WASHINGTON (AP) — Tulsi Gabbard, President Donald Trump's pick to be director of national intelligence, faced sharp criticism from Democrats and Republicans alike Thursday during a fiery confirmation hearing focused on&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/gabbard-trump-intelligence-director-russia-ukraine-syria-20b7a404704efe88aa56a06ce1894f9a">her past comments</a>&nbsp;sympathetic to Russia, a&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/gabbard-syria-assad-trump-b7518871e72a5e19c618c5ff52dedfd2">meeting</a>&nbsp;with Syria's now-deposed leader and her past support for government leaker Edward Snowden.

Gabbard started her hearing by telling lawmakers that big changes are needed to address years of failures of America’s intelligence service. She said too often intelligence has been false or politicized, leading to wars, foreign policy failures and the misuse of espionage. And she said those lapses have continued as the U.S. faces renewed threats from Russia and China.

"The bottom line is this must end. President Trump’s reelection is a clear mandate from the American people to break this cycle of failure and the weaponization and politicization of the intelligence community,” Gabbard told the Senate Intelligence Committee.

Gabbard promised to be objective and noted her military service, saying she would bring the same sense of duty and responsibility to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, which oversees and coordinates the work of 18 intelligence agencies.

The questions raised by senators about Gabbard’s judgment and experience make her one of the more contentious of Trump’s Cabinet nominees. Given&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/house-election-results-mike-johnson-5103c8b5c0ef03a1e61a1c0f9ca3dd4f">thin Republican margins</a>&nbsp;in the Senate, she will need almost all GOP senators to vote yes in order to win confirmation.

A former Democratic congresswoman from Hawaii, Gabbard is a lieutenant colonel in the National Guard who deployed twice to the Middle East and ran for president in 2020. She has no formal intelligence experience, however, and has never run a government agency or department.

It's Gabbard's comments, however, that have posed the biggest challenge to her confirmation. She has repeatedly echoed&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-covid-science-health-donald-trump-300742272576985618e1d5a30f53bb23">Russian propaganda</a>&nbsp;used to justify the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine and in the past opposed a key U.S.&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/fbi-surveillance-fisa-702-congress-reform-7dc1b506b58ce74de0d7983dfba98909">surveillance program</a>.

In a back-and-forth Thursday that at times grew heated, lawmakers from both parties raised concerns about her statements supportive of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/general-news-united-states-government-797f390ee28b4bfbb0e1b13cfedf0593">Snowden</a>, a former National Security Agency contractor who fled to Russia after he was charged with revealing classified information about surveillance programs.

Several senators, including Republicans James Lankford of Oklahoma and Susan Collins of Maine, pressed Gabbard on whether she would push to pardon Snowden, or whether she considered him a traitor. On the last question, Gabbard repeatedly declined to answer.

“Yes or no, is Edward Snowden a traitor to the United States of America?” asked Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet of Colorado.

“As someone who has served in uniform in combat, I understand how critical our national security is,” Gabbard responded, before Bennet cut her off, saying “Apparently, you don’t.”

Gabbard said that while Snowden revealed important facts about surveillance programs she believes are unconstitutional, he violated rules about protecting classified secrets. “Edward Snowden broke the law,” she said.

Gabbard has been&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/gabbard-trump-putin-intelligence-russia-syria-a798adaf9cd531a5d0c9329f7597f0f6">accused of spreading Russian disinformation</a>&nbsp;by Republican lawmakers and has even won praise in Russian state-controlled media. Sen. Jerry Moran, a Kansas Republican, asked Gabbard on Thursday whether Russia would “get a pass” from her.

“Senator I’m offended by the question," Gabbard responded. “Because my sole focus, commitment and responsibility is about our own nation, our own security and the interests of the American people.”

A 2017 visit with Syrian President Bashar Assad is another point of contention. Assad was recently deposed as his country's leader following a brutal civil war in which he was accused of using chemical weapons. Following her visit, Gabbard faced criticism that she was legitimizing a dictator and then more questions when she said she was skeptical that Assad had used chemical weapons.

“I just do not understand show you can blame NATO for (Russian President Vladimir) Putin’s brutal invasion of Ukraine, and when Assad used chemical weapons against his own people, you didn’t condemn him,” said the committee’s senior Democrat, Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia.

Gabbard defended her meeting with Assad, saying she used the opportunity to press the Syrian leader on his human rights record.

“I asked him tough questions about his own regime’s actions,” Gabbard said.

Senators also pressed her about her changing views of the surveillance program known as Section 702, which allows authorities to collect the communications of suspected terrorists overseas.

As a lawmaker, Gabbard sponsored legislation that would have repealed it. She argued then that the program could be violating the rights of Americans whose communications are swept up inadvertently, but national security officials say the program has saved lives.

She now says she supports the program, noting new safeguards designed to protect Americans' privacy.

Gabbard defended her change of opinion, and said her critics are opposed to her nomination because she asks tough questions and doesn't always follow Washington dogma.

“The fact is what truly unsettles my political opponents is that I refuse to be their puppet,” she said.

Gabbard is among a couple of nominees who are facing more difficultly gaining unanimous support from Republican senators. Sens. Todd Young, Susan Collins and James Lankford were among the most aggressive questioners Thursday, but it remained unclear if they were satisfied enough by her responses to move her out of committee and confirm her on the Senate floor. The committee has not yet scheduled a vote.

There has been much discussion over whether the committee vote on Gabbard should be made in public or in private as the panel usually operates. Many of Trump’s supporters want it to be public to pressure any GOP senator who is considering opposing her nomination.

Sen. Tom Cotton, chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, supports Gabbard's nomination and said at the start of Thursday's hearing that he hopes she can rein in an office that he said has grown too large and bureaucratic.

Cotton, an Arkansas Republican, noted that the Office of the Director of National Intelligence is now larger, in terms of staffing, than any of the agencies it was created to oversee.

“Look at where conventional thinking has got us. Maybe Washington could use a little more unconventional thinking,” Cotton said. “Ms. Gabbard, I submit that, if confirmed, the measure of your success will largely depend on whether you can return the ODNI to its original size, scope, and mission."

Associated Press writers Ellen Knickmeyer and Byron Tau contributed to this report.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Tulsi Gabbard, President Donald Trump's pick to be director of national intelligence, faced sharp criticism from Democrats and Republicans alike Thursday during a fiery confirmation hearing focused on&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/gabbard-trump-intelligence-director-russia-ukraine-syria-20b7a404704efe88aa56a06ce1894f9a">her past comments</a>&nbsp;sympathetic to Russia, a&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/gabbard-syria-assad-trump-b7518871e72a5e19c618c5ff52dedfd2">meeting</a>&nbsp;with Syria's now-deposed leader and her past support for government leaker Edward Snowden.(Click below to watch the exchange)<div><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/3NuF96Cr-1c?si=2TYRfT3993fD3pTZ&amp;start=4921" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>Gabbard started her hearing by telling lawmakers that big changes are needed to address years of failures of America’s intelligence service. She said too often intelligence has been false or politicized, leading to wars, foreign policy failures and the misuse of espionage. And she said those lapses have continued as the U.S. faces renewed threats from Russia and China."The bottom line is this must end. President Trump’s reelection is a clear mandate from the American people to break this cycle of failure and the weaponization and politicization of the intelligence community,” Gabbard told the Senate Intelligence Committee.Gabbard promised to be objective and noted her military service, saying she would bring the same sense of duty and responsibility to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, which oversees and coordinates the work of 18 intelligence agencies.<div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">Good to meet with President Trump’s nominee for Director of National Intelligence, former Congresswoman <a href="https://twitter.com/TulsiGabbard?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@TulsiGabbard</a>. We had a productive conversation about the threats that face our nation and the need for unbiased and timely information to better serve policymakers and the… <a href="https://t.co/83DBEBAGwf">pic.twitter.com/83DBEBAGwf</a>&mdash; Senator Jerry Moran (@JerryMoran) <a href="https://twitter.com/JerryMoran/status/1869072553878110621?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 17, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>The questions raised by senators about Gabbard’s judgment and experience make her one of the more contentious of Trump’s Cabinet nominees. Given&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/house-election-results-mike-johnson-5103c8b5c0ef03a1e61a1c0f9ca3dd4f">thin Republican margins</a>&nbsp;in the Senate, she will need almost all GOP senators to vote yes in order to win confirmation.A former Democratic congresswoman from Hawaii, Gabbard is a lieutenant colonel in the National Guard who deployed twice to the Middle East and ran for president in 2020. She has no formal intelligence experience, however, and has never run a government agency or department.It's Gabbard's comments, however, that have posed the biggest challenge to her confirmation. She has repeatedly echoed&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-covid-science-health-donald-trump-300742272576985618e1d5a30f53bb23">Russian propaganda</a>&nbsp;used to justify the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine and in the past opposed a key U.S.&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/fbi-surveillance-fisa-702-congress-reform-7dc1b506b58ce74de0d7983dfba98909">surveillance program</a>.In a back-and-forth Thursday that at times grew heated, lawmakers from both parties raised concerns about her statements supportive of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/general-news-united-states-government-797f390ee28b4bfbb0e1b13cfedf0593">Snowden</a>, a former National Security Agency contractor who fled to Russia after he was charged with revealing classified information about surveillance programs.Several senators, including Republicans James Lankford of Oklahoma and Susan Collins of Maine, pressed Gabbard on whether she would push to pardon Snowden, or whether she considered him a traitor. On the last question, Gabbard repeatedly declined to answer.“Yes or no, is Edward Snowden a traitor to the United States of America?” asked Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet of Colorado.“As someone who has served in uniform in combat, I understand how critical our national security is,” Gabbard responded, before Bennet cut her off, saying “Apparently, you don’t.”Gabbard said that while Snowden revealed important facts about surveillance programs she believes are unconstitutional, he violated rules about protecting classified secrets. “Edward Snowden broke the law,” she said.Gabbard has been&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/gabbard-trump-putin-intelligence-russia-syria-a798adaf9cd531a5d0c9329f7597f0f6">accused of spreading Russian disinformation</a>&nbsp;by Republican lawmakers and has even won praise in Russian state-controlled media. Sen. Jerry Moran, a Kansas Republican, asked Gabbard on Thursday whether Russia would “get a pass” from her.“Senator I’m offended by the question," Gabbard responded. “Because my sole focus, commitment and responsibility is about our own nation, our own security and the interests of the American people.”A 2017 visit with Syrian President Bashar Assad is another point of contention. Assad was recently deposed as his country's leader following a brutal civil war in which he was accused of using chemical weapons. Following her visit, Gabbard faced criticism that she was legitimizing a dictator and then more questions when she said she was skeptical that Assad had used chemical weapons.“I just do not understand show you can blame NATO for (Russian President Vladimir) Putin’s brutal invasion of Ukraine, and when Assad used chemical weapons against his own people, you didn’t condemn him,” said the committee’s senior Democrat, Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia.Gabbard defended her meeting with Assad, saying she used the opportunity to press the Syrian leader on his human rights record.“I asked him tough questions about his own regime’s actions,” Gabbard said.Senators also pressed her about her changing views of the surveillance program known as Section 702, which allows authorities to collect the communications of suspected terrorists overseas.As a lawmaker, Gabbard sponsored legislation that would have repealed it. She argued then that the program could be violating the rights of Americans whose communications are swept up inadvertently, but national security officials say the program has saved lives.She now says she supports the program, noting new safeguards designed to protect Americans' privacy.Gabbard defended her change of opinion, and said her critics are opposed to her nomination because she asks tough questions and doesn't always follow Washington dogma.“The fact is what truly unsettles my political opponents is that I refuse to be their puppet,” she said.Gabbard is among a couple of nominees who are facing more difficultly gaining unanimous support from Republican senators. Sens. Todd Young, Susan Collins and James Lankford were among the most aggressive questioners Thursday, but it remained unclear if they were satisfied enough by her responses to move her out of committee and confirm her on the Senate floor. The committee has not yet scheduled a vote.There has been much discussion over whether the committee vote on Gabbard should be made in public or in private as the panel usually operates. Many of Trump’s supporters want it to be public to pressure any GOP senator who is considering opposing her nomination.Sen. Tom Cotton, chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, supports Gabbard's nomination and said at the start of Thursday's hearing that he hopes she can rein in an office that he said has grown too large and bureaucratic.Cotton, an Arkansas Republican, noted that the Office of the Director of National Intelligence is now larger, in terms of staffing, than any of the agencies it was created to oversee.“Look at where conventional thinking has got us. Maybe Washington could use a little more unconventional thinking,” Cotton said. “Ms. Gabbard, I submit that, if confirmed, the measure of your success will largely depend on whether you can return the ODNI to its original size, scope, and mission."__Associated Press writers Ellen Knickmeyer and Byron Tau contributed to this report.

