Beast (2022)

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene announced Wednesday she's refusing to vote for a bill on antisemitism awareness, arguing it would see Christians arrested for their faith.

Greene made this announcement on X the same day the bipartisan Antisemitism Awareness Act of 2023 (H.R. 6090) — crafted to combat the problem on college campuses — was slated to go to a vote in the House of Representatives.

"Antisemitism is wrong, but I will not be voting for the Antisemitism Awareness Act," Greene explained. "[It] could convict Christians of antisemitism for believing the Gospel that says Jesus was handed over to Herod to be crucified by the Jews."

Greene backs up this claim with two images; the first a screenshot of the bill's definition of antisemitism and the second a printout Greene doesn't source.

The bill uses the definition crafted by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, of which the U.S. is a member, and adopted by the State department, congressional records show.

“Antisemitism is a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews," the IHRA definition states. "Rhetorical and physical manifestations of antisemitism are directed toward Jewish or non-Jewish individuals and/or their property, toward Jewish community institutions and religious facilities.”

The IHRA website page on which this definition appears also includes a bulleted list of 11 contemporary examples of antisemitism in public life that does not appear in the legislation's text.

But this appears to be the document Greene references in her refusal to back the bill.

"Read the bill text and contemporary examples of antisemitism like #9," Greene demands of her readers.

Number nine, in both the IHRA list and Greene's, reads as follows: "Using the symbols and images associated with classic antisemitism (e.g., claims of Jews killing Jesus or blood libel) to characterize Israel or Israelis."

ALSO READ: Former FBI official accuses Marjorie Taylor Greene of spreading foreign propaganda

These claims, according to the Holocaust Encyclopedia, were commonly repeated by the Nazis.

"The term blood libel refers to the false allegation that Jews used the blood of non-Jewish, usually Christian children, for ritual purposes," the definition states. "The Nazis made effective use of the blood libel to demonize Jews, with Julius Steicher's newspaper Der Stürmer making frequent use of ritual murder imagery in its antisemitic propaganda."

Greene is not alone in refusing to support the bill, but her reasons differ widely from those cited by the American Civil Liberties Union in their letter in opposition to House representatives.

"Federal law already prohibits antisemitic discrimination and harassment by federally funded entities," the ACLU argues. " H.R. 6090 is therefore not needed to protect against antisemitic discrimination; instead, it would likely chill free speech of students on college campuses by incorrectly equating criticism of the Israeli government with antisemitism."

As this important debate on a complex issue unfolded in the House of Representatives, Greene's social media followers took the opportunity to remind readers of the Georgia lawmaker's history.

"BREAKING NEWS," wrote X user Mr. Newberger. "Woman who key noted a Nazi rally won't vote for Antisemitism bill."

This likely references Greene's decision to speak at a White Nationalist event in 2022.

"This you?" asked Travis Matthew, sharing an article entitled "Republicans blast Marjorie Taylor Greene's Holocaust remarks" about her likening COVID-19 masks to the Nazi's mass murder of Jewish people.

"This is absolutely nuts," wrote Hadar Susskind. "MTG is just mad that they didn’t accept her space laser amendment."

With help from Shawn Ness

New from New York

Happening now:

• Gov. Kathy Hochul is already talking with college leaders about safety concerns at graduation ceremonies.
• Assemblymember Andrew Hevesi accused Hochul of lying about her commitments to child care.
• Catholic Charities is displeased with the additional money for abortions in the budget, first reported by Playbook.

CANCELING GRADUATION? The pro-Palestinian encampment at Columbia University has entered Day 10, and Gov. Kathy Hochul is starting to brace for the possibility that the unrest will wreak havoc on graduation ceremonies across the state.

“I need to know that these commencements are going to be safe environments as well, all across the state,” Hochul said earlier today. “That's what we're focused on right now.”

On Thursday, the University of Southern California canceled its main graduation ceremony, saying the event now requires additional security measures that aren’t feasible for the annual 65,000-person event.

Now, New York students are wondering if Columbia’s graduation, and that of other schools in the state, will also be jettisoned.

“We cannot have one group dictate terms and attempt to disrupt important milestones like graduation to advance their point of view,” Columbia University President Minouche Shafik said Monday, already foreshadowing that the protests may interfere with graduation. “Let’s sit down and talk and argue and find ways to compromise on solutions.”

Columbia’s May 15 commencement ceremonies are set to take place on the university’s main campus, including the area where the protesters have set up camp.

Shafik’s goal is to finish negotiations with protesters and have the encampment disbanded before graduation. But she already extended the deadline for negotiations with protesters by 48 hours early Wednesday. That theoretical deadline blew by earlier today, and the tents still stand.

