in the Oval Office acknowledged the court’s 5-4 ruling in a case from Texas in 1989, but said there is still room to prosecute flag burning if it “is likely to incite imminent lawless action” or amounts to “fighting words.”
In that case, the justices ruled 5-4 that the First Amendment protects flag burning as legitimate political expression. The late Justice Antonin Scalia, the conservative icon who Trump has repeatedly praised, was in the majority.
Trump said Monday that burning the U.S. flag “incites riots at levels we’ve never seen before,” with some people “going crazy” over burning it and others expressing anger at people for burning it. He did not offer examples.
The text of the executive order states that desecrating the American flag is “uniquely offensive and provocative. It is a statement of contempt, hostility, and violence against our Nation — the clearest possible expression of opposition to the political union that preserves our rights, liberty, and security. Burning this representation of America may incite violence and riot.”
The order calls on the attorney general to prioritize enforcement “to the fullest extent possible” of criminal and civil laws against flag burning that cause harm unrelated to the First Amendment.
Trump said the penalty for flag-burning would be one year in jail with no opportunity for early release.
The order also states that foreign nationals who burn the flag could face having their visas, residency permits, naturalization proceedings and other immigration benefits revoked. They could also be deported.
Trump said the court that ruled that flag burning is constitutionally protected was a “very sad court.”
“I guess it was a 5 to 4 decision. They called it freedom of speech,” the president said. “But there’s another reason, which is perhaps much more important. It’s called death.”
“Because what happens when you burn a flag is the area goes crazy,” Trump said. “If you have hundreds of people, they go crazy.”
New York
Lawyers for wife of former US Sen. Bob Menendez request 1-year prison sentence
NEW YORK (AP) — Lawyers for the wife of former U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez say she should be sentenced to a year and a day in prison rather than the eight years recommended by the federal court’s probation office for her conviction on bribery charges.
Nadine Menendez, 58, is scheduled to be sentenced next month for her April conviction on charges that she teamed up with the New Jersey Democrat to accept bribes of cash, gold bars and a luxury car from three New Jersey businessmen.
The lawyers in a submission to the sentencing judge on Friday cited additional surgery she must endure related to her breast cancer treatment to explain that lengthy time behind bars could be a death sentence.
They said the amount of money involved in her crimes was about $400,000, less than half of what the government claims was the amount lost as a result of a bribery scheme that prosecutors say stretched from 2018 until a year after the FBI raided the Menendez home in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, in 2022.
“Nadine is not her husband, or her co-defendants,” her lawyers wrote. “Despite all of the Government’s efforts to present her as a vixen, the reality is far from that. Her entire life has been marked by men who have taken advantage of her, and harmed her, in myriad ways. An extended sentence is not warranted, needed, or appropriate under these circumstances.”
Prosecutors will file their sentencing recommendation at a later date. Bob Menendez is serving an 11-year sentence.
Prosecutors accused Nadine Menendez of facilitating bribes to the senator around the time that they began dating, before they married in the fall of 2020.
Democrat Rep. Tanya Miller announces bid for state AG
ATLANTA (AP) — Atlanta Democrat Rep. Tanya Miller announced Monday she’s running for Georgia attorney general, joining two Republicans and a Democrat.
Current Attorney General Chris Carr, a Republican, announced in December that he’s running for governor, leaving an open seat for the state’s chief legal officer.
Miller, a lawyer, became the chair of the House Democratic Caucus in 2024 after being elected to the legislature in 2023. At the Capitol on Wednesday, she promised to “usher in a new era of consumer protection” and crack down on sex traffickers. She accused Carr — without naming him — of being “asleep at the wheel” and more attentive to national political issues than protecting Georgians.
“While Georgia families were being squeezed by rising costs, scammed out of their savings, worried for their children’s safety and gauged after Hurricane Helene, the attorney general sat on the sidelines,” Miller said. “Georgians need more than a figurehead full of excuses. They need an attorney general who will fight for them every single day.”
Miller led a passionate opposition against Republican Gov. Brian Kemp’s priority legislation signed this year to limit lawsuits and large jury verdicts, arguing it was a handout to insurance companies at the expense of injured Georgians.
