OnPolitics: POTUS asks Congress to ban sale and distribution of ghost guns
Happy Monday, OnPolitics readers.
Here’s something you may have missed over the weekend: Federal prosecutors said Friday that Secret Service members assigned to key missions were “compromised” by two individuals impersonating federal agents.
The intentions of Arian Taherzadeh, 40, and Haider Ali, 35, who allegedly gave gifts and rent-free apartments to Secret Service agents, were not immediately clear. A federal magistrate made no immediate decision on whether to jail the suspects pending trial.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Joshua Rothstein said the investigation into the actions of the impersonators is still in its early stages.
“The scale of the compromise that they created is quite large,” Rothstein said.
Rothstein told U.S. Magistrate G. Michael Harvey that the suspects “had firearms, they had ammunition, they had body armor, they had tactical gear, they had surveillance equipment, and they were engaged in conduct that represented a serious threat to the community, compromised the operations of a federal law enforcement agency, and created a potential risk to national security.”
Investigators are also looking into the suspects’ possible ties to Iran, Pakistan and Egypt.
It’s Chelsey with today’s top stories out of Washington.
Biden admin targets ghost guns
President Joe Biden announced federal regulations Monday targeting the use of untraceable firearms — otherwise known as “ghost guns” — that law enforcement officers are seeing more frequently at crime scenes nationwide.
The president and Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco unveiled the new rules during a ceremony in the White House Rose Garden. Some components of privately made firearms assembled from do-it-yourself kits purchased in a store or online will qualify as firearms under federal law.
suspended foreign investors from purchasing houses for two years to help cool-off its housing market.
Trump endorses Oz for Senate
Former President Donald Trump endorsed fellow Republican Dr. Mehmet Oz Saturday in Pennsylvania’s Senate race.
Trump said that Pennsylvania voters have “a tremendous opportunity to Save America by electing the brilliant and well-known” candidate.
The former president also praised Oz’s medical advice. “He even said that I was in extraordinary health, which made me like him even more (although he also said I should lose a couple of pounds!),” Trump said.
Oz, a cardiac surgeon and host of “The Dr. Oz Show,” was appointed to the Presidential Council on Sports, Fitness, and Nutrition during the Trump administration. He was removed from his post this month by Biden.
Oz is one of seven Republican candidates running in the primaries to replace Republican Sen. Pat Toomey. He is nearly even with former hedge fund manager Dave McCormick with 17% support compared to 18% for Toomey, according to a new poll from The Hill and Emerson College.
how people around the world celebrated the Catholic holiday. — Chelsey