🎥 Kan. U.S. Senator's question offended Trump's pick to oversee spy agencies

ARLINGTON, Va. (AP) — Divers are expected to return to the Potomac River on Friday as part of the recovery and investigation after&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/ronald-reagan-national-airport-aircraft-crash-9d79051a9e535bd855df5a4e5553b2e9">a midair collision killed 67 people</a>&nbsp;in the United States' deadliest aviation disaster in almost a quarter century.

Investigators have already recovered the cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder of the American Airlines plane that collided with an Army helicopter as the plane was landing Wednesday night at Ronald Reagan National Airport next to Washington, D.C. Officials are scrutinizing a range of factors in what&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/national-transportation-safety-board-dc-helicopter-crash-e6f43d112e9fa48f7a2ead01a6a61d27">National Transportation Safety Board</a>&nbsp;Chairwoman Jennifer Hommendy has called an “all-hands-on-deck event.”

All aboard&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/aircraft-collision-black-hawk-bombardier-potomac-2b151f42ba09602bade7b82abe8b995f">the two aircraft</a>&nbsp;were killed, with officials examining the actions of the military pilot as well as air traffic control after the helicopter apparently flew into the path of the American Airlines jet.

Air crash investigations can take months, and federal investigators told reporters Thursday they would not speculate on the cause.

At least 28 bodies have been pulled from the Potomac River. The plane&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/washington-plane-collision-victims-ee829891574aa35a30d8262b7e07e638">carried 60 passengers</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/plane-crash-kansas-dc-american-airlines-army-4fb9cd89ef9023fa848fc2331b24ee8e">four crew members</a>, and three soldiers were aboard the helicopter.

One air traffic controller was responsible for coordinating helicopter traffic and arriving and departing planes when the collision happened, according to a report by the Federal Aviation Administration that was obtained by The Associated Press. Those duties are often divided between two people, but the airport typically combines the roles at 9:30 p.m., once traffic begins to slow down. On Wednesday the tower supervisor directed that they be combined earlier.

“The position configuration was not normal for the time of day and volume of traffic,” the report said.

A person familiar with the matter, however, said the tower staffing that night was at a normal level. The positions are regularly combined when controllers need to step away from the console for breaks, during shift changes or when air traffic is slow, the person said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal procedures.

The FAA has long struggled with a shortage of air traffic controllers.

Officials said flight conditions were clear as the jet arrived from Wichita, Kansas, carrying, among others,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/washington-plane-collision-victims-ee829891574aa35a30d8262b7e07e638">a group of elite young figure skaters</a>, their parents and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/vadim-naumov-evgenia-shishkova-dc-jet-crash-c4788cb6f3e123f0caff83e57347a00d">coaches</a>, and four union steamfitters from the Washington area.

A top Army aviation official said the crew of the helicopter, a Black Hawk, was “very experienced” and familiar with the congested flying that occurs daily around the city.

“Both pilots had flown this specific route before, at night. This wasn’t something new to either one of them,” said Jonathan Koziol, chief of staff for Army aviation.

The helicopter's maximum allowed altitude at the time was 200 feet (about 60 meters), Koziol said. It was not immediately clear whether it exceeded that limit, but Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said altitude seemed to be a factor in the collision.

Koziol said investigators need to analyze the flight data before making conclusions about altitude.

Flights at Reagan National resumed around midday Thursday.

<a href="https://apnews.com/article/us-air-collision-video-footage-b444f2c4015fee7266e8a38716ec4ef6">Wednesday's crash</a>&nbsp;was the deadliest in the U.S. since Nov. 12, 2001, when an American Airlines flight slammed into a residential area of Belle Harbor, New York, just after takeoff from Kennedy Airport, killing all 260 people aboard and five people on the ground.

The&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/aircraft-crashes-history-washington-ee55776ea0c5f9e322fc77ea1ea452d1">last major fatal crash</a>&nbsp;involving a U.S. commercial airline occurred in 2009 near Buffalo, New York. Everyone aboard the Bombardier DHC-8 propeller plane was killed, along with one person on the ground, bringing the total death toll to 50.

Experts often highlight that plane travel is overwhelmingly safe, however. The National Safety Council estimates that Americans have a 1-in-93 chance of dying in a motor vehicle crash, while deaths on airplanes are&nbsp;<a href="https://injuryfacts.nsc.org/all-injuries/preventable-death-overview/odds-of-dying/">too rare to calculate</a>&nbsp;the odds. Figures from the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.bts.gov/content/transportation-fatalities-mode">Department of Transportation</a>&nbsp;tell a similar story.

But the airspace around Reagan National&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/american-airlines-5342-blackhawk-reagan-national-airport-81a43f2ba5cc59cbe9273fa593f1e9cf">can challenge even the most experienced pilots</a>&nbsp;no matter how ideal the conditions. They must navigate hundreds of other commercial planes, military aircraft and restricted areas around sensitive sites.

Just over 24 hours before the fatal collision, a different regional jet had to go around for a second chance at landing at Reagan National after it was advised about a military helicopter nearby, according to flight tracking sites and control logs. It landed safely minutes later.

Gomez Licon reported from Miami. Associated Press writers Zeke Miller, Meg Kinnard, Chris Megerian, Michael Biesecker in Washington; Claudia Lauer in Arlington, Virginia; Brian Melley in London; John Hanna in Wichita, Kansas; and Sarah Brumfield in Cockeysville, Maryland, contributed.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/1/1738328227489.png" alt="In this image provided by the U.S. Coast Guard, wreckage is seen in the Potomac River near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, Thursday, Jan. 30, 2025 in Washington. (Petty Officer 2nd Class Taylor Bacon, U.S. Coast Guard via AP)" />
 <figcaption>In this image provided by the U.S. Coast Guard, wreckage is seen in the Potomac River near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, Thursday, Jan. 30, 2025 in Washington. (Petty Officer 2nd Class Taylor Bacon, U.S. Coast Guard via AP)</figcaption>
 </figure>ARLINGTON, Va. (AP) — Divers are expected to return to the Potomac River on Friday as part of the recovery and investigation after&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/ronald-reagan-national-airport-aircraft-crash-9d79051a9e535bd855df5a4e5553b2e9">a midair collision killed 67 people</a>&nbsp;in the United States' deadliest aviation disaster in almost a quarter century.Investigators have already recovered the cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder of the American Airlines plane that collided with an Army helicopter as the plane was landing Wednesday night at Ronald Reagan National Airport next to Washington, D.C. Officials are scrutinizing a range of factors in what&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/national-transportation-safety-board-dc-helicopter-crash-e6f43d112e9fa48f7a2ead01a6a61d27">National Transportation Safety Board</a>&nbsp;Chairwoman Jennifer Hommendy has called an “all-hands-on-deck event.”All aboard&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/aircraft-collision-black-hawk-bombardier-potomac-2b151f42ba09602bade7b82abe8b995f">the two aircraft</a>&nbsp;were killed, with officials examining the actions of the military pilot as well as air traffic control after the helicopter apparently flew into the path of the American Airlines jet.Air crash investigations can take months, and federal investigators told reporters Thursday they would not speculate on the cause.At least 28 bodies have been pulled from the Potomac River. The plane&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/washington-plane-collision-victims-ee829891574aa35a30d8262b7e07e638">carried 60 passengers</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/plane-crash-kansas-dc-american-airlines-army-4fb9cd89ef9023fa848fc2331b24ee8e">four crew members</a>, and three soldiers were aboard the helicopter.One air traffic controller was responsible for coordinating helicopter traffic and arriving and departing planes when the collision happened, according to a report by the Federal Aviation Administration that was obtained by The Associated Press. Those duties are often divided between two people, but the airport typically combines the roles at 9:30 p.m., once traffic begins to slow down. On Wednesday the tower supervisor directed that they be combined earlier.“The position configuration was not normal for the time of day and volume of traffic,” the report said.A person familiar with the matter, however, said the tower staffing that night was at a normal level. The positions are regularly combined when controllers need to step away from the console for breaks, during shift changes or when air traffic is slow, the person said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal procedures.The FAA has long struggled with a shortage of air traffic controllers.Officials said flight conditions were clear as the jet arrived from Wichita, Kansas, carrying, among others,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/washington-plane-collision-victims-ee829891574aa35a30d8262b7e07e638">a group of elite young figure skaters</a>, their parents and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/vadim-naumov-evgenia-shishkova-dc-jet-crash-c4788cb6f3e123f0caff83e57347a00d">coaches</a>, and four union steamfitters from the Washington area.A top Army aviation official said the crew of the helicopter, a Black Hawk, was “very experienced” and familiar with the congested flying that occurs daily around the city.“Both pilots had flown this specific route before, at night. This wasn’t something new to either one of them,” said Jonathan Koziol, chief of staff for Army aviation.The helicopter's maximum allowed altitude at the time was 200 feet (about 60 meters), Koziol said. It was not immediately clear whether it exceeded that limit, but Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said altitude seemed to be a factor in the collision.Koziol said investigators need to analyze the flight data before making conclusions about altitude.Flights at Reagan National resumed around midday Thursday.<a href="https://apnews.com/article/us-air-collision-video-footage-b444f2c4015fee7266e8a38716ec4ef6">Wednesday's crash</a>&nbsp;was the deadliest in the U.S. since Nov. 12, 2001, when an American Airlines flight slammed into a residential area of Belle Harbor, New York, just after takeoff from Kennedy Airport, killing all 260 people aboard and five people on the ground.The&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/aircraft-crashes-history-washington-ee55776ea0c5f9e322fc77ea1ea452d1">last major fatal crash</a>&nbsp;involving a U.S. commercial airline occurred in 2009 near Buffalo, New York. Everyone aboard the Bombardier DHC-8 propeller plane was killed, along with one person on the ground, bringing the total death toll to 50.Experts often highlight that plane travel is overwhelmingly safe, however. The National Safety Council estimates that Americans have a 1-in-93 chance of dying in a motor vehicle crash, while deaths on airplanes are&nbsp;<a href="https://injuryfacts.nsc.org/all-injuries/preventable-death-overview/odds-of-dying/">too rare to calculate</a>&nbsp;the odds. Figures from the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.bts.gov/content/transportation-fatalities-mode">Department of Transportation</a>&nbsp;tell a similar story.But the airspace around Reagan National&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/american-airlines-5342-blackhawk-reagan-national-airport-81a43f2ba5cc59cbe9273fa593f1e9cf">can challenge even the most experienced pilots</a>&nbsp;no matter how ideal the conditions. They must navigate hundreds of other commercial planes, military aircraft and restricted areas around sensitive sites.Just over 24 hours before the fatal collision, a different regional jet had to go around for a second chance at landing at Reagan National after it was advised about a military helicopter nearby, according to flight tracking sites and control logs. It landed safely minutes later.___Gomez Licon reported from Miami. Associated Press writers Zeke Miller, Meg Kinnard, Chris Megerian, Michael Biesecker in Washington; Claudia Lauer in Arlington, Virginia; Brian Melley in London; John Hanna in Wichita, Kansas; and Sarah Brumfield in Cockeysville, Maryland, contributed.