Having worked as a prosecutor, defense lawyer and civil rights attorney, Miller has also championed criminal justice issues during her time in the House.
“We will place safety and justice above politics,” Miller said. “We will uphold the rule of law. We will remain unbought and unbiased by powerful special interests.”
As the state’s top prosecutor, Miller said she would crack down on fraud and predatory lending. She would also go after online predators and negligent landlords and focus on holding corporations accountable.
Miller formerly worked as an assistant U.S. attorney in New York and prosecuted homicides and crimes against women and children in Fulton County. She now has a private practice.
Former Democratic House Minority Leader Bob Trammell joined the race last month. The former legislator from rural west Georgia also vowed to take on special interests, corporate corruption and push for a fair economy for Georgians.
Trammell was defeated in 2020 after Republicans poured $1 million into taking his seat.
Republican state Sen. Brian Strickland entered the race in April, followed by Republican state Sen. Bill Cowsert of Athens.
Washington
Trump moves to ban flag burning despite Supreme Court ruling that it’s constitutional
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Monday signed an executive order requiring the Justice Department to investigate and prosecute people for burning the American flag, an activity that the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled is legitimate political expression protected by the U.S. Constitution.
The order the Republican president signed in the Oval Office acknowledged the court’s 5-4 ruling in a case from Texas in 1989, but said there is still room to prosecute flag burning if it “is likely to incite imminent lawless action” or amounts to “fighting words.”
In that case, the justices ruled 5-4 that the First Amendment protects flag burning as legitimate political expression. The late Justice Antonin Scalia, the conservative icon who Trump has repeatedly praised, was in the majority.
Trump said Monday that burning the U.S. flag “incites riots at levels we’ve never seen before,” with some people “going crazy” over burning it and others expressing anger at people for burning it. He did not offer examples.
The text of the executive order states that desecrating the American flag is “uniquely offensive and provocative. It is a statement of contempt, hostility, and violence against our Nation — the clearest possible expression of opposition to the political union that preserves our rights, liberty, and security. Burning this representation of America may incite violence and riot.”
The order calls on the attorney general to prioritize enforcement “to the fullest extent possible” of criminal and civil laws against flag burning that cause harm unrelated to the First Amendment.
Trump said the penalty for flag-burning would be one year in jail with no opportunity for early release.
The order also states that foreign nationals who burn the flag could face having their visas, residency permits, naturalization proceedings and other immigration benefits revoked. They could also be deported.
Trump said the court that ruled that flag burning is constitutionally protected was a “very sad court.”
“I guess it was a 5 to 4 decision. They called it freedom of speech,” the president said. “But there’s another reason, which is perhaps much more important. It’s called death.”
“Because what happens when you burn a flag is the area goes crazy,” Trump said. “If you have hundreds of people, they go crazy.”
New York
Lawyers for wife of former US Sen. Bob Menendez request 1-year prison sentence
NEW YORK (AP) — Lawyers for the wife of former U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez say she should be sentenced to a year and a day in prison rather than the eight years recommended by the federal court’s probation office for her conviction on bribery charges.
Nadine Menendez, 58, is scheduled to be sentenced next month for her April conviction on charges that she teamed up with the New Jersey Democrat to accept bribes of cash, gold bars and a luxury car from three New Jersey businessmen.
The lawyers in a submission to the sentencing judge on Friday cited additional surgery she must endure related to her breast cancer treatment to explain that lengthy time behind bars could be a death sentence.
They said the amount of money involved in her crimes was about $400,000, less than half of what the government claims was the amount lost as a result of a bribery scheme that prosecutors say stretched from 2018 until a year after the FBI raided the Menendez home in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, in 2022.
“Nadine is not her husband, or her co-defendants,” her lawyers wrote. “Despite all of the Government’s efforts to present her as a vixen, the reality is far from that. Her entire life has been marked by men who have taken advantage of her, and harmed her, in myriad ways. An extended sentence is not warranted, needed, or appropriate under these circumstances.”
Prosecutors will file their sentencing recommendation at a later date. Bob Menendez is serving an 11-year sentence.
Prosecutors accused Nadine Menendez of facilitating bribes to the senator around the time that they began dating, before they married in the fall of 2020.
