FEBRUARY 2023 - POLITICAL TRENDING NEWS

---

A California panel on Wednesday denied parole for Robert F. Kennedy assassin Sirhan Sirhan, saying the 78-year-old prisoner still lacks insight into what caused him to shoot the senator and presidential candidate in 1968. Sirhan’s lawyer Angela Berry disputed that, saying Sirhan has shown that awareness, and his psychiatrists have said for decades that he is unlikely to reoffend or be a danger to society.

Chicago Police Superintendent David Brown is stepping down in the wake of Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s loss in Tuesday’s election. All eight of Lightfoot’s challengers in the race had said they’d fire Brown if they won the mayor’s job, including Paul Vallas and Brandon Johnson who remain in the race. Lightfoot was eliminated after finishing third.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis appears poised to suspend another prosecutor from office, this time zeroing in on how a central Florida state attorney dealt with the 19-year-old man accused of killing three people in Orlando, including a television reporter. DeSantis has already publicly criticized State Attorney Monique Worrell’s handling of previous prosecutions of the suspect, Keith Moses, who had a record of arrests as a juvenile and was on probation at the time he allegedly went on a shooting spree.

Rep. Mike Turner, chair of the House Intelligence Committee, said Sunday he and other members who work with classified information are “stumped” that presidents and vice presidents could be so careless with classified information.“We don’t understand how this could be happening. We don’t understand how all three could have been so lackadaisical about this,” Turner (R-Ohio) said on CNN’s “State of the Union” in discussing classified documents found in private spaces associated with former President Donald Trump, former Vice President Mike Pence and President Joe Biden.

Utah Gov. Spencer Cox said Sunday he’d prefer that Republicans pick a governor to be their presidential nominee in 2024. Speaking on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” the Utah Republican said he’d choose a governor “every day of the week” over someone from Congress.

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer on Sunday dismissed concerns over an apparent lack of enthusiasm among Democratic voters for President Joe Biden’s possible reelection campaign.“Listen, six months ago, there were people who were writing political obituaries for a lot of Democratic governors. We won, overwhelmingly,” Whitmer said on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “We had a great midterm. I thank the White House for that.”

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi will meet with his counterpart Xi Jinping during his three-day trip in China starting Tuesday, as the two U.S. rivals seek further cooperation.

China’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying made the announcement Sunday, saying Raisi’s visit was at Xi’s invitation.

GOP lawmakers see a major flaw in their states’ near-total abortion bans: Some local prosecutors won’t enforce them. Republicans in Georgia, Indiana, South Carolina and Texas — frustrated by progressive district attorneys who have publicly pledged not to bring charges under their state’s abortion laws — have introduced bills that would allow state officials to either bypass the local prosecutors or kick them out of office if their abortion-related enforcement is deemed too lenient.

The College Board on Saturday pushed back on reports of communication with Florida over its new African American studies course amid weeks of intense scrutiny — including claims the nonprofit caved to Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis’ objections.“We need to clear the air and set the record straight,” the nonprofit said in a statement labeling as “slander” the DeSantis administration’s comments about how the new course “lacks educational value.”

House Democratic Whip Katherine Clark’s daughter has been charged with assault after an altercation with a police officer who was trying to arrest her for allegedly spray painting anti-cop messages on the Boston Common bandstand. Riley Dowell, 23, was spotted defacing the bandstand with “NO COP CITY” and “ACAB” — shorthand for “all cops are bastards” — during a protest Saturday night. Dowell is nonbinary and was identified in a police press release Sunday by her birth name.

FBI investigators discovered an additional classified document and removed six other pages of records from the residence of former Vice President Mike Pence after a five-hour “unrestricted” search of his home, a Pence spokesman said.“The vice president has directed his legal team to continue its cooperation with appropriate authorities and to be fully transparent through the conclusion of this matter,” said the spokesman, Devin O’Malley.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg plans to step down from his post as planned in October, his spokeswoman Oana Lungescu told German news agency Deutschen Presse-Agentur, dismissing reports of another extension to his term.“He has no intention of seeking a further extension of his mandate,” she said.