Politics

WASHINGTON (AP) — A top White House official on Wednesday said at least eight U.S. telecom firms and dozens of nations have been impacted by a Chinese hacking campaign.

Deputy national security adviser Anne Neuberger offered new details about the breadth of the sprawling Chinese hacking campaign that gave officials in Beijing access to private texts and phone conversations of an unknown number of Americans.

Neuberger divulged the scope of the hack a day after the FBI and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency issued guidance intended to help root out the hackers and prevent similar cyberespionage in the future. White House officials cautioned that the number of telecommunication firms and countries impacted could still grow.

The U.S. believes that the hackers were able to gain access to communications of senior U.S. government officials and prominent political figures through the hack, Neuberger said.

“We don’t believe any classified communications has been compromised,” Neuberger added during a call with reporters.

She noted that because the hack appeared to be targeting a relatively small group of individuals, only a small number of Americans’ phone calls and texts have been compromised. Neuberger added that impacted companies are all responding, but none “have fully removed the Chinese actors from these networks.”

“So there is a risk of ongoing compromises to communications until U.S. companies address the cybersecurity gaps the Chinese are likely to maintain their access,” Neuberger said.

She said that President Joe Biden has been briefed on the findings and that the White House “has made it a priority for the federal government to do everything it can to get to the bottom this.”

The Chinese embassy in Washington on Tuesday rejected the accusations that it was responsible for the hack after the U.S. federal authorities issued new guidance.

“The U.S. needs to stop its own cyberattacks against other countries and refrain from using cyber security to smear and slander China,” embassy spokesperson Liu Pengyu said.

The embassy did not immediately respond to messages on Wednesday.

White House officials believe that the hacking was regionally targeted and the focus was on very senior government officials.

Federal authorities confirmed in October that hackers linked to China targeted the phones of then-presidential candidate Donald Trump and his running mate, Sen. JD Vance, along with people associated with Democratic candidate Vice President Kamala Harris.

The number of countries impacted by the hack is currently believed to be in the “low, couple dozen,” according to a senior administration official.

The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity under ground rules set by the White House, said they believed the hacks started at least a year or two ago.

The suggestions for telecom companies released Tuesday are largely technical in nature, urging encryption, centralization and consistent monitoring to deter cyber intrusions.

If implemented, the security precautions could help disrupt the operation, which has been dubbed Salt Typhoon, and make it harder for China or any other nation to mount a similar attack in the future, experts say.

Neuberger pointed to efforts that have been made to beef up cybersecurity in the rail, aviation, energy and other sectors following the May 2021 ransomware attack on Colonial Pipeline.

“So, to prevent ongoing Salt typhoon type intrusions by China, we believe we need to apply a similar minimum cybersecurity practice,” Neuberger said.

The cyberattack by a gang of criminal hackers on the critical U.S. pipeline, which delivers about 45% of the fuel used along the Eastern Seaboard, sent ripple effects across the economy, highlighting cybersecurity vulnerabilities in the nation’s aging energy infrastructure. Colonial confirmed it paid $4.4 million to the gang of hackers who broke into its computer systems as it scrambled to get the nation’s fuel pipeline back online.

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Associated Press writer David Klepper contributed reporting.

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President-elect Donald Trump’s choice to lead the Drug Enforcement Administration, Chad Chronister, said on Tuesday he was withdrawing from consideration, becoming the second Trump pick to do so soon after being nominated.

“Over the past several days, as the gravity of this very important responsibility set in, I’ve concluded that I must respectfully withdraw from consideration,” Chronister, a Florida sheriff, said in a post on X.

The Trump transition team did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Trump announced his intention to nominate Chronister to lead the DEA on Sunday, saying he would focus on stemming the flow of fentanyl across the U.S. border with Mexico. The agency is part of the Justice Department and is responsible for enforcing U.S. drug laws.

Some Trump supporters criticized Chronister’s nomination, citing his arrest of a Florida pastor for violating a COVID-19 lockdown in 2020.

Chronister, the sheriff of Hillsborough County, Florida, with more than 30 years in local law enforcement, also appeared to lack the broader experience suited for the DEA role.

His withdrawal follows a similar move by former Republican lawmaker Matt Gaetz, Trump’s first pick for attorney general who dropped out of consideration amid concerns about his previous conduct.

(Reporting by Caitlin Webber and Steve Holland; Editing by Costas Pitas and Lisa Shumaker)

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By Gabriella Borter

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The top Democrat in the U.S. House of Representatives, Hakeem Jeffries, on Tuesday called on President Joe Biden to pardon some working-class Americans after drawing criticism for pardoning his own son, Hunter Biden.

“During his final weeks in office, President Biden should exercise the high level of compassion he has consistently demonstrated throughout his life, including toward his son, and pardon on a case-by-case basis the working-class Americans in the federal prison system whose lives have been ruined by unjustly aggressive prosecutions for nonviolent offenses,” Jeffries said in a statement.

Biden, who leaves office on Jan. 20, for months had said he would not pardon his son, who was found guilty of lying about being addicted to illegal drugs while buying a gun and pleaded guilty to criminal charges of failing to pay $1.4 million in taxes. The sweeping pardon also applied to any other crimes “he committed or may have committed” between Jan. 1, 2014, and Dec. 1, 2024.