Divers return to the Potomac River for plane crash recovery, investigation

KANSAS CITY —A woman injured in an assault at a Kansas City home earlier this has died. According to KCPD Officer Alayna Gonzalez 44-year-old Davina Meyer died this week as a result of her injuries.

Just after 10a.m. on January 14, police were dispatched to the 2700 block of E 26th on a reported argument involving multiple people.&nbsp; &nbsp;A woman yelling for help claiming to be injured was also heard by those taking the emergency call.

Officers arrived on scene and could hear the arguing between a man&nbsp; and woman coming from within an apartment at the dispatched location. As police attempted to make contact at the front door, several sounds of gunshots were heard coming from inside of the apartment unit. 

Emergency entry was made into the residence where a woman was removed from the location suffering from critical gunshot wounds. She was immediately transported to an area hospital for treatment. Officers did not locate any additional victims before an adult male suspect was observed barricading himself in a bedroom while armed.

 Officers were able to safely remove several juveniles from the residence&nbsp; and worked to determine if there were any potential hostages that remained inside. Officers then de-escalated and backed away to safety, where they surrounded the apartment to prevent escape and protect surrounding residents. 

An operation 100/ police standoff was then called to bring additional resources, like tactical response officers and trained negotiators, to the scene.Tactical officers were able to utilize a variety of resources to safely check the remainder of the apartment for any additional potential victims or hostages. 

The surrounding apartment units were evacuated to ensure the safety of all residents.Trained negotiators attempted to contact the male subject in order to talk him out of the apartment and peacefully surrender. After several hours of negotiating and refusing to come out, tactical officers formulated a plan to enter the bedroom and safely took the suspect into custody at 2:30a.m.&nbsp; He has been charged by Jackson County prosecutors. The prosecutors will review the additional findings for consideration of amended/additional charges. Police have not released the suspect's name.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/1/1738287960967.png" alt="Police on the scene of the standoff-photo courtesy KMBC" />
 <figcaption>Police on the scene of the standoff-photo courtesy KMBC</figcaption>
 </figure>KANSAS CITY —A woman injured in an assault at a Kansas City home earlier this has died. According to KCPD Officer Alayna Gonzalez 44-year-old Davina Meyer died this week as a result of her injuries.Just after 10a.m. on January 14, police were dispatched to the 2700 block of E 26th on a reported argument involving multiple people.&nbsp; &nbsp;A woman yelling for help claiming to be injured was also heard by those taking the emergency call.Officers arrived on scene and could hear the arguing between a man&nbsp; and woman coming from within an apartment at the dispatched location. As police attempted to make contact at the front door, several sounds of gunshots were heard coming from inside of the apartment unit. Emergency entry was made into the residence where a woman was removed from the location suffering from critical gunshot wounds. She was immediately transported to an area hospital for treatment. Officers did not locate any additional victims before an adult male suspect was observed barricading himself in a bedroom while armed. Officers were able to safely remove several juveniles from the residence&nbsp; and worked to determine if there were any potential hostages that remained inside. Officers then de-escalated and backed away to safety, where they surrounded the apartment to prevent escape and protect surrounding residents. An operation 100/ police standoff was then called to bring additional resources, like tactical response officers and trained negotiators, to the scene.Tactical officers were able to utilize a variety of resources to safely check the remainder of the apartment for any additional potential victims or hostages. The surrounding apartment units were evacuated to ensure the safety of all residents.Trained negotiators attempted to contact the male subject in order to talk him out of the apartment and peacefully surrender. After several hours of negotiating and refusing to come out, tactical officers formulated a plan to enter the bedroom and safely took the suspect into custody at 2:30a.m.&nbsp; He has been charged by Jackson County prosecutors. The prosecutors will review the additional findings for consideration of amended/additional charges. Police have not released the suspect's name.

Woman dies days after assault at Kansas City home

KANSAS CITY — Kansas City is paying respect to those involved in the deadly mid-air collision.

On Thursday night, Union Station was lit in remembrance of those lost in Wednesday night's tragic aircraft collision over near the nation’s capital and in support of the Wichita community. 

"With our exterior lights darkened, our center arches shine in blue, red, and white, representing the colors of the City of Wichita flag."

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/1/1738321523081.png" alt="Image from Union Station Kansas City&nbsp;" />
 <figcaption>Image from Union Station Kansas City&nbsp;</figcaption>
 </figure>KANSAS CITY — Kansas City is paying respect to those involved in the deadly mid-air collision.On Thursday night, Union Station was lit in remembrance of those lost in Wednesday night's tragic aircraft collision over near the nation’s capital and in support of the Wichita community. "With our exterior lights darkened, our center arches shine in blue, red, and white, representing the colors of the City of Wichita flag."

Kansas City paying respect to victims of airplane, helicopter crash 

DAMASCUS —On Thursday, U.S. Forces conducted a precision airstrike in Northwest Syria targeting and killing Muhammad Salah al-Za'bir, a senior operative in the terrorist organization Hurras al-Din (HaD), an Al-Qaeda affiliate, according to a statement from the U.S. Central Command.


The airstrike is part of Centcom's ongoing commitment, along with partners in the region, to disrupt and degrade efforts by terrorists to plan, organize, and conduct attacks against civilians and military personnel from the U.S., our allies, and our partners throughout the region and beyond.



"CENTCOM will continue to hunt and kill or capture terrorists, and defend our homeland, against groups that plot to attack US and allied personnel," said Gen. Michael Erik Kurilla, commander, U.S. Central Command.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/12/1734705079925.png" alt="File photo U.S. Air Force F-15E Strike Eagle&nbsp; -photo U.S. Central Command" />
 <figcaption>File photo U.S. Air Force F-15E Strike Eagle&nbsp; -photo U.S. Central Command</figcaption>
 </figure>DAMASCUS —On Thursday, U.S. Forces conducted a precision airstrike in Northwest Syria targeting and killing Muhammad Salah al-Za'bir, a senior operative in the terrorist organization Hurras al-Din (HaD), an Al-Qaeda affiliate, according to a statement from the U.S. Central Command.
The airstrike is part of Centcom's ongoing commitment, along with partners in the region, to disrupt and degrade efforts by terrorists to plan, organize, and conduct attacks against civilians and military personnel from the U.S., our allies, and our partners throughout the region and beyond.

"CENTCOM will continue to hunt and kill or capture terrorists, and defend our homeland, against groups that plot to attack US and allied personnel," said Gen. Michael Erik Kurilla, commander, U.S. Central Command.

U.S. airstrike kills senior operative of terror group, an Al-Qaeda affiliate

<a href="https://newsroom.ap.org/home/search/?query=byline:%22JOHN%20HANNA,%20MICHAEL%20CASEY%20and%20ADAM%20GELLER%22&amp;mediaType=text&amp;st=keyword&amp;sortOrder=newest">By JOHN HANNA, MICHAEL CASEY and ADAM GELLER Associated Press</a>

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — The victims of a crash between an&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/live/dc-plane-crash-reagan-updates">American Airlines jet and an Army helicopter</a>&nbsp;included teen figure skaters returning from a national meet with their mothers and coaches, an Ohio college student coming from her grandfather's funeral, two Chinese nationals and a group of hunters headed back from a guided trip in Kansas.

They were among 60 travelers and four crew members&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/us-air-collision-video-footage-b444f2c4015fee7266e8a38716ec4ef6">on board the commercial flight</a>&nbsp;late Wednesday&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/ronald-reagan-national-airport-aircraft-crash-9d79051a9e535bd855df5a4e5553b2e9">when it collided</a>&nbsp;with a&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/aircraft-collision-black-hawk-bombardier-potomac-2b151f42ba09602bade7b82abe8b995f">Black Hawk helicopter</a>&nbsp;that was carrying three soldiers. Officials say there are no survivors.

As the search for remains continued Thursday, communities grieved. Faith leaders held a vigil Thursday in the city council chambers.

“The only way we will get through this is together,” said the Rev. Pamela Hughes Mason of Wichita’s St. Paul AME Church.

American Airlines set up a hotline as well as centers in Washington and Wichita for people searching for information about family members who may have been aboard the downed flight. The hotline can be reached at&nbsp;<a href="tel:18006798215">1-800 679 8215</a>.

Here’s what we know about some of the people killed in Wednesday night’s crash:

Cedarville University in Ohio said one of the passengers on the plane was Grace Maxwell, a junior majoring in mechanical engineering.

Maxwell's father, Dean Maxwell, said she was returning to campus from her home in Wichita, Kansas, after attending her grandfather's funeral,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.kansascity.com/news/state/kansas/article299449829.html">the Kansas City Star reported.</a>

Grace Maxwell had been working on project this semester to create a hand-stabilizing device to help a boy in the area feed himself instead of rely on others, the university said in a statement.

“Grace was a quiet person with a keen interest in helping others through engineering,” said Tim Norman, who served as her secondary advisor.

Three other students from schools in Fairfax County, Virginia, and six parents from the district were also on board the plane, superintendent Michelle Reid said in a letter to families. She did not identify them, but she said the students were from different schools and that two of the parents were current or former district staffers.

The Chinese embassy in the U.S. said two Chinese nationals were also among the victims of the crash. It did not offer further details.

Seven people returning from a guided hunting trip in Kansas were killed, according to a Facebook post by Fowl Plains, the guide service.

The Fowl Plains team said they had grown close to the hunters on board the flight over the years and considered them to be family members. The post doesn't identify the hunters by name, but it says they had spent the past week on a guided hunt, “laughing, talking about our families and sharing memories.”

“Heartbroken is an understatement,” the company said.

Those killed also included four steamfitters, all members of a United Association union local in suburban Maryland, union leaders said in a social media post Thursday.

“Our focus now is on providing support and care to the families of our Brothers as we continue to gather more information in the coming days,” said the post by UA General President Mark McManus and Chris Madello, the business manager of Local 602.

Skaters Jinna Han and Spencer Lane were among those killed, according to Doug Zeghibe, CEO of the Skating Club of Boston. Their mothers, Jin Han and Christine Lane, as well as their&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/vadim-naumov-evgenia-shishkova-dc-jet-crash-c4788cb6f3e123f0caff83e57347a00d">coaches Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov</a>&nbsp;were also killed.

Han and Lane, who was about 16, were returning from the U.S. Figure Skating Championships.

“We watched Jinna just grow up here from just a tiny little tyke into this amazingly mature 13-year-old,” he said. “A great performer, a great competitor, and off the ice, a great kid.”

Spencer Lane, who was from Barrington, Rhode Island, took part in his first professional show in December with Elin Schran's company, Joy Skate Productions.

“He started to discover this connection with the audience and that joy that he was giving to other people through his gift," Schran said.

In a statement, the Lane family recalled Christine Lane for both her singular talents and her dedication to parenting.

"Christine exuded creativity throughout her life, using her formal graphic design training as a jumping-off point for seemingly endless creative pursuits across areas such as photography, quilting, knitting, and more. She brought even greater passion to her role as a mother to Spencer and his brother Milo,” the family said.

