Israelis contend with prospect of third poll days after vote

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israelis were contending with the prospect of a third election on Thursday, two days after an unprecedented repeat election left the country’s two main political parties deadlocked, with neither Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu nor his rivals holding a clear path to a coalition government.

While weeks of negotiations to form a coalition government lay ahead, conditions set by the parties could hobble the task within the allotted time, prompting a never-before held third election.

With nearly all votes counted Thursday, the centrist Blue and White party stood at 33 seats in Israel’s 120-seat parliament. Netanyahu’s conservative Likud stood at 31 seats.

“Everyone will need to get off their high horse to prevent elections for the third time,” Likud lawmaker David Bitan told Israeli Army Radio. “Blue and White’s desire for a unity government under their terms will not work.”

Neither party can form a government without the support of the election’s apparent kingmaker, Avigdor Lieberman of the Yisrael Beitenu party. His insistence on a secular government would force out Netanyahu’s traditional allies, the country’s two ultra-Orthodox parties and another nationalist-religious party.

Benny Gantz’s Blue and White has pledged not to sit in the same government as Netanyahu, as the long-serving Israeli leader is expected to face indictment in a slew of corruption scandals. The fiercely loyal Likud is unlikely to oust Netanyahu.

After meeting with his traditional allies Wednesday, Netanyahu on Thursday called on Gantz to join him in a unity government.

“Throughout the campaign I called for a right-wing government, but unfortunately the election results show that’s not possible,” Netanyahu said in a video statement. “Therefore there is no choice but to form a broad unity government.”

“We cannot and there is no reason to go to third elections,” he added.

Both parties were meeting with allies in the vote’s aftermath and the focus will soon shift to President Reuven Rivlin, who will consult with all parties in the coming days and select the candidate who he believes has the best chance of putting together a stable coalition.

The candidate has 42 days to do so and, if he fails, the president can give another candidate 28 days to form a coalition. If that fails, the president can assign another parliament member the task of building a government, or he can call new elections, something that has never happened. Rivlin has promised he will do everything in his power to prevent a third election.

The deadlock follows the second Israeli elections this year, which were called because Netanyahu failed to cobble together a coalition following the April vote. Israelis endured a caustic campaign that saw a combative Netanyahu fighting for his political survival amid the recommendation by Israel’s attorney general to indict him on charges of bribery, breach of trust and fraud pending a hearing in early October.

Netanyahu had sought an outright majority with his allies in hopes of passing legislation to give him immunity from the expected indictment, which would otherwise increase the pressure on Netanyahu to step aside.

The vote was largely seen as a referendum on Netanyahu, who this summer surpassed Israel’s founding prime minister to become the country’s longest-serving leader. During the campaign Netanyahu cast himself as a seasoned statesman who was the only candidate able to steer Israel through a sea of challenges.

His challenger, Blue and White’s Benny Gantz, a former army chief, tried to paint Netanyahu as divisive and scandal-plagued, offering himself as a calming influence and honest alternative.

Despite the scorched earth campaign that saw Netanyahu thrash institutions like the media, the police and the electoral committee — and which was tinged with anti-Arab rhetoric — the longtime leader failed to secure the resounding victory he needed to guarantee his political survival and perhaps save himself from a formal indictment.