Hochul is preparing to make sure university commencements across the state are secure. She said she’s talked to the SUNY and CUNY chancellors this morning, and she’s already spoken with the presidents of other city universities.

“I asked for information on all their commencement plans,” the Democratic governor said. “I want to know that this is well thought out. What protections do you have? Security measures in place? Additional resources you're bringing to the table?”

A canceled graduation would hit this year’s graduating class particularly hard, as most of them were forced to graduate online from high school — or from the front seat of their cars — during the height of Covid four years ago.

Spokespeople for SUNY and CUNY told Playbook that the colleges are reviewing their graduation ceremonies at the governor’s behest.

“Student safety on our campuses is paramount, and SUNY is committed to ensuring that our campuses are safe, inclusive and enable students to express themselves responsibly,” said Holly Liapis, a SUNY spokesperson. “The governor asked Chancellor King to review the procedures that are in place for this year's SUNY commencements and that review is ongoing.” — Jason Beeferman

‘IT IS THE LYING I CANNOT STOMACH’: Assemblymember Andrew Hevesi is knocking Hochul for enacting a budget that’s “atrocious for child care in New York State.”

In a letter sent to the governor this week and shared with Playbook, the Queens Democrat spoke in no uncertain terms about his frustration with the governor.

“It is your attempt to claim the mantle of a child care champion to whom this issue is personal, while quietly obstructing or outright rejecting the budget proposals to assist children, families, and child care providers that I cannot tolerate,” wrote Hevesi, the chair of the Committee on Children and Families.

Hevesi said the the state's first female governor has projected a message of taking action on child care when in fact she’s obstructed efforts to expand it in the state.

Specifically, he wrote how, during this budget cycle, Hochul’s administration:

• Rejected a proposal to decouple a parent’s work schedule from their child's ability to access full-time child care.
• Nixed proposed funding for a study on the “true” cost of providing child care.
• Hadn’t released the final report of the Child Care Availability Task Force, even though it’s required by law. (It’s expected out today.)
• Shot down a proposal from both chambers to create a $220 million permanent workforce fund for child care providers and educators

“Again, it is the lying that I cannot and will not stomach,” Hevesi wrote.
The governor’s office responded to Hevesi with strong words of its own.

“Governor Hochul has provided more support to the child care sector than any governor in state history, and anyone who denies that clear fact is disingenuous, misinformed, or both,” Avi Small, Hochul’s spokesperson, wrote in a statement to Playbook.

According to Small, the state has invested $7 billion over four years to expand access to child care.

He also noted how the governor has “raised the income eligibility threshold for the Child Care Assistance Program, capped co-pays for families who need child care assistance ... and allocated $350 million in supplemental aid to families through the Child Tax Credit as part of the FY25 Budget.”

Small continued: “Debate, opposition and disagreement are normal parts of the policymaking process, but attacking a fellow New Yorker on their parenting is disgusting and beneath the dignity of anyone who holds elected office.” — Jason Beeferman

CAUGHT IN THE ACT: Comptroller Tom DiNapoli and Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg teamed up to announce that Cindy Tappe, a former finance and administration director at New York University, will have to pay over $663,00 after pleading guilty to grand larceny.

Tappe was accused of orchestrating a six-year fraud scheme totaling $3.5 million related to two different university programs. DiNapoli and Bragg claimed that she used the money for personal expenses like home renovations and constructing a swimming pool.

“Cindy Tappe executed a scheme to support her lavish lifestyle at the expense of children with special needs and young English Language learners. She is now a convicted felon and has paid back the money she stole,” DiNapoli said. “I thank District Attorney Bragg for his partnership in the investigation and in bringing her to justice.”

Tappe will now have to serve five years probation. — Shawn Ness

CONGESTION PRICING TO START: The Metropolitan Transportation Authority today said that congestion pricing in parts of Manhattan will start Sunday, June 30.

The so-called Central Business District Tolling, the country’s first congestion pricing program, will charge a $15 toll to travel below 60th Street in Manhattan, and trucks could pay as much as $36.

The program has been years in the making and faced stiff opposition from New Jersey and truckers. But the MTA said the measure is important to address gridlock and help the environment.

“Five years after the Legislature made congestion pricing New York State law, and with 4,000 pages of analysis, hundreds of hearings and outreach meetings behind us, New Yorkers are ready for the benefits — less traffic, cleaner air, safer streets and better transit,” MTA chair and CEO Janno Lieber said in a statement. — Joseph Spector

MASTRO AND COMMANDER: Another caucus in the City Council has come out with a statement bashing the likely nomination of Randy Mastro to lead the city’s Law Department — a top administration job that would entail weighing in on all manner of legislation and defending the city in court.