Their coaches, Shishkova and Naumov, won the pairs title at the 1994 world championships in Chiba, Japan. The Russia-born pair also competed twice in the Olympics.

Skating organizations in Philadelphia and the Washington area also said some of their young athletes had been aboard the plane.

<a href="https://apnews.com/article/dc-helicopter-jet-crash-figure-skaters-391a4c7bd0e617a08d9532a8faab206b">Several athletes on the flight</a>&nbsp;had attended a development camp held after the U.S. Figure Skating Championships ended Sunday in Wichita, Kansas.

Wichita Skating Center manager Sean O’Reilly said the championships brought a “groundswell of positivity,” drawing enthusiastic parents and young athletes from across the U.S. He was “gutted” to learn some of those skaters had been killed.

In Virginia's Loudoun County, a coach at a skating club was also identified as among the passengers, Virginia Rep. Suhas Subramanyam confirmed. The club, Ashburn Ice House, said that its “figure skating community has been directly affected,” but did not give further details.

The victims also include three soldiers who were aboard the helicopter.

Officials said their remains will be at Air Force Mortuary Affairs Operations at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware. That office coordinates the dignified transfer of fallen service members.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss details not yet announced. No identities of the crew have been released.

But the wife of one of the helicopter pilots said on Facebook that her husband, Andrew Eaves of Noxubee County Mississippi, was killed. In a phone call, Carrie Eaves confirmed the post was hers.

“We ask that you pray for our family and friends and for all the other families that are suffering today. We ask for peace while we grieve,” her post read.

The three soldiers were doing an annual night proficiency training flight, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said, adding they were a “fairly experienced crew.” Officials were notifying relatives, he said.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/1/1738291455804.png" alt="Boats work the scene in the Potomac River near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, Thursday, Jan. 30, 2025, in Arlington, Va. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)" />
 <figcaption>Boats work the scene in the Potomac River near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, Thursday, Jan. 30, 2025, in Arlington, Va. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)</figcaption>
 </figure><a href="https://newsroom.ap.org/home/search/?query=byline:%22JOHN%20HANNA,%20MICHAEL%20CASEY%20and%20ADAM%20GELLER%22&amp;mediaType=text&amp;st=keyword&amp;sortOrder=newest">By JOHN HANNA, MICHAEL CASEY and ADAM GELLER Associated Press</a>WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — The victims of a crash between an&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/live/dc-plane-crash-reagan-updates">American Airlines jet and an Army helicopter</a>&nbsp;included teen figure skaters returning from a national meet with their mothers and coaches, an Ohio college student coming from her grandfather's funeral, two Chinese nationals and a group of hunters headed back from a guided trip in Kansas.They were among 60 travelers and four crew members&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/us-air-collision-video-footage-b444f2c4015fee7266e8a38716ec4ef6">on board the commercial flight</a>&nbsp;late Wednesday&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/ronald-reagan-national-airport-aircraft-crash-9d79051a9e535bd855df5a4e5553b2e9">when it collided</a>&nbsp;with a&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/aircraft-collision-black-hawk-bombardier-potomac-2b151f42ba09602bade7b82abe8b995f">Black Hawk helicopter</a>&nbsp;that was carrying three soldiers. Officials say there are no survivors.As the search for remains continued Thursday, communities grieved. Faith leaders held a vigil Thursday in the city council chambers.“The only way we will get through this is together,” said the Rev. Pamela Hughes Mason of Wichita’s St. Paul AME Church.American Airlines set up a hotline as well as centers in Washington and Wichita for people searching for information about family members who may have been aboard the downed flight. The hotline can be reached at&nbsp;<a href="tel:18006798215">1-800 679 8215</a>.Here’s what we know about some of the people killed in Wednesday night’s crash:<h2>Student victims and others</h2>Cedarville University in Ohio said one of the passengers on the plane was Grace Maxwell, a junior majoring in mechanical engineering.Maxwell's father, Dean Maxwell, said she was returning to campus from her home in Wichita, Kansas, after attending her grandfather's funeral,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.kansascity.com/news/state/kansas/article299449829.html">the Kansas City Star reported.</a>Grace Maxwell had been working on project this semester to create a hand-stabilizing device to help a boy in the area feed himself instead of rely on others, the university said in a statement.“Grace was a quiet person with a keen interest in helping others through engineering,” said Tim Norman, who served as her secondary advisor.Three other students from schools in Fairfax County, Virginia, and six parents from the district were also on board the plane, superintendent Michelle Reid said in a letter to families. She did not identify them, but she said the students were from different schools and that two of the parents were current or former district staffers.The Chinese embassy in the U.S. said two Chinese nationals were also among the victims of the crash. It did not offer further details.<h2>Hunters who were headed home from a trip</h2>Seven people returning from a guided hunting trip in Kansas were killed, according to a Facebook post by Fowl Plains, the guide service.The Fowl Plains team said they had grown close to the hunters on board the flight over the years and considered them to be family members. The post doesn't identify the hunters by name, but it says they had spent the past week on a guided hunt, “laughing, talking about our families and sharing memories.”“Heartbroken is an understatement,” the company said.<h2>Members of a Maryland union</h2>Those killed also included four steamfitters, all members of a United Association union local in suburban Maryland, union leaders said in a social media post Thursday.“Our focus now is on providing support and care to the families of our Brothers as we continue to gather more information in the coming days,” said the post by UA General President Mark McManus and Chris Madello, the business manager of Local 602.<h2>From the Skating Club of Boston</h2>Skaters Jinna Han and Spencer Lane were among those killed, according to Doug Zeghibe, CEO of the Skating Club of Boston. Their mothers, Jin Han and Christine Lane, as well as their&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/vadim-naumov-evgenia-shishkova-dc-jet-crash-c4788cb6f3e123f0caff83e57347a00d">coaches Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov</a>&nbsp;were also killed.Han and Lane, who was about 16, were returning from the U.S. Figure Skating Championships.“We watched Jinna just grow up here from just a tiny little tyke into this amazingly mature 13-year-old,” he said. “A great performer, a great competitor, and off the ice, a great kid.”Spencer Lane, who was from Barrington, Rhode Island, took part in his first professional show in December with Elin Schran's company, Joy Skate Productions.“He started to discover this connection with the audience and that joy that he was giving to other people through his gift," Schran said.In a statement, the Lane family recalled Christine Lane for both her singular talents and her dedication to parenting."Christine exuded creativity throughout her life, using her formal graphic design training as a jumping-off point for seemingly endless creative pursuits across areas such as photography, quilting, knitting, and more. She brought even greater passion to her role as a mother to Spencer and his brother Milo,” the family said.Their coaches, Shishkova and Naumov, won the pairs title at the 1994 world championships in Chiba, Japan. The Russia-born pair also competed twice in the Olympics.<h2>More young athletes and coaches</h2>Skating organizations in Philadelphia and the Washington area also said some of their young athletes had been aboard the plane.<a href="https://apnews.com/article/dc-helicopter-jet-crash-figure-skaters-391a4c7bd0e617a08d9532a8faab206b">Several athletes on the flight</a>&nbsp;had attended a development camp held after the U.S. Figure Skating Championships ended Sunday in Wichita, Kansas.Wichita Skating Center manager Sean O’Reilly said the championships brought a “groundswell of positivity,” drawing enthusiastic parents and young athletes from across the U.S. He was “gutted” to learn some of those skaters had been killed.In Virginia's Loudoun County, a coach at a skating club was also identified as among the passengers, Virginia Rep. Suhas Subramanyam confirmed. The club, Ashburn Ice House, said that its “figure skating community has been directly affected,” but did not give further details.<h2>From the military</h2>The victims also include three soldiers who were aboard the helicopter.Officials said their remains will be at Air Force Mortuary Affairs Operations at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware. That office coordinates the dignified transfer of fallen service members.The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss details not yet announced. No identities of the crew have been released.But the wife of one of the helicopter pilots said on Facebook that her husband, Andrew Eaves of Noxubee County Mississippi, was killed. In a phone call, Carrie Eaves confirmed the post was hers.“We ask that you pray for our family and friends and for all the other families that are suffering today. We ask for peace while we grieve,” her post read.The three soldiers were doing an annual night proficiency training flight, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said, adding they were a “fairly experienced crew.” Officials were notifying relatives, he said.___

The latest on some of those killed in the airplane, helicopter crash

KANSAS CITY —Prosecutors secured a guilty plea from a Kansas City man who shot at a Missouri State Highway Patrol trooper during a high-speed pursuit in 2022, according to&nbsp;Jackson County Prosecutor Melesa Johnson.

Christopher Northcutt, 23, pleaded guilty to Assault in the 1st Degree, two counts of Armed Criminal Action, Unlawful Use of a Weapon, Resisting Arrest, and Tampering with Evidence.&nbsp;

According to court records, on Nov. 19, 2022, a Missouri Highway Patrol trooper was conducting a traffic stop on a pickup truck that had been traveling 92 miles per hour in a 70-mph zone.

The stop was attempted on Interstate 70 at Grain Valley. The driver of the truck briefly pulled over then accelerated away at a high rate of speed and a pursuit ensued. The trooper pursued and a passenger in the vehicle emerged from the passenger side and fired several shots at the trooper. Shell casings were recovered.

Video surveillance showed three suspects in the vehicle, when the vehicle was abandoned at a motel. The suspects entered a hotel laundry room and rented a room. The suspect used an ID identifying him as John Glock. The investigation of this incident resulted in a cell phone video showing that Northcutt was in the vehicle involved in fleeing the trooper.&nbsp;

Northcutt will be sentenced on April 17 at 11:00 a.m.&nbsp;

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/12/1670013867051.png" alt="Northcutt -photo Jackson County" />
 <figcaption>Northcutt -photo Jackson County</figcaption>
 </figure>KANSAS CITY —Prosecutors secured a guilty plea from a Kansas City man who shot at a Missouri State Highway Patrol trooper during a high-speed pursuit in 2022, according to&nbsp;Jackson County Prosecutor Melesa Johnson.Christopher Northcutt, 23, pleaded guilty to Assault in the 1st Degree, two counts of Armed Criminal Action, Unlawful Use of a Weapon, Resisting Arrest, and Tampering with Evidence.&nbsp;According to court records, on Nov. 19, 2022, a Missouri Highway Patrol trooper was conducting a traffic stop on a pickup truck that had been traveling 92 miles per hour in a 70-mph zone.The stop was attempted on Interstate 70 at Grain Valley. The driver of the truck briefly pulled over then accelerated away at a high rate of speed and a pursuit ensued. The trooper pursued and a passenger in the vehicle emerged from the passenger side and fired several shots at the trooper. Shell casings were recovered.Video surveillance showed three suspects in the vehicle, when the vehicle was abandoned at a motel. The suspects entered a hotel laundry room and rented a room. The suspect used an ID identifying him as John Glock. The investigation of this incident resulted in a cell phone video showing that Northcutt was in the vehicle involved in fleeing the trooper.&nbsp;Northcutt will be sentenced on April 17 at 11:00 a.m.&nbsp;

Man admits role in shooting at State Trooper after I-70 traffic stop

WASHINGTON (AP)—The Senate confirmed&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/burgum-trump-interior-secretary-hearing-d6f7303bb2ee395b073dec0d798e608b">Doug Burgum</a>&nbsp;as interior secretary late Thursday after President Donald Trump tapped the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/donald-trumps-cabinet-wealth-billionaires-0d5147df74c7f0a851df296aeab2e164">North Dakota billionaire</a>&nbsp;to spearhead the Republican administration's ambitions to&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-executive-orders-climate-change-environmental-policy-e4fb2b2495c0bcf880fab46605936b09">boost fossil fuel production</a>.

