‘Re-elect Eric': Adams Kicks Off Bid to Oppose Mamdani for Mayor
With the political world in New York City and beyond still abuzz over Zohran Mamdani's ascendance as the likely Democratic mayoral candidate, the current mayor, Eric Adams, held a news conference on Thursday to deliver a countermessage: Don't forget about me.
Mr. Adams appeared on the steps of City Hall to formally kick off an independent bid for re-election in November, with a crowd of supporters holding up 'Re-elect Eric for Mayor' signs, echoing Mr. Mamdani's campaign ads that primarily use his first name.
The obstacles the mayor faces are substantial. His approval rating was abysmal even before he was indicted last fall on charges of bribery and soliciting illegal campaign contributions from foreign nationals. He grew more unpopular after the charges were dropped by the Trump Justice Department, leading to accusations of a quid pro quo that Mr. Adams has denied.
The mayor was denied public matching funds because of the charges of soliciting straw donations. His management of the city has been questioned. The diverse coalition he put together to win election in 2021 is completely fractured. And his third-party bid puts him at an immediate disadvantage in a city where Democrats outnumber Republicans six to one.
As evidence of his divisiveness, the mayor's speech was repeatedly interrupted by protesters who called him a criminal and accused him of selling out the city to President Trump. Nearby in City Hall Park, protesters blew whistles and engaged in profane chants aimed at disrupting the announcement.
At the news conference, the mayor seemed to sense the skepticism.
'Why am I running for re-election?' Mr. Adams said, surrounded by supporters. 'Because we've got more to do.'
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Hamilton Spectator
35 minutes ago
- Hamilton Spectator
Donald Trump says he's cutting off trade talks with Canada over Ottawa's digital tax
OTTAWA — U.S. President Donald Trump said Friday that he is cutting off all trade talks with Canada over the federal government's digital services tax that would impact American tech giants, calling it a 'blatant attack' on the United States. Trump announced his plan to end trade talks in a social media post Friday afternoon, less than two weeks after he agreed with Prime Minister Mark Carney at the G7 summit on June 16 to work toward a deal to end the ongoing trade war within 30 days . 'Based on this egregious Tax, we are hereby terminating ALL discussions on Trade with Canada, effective immediately,' Trump's post said. 'We will let Canada know the Tariff that they will be paying to do business with the United States of America within the next seven day period.' The Prime Minister's Office responded later Friday afternoon with a short statement that did not mention the digital services tax and expressed Canada's desire to continue the trade talks. 'The Canadian government will continue to engage in these complex negotiations with the United States in the best interest of Canadian workers and businesses,' the statement said. Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne said as recently as two weeks ago that Ottawa would press ahead with the tax, which is set to start collecting money on Monday. Prime Minister Mark Carney comments moments after U.S. President Donald Trump said that he was "terminating all discussions on trade with Canada" and threatened new tariffs over Ottawa's plans to push ahead with a digital services tax. Carney called the negotiations "complex." (June 27, 2025 / The Canadian Press) On social media, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said he was disappointed to hear that trade talks have halted, and that he hopes they resume quickly. He also did not name the digital services tax, but pointed to changes his party has long argued will improve the Canadian economy, including the repeal of the existing federal project assessment regime and industrial carbon pricing. 'As always, Conservatives are ready to help get a good deal for Canada,' Poilievre's statement said. 'We must put Canada first.' Under Trump, the U.S. has imposed a series of tariffs on Canadian steel, aluminum, autos and other goods that Canada views as illegal and unjustified. Ottawa has responded with a raft of counter-tariffs in a trade war that Carney vowed during the spring campaign to 'win.' The prime minister has since embarked on talks with Trump, which Carney said are designed to renegotiate Canada's trade and security relationship with the economic and military juggernaut to the south. Flavio Volpe, president of the Automotive Parts Manufacturers' Association, was part of the prime minister's Canada-U.S. council that met virtually on Friday, just as Trump declared he would terminate trade talks. In an interview with the Star, Volpe said he remains cautiously optimistic, and that surprising twists have become an expectation since Trump returned to the White House in January. 