“Corporation Counsel is the people’s lawyer, not the mayor’s, and the people are staunchly against returning to the Giuliani era,” the statement read, referring to Mastro’s previous role as a deputy mayor in Rudy Giuliani’s City Hall. “The City Council’s LGBTQIA+ Caucus opposes Randy Mastro’s nomination to this vital position.”

The statement from the six-member collective follows similar sentiments from the Black, Latino and Asian Caucus, which expressed its distaste for Mastro in a statement Tuesday.

The body’s Progressive Caucus has already vowed to oppose the potential nomination. And multiple people told POLITICO the 30-member Women’s Caucus is likely to soon meet to discuss the appointment. The Council will ultimately have to vote on the mayor’s pick for the job.

City Hall pushed back against the caucus’ criticisms, noting that Mastro was behind a landmark 1998 law establishing rights for domestic partnerships in New York City and that he defended a prominent homeless services organization facing neighborhood opposition to a shelter being built. — Joe Anuta

HILLEL REACTS TO CAMPUS PROTESTS: Jewish organizations and leaders have a message for Columbia University and other institutions across the country amid ongoing pro-Palestinian encampments: Do your job and enforce code of conduct policies to mitigate antisemitism on campus.

Prominent leaders from organizations like the American Jewish Committee and UJA-Federation New York — along with Jewish students on campus — sounded the alarm on the ongoing protests at Columbia, citing Jewish students’ fears around navigating campus. The encampment is now entering its 10th day.

Adam Lehman, president and CEO of Hillel International — the largest Jewish student organization in the world — pointed to an uptick in antisemitic incidents like a Jewish student at Yale University who said she was assaulted during pro-Palestinian protests.

“Universities, if anything, have been more accommodating than they probably should be in terms of providing spaces for what is hateful, divisive rhetoric and rhetoric that marginalizes and erases the identities of Jewish and Israeli students,” Lehman said during a press conference at Columbia/Barnard Hillel’s The Kraft Center for Jewish Student Life.

He urged university leaders to enforce their policies and in “evenhanded ways,” but said that may require suspensions, expulsions or bringing in law enforcement.

“One way or another, we have to be able to depend on institutions of higher education to take back control of your campuses, counter what has truly become cultish behavior,” he added.

Brian Cohen — the Lavine Family executive director at Columbia/Barnard Hillel — as well as Linda Mirels, president of UJA-Federation of New York, were also among speakers.

Encampments have since popped out throughout the city and country, including at City College, Yale University and Princeton University. Reps. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez and Jamaal Bowman visited the encampment at Columbia on Friday.

Representatives for students in the encampment held another briefing for reporters outside of the encampment Friday afternoon. — Madina Touré

WEINSTEIN RULING: Hochul’s office is assessing the top state court ruling Thursday that overturned the New York sex crimes conviction of former Hollywood power broker Harvey Weinstein, the governor said this morning.

“We are analyzing the scale of that decision and the impact — what it means and how we can make sure that all women can feel safe coming forward,” Hochul told reporters during an unrelated event in Albany touting education policy in the state budget.

“I don't want this to be a moment of stifling the environment that was created.”

The 4-3 decision on Thursday determined Weinstein did not receive a fair trial in 2020 after a judge in the lower court allowed the testimony of multiple women who accused the former producer of sexual misconduct, but were not part of the criminal charges he faced.

The decision was not a surprise to legal experts, and Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg could still reconvict Weinstein.

The court ordered that Weinstein receive a new trial; he was also convicted in 2022 of raping a woman at a hotel in Beverly Hills.

Hochul did not say if the court’s decision should lead to new legislation for how criminal cases are conducted, saying it would be reviewed.

“This decision is very recent in the Court of Appeals and is still being analyzed, and we'll see what effect it has on other courtrooms across the state,” she said. — Nick Reisman

MASKS OFF: As protests at college campuses across the country continue over the Israel-Hamas war, one GOP state lawmaker wants to unmask demonstrators.

Assemblymember Mike Reilly of Staten Island today signaled he will introduce a ban on mask wearing at public assemblies and demonstrations.

“While the right to peaceful assembly and free speech are core to our national values, the deceptive use of masks pose a significant risk to public safety,” Reilly said.

The measure would create a misdemeanor charge punishable up to 90 days in jail.

If approved, it would reverse a 2020 law that allowed mask wearing in public, a change made amid the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.

At the time, lawmakers and then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo turned back what had been a century-old statute banning mask wearing in public gatherings that was meant to better address criminal activity, like the Ku Klux Klan. — Nick Reisman

ABORTION FUNDING FALLOUT: The New York State Catholic Conference thinks that Hochul went overboard with the $25 million for abortion services in the state budget that Playbook this morning found.