The vote was 79-18. More than half of Senate Democrats joined all 53 Republicans in voting for Burgum.

Burgum, 68, is an ultra-wealthy software industry entrepreneur who came from a small North Dakota farming community, where he worked at his family’s grain elevator.

He served&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-doug-burgum-interior-cabinet-2af5f4c0b891a2705c6132fbff16f278">two terms as governor</a>&nbsp;of the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/business-texas-new-mexico-north-dakota-3874b016f084278eadf6fe888078f877">oil-rich state</a>&nbsp;and launched a presidential campaign in 2023, but dropped out months later and quickly endorsed Trump.

Trump also picked Burgum to chair a new&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-transition-white-house-cheung-gor-f3e02df04ffece1b07a44062ee723d71">National Energy Council</a>&nbsp;that's tasked with achieving American “energy dominance.” He would have a seat on the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/us-national-security-council">National Security Council</a>&nbsp;— a first for the interior secretary.

His directive from Trump is to make it even easier for energy companies to tap fossil fuel resources, including from public lands. That raised alarms among environmentalists and some Democrats as greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuels&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/climate-and-environment">bake the planet</a>.

Burgum eagerly assisted the energy industry during his time as governor, when he was also profiting from the lease of family land to oil companies, according to&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-oil-gas-industry-burgum-interior-ally-3ebe90d0207c99866365d72e74eda371">records obtained by The Associated Press.</a>

During his confirmation hearing, Burgum said the U.S. can use energy development as leverage to promote peace and to lower consumer costs.

He raised concerns about the reliability of renewable power sources promoted under former President Joe Biden, and said the U.S. needs to generate more electricity from sources such as coal and nuclear that can run constantly.

Democrats in response accused the Trump administration of abandoning an “all of the above” energy policy to favor fossil fuels.

“They said wind is dead on the offshore. They are trying to do as much of this as possible to create demand for coal, for fossil gas,” Hawaii Democratic Sen. Brian Schatz said during a Thursday floor speech.

Wyoming Sen. John Barrasso, the second-ranking Republican in the Senate, said Burgum would rightfully prioritize energy innovation over regulation.

“He’s going to take the common-sense action of unlocking our lands for oil and for gas production,” Barrasso said. He added that more than 600,000 acres of land in Wyoming have been approved for energy production but were not offered for development by the Biden administration.

The U.S. currently produces&nbsp;<a href="https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=61545">more crude oil</a>&nbsp;than any nation in history, according to the Energy Information Administration. More cost-effective technology in recent decades drove drilling booms in states including New Mexico, Texas and North Dakota, where vast expanses of rural farmland have been industrialized by oil and gas companies.

The booms brought billions of dollars in tax revenue to state and federal governments. But burning those fuels is also unleashing immense volumes of carbon dioxide that scientists say is warming the planet.

The Interior Department has jurisdiction over a half-billion acres of federal land and vast areas offshore. Those areas produce about one-quarter of U.S. oil annually.

The interior secretary also oversees the National Park Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Bureau of Land Management and other subagencies.

Burgum succeeds Deb Haaland, who under Biden sharply scaled back oil and gas sales and promoted solar and wind projects on federal lands.

Trump made energy development a centerpiece of his first term and is again vowing to abolish restrictions on the industry that are intended to protect the environment and public health.

Burgum, during his hearing earlier this month before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources committee, suggested to lawmakers that carbon dioxide from fossil fuels could be captured to neutralize their contribution to global warming.

Carbon-capture&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/climate-technology-science-business-louisiana-8e41ce52bcb66117ad97b58dffe3b607">skeptics</a>&nbsp;say the technology is untested at scale and allows the fossil-fuel industry to continue largely unchanged even as climate change becomes increasingly urgent.

During Haaland's tenure at the Interior Department, officials also reversed actions taken during Trump's first term that weakened protections for imperiled species while making it easier for private developers to pursue projects on public lands.

Republicans in Congress have said they plan to again seek changes to rules on endangered species and they want Burgum to help.

Burgum says federal lands can be used for many purposes including recreation, logging and oil and gas production that can lift local economies.

WASHINGTON (AP)—The Senate confirmed&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/burgum-trump-interior-secretary-hearing-d6f7303bb2ee395b073dec0d798e608b">Doug Burgum</a>&nbsp;as interior secretary late Thursday after President Donald Trump tapped the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/donald-trumps-cabinet-wealth-billionaires-0d5147df74c7f0a851df296aeab2e164">North Dakota billionaire</a>&nbsp;to spearhead the Republican administration's ambitions to&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-executive-orders-climate-change-environmental-policy-e4fb2b2495c0bcf880fab46605936b09">boost fossil fuel production</a>.<div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">🇺🇸 <a href="https://twitter.com/DougBurgum?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@DougBurgum</a>’s confirmation as Interior Secretary reflects President Trump’s commitment to safeguarding our public lands, achieving American energy independence, and ensuring responsible resource management. America is BACK. <a href="https://t.co/2fDtVsSq0D">pic.twitter.com/2fDtVsSq0D</a>&mdash; The White House (@WhiteHouse) <a href="https://twitter.com/WhiteHouse/status/1885123723725881460?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 31, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>The vote was 79-18. More than half of Senate Democrats joined all 53 Republicans in voting for Burgum.Burgum, 68, is an ultra-wealthy software industry entrepreneur who came from a small North Dakota farming community, where he worked at his family’s grain elevator.He served&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-doug-burgum-interior-cabinet-2af5f4c0b891a2705c6132fbff16f278">two terms as governor</a>&nbsp;of the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/business-texas-new-mexico-north-dakota-3874b016f084278eadf6fe888078f877">oil-rich state</a>&nbsp;and launched a presidential campaign in 2023, but dropped out months later and quickly endorsed Trump.Trump also picked Burgum to chair a new&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-transition-white-house-cheung-gor-f3e02df04ffece1b07a44062ee723d71">National Energy Council</a>&nbsp;that's tasked with achieving American “energy dominance.” He would have a seat on the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/us-national-security-council">National Security Council</a>&nbsp;— a first for the interior secretary.His directive from Trump is to make it even easier for energy companies to tap fossil fuel resources, including from public lands. That raised alarms among environmentalists and some Democrats as greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuels&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/climate-and-environment">bake the planet</a>.Burgum eagerly assisted the energy industry during his time as governor, when he was also profiting from the lease of family land to oil companies, according to&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-oil-gas-industry-burgum-interior-ally-3ebe90d0207c99866365d72e74eda371">records obtained by The Associated Press.</a>During his confirmation hearing, Burgum said the U.S. can use energy development as leverage to promote peace and to lower consumer costs.He raised concerns about the reliability of renewable power sources promoted under former President Joe Biden, and said the U.S. needs to generate more electricity from sources such as coal and nuclear that can run constantly.Democrats in response accused the Trump administration of abandoning an “all of the above” energy policy to favor fossil fuels.“They said wind is dead on the offshore. They are trying to do as much of this as possible to create demand for coal, for fossil gas,” Hawaii Democratic Sen. Brian Schatz said during a Thursday floor speech.Wyoming Sen. John Barrasso, the second-ranking Republican in the Senate, said Burgum would rightfully prioritize energy innovation over regulation.“He’s going to take the common-sense action of unlocking our lands for oil and for gas production,” Barrasso said. He added that more than 600,000 acres of land in Wyoming have been approved for energy production but were not offered for development by the Biden administration.The U.S. currently produces&nbsp;<a href="https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=61545">more crude oil</a>&nbsp;than any nation in history, according to the Energy Information Administration. More cost-effective technology in recent decades drove drilling booms in states including New Mexico, Texas and North Dakota, where vast expanses of rural farmland have been industrialized by oil and gas companies.The booms brought billions of dollars in tax revenue to state and federal governments. But burning those fuels is also unleashing immense volumes of carbon dioxide that scientists say is warming the planet.The Interior Department has jurisdiction over a half-billion acres of federal land and vast areas offshore. Those areas produce about one-quarter of U.S. oil annually.The interior secretary also oversees the National Park Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Bureau of Land Management and other subagencies.Burgum succeeds Deb Haaland, who under Biden sharply scaled back oil and gas sales and promoted solar and wind projects on federal lands.Trump made energy development a centerpiece of his first term and is again vowing to abolish restrictions on the industry that are intended to protect the environment and public health.Burgum, during his hearing earlier this month before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources committee, suggested to lawmakers that carbon dioxide from fossil fuels could be captured to neutralize their contribution to global warming.Carbon-capture&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/climate-technology-science-business-louisiana-8e41ce52bcb66117ad97b58dffe3b607">skeptics</a>&nbsp;say the technology is untested at scale and allows the fossil-fuel industry to continue largely unchanged even as climate change becomes increasingly urgent.During Haaland's tenure at the Interior Department, officials also reversed actions taken during Trump's first term that weakened protections for imperiled species while making it easier for private developers to pursue projects on public lands.Republicans in Congress have said they plan to again seek changes to rules on endangered species and they want Burgum to help.Burgum says federal lands can be used for many purposes including recreation, logging and oil and gas production that can lift local economies.

Good news for oil business: Senate confirms Burgum as interior secretary 

The Thursday vigil held in the Wichita City Council chambers saw leaders from many faiths offer prayers and messages of hope for those killed in the crash and their survivors.

“We will get through this, but the only way we will get through this is together,” said the Rev. Dr. Pamela, who leads the St. Paul AME Church in Wichita.

Kansas Sen. Roger Marshall says he and other officials will meet with families of the victims

BY&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/author/farnoush-amiri">FARNOUSH AMIRI</a>

When asked by reporters what he thought about President Trump blaming the collision on diversity measures, Marshall deflected, saying his focus was on the families of the victims, who he planned to meet with Thursday night.

He said officials briefed him and other lawmakers that the military helicopter did not have a transponder that was working to communicate with air traffic control or the commercial jet.

“Why would we be letting military helicopters or police helicopters in this very busy airspace without that transponder working properly?” Marshall said.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/1/1738243774102.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>BY MARGERY A. BECKThe Thursday vigil held in the Wichita City Council chambers saw leaders from many faiths offer prayers and messages of hope for those killed in the crash and their survivors.<div><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Mq1kDZXEZO0?si=CItsVWESrw0Gz-hT&amp;start=680" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>“We will get through this, but the only way we will get through this is together,” said the Rev. Dr. Pamela, who leads the St. Paul AME Church in Wichita.<h2>Kansas Sen. Roger Marshall says he and other officials will meet with families of the victims</h2>BY&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/author/farnoush-amiri">FARNOUSH AMIRI</a>When asked by reporters what he thought about President Trump blaming the collision on diversity measures, Marshall deflected, saying his focus was on the families of the victims, who he planned to meet with Thursday night.He said officials briefed him and other lawmakers that the military helicopter did not have a transponder that was working to communicate with air traffic control or the commercial jet.“Why would we be letting military helicopters or police helicopters in this very busy airspace without that transponder working properly?” Marshall said.

🎥 Clergy in Wichita gathered to call for compassion and healing

NEW YORK (AP) — Marianne Faithfull, the British pop star, muse, libertine and old soul who inspired and helped write some of the Rolling Stones' greatest songs and endured as a torch singer and survivor of the lifestyle she once embodied, has died. She was 78.

Faithfull passed away Thursday in London, her music promotion company Republic Media said.

“It is with deep sadness that we announce the death of the singer, songwriter and actress Marianne Faithfull," a company spokesperson said in a statement. “Marianne passed away peacefully in London today, in the company of her loving family. She will be dearly missed.”