'Is this a pressure moment in a negotiation, or is it really the end of the conversation? I don't know. But you know who does know? Donald Trump, who is, in this style of negotiation, a master,' Volpe said. 'Because the prime minister and the president are in direct communication, and have been for the last couple months, I will save my panic for … if the PM suggests we should panic.' Brian Clow, a former deputy chief of staff and senior adviser to prime minister Justin Trudeau, told the Star that it's not surprising Trump would target the tax, which was a trade irritant when Joe Biden was president as well. He urged the Carney government to stay calm and keep trying to talk to its American counterparts. He also said the government should not consider dropping the digital services tax unless the move is part of a broader trade deal with the Trump administration. 'To a certain extent, what we just saw from Donald Trump is exactly from his playbook. We've seen it so many times before,' Clow said. 'This is how he negotiates. He negotiates by threat, attempting to intimidate to yield more concessions from Canada. This is just a part of how it works and they've got to keep talking and hopefully come to some sort of deal.' The trade war has rattled businesses and workers across the country, with layoffs at auto plants and steel factory shutdowns in recent weeks. Trump doubled his steel and aluminum tariffs to 50 per cent against Canada on June 4, arguing the tariffs are needed to protect and promote a key American industry, as his broader policy of tariffs is designed to raise government revenues and overcome what the U.S. president argues is unfair commercial relations for his country. The Liberal government has long planned to impose a tax on digital services, which Trump views as an unfair trade practice that will hit American companies like Google and Meta. In his social media post Friday, Trump alluded to how the European Union is planning a similar digital services tax, and said Canada was 'copying' the bloc of states with 'a direct and blatant attack on our Country.' On Thursday, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced that the G7 — a group of rich democracies that includes Canada — agreed to exempt American companies from certain taxes. In return, the Trump administration would remove a so-called 'revenge tax' from a sweeping bill in the U.S. Congress, which would have imposed taxes on investments from countries the U.S. deemed to be treating American firms unfairly. President Donald Trump said he's immediately suspending trade talks with Canada over its plans to continue with its tax on technology firms. Trump said the Canadians was sticking to its plan to impose the tax set to take effect Monday. (AP Video / June 27, 2025) Neither the PMO nor Champagne's office responded Friday when asked if that deal impacted Canada's digital services tax. The policy, enacted in 2024's Digital Services Tax Act , imposed a three per cent tax on revenue earned from online marketing and advertising, social media and some sales of user data. The tax applies to domestic and foreign businesses that reap more than $1.1 billion in global revenue and earn more than $20 million of revenue within Canada in a given year. The Liberals promised to introduce the tax in 2019, and argued hiking tax on big companies could help pay for social services and other public investments to spur the economy. The independent Parliamentary Budget Officer reported in 2023 that the tax would raise about $1.2 billion per year in government revenues. In a written statement Friday, the head of the Business Council of Canada said it has warned the government for the past three years that the digital services tax 'could risk undermining' Canada's economic relationship with the U.S. Goldy Hyder called on Canada to immediately propose to eliminate the tax, in exchange for the removal of American tariffs on Canadian goods. Catherine Cobden, president and chief executive officer of the Canadian Steel Producers Association, said Friday that trade relations are so unpredictable and uncertain with the U.S. that even a new deal to remove current tariffs can no longer be seen as a guarantee. She called for stronger measures to encourage using domestically produced steel in Canada, and other steps to protect the sector. 'We are really under attack by the United States, so we are rapidly pivoting away from that market,' she said. Another business group that has opposed the digital services tax, the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, said Friday that 'surprises' should be expected in negotiations. 'The tone and tenor of talks has improved in recent months, and we hope to see progress continue,' said the chamber's president, Candace Laing. 'We respect that Team Canada is conducting these negotiations at the table, and we need to give them the space to navigate.'