Size matters? Media praise Elizabeth Warren -- and her crowds

Elizabeth Warren drew an impressive 20,000 people for an anti-corruption speech the other night in the liberal enclave surrounding Manhattan’s Washington Square Park.
Cue the media swoon.
In fact, as Warren has been drawing big crowds, delivering sharp debate performances and inching up in the polls, she has drawn almost no negative press—in marked contrast to Joe Biden.
And the toughest interviewer she’s faced has been liberal comedian Stephen Colbert.
One might even get the impression that most of the media would prefer that an ultra-progressive woman win the nomination as opposed to an old, occasionally stumbling, more moderate white guy who’s been a Washington figure for well over four decades.
There’s no question the Massachusetts senator is the hot candidate right now. The WP has a piece saying she’s demonstrated she can “match the spectacle of Trump, right down to the large, cheering throngs.”
The president, known for bragging about his crowd size since his inauguration, took a swipe at Warren, telling reporters that that “anybody” can attract crowds “standing in the middle of Manhattan in the most densely populated area of the country.”
Big crowds used to be written off as just the party faithful turning out, but now not so much. They can signify excitement and enthusiasm.
To me, what’s more important than her crowds is the way Warren lingers and poses for selfies with anyone who wants one—for an  exhausting four hours after the New York speech. That’s a personal touch that makes her approachable, and it’s hard to imagine Bernie Sanders doing something similar.
But the fact remains that Warren, whose embrace of Medicare for All means she would abolish private insurance for 150 million Americans, may be too liberal to win a general election. With a few exceptions, media outlets rarely focus on her potential vulnerabilities or such controversies as her past work for the kind of big corporations she now bashes.
An MSNBC interview with Rachel Maddow on Tuesday night was a lovefest. Maddow praised Warren’s crowds and selfies and asked such questions as, “How do you map that model of social change, of big structural change?”
By contrast, Colbert pressed Warren about her health insurance plan on the “Late Show.” She has successfully deflected these questions at the last two debates, with moderators simply giving up and moving on.
Colbert, a liberal who detests Donald Trump, has turned out to be adept at questioning Democratic candidates, sometimes with humorous barbs. He challenged Biden on his constant gaffes as well.
He told the candidate that she keeps being challenged in debates about how she’ll pay for her health plan, paused for effect, and said: “How are you going to pay for it? Are you going to raise the middle-class taxes?”
Warren reframed the question, as she always does: “Costs are going to go up for the wealthiest Americans, for big corporations--”
He asked again: Will middle-class taxes go up?
“Well, here’s the thing,” Warren began.
“No, here’s the thing. I’ve listened to these answers a few times before,” Colbert said, before suggesting she simply defend the tax hike.
Nancy Pelosi, meanwhile, explicitly came out yesterday against Medicare for All, telling CNBC’s Jim Cramer that the more feasible path for Democrats is expanding ObamaCare. The speaker knows a land mine when she sees one.
The chatter among pundits now is that Warren could overtake Biden, especially if she wins Iowa and then her neighboring state of New Hampshire. In a new Wall Street Journal/NBC poll, she trails Biden by just 6 points and is statistically tied among white voters, 28 percent to Biden’s 27 percent.
Her problem is that Biden crushes her, 49 to 13 percent, among black voters, who are crucial in South Carolina and then in the big industrial states. She just doesn’t have the same kind of connection as Barack Obama’s vice president.
If Warren keeps surging toward the nomination, the press at some point will be forced to give her tougher scrutiny. But for now, they’re largely content to chronicle her rise and marvel at the size of her crowds.

Bernie Sanders’ Iowa political director has left campaign, reports say

Just days after a shakeup in the New Hampshire leadership of Sen. Bernie Sanders’ 2020 presidential campaign comes word that the candidate’s Iowa political director has departed as well.
According to reports, a Sanders aide on Wednesday confirmed that Jess Mazour, who was named Sanders’ Iowa director in March, was let go from the campaign in recent weeks.
The aide confirmed the departure on condition of anonymity because the aide wasn’t authorized to discuss personnel matters, The Associated Press reported.

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., speaks at George Washington University in Washington, July 17, 2019. (Associated Press)

Prior to joining the sanders campaign, Mazour was an organizer for the progressive group Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement. The Washington Post was first to report that she had left the campaign.
On Sunday, the Sanders campaign announced changes to its New Hampshire leadership after backers of the campaign expressed concern that the independent U.S. senator from neighboring Vermont could lose the first-in-the-nation New Hampshire primary early next year.
The campaign announced that Shannon Jackson, who ran Sanders’ Senate reelection campaign in Vermont in 2018, would take over New Hampshire leadersip duties from Joe Caiazzo, who was transferred to Sanders’ operation in Massachusetts, according to the Washington Times.
The Caiazzo-Jackson switch came one day after the Sanders campaign parted ways with senior New Hampshire adviser Kurt Ehrenberg.
The changes in the Sanders campaign coincide with the loss of a key endorsement for Sanders to rival 2020 progressive candidate Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., who this week attracted the backing of the Working Families Party -- a group that had supported Sanders in 2016.
“Seeing the campaign not be able to outshine Warren with WFP progressives doesn’t have me questioning WFP’s process,” Rafael Shimunov, a 2016 Sanders volunteer and past national creative director for WFP told Politico. “It has me questioning where the Bernie campaign could have done better, because I want to make sure the strongest candidate unmasks Biden and unseats Trump.”
A Fox News Poll released Wednesday shows that Warren has pulled virtually even with Sanders in second place behind former Vice President Joe Biden, with Sanders attracting support from 18 percent of respondents, Warren 16 percent, and Biden leading with 29 percent.
Fox News’ Paul Steinhauser and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Townhall Conservative Cartoons 2019

