Florida
FBI says suspects tried to rob Offset outside a casino when he was shot in the leg
The rapper Offset was ambushed by a “large group” of people who tried to rob him outside a Florida casino last week when he was shot in the leg, the FBI said Tuesday.
Federal investigators said that they are still searching for the suspects who assaulted Offset last Monday night outside of Seminole Hard Rock in Hollywood, just north of Miami. Throughout the assault, a single shot was fired into Offset’s leg before an unsuccessful attempt to remove the rapper’s watch, the statement said. Offset, who rose to fame as part of the influential hip-hop trio Migos, was hospitalized for a couple of days, but swiftly returned to the stage at a performance at a music festival at the University of Arkansas on Saturday.
The suspects fled the scene in two Chevrolet SUVs that went in separate directions: A black Suburban that fled towards Hollywood, Florida, and a Tahoe that fled southbound towards Miami.
Following the shooting, officers detained two people, but law enforcement hasn’t shared evidence to directly tying either one to the shooting.
One of the people detained was rapper Lil Tjay, born Tione Jayden Merritt. He was arrested in connection with an altercation that occurred before the shooting, the Seminole Police Department in Florida said. He was charged with disorderly conduct and operating a vehicle without a valid license. His lawyer, Dawn M. Florio, told The Associated Press last week that Lil Tjay did not have a gun and was not charged with any weapons or gun-related crimes. He was swiftly released after posting bond.
Offset, born Kiari Kendrell Cephus, launched his career with Migos, one of the most popular hip-hop groups of all time. The Atlanta trio is celebrated for their rapid-fire triplet flow, an often-imitated delivery that changed the trajectory of trap.
The group had several multiplatinum selling singles, including “Bad and Boujee,” which went No. 1 on the all-genre Billboard Hot 100 chart, “Stir Fry,” and “Narcos.” Migos released four full-length albums across their career.
More than three years ago, Offset’s cousin Takeoff, another member of Migos, was shot and killed at a Houston bowling alley.
Washington
Justice Department fires 4 prosecutors accused of bias against anti-abortion activists
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration fired four Justice Department prosecutors involved in cases against anti-abortion activists, accusing the Biden administration on Tuesday of abusing a law designed to protect abortion clinics from obstruction and threats.
The firings are the latest wave of terminations of employees involved in cases criticized by conservatives or because they were perceived as insufficiently loyal to President Donald Trump’s agenda. The terminations came before the release of a report accusing the Biden administration of biased prosecutions under the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act or “FACE Act.”
“This Department will not tolerate a two-tiered system of justice,” Todd Blanche, the acting attorney general, said in a statement. “No Department should conduct selective prosecution based on beliefs. The weaponization that happened under the Biden Administration will not happen again, as we restore integrity to our prosecutorial system.”
The report is the first released from the Justice Department’s “Weaponization Working Group,” created by former Attorney General Pam Bondi to scrutinize the federal prosecutions of Trump and other cases criticized by conservatives.
Biden’s attorney general, Merrick Garland, and Jack Smith, the special counsel who prosecuted Trump, have said they followed only the facts, the evidence and the law in their decisions. Critics of the Trump administration say Bondi — who was fired by Trump this month — and Blanche are the ones who politicized the agency, with the norm-breaking actions that have stirred concern that the institution is being used as a tool to advance Trump’s personal and political agenda.
The Biden administration brought cases against dozens of defendants under the FACE Act, which makes it illegal to physically obstruct or use the threat of force to intimidate or interfere with a person seeking reproductive health services, and prohibits damaging property at abortion clinics and other centers. It was signed into law in 1994, when clinic protests and blockades were on the rise along with violence against abortion providers such as Dr. David Gunn, who was murdered.
The Trump administration alleges in the report that prosecutors under Biden often “ignored and downplayed” attacks against pregnancy resource centers or houses of worship, which are also protected under the law. It also claims that the Biden administration pushed for harsher sentences against anti-abortion activists than it did in cases against abortion-rights defendants. Trump last year pardoned anti-abortion activists convicted of blockading abortion clinic entrances, calling them “peaceful pro-life protesters.”
Kristen Clarke, who led the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division under Biden, defended the prosecutions, saying the attorneys “enforced the law even-handedly and put public safety at the center of this work.”
“The Civil Rights Division brought law enforcement leaders, crisis pregnancy center representatives, faith leaders, and reproductive health care staff together to address the real violence, threats of violence, and obstruction that too many people face in our country when it comes to reproductive health care,” Clarke said in an emailed statement on Tuesday.
The firings are part of a broader personnel purge that has shaken career Justice Department lawyers generally insulated from changes in administrations thanks to long-recognized civil service protections.
Justice Connection, a network of former department employees, said the agency leadership’s “cruelty and hypocrisy are on full display in this report.”
“They insist on zealous advocacy by career staff in advancing the President’s priorities, while shaming and firing those who did just that in the prior administration,” Stacey Young, a former department lawyer who founded Justice Connection, said in a statement. “They’ve put career employees on notice: if they do their jobs, they face potential termination if future political leadership disagrees with the policy goals of prior leadership.”