Yahoo
41 minutes ago
- Yahoo
‘A moral obligation to protest': LA residents on being thrust into chaos
As thousands of military personnel descended on Los Angeles under the orders of Donald Trump and their city was thrust into the center of a political crisis, Angelenos have largely voiced their support for the immigrant community and resistance to the administration targeting them. 'When you are rounding up people with no criminal record while they are at their jobs, it is very clear that the cruelty is indeed the point,' said Alex Berg, 42. 'As Americans, we have a constitutionally protected right to protest. As Angelenos, we have a moral obligation to protest Ice raids on members of our community,' he added. Predominantly peaceful protests, which erupted after federal agents swept into workplaces, immigration hearings and elementary schools last week, were met with an unprecedented and heavy-handed response from the president, in a move the state's governor, Gavin Newsom, has called 'unlawful'. Related: 'Snatching off the streets': Ice targets churches, car washes and workplaces Hundreds of demonstrators have been arrested or detained in the past week. Officers and troops in tactical gear have relied on chemical irritants, fired rounds of 'less-lethal' projectiles and deployed flash-bang grenades in attempts to squash the unrest. Scores of armored vehicles have been crowded into a small part of the vast city's downtown in a striking show of force. Berg believes the escalation was by design, 'to chill vocal opposition to the administration', he said. 'They cannot remove our constitutionally protected right to protest through the law, but they can certainly make us think twice about how badly we're willing to deal with the consequences of protesting.' While the marches mostly remained nonviolent, dramatic images of burning cars and graffitied buildings have been splayed across the internet and on social media sites, and Trump has used them to validate his orders. In a speech on Tuesday, the president promised he would 'liberate Los Angeles', and, calling the protesters 'animals', he made a baseless claim that the demonstrations were part of a 'foreign invasion'. Many residents, however, have challenged the president's descriptions of their city's demonstrations. 'The protesters have my full support,' said William Rosencrans, a 57-year-old stonemason, who called the moves by the administration cruel and chaotic. 'Trump and his allies are using tactics shared by every other authoritarian regime and they must be resisted at all costs and, ultimately, by any means necessary if the country is to be saved.' Several people echoed these calls. Some described scenes they said felt reminiscent of dystopian movies; large armored vehicles on city streets driven by masked men and women, protesters detained and immigrants taken from their jobs and homes. 'It feels like roving federal kidnap gangs disappearing people off of the streets and the people disappearing are our friends, our neighbors, the people who care for our kids and our homes, and the people that greet us at the shops where we buy the things that make living possible,' said Lon Grabowski, 65, a systems architect who lives in the Hancock Park area of LA. 'The effect the raids have on the city and the people in it is purely negative.' Celeste Perry felt Trump's mass deportation agenda was part of a ploy. 'Last year Republicans blocked meaningful immigration reform per Trump's instructions to Speaker Mike Johnson. Trump desperately needed to keep immigration his central issue for his campaign,' she said. 'The raids are performance to sell his base on the lie that all their troubles should be blamed on immigrants.' But for many Angelenos life goes on as normal, with people carrying out their lives far from the smoke-filled scenes and skirmishes that are confined to just a few blocks. 'When I walk around downtown Los Angeles – where I live – it's a quiet, sunny day with light traffic, people walking dogs, meeting friends for lunch, or getting coffee,' Tom Mott, 58, said. 'All the rhetoric about the city being 'on fire' or Mayor Bass and Governor Newsom being on the side of 'criminals' is puffed-up nonsense.' But even in a county where votes were overwhelmingly cast against Trump (he got just over 30% in Los Angeles in 2024) there are some residents who support his actions. David Oddone, 46, said he thought sending in reinforcements for local police 'was smart and necessary'. 'I am glad it was ordered so quickly to secure the city,' he said. Oddone blamed California's leaders for the 'negative impact on people that created families here and are now forced to leave', but added that deportations were a 'necessary step to protect citizens and resources that are already scarce in Los Angeles and California'. The raids are performance to sell his base on the lie that all their troubles should be blamed on immigrants Celeste Perry With or without local support, Trump has been clear that he intends to keep his troops in the state, even as California leaders mount an opposition. The state filed a lawsuit on Monday challenging the president's move to take over the state national guard. Newsom, California's governor, has been among those calling for continued resistance to the administration. 'If some of us can be snatched off the streets without a warrant based only on suspicion or skin color, then none of us are safe,' he said in a speech this week. 'Authoritarian regimes begin by targeting people who are least able to defend themselves. But they do not stop there.' Mott called the raids unnecessary and pointed to agreements between Republicans and Democrats that there was a need for 'sensible immigration reform'. 'Instead, we have theatrics like this,' he said. 'Two thousand national guardsmen to do what, exactly? Guarding the building where they're detaining a guy Ice nabbed who was selling cantaloupe on the corner?'
