Florida
Trump taps his attorney Alina Habba to serve as counselor to the president
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump has announced that he is appointing one of his defense attorneys in the New York hush money case as counselor to the president.
Alina Habba, 40, defended Trump earlier this year, also serving as his legal spokesperson. Habba has been spending time with the president-elect since the election at his Florida club Mar-a-Lago.
“She has been unwavering in her loyalty and unmatched in her resolve — standing with me through numerous ‘trials,’ battles and countless days in Court,” Trump posted on his social network Truth Social. “Few understand the Weaponization of the ‘Injustice’ System better than Alina.”
Trump became the first former American president to be convicted of felony crimes when a New York jury in May found him guilty of all 34 charges in a scheme to illegally influence the 2016 election through a hush money payment to a porn actor who said the two had sex.
In Trump’s first term, the position of counselor was held by Republican strategist Kellyanne Conway. Habba has Iraqi ancestry and is Chaldean, which is Iraq’s largest Christian denomination and one of the Catholic Church’s Eastern rites.
Habba frequently accompanied Trump on the campaign trail and was one of the speakers at the late October rally in New York’s Madison Square Garden.
On Sunday, Trump also announced he is bringing back former staffer Michael Anton to serve as director of policy planning at the State Department. Anton served as the National Security Council spokesman from 2017 to 2018.
Trump said he also will be appointing Michael Needham, a former chief of staff for Sen. Marco Rubio, as counselor of the State Department. The Florida senator was chosen by Trump to be his next secretary of state.
Mississippi
The NAACP ends its challenge over state creating a new court in majority-Black capital city
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — The NAACP is ending its lawsuit that challenged a decision by the majority-white and Republican-run Mississippi Legislature to create a new state court in Jackson, the capital city that is majority-Black and governed by Democrats.
The civil rights group and local residents sued the state in 2023 to try to block creation of a court in the Capitol Complex Improvement District, an area that includes downtown and other parts of Jackson with state government buildings and affluent shopping areas. A plan to create the court coincided with the Legislature’s decision to expand patrol territory for the state-run Capitol Police.
“Plaintiffs are heartened by reports that the CCID Court will be established with appropriate safeguards for Jackson’s residents, and have decided to drop their challenge to the manner of appointing officials to serve that court,” attorneys for the NAACP wrote in federal court papers filed Monday.
The filing gave no details about those safeguards. The Associated Press emailed questions Friday to two attorneys representing the plaintiffs.
U.S. District Judge Henry T. Wingate on Thursday accepted the NAACP’s request and dismissed the lawsuit.
The NAACP originally argued that the new court would undermine democracy because Jackson voters or local elected officials would not choose the judge or prosecutors. State law says the court will have a judge appointed by the state Supreme Court chief justice and prosecutors appointed by the state attorney general. The current chief justice and attorney general are both white and conservative.
Republican Gov. Tate Reeves and legislators who created the new court say it is part of an effort to control crime in Jackson. The city has had at least 100 homicides for each of the past four years, in a population of about 150,000.
Wingate ruled late last year that he would allow officials to move forward with creating the court. The start-up has been on hold partly because the state initially lacked suitable space for the court to meet.
The Capitol Complex Improvement District Court will have the same power as municipal courts, which handle misdemeanor cases, traffic violations and initial appearances for some criminal charges. People convicted in most municipal courts face time in a local jail. Those convicted in the new court will be held in a state prison, near people convicted of more serious felony crimes.
Most municipal judges are appointed by city officials. Jackson has a Black mayor and majority-Black city council.
Washington
Man charged with burning American flag during protest over Netanyahu visit
WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal authorities have charged a man with burning an American flag in the nation’s capital during protests against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s address to Congress in July.
Michael Snow Jr., 24, of Durham, North Carolina, is charged with destruction of federal property over the burning of the flag that was pulled down at Columbus Circle — in front of Union Station — by demonstrators calling for an end to the war in Gaza.
Authorities say video shows Snow shouting a “I need a better lighter!” after initially failing to ignite the flag. Someone then handed him a bottle of lighter fluid, which he used to douse the flag before he and another person set it on fire, authorities say.
“Stealing a federal flag and burning it is not speech, it’s destruction of federal property,” said Matthew Graves, U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia.
There was no lawyer listed in the court docket for Snow, and a message seeking comment was left at a number listed for him in public records.
Thousands of protesters converged on Washington in July to condemn Netanyahu during his address to Congress, in which the prime minister pledged in a scathing speech to achieve “total victory” against Hamas.
Outside Union Station, protesters spray painted graffiti on a monument to Christopher Columbus and hoisted Palestinian flags in place of the American flags that were removed.
A group of protesters had a permit to demonstrate in front of Union Station, but the U.S. Park Police said it revoked the permit after it couldn’t reach protest organizers that afternoon.
The National Park Service estimated that it cost more than $11,000 to clean up and fix damage at the site.