Saudi Arabia joins US-led patrol; Iran says attack a warning

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Saudi Arabia said Wednesday it joined a U.S.-led coalition to secure the Mideast’s waterways amid threats from Iran after an attack targeting its crucial oil industry, while Iran’s president told the kingdom it should see the attack as a warning to end its yearslong war in Yemen.

The kingdom’s decision to enter the International Maritime Security Construct came ahead of a planned visit by U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. Saudi officials separately planned to share information about the weapons used to attack a Saudi oil field and the world’s largest crude oil processing plant Saturday.

Yemen’s Iranian-backed Houthi rebels have claimed the attack. The U.S. accuses Iran of being behind the assault, while Saudi Arabia already has said “Iranian weaponry” was used. Iran denies that, though it comes amid a summer of heightened tensions between Tehran and Washington over its unraveling nuclear deal with world powers.

“Almost certainly it’s Iranian-backed,” Prince Khalid bin Bandar, Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to the United Kingdom, told the BBC. “We are trying not to react too quickly because the last thing we need is more conflict in the region.”

The state-run Saudi Press Agency carried a statement Wednesday morning quoting an unnamed official saying the kingdom had joined the International Maritime Security Construct.

Australia, Bahrain and the United Kingdom already have joined the mission.

“The kingdom’s accession to this international alliance comes in support of regional and international efforts to deter and counter threats to maritime navigation and global trade,” the news agency said.

Cmdr. Joshua Frey, a spokesman for the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet, declined to comment on the Saudi announcement, saying it “would be inappropriate to comment on the status of individual nations and the nature of any potential support.”

The coalition aims to secure the broader Persian Gulf region. It includes surveillance of the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf through which a fifth of the world’s oil travels, and the Bab el-Mandeb, another narrow strait that connects the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden off Yemen and East Africa. Smaller patrol boats and other craft will be available for rapid response. The plan also allows for nations to escort their own ships through the region.

The U.S. blames Iran for the apparent limpet mine explosions on four vessels in May and another two in June sailing in the Gulf of Oman near the Strait of Hormuz, something Iran denies being behind. Iran also seized a British-flagged oil tanker and another based in the United Arab Emirates.

It’s unclear what role the kingdom will play in the coalition. Bahrain already serves at the headquarters of the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet.

In Tehran, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani told his Cabinet that Saudi Arabia should see the attack as a warning to end its war in Yemen, where it has fought the Houthi rebels since 2015 and sought to restore the internationally recognized government.

Rouhani said Yemenis “did not hit hospitals, they did not hit schools or the Sanaa bazaar,” mentioning the Saudi-led coalition’s widely criticized airstrikes.

He added that Iran does not want conflict in the region, but it was the Saudi-led coalition that “waged the war in the region and ruined Yemen.”

“They attacked an industrial center to warn you. Learn the lesson from the warning,” he said, portraying the Houthis as responsible for the drone strikes.

He did not address accusations Iran was behind the attacks in the video shown on state television.

Wednesday’s announcements comes after Saudi Arabia’s energy minister said late Tuesday that more than half of the country’s daily crude oil production that was knocked out by an attack had been recovered and that production capacity at its targeted plants would be fully restored by the end of the month.

“Where would you find a company in this whole world that went through such a devastating attack and came out like a phoenix?” Energy minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman said about state-owned Saudi Aramco, which was the target of the attacks. His question to reporters, many of them Saudi, drew applause.