Yahoo
41 minutes ago
- Yahoo
What we know in the aftermath of the Minnesota shootings
Tremors spread though the political world on Monday after the weekend's fatal shooting of a Democratic lawmaker and her spouse in Minnesota, and another shooting, allegedly by the same perpetrator, that injured a second lawmaker and his wife. The suspect, Vance Boelter, 57, was apprehended late Sunday. He faces murder charges in state courts. On Monday, federal prosecutors also charged him with murder. Boelter is accused of killing Minnesota state Rep. Melissa Hortman (D) and her husband, Mark, at their home in a Minneapolis suburb in the early hours of Saturday. Prosecutors allege that, shortly before, he had shot state Sen. John Hoffman (D) and his wife, Yvette, at their home. The Hoffmans have undergone surgery and are expected to survive. Here's what we know so far. A major development Monday came with the unveiling of the federal charges against Boelter — and the details from prosecutors that accompanied those charges. Boelter has been charged with murder and stalking. Federal prosecutors allege that the suspect had visited a total of four lawmakers' homes. In addition to the two where shootings took place, he is said to have visited an address where his target was not home, and to have left another address without opening fire, perhaps because of police presence there. Prosecutors did not identify the lawmaker, but state Sen. Ann Rest (D) identified herself, saying that she had been told that Boelter had been close to her home during the hours in question. She thanked local police officers for having 'saved my life.' Authorities said other documentation appeared to show that Boelter had been planning the attacks for months. Boelter apparently had a list of targets, as well as copious other plans. Both of Minnesota's senators, Sens. Amy Klobuchar (D) and Tina Smith (D), have confirmed that they were on the list. An unnamed law enforcement officer told The New York Times that Reps. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), Kelly Morrison (D-Minn.) and Angie Craig (D-Minn.) were also among the targets. Boelter's lists also extended beyond Minnesota. Abigail Leavins, a reporter for a website that covers politics in Wisconsin, said that Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) and Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.) were also confirmed to be among the potential targets. Lawrence Andrea of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that Rep. Gwen Moore (D-Wis.) was on the list, too. Multiple media outlets have reported that all the politicians allegedly targeted are Democrats. The list also appears to have included some addresses associated with reproductive rights, including abortion providers and Planned Parenthood clinics. Federal authorities have declined to identify a clear and specific political motive so far. But media interviews of Boelter's friends and acquaintances have formed a picture of a socially conservative, vigorously anti-abortion figure who, at least one friend said, supported President Trump in last year's election. In one clip available online, he delivers a sermon to an audience in Africa complaining that many American churches 'are so messed up they don't know abortion is wrong.' His roommate told reporters that Boelter was 'a Trump supporter' who 'would be offended if people called him a Democrat.' The tragedy of the killings was soon followed by a political firestorm. The instigator was Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), who on Sunday posted a photo on social media of the suspect with the caption, 'This is what happens when Marxists don't get their way.' A short time after, Lee sent another post with two photos of the suspect, including one in which he was wearing a mask, with the caption 'Nightmare on Waltz Street.' This was widely interpreted as a reference to Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D), former Vice President Kamala Harris's running mate in the 2024 election. Influencers within the online right have been floating a conspiracy theory about Walz and the shooter, based on the fact that Walz had reappointed Boelter to a state economic panel in 2019. Democrats and liberals reacted furiously. Klobuchar told MSNBC on Monday that she 'condemned' what Lee had done and said she would 'speak to him about this' when they next met. 'What I'm going to tell him is: This isn't funny,' Klobuchar added. Smith, at the Capitol, told reporters she was also seeking out Lee for a conversation. The Hill's Al Weaver posted a photo of the two in conversation soon afterward. Weaver also reported that Smith told reporters she wanted Lee to hear from her directly 'about how painful that was and how brutal that was to see that on what was just a horrible, brutal weekend.' Caroline Gleich, who was the Democratic nominee in last year's Senate race in Utah — ultimately losing to Lee's colleague Sen. John Curtis (R) — told The Hill in a video interview that Lee's posts were 'absolutely despicable.' Lee has not deleted the posts. His office did not respond to an invitation to comment. The hours since the shooting have seen significant misinformation. The Minnesota Star Tribune was among the news outlets trying to push the tide of confusion back. It noted that many members on the state board on which Boelter once served 'were not politically connected [nor] would have meaningful access to the governor.' Board members are purportedly appointed because of their insights into particular industries or areas of knowledge, not because they reflect a governor's ideology. A source in Walz's office also told the Star Tribune the governor did not know Boelter. The news organization also noted that, contrary to online speculation, Boelter's wife had never served as an intern for Walz. There appears to have been some confusion over another person with the same name, married to someone else. But at times, careful reporting seems little match for the tsunami of often-erroneous social media speculation. Reams have been written about the growing polarization of American politics over the past few decades. But there is a lot of evidence that the nation's political gulf just keeps getting wider and more bitter. The shootings in Minnesota are sure to produce more questions about where this will all lead. Trump himself was almost killed last July during a rally in Pennsylvania. A California man in April pleaded guilty to trying to kill conservative Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh. Several men were convicted in a plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) in 2020. With no end in sight to the enmity in the political system, attention is turning to increasing security for lawmakers and others in public life. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) — along with the top Democrat on the House Administration Committee, Rep. Joe Morelle (N.Y.) — wrote to Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) on Monday asking to increase the amount of money available to lawmakers to bolster security. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