The blonde, voluptuous Faithfull was a celebrity before turning 17, homeless by her mid-20s and an inspiration to peers and younger artists by her early 30s, when her raw, explicit “Broken English” album brought her the kinds of reviews the Stones had received. Over the following decades, her admirers would include Beck, Billy Corgan, Nick Cave and PJ Harvey, although her history would always be closely tied to the Stones and to the years she dated Mick Jagger.

“I am so saddened to hear of the death of Marianne Faithfull,” Jagger wrote on Instagram. “She was so much a part of my life for so long. She was a wonderful friend, a beautiful singer and a great actress.”

One of the first songs written by Jagger and Keith Richards, the melancholy “As Tears Go By,” was her breakthrough hit when released in 1964 and the start of her close and tormented relationship with the band.

She and Jagger began seeing each other in 1966 and became one of the most glamorous and notorious couples of “Swinging London," with Faithfull once declaring that if LSD “wasn't meant to happen, it wouldn't have been invented." Their rejection of conventional values was defined by a widely publicized 1967 drug bust that left Jagger and Richards briefly in jail and Faithfull identified in tabloids as “Naked Girl At Stones Party," a label she would find humiliating and inescapable.

“One of the hazards of reforming your evil ways is that some people won’t let go of their mind’s eye of you as a wild thing,” she wrote in “Memories, Dreams and Reflections," a 2007 memoir.

Jagger and Richards often cited bluesmen and early rock ‘n rollers as their prime influences, but Faithfull and her close friend Anita Pallenberg, Richards’ longtime partner, also opened the band to new ways of thinking. Both were worldlier than their boyfriends at the time, and helped transform the Stones' songwriting and personas, whether as muses or as collaborators.

Faithfull helped inspire such Stones songs as the mellow tribute “She Smiled Sweetly” and the lustful “Let's Spend the Night Together." It was Faithful who lent Jagger the Russian novel ”The Master and Margarita" that was the basis for “Sympathy for the Devil” and who first recorded and contributed lyrics to the Stones' dire “Sister Morphine,” notably the opening line, “Here I lie in my hospital bed.” Faithfull's drug use helped shape such jaded takes on the London rock scene as “You Can't Always Get What You Want” and “Live with Me,” while her time with Jagger also coincided with one of his most vulnerable love songs, “Wild Horses.”

On her own, the London-born Faithfull specialized at first in genteel ballads, among them “Come Stay With Me,” “Summer Nights” and “This Little Bird." But even in her teens, Faithfull sang in a fragile alto that suggested knowledge and burdens far beyond her years. Her voice would later crack and coarsen, and her life and work after splitting with Jagger in 1970 was one of looking back and carrying on through emotional and physical pain.

She had become addicted to heroin in the late '60s, suffered a miscarriage while seven months pregnant and nearly died from an overdose of sleeping pills. (Jagger, meanwhile, had an affair with Pallenberg and had a baby with actor Marsha Hunt). By the early '70s, Faithfull was living in the streets of London and had lost custody of the son, Nicholas, she had with her estranged husband, the gallery owner John Dunbar. She would also battle anorexia and hepatitis, was treated for breast cancer, broke her hip in a fall and was hospitalized with COVID-19 in 2020.

She shared everything, uncensored, in her memoirs and in her music, notably “Broken English,” which came out in 1979 and featured her seething “Why'd Ya Do It” and conflicted “Guilt,” in which she chants “I feel guilt, I feel guilt, though I know I’ve done no wrong.” Other albums included “Dangerous Acquaintances,” “Strange Weather," the live “Blazing Away” and, most recently, “She Walks in Beauty.” Though Faithfull was defined by the 1960s, her sensibility often reached back to the pre-rock world of German cabaret, and she covered numerous songs by Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill, including “Ballad of the Soldier's Wife” and the “sung” ballet “The Seven Deadly Sins."

Her interests extended to theater, film and television. Faithfull began acting in the 1960s, including an appearance in Jean-Luc Godard's “Made In U.S.A.” and stage roles in “Hamlet” and Chekhov's “Three Sisters.” She would later appear in such films as “The Girl on a Motorcycle,” “Marie Antoinette” and “The Girl from Nagasaki,” and the TV series “Absolutely Fabulous,” in which she was cast as — and did not flinch from playing — God.

Faithful was married three times, and in recent years dated her manager, Francois Ravard. Jagger was her most famous lover, but other men in her life included Richards ("so great and memorable," she would say of their one-night stand), David Bowie and the early rock star Gene Pitney. Among the rejected: Bob Dylan, who had been so taken that he was writing a song about her, until Faithfull, pregnant with her son at the time, turned him down.

“Without warning, he turned into Rumpelstiltskin,” she wrote in “Faithfull,” published in 1994. “He went over to the typewriter, took a sheaf of papers and began ripping them up into smaller and smaller pieces, after which he let them fall into the wastepaper basket.”

Faithfull's heritage was one of intrigue, decadence and fallen empires. Her father was a British intelligence officer during World War II who helped saved her mother from the Nazis in Vienna. Faithfull's more distant ancestors included various Austro-Hungarian aristocrats and Count Leopold von Sacher-Masoch, a 19th century Austrian whose last name and scandalous novel “Venus in Furs” helped create the term “masochism."

Faithfull's parents separated when she was 6 and her childhood would include time in a convent and in what she would call a “nutty” sex-obsessed commune. By her teens, she was reading Simone de Beauvoir, listening to Odetta and Joan Baez and singing in folk clubs. Through the London art scene, she met Dunbar, who introduced her to Paul McCartney and other celebrities. Dunbar also co-founded the Indica Gallery, where John Lennon would say he met Yoko Ono.

“The threads of a dozen little scenes were invisibly twining together,” she wrote in her memoir. “All these people — gallery owners, photographers, pop stars, aristocrats and assorted talented layabouts more or less invented the scene in London, so I guess I was present at the creation.”

Her future was set in March 1964, when she attended a recording party for one of London's hot young bands, the Rolling Stones. Scorning the idea that she and Jagger immediately fell for each other, she would regard the Stones as “yobby schoolboys” and witnessed Jagger fighting with his then-girlfriend, the model Chrissie Shrimpton, so in tears that her false eyelashes were peeling off.

But she was deeply impressed by one man, Stones manager Andrew “Loog” Oldham, who looked “powerful and dangerous and very sure of himself.” A week later, Oldham sent her a telegram, asking her to come to London's Olympic Studios. With Jagger and Richards looking on, Oldham played her a demo of a “very primitive” song, “A Tears Go By," which Faithfull needed just two takes to complete.

“It's an absolutely astonishing thing for a boy of 20 to have written,” Faithfull wrote in her 1994 memoir. “A song about a woman looking back nostalgically on her life. The uncanny thing is that Mick should have written those words so long before everything happened. It's almost as is if our whole relationship was prefigured in that song.”

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/1/1738267480803.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>NEW YORK (AP) — Marianne Faithfull, the British pop star, muse, libertine and old soul who inspired and helped write some of the Rolling Stones' greatest songs and endured as a torch singer and survivor of the lifestyle she once embodied, has died. She was 78.Faithfull passed away Thursday in London, her music promotion company Republic Media said.“It is with deep sadness that we announce the death of the singer, songwriter and actress Marianne Faithfull," a company spokesperson said in a statement. “Marianne passed away peacefully in London today, in the company of her loving family. She will be dearly missed.”The blonde, voluptuous Faithfull was a celebrity before turning 17, homeless by her mid-20s and an inspiration to peers and younger artists by her early 30s, when her raw, explicit “Broken English” album brought her the kinds of reviews the Stones had received. Over the following decades, her admirers would include Beck, Billy Corgan, Nick Cave and PJ Harvey, although her history would always be closely tied to the Stones and to the years she dated Mick Jagger.“I am so saddened to hear of the death of Marianne Faithfull,” Jagger wrote on Instagram. “She was so much a part of my life for so long. She was a wonderful friend, a beautiful singer and a great actress.”One of the first songs written by Jagger and Keith Richards, the melancholy “As Tears Go By,” was her breakthrough hit when released in 1964 and the start of her close and tormented relationship with the band.She and Jagger began seeing each other in 1966 and became one of the most glamorous and notorious couples of “Swinging London," with Faithfull once declaring that if LSD “wasn't meant to happen, it wouldn't have been invented." Their rejection of conventional values was defined by a widely publicized 1967 drug bust that left Jagger and Richards briefly in jail and Faithfull identified in tabloids as “Naked Girl At Stones Party," a label she would find humiliating and inescapable.“One of the hazards of reforming your evil ways is that some people won’t let go of their mind’s eye of you as a wild thing,” she wrote in “Memories, Dreams and Reflections," a 2007 memoir.Jagger and Richards often cited bluesmen and early rock ‘n rollers as their prime influences, but Faithfull and her close friend Anita Pallenberg, Richards’ longtime partner, also opened the band to new ways of thinking. Both were worldlier than their boyfriends at the time, and helped transform the Stones' songwriting and personas, whether as muses or as collaborators.Faithfull helped inspire such Stones songs as the mellow tribute “She Smiled Sweetly” and the lustful “Let's Spend the Night Together." It was Faithful who lent Jagger the Russian novel ”The Master and Margarita" that was the basis for “Sympathy for the Devil” and who first recorded and contributed lyrics to the Stones' dire “Sister Morphine,” notably the opening line, “Here I lie in my hospital bed.” Faithfull's drug use helped shape such jaded takes on the London rock scene as “You Can't Always Get What You Want” and “Live with Me,” while her time with Jagger also coincided with one of his most vulnerable love songs, “Wild Horses.”On her own, the London-born Faithfull specialized at first in genteel ballads, among them “Come Stay With Me,” “Summer Nights” and “This Little Bird." But even in her teens, Faithfull sang in a fragile alto that suggested knowledge and burdens far beyond her years. Her voice would later crack and coarsen, and her life and work after splitting with Jagger in 1970 was one of looking back and carrying on through emotional and physical pain.She had become addicted to heroin in the late '60s, suffered a miscarriage while seven months pregnant and nearly died from an overdose of sleeping pills. (Jagger, meanwhile, had an affair with Pallenberg and had a baby with actor Marsha Hunt). By the early '70s, Faithfull was living in the streets of London and had lost custody of the son, Nicholas, she had with her estranged husband, the gallery owner John Dunbar. She would also battle anorexia and hepatitis, was treated for breast cancer, broke her hip in a fall and was hospitalized with COVID-19 in 2020.She shared everything, uncensored, in her memoirs and in her music, notably “Broken English,” which came out in 1979 and featured her seething “Why'd Ya Do It” and conflicted “Guilt,” in which she chants “I feel guilt, I feel guilt, though I know I’ve done no wrong.” Other albums included “Dangerous Acquaintances,” “Strange Weather," the live “Blazing Away” and, most recently, “She Walks in Beauty.” Though Faithfull was defined by the 1960s, her sensibility often reached back to the pre-rock world of German cabaret, and she covered numerous songs by Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill, including “Ballad of the Soldier's Wife” and the “sung” ballet “The Seven Deadly Sins."Her interests extended to theater, film and television. Faithfull began acting in the 1960s, including an appearance in Jean-Luc Godard's “Made In U.S.A.” and stage roles in “Hamlet” and Chekhov's “Three Sisters.” She would later appear in such films as “The Girl on a Motorcycle,” “Marie Antoinette” and “The Girl from Nagasaki,” and the TV series “Absolutely Fabulous,” in which she was cast as — and did not flinch from playing — God.Faithful was married three times, and in recent years dated her manager, Francois Ravard. Jagger was her most famous lover, but other men in her life included Richards ("so great and memorable," she would say of their one-night stand), David Bowie and the early rock star Gene Pitney. Among the rejected: Bob Dylan, who had been so taken that he was writing a song about her, until Faithfull, pregnant with her son at the time, turned him down.“Without warning, he turned into Rumpelstiltskin,” she wrote in “Faithfull,” published in 1994. “He went over to the typewriter, took a sheaf of papers and began ripping them up into smaller and smaller pieces, after which he let them fall into the wastepaper basket.”Faithfull's heritage was one of intrigue, decadence and fallen empires. Her father was a British intelligence officer during World War II who helped saved her mother from the Nazis in Vienna. Faithfull's more distant ancestors included various Austro-Hungarian aristocrats and Count Leopold von Sacher-Masoch, a 19th century Austrian whose last name and scandalous novel “Venus in Furs” helped create the term “masochism."Faithfull's parents separated when she was 6 and her childhood would include time in a convent and in what she would call a “nutty” sex-obsessed commune. By her teens, she was reading Simone de Beauvoir, listening to Odetta and Joan Baez and singing in folk clubs. Through the London art scene, she met Dunbar, who introduced her to Paul McCartney and other celebrities. Dunbar also co-founded the Indica Gallery, where John Lennon would say he met Yoko Ono.“The threads of a dozen little scenes were invisibly twining together,” she wrote in her memoir. “All these people — gallery owners, photographers, pop stars, aristocrats and assorted talented layabouts more or less invented the scene in London, so I guess I was present at the creation.”Her future was set in March 1964, when she attended a recording party for one of London's hot young bands, the Rolling Stones. Scorning the idea that she and Jagger immediately fell for each other, she would regard the Stones as “yobby schoolboys” and witnessed Jagger fighting with his then-girlfriend, the model Chrissie Shrimpton, so in tears that her false eyelashes were peeling off.But she was deeply impressed by one man, Stones manager Andrew “Loog” Oldham, who looked “powerful and dangerous and very sure of himself.” A week later, Oldham sent her a telegram, asking her to come to London's Olympic Studios. With Jagger and Richards looking on, Oldham played her a demo of a “very primitive” song, “A Tears Go By," which Faithfull needed just two takes to complete.“It's an absolutely astonishing thing for a boy of 20 to have written,” Faithfull wrote in her 1994 memoir. “A song about a woman looking back nostalgically on her life. The uncanny thing is that Mick should have written those words so long before everything happened. It's almost as is if our whole relationship was prefigured in that song.”___Brian Melley contributed from London.