Prince Abdulaziz said Aramco will honor its commitments to its customers this month by drawing from its reserves of crude oil and offering additional crude production from other oil fields. He said production capacity would reach up to 11 million barrels a day by the end of September and 12 million barrels in November.

He said production at the Abqaiq processing facility is currently at 2 million barrels per day.

Oil prices spiked Monday, with benchmark Brent crude having the biggest percentage gain since the 1991 Gulf War. Prices dropped Tuesday around the Saudi announcement. Brent traded Wednesday morning around the same prices as the day before, with a barrel costing over $64.

Pompeo was due to land in the Red Sea city of Jiddah, where he was scheduled to meet with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Pompeo later will travel to the United Arab Emirates on Thursday to meet with Abu Dhabi’s powerful crown prince, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan. Both nations are U.S. allies and have been fighting against the Houthis in Yemen since March 2015.

The Saudi military planned to speak to journalists Wednesday in Riyadh to discuss the investigation into Saturday’s attack “and present material evidence and Iranian weapons proving the Iranian regime’s involvement.” It did not elaborate.

Marine Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Tuesday that U.S. military experts were in Saudi Arabia working with their counterparts to “do the forensics on the attack” — gleaning evidence that could help build a convincing case for where the weapons originated.

On Wednesday, French President Emmanuel Macron’s office announced experts from his nation would be traveling to Saudi Arabia to help the kingdom shed light ” on the origin and methods” of the attacks. France has been trying to find a diplomatic solution to the tensions between Iran and the U.S., so any conclusion they draw could be used to show what a third-party assessed happened.

___

Associated Press writers Aya Batrawy in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Nasser Karimi in Tehran, Iran, Robert Burns in Washington and Angela Charlton in Paris contributed to this report.

Israel’s 2 main political parties deadlocked after election

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel’s two main political parties were deadlocked Wednesday after an unprecedented repeat election, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu facing an uphill battle to hold on to his job.

The election’s seeming political kingmaker, Avigdor Lieberman, said he’ll insist upon a secular unity government between Netanyahu’s Likud and Benny Gantz’s Blue and White parties, who based on partial results are currently tied at 32 seats each out of the 120 in parliament.

Without Lieberman’s endorsement, both parties appear to have fallen well short of securing a parliamentary majority with their prospective ideological allies.

With results still pouring in, Lieberman insisted the overall picture was unlikely to change. He also demanded a secular “liberal” government shorn of the religious and ultra-Orthodox allies the prime minister has long relied upon.

“The conclusion is clear, everything we said throughout the campaign is coming true,” he said outside his home in the West Bank settlement of Nokdim. “There is one and only option: a national unity government that is broad and liberal and we will not join any other option.”

That could spell serious trouble for the continuation of Netanyahu’s lengthy rule.

Gantz, a former military chief, has ruled out sitting with a Netanyahu-led Likud at a time when the prime minister is expected to be indicted on corruption charges in the coming weeks. It raised the specter of an alternate Likud candidate rising to challenge Netanyahu, though most of its senior officials have thus far pledged to stand solidly behind their leader.

Netanyahu, the longest serving leader is Israeli history, had desperately sought an outright majority with his hard-line and ultra-Orthodox allies in hopes of passing legislation to give him immunity from his expected indictment.

Israel’s attorney general has recommended charging Netanyahu with bribery, fraud and breach of trust in three scandals, pending a long-awaited hearing scheduled in the coming weeks. A formal indictment would increase the pressure on Netanyahu to step aside if he does not have immunity.

The partial results released Wednesday by the Central Election Commission were based on a tally of 56% of the potential electorate. Overall turnout was 69.4%.

According to the partial results, Likud with its natural allies of religious and ultra-nationalist parties mustered just 56 seats — or five short of the needed majority.

Gantz’s Blue and White and its center-left allies garnered 55 seats, placing Lieberman’s Yisrael Beiteinu and its nine seats in the middle as the deciding factor.

The only precedent for a unity government in Israel came after the 1984 election and saw a rotating premiership between the heads of the two largest parties.