Trump taps his attorney Alina Habba to serve as counselor to the president
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump has announced that he is appointing one of his defense attorneys in the New York hush money case as counselor to the president.
Alina Habba, 40, defended Trump earlier this year, also serving as his legal spokesperson. Habba has been spending time with the president-elect since the election at his Florida club Mar-a-Lago.
“She has been unwavering in her loyalty and unmatched in her resolve — standing with me through numerous ‘trials,’ battles and countless days in Court,” Trump posted on his social network Truth Social. “Few understand the Weaponization of the ‘Injustice’ System better than Alina.”
Trump became the first former American president to be convicted of felony crimes when a New York jury in May found him guilty of all 34 charges in a scheme to illegally influence the 2016 election through a hush money payment to a porn actor who said the two had sex.
In Trump’s first term, the position of counselor was held by Republican strategist Kellyanne Conway. Habba has Iraqi ancestry and is Chaldean, which is Iraq’s largest Christian denomination and one of the Catholic Church’s Eastern rites.
Habba frequently accompanied Trump on the campaign trail and was one of the speakers at the late October rally in New York’s Madison Square Garden.
On Sunday, Trump also announced he is bringing back former staffer Michael Anton to serve as director of policy planning at the State Department. Anton served as the National Security Council spokesman from 2017 to 2018.
Trump said he also will be appointing Michael Needham, a former chief of staff for Sen. Marco Rubio, as counselor of the State Department. The Florida senator was chosen by Trump to be his next secretary of state.
Mississippi
The NAACP ends its challenge over state creating a new court in majority-Black capital city
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — The NAACP is ending its lawsuit that challenged a decision by the majority-white and Republican-run Mississippi Legislature to create a new state court in Jackson, the capital city that is majority-Black and governed by Democrats.
The civil rights group and local residents sued the state in 2023 to try to block creation of a court in the Capitol Complex Improvement District, an area that includes downtown and other parts of Jackson with state government buildings and affluent shopping areas. A plan to create the court coincided with the Legislature’s decision to expand patrol territory for the state-run Capitol Police.
“Plaintiffs are heartened by reports that the CCID Court will be established with appropriate safeguards for Jackson’s residents, and have decided to drop their challenge to the manner of appointing officials to serve that court,” attorneys for the NAACP wrote in federal court papers filed Monday.
The filing gave no details about those safeguards. The Associated Press emailed questions Friday to two attorneys representing the plaintiffs.
U.S. District Judge Henry T. Wingate on Thursday accepted the NAACP’s request and dismissed the lawsuit.
The NAACP originally argued that the new court would undermine democracy because Jackson voters or local elected officials would not choose the judge or prosecutors. State law says the court will have a judge appointed by the state Supreme Court chief justice and prosecutors appointed by the state attorney general. The current chief justice and attorney general are both white and conservative.
Republican Gov. Tate Reeves and legislators who created the new court say it is part of an effort to control crime in Jackson. The city has had at least 100 homicides for each of the past four years, in a population of about 150,000.
Wingate ruled late last year that he would allow officials to move forward with creating the court. The start-up has been on hold partly because the state initially lacked suitable space for the court to meet.
The Capitol Complex Improvement District Court will have the same power as municipal courts, which handle misdemeanor cases, traffic violations and initial appearances for some criminal charges. People convicted in most municipal courts face time in a local jail. Those convicted in the new court will be held in a state prison, near people convicted of more serious felony crimes.
Most municipal judges are appointed by city officials. Jackson has a Black mayor and majority-Black city council.
Washington
Man charged with burning American flag during protest over Netanyahu visit
WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal authorities have charged a man with burning an American flag in the nation’s capital during protests against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s address to Congress in July.
Michael Snow Jr., 24, of Durham, North Carolina, is charged with destruction of federal property over the burning of the flag that was pulled down at Columbus Circle — in front of Union Station — by demonstrators calling for an end to the war in Gaza.
Authorities say video shows Snow shouting a “I need a better lighter!” after initially failing to ignite the flag. Someone then handed him a bottle of lighter fluid, which he used to douse the flag before he and another person set it on fire, authorities say.
“Stealing a federal flag and burning it is not speech, it’s destruction of federal property,” said Matthew Graves, U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia.
There was no lawyer listed in the court docket for Snow, and a message seeking comment was left at a number listed for him in public records.
Thousands of protesters converged on Washington in July to condemn Netanyahu during his address to Congress, in which the prime minister pledged in a scathing speech to achieve “total victory” against Hamas.
Outside Union Station, protesters spray painted graffiti on a monument to Christopher Columbus and hoisted Palestinian flags in place of the American flags that were removed.
A group of protesters had a permit to demonstrate in front of Union Station, but the U.S. Park Police said it revoked the permit after it couldn’t reach protest organizers that afternoon.
The National Park Service estimated that it cost more than $11,000 to clean up and fix damage at the site.