Marianne Faithfull, singer and pop icon, dies at 78

WASHINGTON (AP)—The bodies of all three soldiers who were on board an Army helicopter involved in a midair collision have been recovered. That is according to U.S. officials.

Officials said Thursday that the remains will be at Air Force Mortuary Affairs Operations at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware. That office coordinates the dignified transfer of fallen service members. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss details not yet announced. No identities of the crew have been released.

They were killed in midair collision with an American Airlines passenger jet late Wednesday near the Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport outside of Washington, D.C. There were 64 people on board the jet and officials say all of them were killed in the crash.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/1/1738235248285.jpeg" alt="Photo Associated Press" />
 <figcaption>Photo Associated Press</figcaption>
 </figure>WASHINGTON (AP)—The bodies of all three soldiers who were on board an Army helicopter involved in a midair collision have been recovered. That is according to U.S. officials.Officials said Thursday that the remains will be at Air Force Mortuary Affairs Operations at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware. That office coordinates the dignified transfer of fallen service members. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss details not yet announced. No identities of the crew have been released.They were killed in midair collision with an American Airlines passenger jet late Wednesday near the Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport outside of Washington, D.C. There were 64 people on board the jet and officials say all of them were killed in the crash.

Bodies of soldiers on military helicopter in deadly plane crash recovered 

WICHITA —A&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/ronald-reagan-national-airport-crash-62adba7fb1f546b4cf1716e42b86482b">collision</a>&nbsp;between an American Airlines passenger jet from Wichita and an Army helicopter at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport near Washington, D.C, killed 67 people Wednesday night. There were no survivors.

 Governor Kelly will provide an update on the incident.&nbsp; Wichita City Council members will attend and Mayor Wu is also expected to speak.

WICHITA —A&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/ronald-reagan-national-airport-crash-62adba7fb1f546b4cf1716e42b86482b">collision</a>&nbsp;between an American Airlines passenger jet from Wichita and an Army helicopter at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport near Washington, D.C, killed 67 people Wednesday night. There were no survivors.<div><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/0v1bSl1hcA0?si=dilImXsO3dlbirH-" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe></div> Governor Kelly will provide an update on the incident.&nbsp; Wichita City Council members will attend and Mayor Wu is also expected to speak.

🎥 Gov. Kelly news conference on the deadly airplane crash

ARLINGTON, Va. (AP) —One air traffic controller was responsible for coordinating helicopter traffic and arriving and departing planes when the collision happened, according to a report by the Federal Aviation Administration obtained by The Associated Press.

The configuration was “not normal,” the report said, but a person familiar with the matter said the staffing at the air traffic control tower on Wednesday night was at a normal level. The positions are regularly combined when controllers need to step away from the console for breaks, are in the process of a shift change, or air traffic is slow, the person said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal procedures.

ARLINGTON, Va. (AP) — A report by the Federal Aviation Administration says staffing in the air traffic control tower was “not normal” at the time of the midair collision near Washington.

The report was obtained Thursday by The Associated Press.

One air traffic controller was doing work normally assigned to two people in the tower at Reagan National when the collision happened, according to a report by the Federal Aviation Administration obtained by The Associated Press.

The collision between an Army helicopter and an American Airlines flight from Kansas killed all 67 people aboard the two aircraft, officials said, as they scrutinized the actions of the military pilot after the country’s worst aviation disaster in a generation.

At least 28 bodies were pulled from the icy waters of the Potomac River after the helicopter apparently flew into the path of the jet late Wednesday while it was landing at Ronald Reagan National Airport near Washington, officials said. The plane carried 60 passengers and four crew. Three soldiers were aboard the helicopter.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/1/1738207177867.png" alt="Image of the moment of impact from Kennedy Center web camera" />
 <figcaption>Image of the moment of impact from Kennedy Center web camera</figcaption>
 </figure>ARLINGTON, Va. (AP) —One air traffic controller was responsible for coordinating helicopter traffic and arriving and departing planes when the collision happened, according to a report by the Federal Aviation Administration obtained by The Associated Press.The configuration was “not normal,” the report said, but a person familiar with the matter said the staffing at the air traffic control tower on Wednesday night was at a normal level. The positions are regularly combined when controllers need to step away from the console for breaks, are in the process of a shift change, or air traffic is slow, the person said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal procedures.----------ARLINGTON, Va. (AP) — A report by the Federal Aviation Administration says staffing in the air traffic control tower was “not normal” at the time of the midair collision near Washington.The report was obtained Thursday by The Associated Press.One air traffic controller was doing work normally assigned to two people in the tower at Reagan National when the collision happened, according to a report by the Federal Aviation Administration obtained by The Associated Press.“The position configuration was not normal for the time of day and volume of traffic,” the report said.The collision between an Army helicopter and an American Airlines flight from Kansas killed all 67 people aboard the two aircraft, officials said, as they scrutinized the actions of the military pilot after the country’s worst aviation disaster in a generation.At least 28 bodies were pulled from the icy waters of the Potomac River after the helicopter apparently flew into the path of the jet late Wednesday while it was landing at Ronald Reagan National Airport near Washington, officials said. The plane carried 60 passengers and four crew. Three soldiers were aboard the helicopter.

Report: Dispute over air traffic control staffing at time of deadly air collision

WASHINGTON (AP) —&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/patel-fbi-trump-maralago-january-6-2db2b3a27adb295df30a9ffa72208688">Kash Patel</a>, President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the FBI, insisted to deeply skeptical Democrats on Thursday that he did not have an “enemies list" and that the bureau under his leadership would not seek retribution against the president's adversaries or launch investigations for political purposes.

<a href="https://www.c-span.org/event/senate-committee/fbi-director-nominee-kash-patel-testifies-at-confirmation-hearing/430428">Click here to&nbsp;</a>watch the entire hearing

“I have no interest nor desire and will not, if confirmed, go backwards,” Patel told a contentious Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing at which support for the nominee broke along starkly partisan lines. “There will be no politicization at the FBI. There will be no retributive actions taken by the FBI.”

The reassurances were aimed at blunting a persistent line of attack from Democrats, who throughout the hearing confronted Patel with a vast catalog of prior incendiary statements on topics that they said made him unfit for the director's job and raised alarming questions about his belief in conspiracy theories and loyalty to the president. Patel, for his part, sought to distance himself from his own words, accusing Democrats of taking them out of context, highlighting only snippets or misunderstanding his point.

The focus by Democrats on Patel's rhetoric, at a time when the FBI is facing urgent national security concerns&nbsp;<a href="https://speaker%202:%20[11:14:08]%20the%20best%20attacks%20on%20me%20are%20going%20to%20be%20false%20accusations.%20[11:14:09][1.7]%20speaker%207:%20[11:14:10]%20grotesque.%20mischaracterizations.%20the%20only%20thing%20this%20body%20is%20doing%20is%20defeating%20the%20credibility%20of%20the%20men%20and%20women%20at%20the%20fbi.%20[11:14:16][6.2]%20[7.9]/">including Chinese espionage</a>&nbsp;and a&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/islamic-state-fbi-terrorism-new-orleans-745d8f70ed0b7b984b0788d4f6c69f18">heightened terrorism threat</a>, underscored the extent of their fears that his own words could foreshadow destabilizing upheaval inside the nation's premier federal law enforcement agency.