The joint list of Arab parties, who have never sat in an Israeli government, also finished strong, with results indicating they had earned 12 seats to become the third-largest party in parliament. Should a unity government be formed, its leader Ayman Odeh, would become the country’s next opposition leader, an official state position that would grant him an audience with visiting dignitaries, a state-funded bodyguard, monthly consultations with the prime minister and a platform to rebut his speeches in parliament.

Addressing his supporters early Wednesday, Netanyahu refused to concede defeat and vowed to form a new government that excludes Arab parties, continuing his campaign rhetoric of questioning the loyalty of the country’s Arab minority — a strategy that drew accusations of racism and incitement.

“There neither will be nor can there be a government that relies on anti-Zionist Arab parties. Parties that reject the very existence of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state. Parties that vaunt and praise bloodthirsty terrorists who murder our soldiers, citizens and children,” he said.

In his first comments Wednesday morning outside his home, Gantz said he had already begun working toward forming a “unity government” but urged patience until the final results were announced, likely on Thursday.

Focus will then shift toward Israel’s president, Reuven Rivlin, who is tasked with selecting the candidate he believes has the best chance of forming a stable coalition. Rivlin is to consult with all parties in the coming days before making his decision. Lieberman’s recommendation will carry a lot of weight regarding who will be tapped as the prime minister designate.

The candidate would then have up to six weeks to form a coalition. If that fails, Rivlin could give another candidate for prime minister 28 days to form a coalition. And if that doesn’t work, new elections would be triggered yet again. Rivlin has said he will do everything possible to avoid such a scenario and Lieberman has ruled it out as well.

Lieberman’s primary stated goal is to push out what he sees as the excessive power of the ultra-Orthodox Jewish parties and have wide a coalition that can effectively tackle Israel’s most pressing security and economic challenges. But Netanyahu accused his former ally of plotting to oust him from office out of personal spite.

Behind the two is decades of a roller-coaster relationship. Lieberman, once Netanyahu’s chief of staff, has held a series of senior Cabinet posts and was often a staunch partner. But he’s has also been a rival, critic and thorn in Netanyahu’s side.

The Moldovan-born Lieberman started as a top Netanyahu aide in the 1990s before embarking on a political career of his own as a nationalist hard-liner and champion of immigrants like the former Soviet Union like himself. But he resigned last year as defense minister because Netanyahu kept blocking his plans to strike hard against Gaza militants.

Lieberman passed up the chance to return to the post following April’s election, refused to join Netanyahu’s emerging coalition and forcing the do-over vote. Assuming he sticks to his guns this time as well, Netanyahu could be done as Israel’s prime minister.

Liberman is now “the linchpin,” wrote Nahum Barnea, a prominent columnist in the Yediot Ahronot daily.

“I don’t think that anyone is prepared to risk a third election, not even for Netanyahu,” Barnea added. “Maybe the time has come to say goodbye.”

Trump says California cities 'destroy themselves' with homelessness

President Trump said Tuesday he cannot let California cities continue to “destroy themselves” by failing to adequately address homelessness, as state and local officials look reluctantly to the federal government for help in combating the ongoing housing crisis within the nation’s most populated state.
Talking to reporters aboard Air Force One en route in San Francisco, Trump addressed the state's problem with homelessness, saying, "We can't let Los Angeles, San Francisco and numerous other cities destroy themselves by allowing what's happening."
“We have people living in our … best highways, our best streets, our best entrances to buildings ... where people in those buildings pay tremendous taxes, where they went to those locations because of the prestige,” Trump continued. “In many cases, they came from other countries and they moved to Los Angeles or they moved to San Francisco because of the prestige of the city, and all of a sudden they have tents. Hundreds and hundreds of tents and people living at the entrance to their office building. And they want to leave. And the people of San Francisco are fed up, and the people of Los Angeles are fed up.”