FBI says suspects tried to rob Offset outside a casino when he was shot in the leg
The rapper Offset was ambushed by a “large group” of people who tried to rob him outside a Florida casino last week when he was shot in the leg, the FBI said Tuesday.
Federal investigators said that they are still searching for the suspects who assaulted Offset last Monday night outside of Seminole Hard Rock in Hollywood, just north of Miami. Throughout the assault, a single shot was fired into Offset’s leg before an unsuccessful attempt to remove the rapper’s watch, the statement said. Offset, who rose to fame as part of the influential hip-hop trio Migos, was hospitalized for a couple of days, but swiftly returned to the stage at a performance at a music festival at the University of Arkansas on Saturday.
The suspects fled the scene in two Chevrolet SUVs that went in separate directions: A black Suburban that fled towards Hollywood, Florida, and a Tahoe that fled southbound towards Miami.
Following the shooting, officers detained two people, but law enforcement hasn’t shared evidence to directly tying either one to the shooting.
One of the people detained was rapper Lil Tjay, born Tione Jayden Merritt. He was arrested in connection with an altercation that occurred before the shooting, the Seminole Police Department in Florida said. He was charged with disorderly conduct and operating a vehicle without a valid license. His lawyer, Dawn M. Florio, told The Associated Press last week that Lil Tjay did not have a gun and was not charged with any weapons or gun-related crimes. He was swiftly released after posting bond.
Offset, born Kiari Kendrell Cephus, launched his career with Migos, one of the most popular hip-hop groups of all time. The Atlanta trio is celebrated for their rapid-fire triplet flow, an often-imitated delivery that changed the trajectory of trap.
The group had several multiplatinum selling singles, including “Bad and Boujee,” which went No. 1 on the all-genre Billboard Hot 100 chart, “Stir Fry,” and “Narcos.” Migos released four full-length albums across their career.
More than three years ago, Offset’s cousin Takeoff, another member of Migos, was shot and killed at a Houston bowling alley.
Washington
Justice Department fires 4 prosecutors accused of bias against anti-abortion activists
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration fired four Justice Department prosecutors involved in cases against anti-abortion activists, accusing the Biden administration on Tuesday of abusing a law designed to protect abortion clinics from obstruction and threats.
The firings are the latest wave of terminations of employees involved in cases criticized by conservatives or because they were perceived as insufficiently loyal to President Donald Trump’s agenda. The terminations came before the release of a report accusing the Biden administration of biased prosecutions under the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act or “FACE Act.”
“This Department will not tolerate a two-tiered system of justice,” Todd Blanche, the acting attorney general, said in a statement. “No Department should conduct selective prosecution based on beliefs. The weaponization that happened under the Biden Administration will not happen again, as we restore integrity to our prosecutorial system.”
The report is the first released from the Justice Department’s “Weaponization Working Group,” created by former Attorney General Pam Bondi to scrutinize the federal prosecutions of Trump and other cases criticized by conservatives.
Biden’s attorney general, Merrick Garland, and Jack Smith, the special counsel who prosecuted Trump, have said they followed only the facts, the evidence and the law in their decisions. Critics of the Trump administration say Bondi — who was fired by Trump this month — and Blanche are the ones who politicized the agency, with the norm-breaking actions that have stirred concern that the institution is being used as a tool to advance Trump’s personal and political agenda.
The Biden administration brought cases against dozens of defendants under the FACE Act, which makes it illegal to physically obstruct or use the threat of force to intimidate or interfere with a person seeking reproductive health services, and prohibits damaging property at abortion clinics and other centers. It was signed into law in 1994, when clinic protests and blockades were on the rise along with violence against abortion providers such as Dr. David Gunn, who was murdered.
The Trump administration alleges in the report that prosecutors under Biden often “ignored and downplayed” attacks against pregnancy resource centers or houses of worship, which are also protected under the law. It also claims that the Biden administration pushed for harsher sentences against anti-abortion activists than it did in cases against abortion-rights defendants. Trump last year pardoned anti-abortion activists convicted of blockading abortion clinic entrances, calling them “peaceful pro-life protesters.”
Kristen Clarke, who led the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division under Biden, defended the prosecutions, saying the attorneys “enforced the law even-handedly and put public safety at the center of this work.”
“The Civil Rights Division brought law enforcement leaders, crisis pregnancy center representatives, faith leaders, and reproductive health care staff together to address the real violence, threats of violence, and obstruction that too many people face in our country when it comes to reproductive health care,” Clarke said in an emailed statement on Tuesday.
The firings are part of a broader personnel purge that has shaken career Justice Department lawyers generally insulated from changes in administrations thanks to long-recognized civil service protections.
Justice Connection, a network of former department employees, said the agency leadership’s “cruelty and hypocrisy are on full display in this report.”
“They insist on zealous advocacy by career staff in advancing the President’s priorities, while shaming and firing those who did just that in the prior administration,” Stacey Young, a former department lawyer who founded Justice Connection, said in a statement. “They’ve put career employees on notice: if they do their jobs, they face potential termination if future political leadership disagrees with the policy goals of prior leadership.”