“While families struggle to put food on the table, the Legislature and Governor are handing a windfall to Planned Parenthood. This newly enacted abortion slush fund provides $25 million to abortionists, as if the Governor’s recent unilateral allocation of $35 million wasn’t enough,” the conference’s director Kristen Curran said in a statement.

The group thinks the money would be better spent on struggling families, women in crisis and hungry children, instead of “encouraging abortion.” — Shawn Ness

FAIR HOUSING: A new assessment of fair housing issues across New York finds racial and ethnic divisions persist in living patterns, access to community resources and homeownership.

The report was part of the state’s latest Fair Housing Matters NY initiative and identifies a series of goals and action items to expand access to housing and address racial disparities.

“Today, despite the progress that has been made since the passage of the Fair Housing Act in 1968, we continue to confront the reality of inequalities in our society,” Hochul said in a statement.

“My administration is taking a multi-pronged approach to ensure New Yorkers can live where they choose, can build wealth through homeownership and can access economic opportunity for themselves and their families.” — Janaki Chadha

— A Utica University professor ended his bid for Congress. (State of Politics)

— Rep. Jamaal Bowman wanted to ban legacy admissions to universities, but two of his children might have benefited from the practice. (Daily News)

— Tenants and landlords are all concerned over enforcement of good cause tenant protections. (POLITICO Pro)

Former President Donald Trump has personally reached out to Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) to get her to end her crusade against House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) — but, reported CNN's Melanie Zanona on Wednesday, she is not dissuaded.

Johnson appears set to survive the upcoming vote next week brought by Greene to vacate his office, with House Democrats planning to supply the necessary votes to stop another round of chaos similar to that following the ouster of his predecessor Kevin McCarthy. But Greene, enraged over his decision to allow Ukraine defense aid to pass the House, is determined to move ahead with the vote anyway, which she claims will put everyone in the House on record where they stand.

"Greene says she's actually planning to force a vote next week," said anchor Brianna Keilar, turning to Zanona. "How's this going to play out?"

ALSO READ: Revealed: What government officials privately shared about Trump not disclosing finances

"Well, even though Speaker Mike Johnson is expected to keep his job, there is still a lot of anger towards Marjorie Taylor Greene for pushing ahead with this move," said Zanona.

"Even Donald Trump doesn't want her to follow through," Zanona continued — which follows his decision to hold a press conference with Johnson a few weeks ago expressing his confidence in the speaker. "I'm told that he communicated to the head of the RNC that he wanted him to relay to the House Republican Conference during a meeting yesterday that Trump wants to see the party united ahead of November, but so far that has not deterred Greene."

"She's planning to call it this motion next week," she added. "When that happens, leadership is expected to quickly tee up a vote to kill or table that motion."

Watch the video below or at the link here.

Melanie Zanona says Trump is trying to stop Marjorie Taylor Greene's speaker motion youtu.be

Former president Donald Trump's attorney Todd Blanche is stuck between a rock and a hard place in the form of a "crazy, unreasonable client," according to former federal prosecutor Harry Litman.

Litman's analysis Tuesday came on the heels of proceedings in the criminal hush money trial that saw Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and Trump's lawyers debating whether the former president had violated his gag order.

Trump's lawyer, Blanche, was ridiculed by legal experts who said he failed to craft an argument without case law to back it up.

"I don't have any cases," Blanche said in court. "It's just common sense."

ALSO READ: A neuroscientist explains how Trump is using existential fear to win the election

"You're losing all credibility," Judge Juan Merchan replied.

"Hard to maintain with a straight face," former prosecutor Joyce Vance said of the battle between Blanche and the judge.

CNN's legal analyst called it an outright "disaster," because it went so poorly for Trump.

According to Litman, this exchange put Trump's lawyer in difficult position.

"Blanche needs badly to work hard to regain Merchan's trust, but he's between a rock and a hard place," Litman said. "He can't look weak in front of his crazy, unreasonable client."

Trump's former impeachment attorney, Robert Ray, tried to downplay the exchange, saying he's had judges say things like that to him before.

Speaking to MSNBC Tuesday, Ray explained that Blanche likely conveyed "he wouldn't be so easily intimidated."

Former Brooklyn prosecutor Charles Coleman disagreed, saying that running afoul of the judge this early in the trial was a problem.

"That was the most explosive," he told Nicolle Wallace on Tuesday afternoon. "That is — for as accomplished an attorney as Todd Blanche is, I don't understand the argument he made. To have a judge tell you that you are losing credibility this early in a trial is really, really dangerous ground to operate on."

Even teenagers were ridiculing Blanche. Two students came to court to observe the trial, including one 14-year-old who thought the exchange between Merchan and Blanche was "funny."

"When the defense attorney was basically annihilated by the judge," said Hope Harrington outside the courthouse. "It was — it really made my day. It was really funny. He had no evidence whatsoever."