"The people of San Francisco are fed up, and the people of Los Angeles are fed up."
— President Trump

Earlier this week, Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, and several California mayors and county and state officials asked the Trump administration for 50,000 additional vouchers for those most affected by the housing crisis, the Los Angeles Times reported. In the letter signed Monday, they also requested the federal government provide incentives for landlords to accept the housing vouchers.
“That’s a pretty remarkable opportunity, if they’re sincere in their desires,” Newsom said at a news conference. “If they’re insincere and this is, God forbid, about something else — politics, not good policy — then they’ll reject it outright. I hope that’s not the case.”

The president’s two-day fundraising trip to California has been met with protests and swift criticism from celebrities aiming to prevent him from awakening Republican support in the Democrat stronghold state ahead of 2020.  Meanwhile, officials spoke of putting political differences aside briefly enough to welcome the president in a partnership in addressing homeless in the state together.
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, a Democrat, said in a Facebook video post ahead of Trump's arrival that he hoped the president would work with the city to end homelessness, but added he has not been invited to meet with the president during his stay on Los Angeles.
Trump said he would discuss possible solutions to California’s homelessness crisis with U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson when he comes to join the president in the San Francisco Bay Area and then Los Angeles. Carson requested to meet with Los Angeles Police Department Chief Michel Moore to discuss housing issues, including homelessness. They are expected to meet Wednesday.
As Trump fails to announce possible policy proposals to address homelessness on the West Coast during his California trip, local officials are speculating that Trump plans to clear homeless encampments he referenced to reporters on Air Force One and move people to government operated shelters on federal land, the Los Angeles Times reported.
The Department of Justice and Los Angeles law enforcement union officials deliberated possible “workarounds” to circumvent court settlements, rulings and lawsuits that hinder the Los Angeles Police Department’s ability to clear homeless encampments from public property, according to the newspaper. On Monday, the White House also considered the option of deregulating the housing market to increase the supply of apartments, condominiums and homes in California.
Trump kicked off his two-day California fundraising trip Tuesday with a $3 million Bay Area luncheon at the home of Sun Microsystems co-founder Scott McNealy, to be followed by a $5 million Beverly Hills dinner at the home of real estate developer Geoffrey Palmer. He's expected to bring in an additional $7 million on Wednesday with a breakfast in Los Angeles and luncheon in San Diego. Trump’s tour is to raise money for Trump Victory, a joint fundraising committee composed of the Trump campaign and the Republican National Committee, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Fox News' Gregg Re contributed to this report.

Jim Jordan rips Nadler for calling Lewandowski to testify instead of DOJ inspector general Horowitz

While testy exchanges between Chairman Jerrod Nadler and former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski got most of the attention at Tuesday’s House Judiciary Committee hearing on impeachment, one Republican on the panel thought the proceedings should have taken an entirely different direction.
Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, said Tuesday that if House Democrats wanted to explore whether President Trump deserved impeachment, “a great place to start” would be with testimony from Michael Horowitz, the Justice Department inspector general tasked with investigating alleged abuses of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).
“A great place to start would be the inspector general's report that was issued just three weeks ago, the scathing report about Jim Comey," Jordan told Nadler during Tuesday’s hearing.
In his report, Horowitz claimed that Comey, the former FBI director who was fired by President Trump, violated bureau policies by drafting, leaking and retaining his memos documenting private discussions with the president.
Republicans have maintained that Comey’s actions were part of an anti-Trump agenda within the FBI prior to the 2016 presidential election, with other alleged participants including former FBI acting director Andrew McCabe and former FBI staffers Peter Strzok and Lisa Page.
Jordan noted Tuesday that he had previously requested that Horowitz appear before the Judiciary Committee, only to be rebuffed by Nadler.
"When I asked the chairman when we might have an opportunity to question Mr. Horowitz, he said, 'I don't know. I haven't thought about that’,” Jordan said.
“Of course you haven't thought about that," Jordan added. "Too busy trying to impeach the president. Too busy slapping subpoenas on Corey Lewandowski."
Jordan had said Monday that potential prosecutions of former FBI personnel could come from U.S. Attorney John Durham, who was tapped by Attorney General Bill Barr in May to probe the origins of the Trump-Russia investigation.
But it will be "a while" before Durham's probe is concluded, Jordan said.
Fox News’ Catherine Herridge and Joshua Nelson contributed to this report.