WASHINGTON (AP) —&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/patel-fbi-trump-maralago-january-6-2db2b3a27adb295df30a9ffa72208688">Kash Patel</a>, President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the FBI, insisted to deeply skeptical Democrats on Thursday that he did not have an “enemies list" and that the bureau under his leadership would not seek retribution against the president's adversaries or launch investigations for political purposes.<a href="https://www.c-span.org/event/senate-committee/fbi-director-nominee-kash-patel-testifies-at-confirmation-hearing/430428">Click here to&nbsp;</a>watch the entire hearing<div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">WATCH: FBI Director Nominee Kash Patel Opening Statement <a href="https://t.co/Lra1iFA88L">pic.twitter.com/Lra1iFA88L</a>&mdash; CSPAN (@cspan) <a href="https://twitter.com/cspan/status/1884990719540027736?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 30, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div><div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">.<a href="https://twitter.com/SenAmyKlobuchar?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@SenAmyKlobuchar</a>: &quot;I would love to have five hours of questions and then I could read the whole transcript.: Kash Patel: &quot;You&#39;ve got two minutes.&quot; Sen. Klobuchar: &quot;Wow.&quot; <a href="https://t.co/I7IyFWtbwd">pic.twitter.com/I7IyFWtbwd</a>&mdash; CSPAN (@cspan) <a href="https://twitter.com/cspan/status/1885050475315114234?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 30, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div><div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">&quot;Could he just answer the question? If he said that the FBI headquarters...should be shut down and opened as a deep state as a museum.&quot; Heated exchange between <a href="https://twitter.com/SenAmyKlobuchar?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@SenAmyKlobuchar</a> (D-MN) and FBI Director nominee Kash Patel over his previous comments on various subjects. <a href="https://t.co/hpbeuQnbtA">pic.twitter.com/hpbeuQnbtA</a>&mdash; CSPAN (@cspan) <a href="https://twitter.com/cspan/status/1885069786062766474?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 30, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div><div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">.<a href="https://twitter.com/SenThomTillis?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@SenThomTillis</a>: &quot;I thought that the pardons of people who did harm to police officers sucked.&quot; <a href="https://t.co/W8dlix5jpi">pic.twitter.com/W8dlix5jpi</a>&mdash; CSPAN (@cspan) <a href="https://twitter.com/cspan/status/1885045857558393160?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 30, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div><div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">Sen. Schiff on Capitol Police: Take a look at them right now. Turn around. Kash Patel: I&#39;m looking at you. You&#39;re talking to me. Schiff: No, look at them...tell them you&#39;re proud that you raised money off of people that assaulted their colleagues. That pepper sprayed them. <a href="https://t.co/Uz0cPccq2V">pic.twitter.com/Uz0cPccq2V</a>&mdash; CSPAN (@cspan) <a href="https://twitter.com/cspan/status/1885039971276386449?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 30, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div><div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">Sen. <a href="https://twitter.com/CoryBooker?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@CoryBooker</a>: &quot;Have you discussed specific investigations or targets you would pursue as FBI Director with the president of the United States? Kash Patel: &quot;To the best of my recollection, no.&quot; Booker: &quot;Are you certain?&quot; Kash Patel: &quot;To the best of my recollection, no.&quot; <a href="https://t.co/dsTkPPeA9G">pic.twitter.com/dsTkPPeA9G</a>&mdash; CSPAN (@cspan) <a href="https://twitter.com/cspan/status/1885035060992020875?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 30, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>“I have no interest nor desire and will not, if confirmed, go backwards,” Patel told a contentious Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing at which support for the nominee broke along starkly partisan lines. “There will be no politicization at the FBI. There will be no retributive actions taken by the FBI.”The reassurances were aimed at blunting a persistent line of attack from Democrats, who throughout the hearing confronted Patel with a vast catalog of prior incendiary statements on topics that they said made him unfit for the director's job and raised alarming questions about his belief in conspiracy theories and loyalty to the president. Patel, for his part, sought to distance himself from his own words, accusing Democrats of taking them out of context, highlighting only snippets or misunderstanding his point.The focus by Democrats on Patel's rhetoric, at a time when the FBI is facing urgent national security concerns&nbsp;<a href="https://speaker%202:%20[11:14:08]%20the%20best%20attacks%20on%20me%20are%20going%20to%20be%20false%20accusations.%20[11:14:09][1.7]%20speaker%207:%20[11:14:10]%20grotesque.%20mischaracterizations.%20the%20only%20thing%20this%20body%20is%20doing%20is%20defeating%20the%20credibility%20of%20the%20men%20and%20women%20at%20the%20fbi.%20[11:14:16][6.2]%20[7.9]/">including Chinese espionage</a>&nbsp;and a&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/islamic-state-fbi-terrorism-new-orleans-745d8f70ed0b7b984b0788d4f6c69f18">heightened terrorism threat</a>, underscored the extent of their fears that his own words could foreshadow destabilizing upheaval inside the nation's premier federal law enforcement agency.“There is an unfathomable difference between a seeming facade being constructed around this nominee here today, and what he has actually done and said in real life when left to his own devices,” said Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, a Rhode Island Democrat. His colleague, Sen. Amy Klobuchar from Minnesota, later added: “It is his own words. It is not some conspiracy. It is what Mr. Patel actually said himself.”Republicans control the Senate, and GOP members made clear their broad support for Patel and determination to get him confirmed over a Democratic minority that appeared united in its opposition but face a mathematically uphill battle to block it.“We want to be the Senate that confirms an FBI director that rights the ship, shows consistent respect for the rule of law and the Constitution, consistent respect for all law enforcement officers, and I absolutely believe you're up to the task," said Republican Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina.A steadfast Trump ally, Patel was picked in November to replace Christopher Wray,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/chris-wray-fbi-farewell-trump-patel-partisanship-afe159a6e112e68dd5319ceac905d517">who served for more than seven years</a>&nbsp;but was forced out of the job Trump had appointed him to after being seen as insufficiently loyal to him. Patel has worked as both a federal prosecutor and defense lawyer and ascended within Trump's orbit when, as a Republican staffer on the House intelligence committee,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/af8b27485d7a42ad86b8bf7ad1d554bb">he worked to bring to light flaws in the FBI's investigation into ties between Russia and the 2016 Trump campaign.</a>Patel has said his experience as a public defender, as well as surveillance errors in the Trump-Russia investigation, have made him unusually attuned to law enforcement overreach.But he's also alarmed critics with rhetoric — in dozens of podcasts and a 2023 book he authored — in which he has demonstrated fealty to Trump and assailed the decision-making of the agency he’s now been asked to lead. He complained that Democrats were twisting his words to smear him and putting his comments and social media posts in a “grotesque context.”He was reminded, for instance, that he had previously called for a purge of anti-Trump “conspirators” in the federal government and news media, though he insisted Thursday that the FBI under his leadership would not launch any investigation without a legitimate purpose or basis. And though he's advocated for closing down the FBI headquarters in Washington, and transforming the building into a so-called museum of the “deep state,” he testified that what he really meant was that he wanted the bureau's Washington operation slimmed down so that agents were sent out into the “interior of the country.”He said the suggestion that he had an “enemies list” — his book identified by name a lengthy list of former government officials he says are part of the so-called deep state — was a “total mischaracterization.”“The only thing that will matter if I’m confirmed as a director of the FBI is a de-weaponized, de-politicized system of law enforcement completely devoted to rigorous obedience to the Constitution and a singular standard of justice,” Patel said.Patel found himself repeatedly besieged by Democrats over his view of the Jan. 6, 2021, rioters at the U.S. Capitol. Democrats highlighted a social post about Jan. 6 that referred to “cowards in uniform exposed" to accuse him of disparaging police who were defending the Capitol from the violent mob. But Patel insisted he was referring to military leaders he claims failed to mobilize the National Guard to protect the building.Patel sought to distance himself from a song he promoted featuring Trump and a&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/j6-choir-trump-national-anthem-capitol-riot-79618f1f2a689c308dfdc34d54d327ea">choir of jailed Jan. 6 defendants</a>&nbsp;to help raise money for the families of those charged in the Capitol riot. He repeatedly insisted he was unaware that some of the defendants featured in the song were accused of attacks on law enforcement.“I did not know about the violent offenders. And I did not participate in any of the violence in and around Jan. 6,” Patel said.In one confrontational moment, Democratic Sen. Adam Schiff urged Patel to turn around and face Capitol police officers in the committee room.“If you have the courage to look them in the eye, Mr. Patel, and tell them you’re proud of what you did. Tell them you’re proud that you raised money off of people that assaulted their colleagues, that pepper sprayed them, that beat them with poles,” Schiff said.Patel fired back: “That’s an abject lie, you know it. I never, never, ever accepted violence against law enforcement.”Patel sought on multiple occasions to reassure Democrats that his FBI would be independent from the White House. He would not acknowledge that Trump had lost the 2020 election, conceding only that Joe Biden was sworn in as president. But he did not endorse Trump's sweeping pardon of supporters, including violent rioters, charged in connection with Jan. 6.“I do not agree with the commutation of any sentence of any individual who committed violence against law enforcement,” Patel said in response to a question from Sen. Dick Durbin, the top Democrat on the committee.Sen. Chuck Grassley, the Republican chairman of the committee, sought to blunt attacks on Patel preemptively by focusing on the need to reform an FBI that he said had become weaponized.The FBI in recent years has become entangled in numerous politically explosive investigations, including not just&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-federal-court-classified-documents-2020-election-302f87960dbd84d7be5daedaf03328d8">the two federal inquiries into Trump</a>&nbsp;that resulted in indictments but also&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/classified-documents-biden-hur-special-counsel-122526da6d89d7bf4d6ccfc54590312b">probes of Biden</a>&nbsp;and his son,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/biden-son-hunter-charges-pardon-pledge-24f3007c2d2f467fa48e21bbc7262525">Hunter</a>.“It’s no surprise that public trust has declined in an institution that has been plagued by abuse, a lack of transparency, and the weaponization of law enforcement," Grassley said.He later added, “Mr. Patel, should you be confirmed, you will take charge of an FBI that is in crisis.”-----------------WASHINGTON (AP) —&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/patel-fbi-trump-maralago-january-6-2db2b3a27adb295df30a9ffa72208688">Kash Patel</a>, President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the FBI, will encounter deeply skeptical questioning from Democratic senators Thursday about his loyalty to the president and stated desire to overhaul the bureau as he faces a high-stakes hearing that will help determine his path toward confirmation.<a href="https://www.c-span.org/event/senate-committee/fbi-director-nominee-kash-patel-testifies-at-confirmation-hearing/430428">Click here to </a>watch the hearingPatel is a Trump loyalist who before being nominated to lead the FBI railed against the bureau over its investigations into the president and claimed that Jan. 6 rioters were mistreated by the Justice Department. He was picked in November to replace Christopher Wray,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/chris-wray-fbi-farewell-trump-patel-partisanship-afe159a6e112e68dd5319ceac905d517">who led the nation's premier federal law enforcement agency for more than seven years.</a>A former aide to the House Intelligence Committee and an ex-federal prosecutor who served in Trump's first administration, Patel has alarmed critics with rhetoric — in dozens of podcasts and books he has authored — in which he has demonstrated fealty to Trump and assailed the decision-making of the agency he's now been asked to lead. He's also identified by name officials he believes should be investigated.In one such podcast interview last year, he said that if he were in charge of the FBI, he would “shut down” the bureau’s headquarters building on Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington and “reopen it the next day as a museum of the ‘deep state.’”“And I’d take the 7,000 employees that work in that building and send them across America to go chase down criminals. Go be cops," he added.In a Wall Street Journal opinion piece published Wednesday night, Patel did not address some of his more incendiary comments or criticism of the FBI, except to say that his time as a House staffer investigating flaws in the FBI's Trump-Russia investigation had shown him how "the FBI’s immense powers can be abused."“I spearheaded the investigation that found the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act — a tool I had previously used to hunt down terrorists — had been unlawfully used to spy on political opponents," he wrote. “Such misconduct is unacceptable and undermines public trust.”Patel has for years been a loyal ally to Trump, finding common cause over their shared skepticism of government surveillance and the “deep state” — a pejorative catchall used by Trump to refer to government bureaucracy.He was part of a small group of supporters during&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-trial-deliberations-jury-testimony-verdict-85558c6d08efb434d05b694364470aa0">Trump’s recent criminal trial</a>&nbsp;in New York who accompanied him to the courthouse, where he told reporters that Trump was the victim of an “unconstitutional circus.”That close bond would depart from the modern-day precedent of FBI directors looking to keep presidents at arm’s length.Several Democratic senators on the Judiciary Committee who have met with Patel, including Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, have issued statements sounding the alarm and signaling their opposition to the pick. The lawmakers foreshadowed their interest in Patel by directing numerous questions about him to&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-justice-department-bondi-garland-01edf039f8102271943da4fb85d56fa7">Pam Bondi, Trump's pick for attorney general,</a>&nbsp;when she had her own confirmation hearing this month.“I’m deeply concerned about his fitness to serve as FBI Director," Durbin said in a statement. “He has neither the experience, the judgment, nor the temperament to head this critical agency.”Republican allies of Trump, who share the president's belief that the FBI has become politicized, have rallied around Patel and pledged to support him, seeing him as someone who can shake up the bureau and provide needed change.Sen. Thom Tillis, a North Carolina Republican who will introduce Patel on Thursday, said he had spent hours with him “pinning down every single thing I expect to see in the hearing.”“So much so,” he added, “that I've created a bingo card for all the things that I know the Democrats are going to say about him that I believe are unfair, and I think he's ready to respond to.”Tillis said Patel is ready to respond to questions about the book that has his enemies list and the people he names in its glossary.