The president said he believed his son had been made the target of a politically motivated prosecution. Republicans including President-elect Donald Trump blasted the move, as did some Democrats, who said it eroded trust in the judicial system.

“I’m deeply concerned with how we move forward,” Democratic Senator Ben Cardin told Reuters on Tuesday. “We’ve got to have confidence in an independent judiciary and I don’t think we’re where we need to be.”

Jeffries’ request comes after 60 Democratic members of Congress penned a letter to Biden last month urging him to use his pardon power to “address longstanding injustice in our legal system.”

The letter noted that the U.S. has disproportionately incarcerated people of color, low-income individuals, members of the LGBTQ community and those with disabilities, and that 90% of the federal prison population was convicted on non-violent offenses.

(Reporting by Gabriella Borter; additional reporting by Costas Pitas; Editing by Scott Malone and Leslie Adler)

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TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — New Jersey interim Sen. George Helmy, a Democrat appointed when Bob Menendez resigned after a federal corruption conviction, is stepping down this weekend so Sen.-elect Andy Kim can be sworn in early.

The move was expected and confirmed what Helmy and Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy announced during his appointment this summer — that Helmy would resign early so the winner of November’s election could get into office before the start of the new session of Congress next month.

Murphy explained the arrangement, saying he wanted the “democratically chosen winner” of this year’s election to have a smooth transition into office.

Kim defeated Republican businessman Curtis Bashaw on Election Day. He’ll become the first Korean-American in the Senate when he is sworn in on Monday.

Helmy is a former chief of staff to Murphy and has said he wasn’t interested in pursuing elected office. He counted voting to confirm 20 judicial nominations and resolving more than 100 constituent cases as some of his accomplishments in little more than two months in office.

Helmy said he’s been working closely with Kim since his election in November to “ensure a seamless transition.”

Menendez, 70, used his influence to meddle in three different state and federal criminal investigations to protect the businessmen, prosecutors said. They said he helped one bribe-paying friend get a multimillion-dollar deal with a Qatari investment fund and another keep a contract to provide religious certification for meat bound for Egypt.

Menendez has vowed to fight the conviction and recently filed for a new trial, citing improper evidence that was put on a computer used by jurors.

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By Luc Cohen

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Donald Trump on Tuesday asked a New York state judge to dismiss the criminal case in which he was convicted in May of 34 felony counts involving hush money paid to a porn star in light of his victory in the Nov. 5 U.S. presidential election.

In urging Justice Juan Merchan in Manhattan to vacate the guilty verdict and toss the charges, Trump’s lawyers said having Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s case hang over him after he takes office on Jan. 20 would impede his ability to govern.

“Local elected officials such as D.A. Bragg have no valid basis to cause such disruptions,” defense lawyers Todd Blanche and Emil Bove wrote in a court filing dated Dec. 2 and made public on Tuesday.

Trump in November nominated Blanche to serve as deputy attorney general, the second-highest position at the Justice Department, during his administration. He nominated Bove to serve as Blanche’s top deputy and to be acting deputy attorney general while Blanche awaits confirmation.

Merchan last month delayed Trump’s previously scheduled Nov. 26 sentencing indefinitely to give him the chance to seek dismissal.

Prosecutors with Bragg’s office supported delaying the sentencing to give Trump the chance to make his case for dismissal, though they said they would oppose that bid. The prosecutors have until next Monday to respond.

The judge has not indicated when he would rule on Trump’s motion to dismiss, and has not set a new date for sentencing.

Bragg’s office has suggested he defer all proceedings in the case until Trump, 78, leaves the White House in 2029.

In their motion to dismiss, Trump’s lawyers called that suggestion “ridiculous.” They said that would mean sentencing would happen more than a decade after the investigation started in 2018.

A spokesperson for Bragg’s office declined to comment.

HUNTER BIDEN PARDON

At the outset of their 72-page motion, Trump’s lawyers brought up Democratic President Joe Biden’s decision on Sunday to pardon his son Hunter Biden, who was convicted on gun charges and pleaded guilty to tax violations.

Blanche and Bove said Biden’s statement that his son had been selectively prosecuted was an “extraordinary condemnation” of his Justice Department.

Trump’s lawyers have repeatedly asserted that Bragg, a Democrat, had coordinated his Trump prosecution with the Biden administration, citing the involvement in the case of Matthew Colangelo, a former Justice Department official.

“This case would never have been brought were it not for President Trump’s political views,” the defense lawyers wrote.

As an elected local prosecutor, Bragg operates independently of the federal Justice Department. Attorney General Merrick Garland, a Biden appointee who runs the Justice Department, has denied Republican claims that he sent Colangelo to Bragg’s office to prosecute Trump.

“I did not dispatch Mr. Colangelo anywhere,” Garland said in congressional testimony on June 4.

A PAYMENT TO STORMY DANIELS

The New York case stemmed from a $130,000 payment Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels for her silence before the 2016 election about a sexual encounter she has said she had a decade earlier with Trump, who denies it.

A Manhattan jury found Trump guilty of falsifying business records to cover up his reimbursement of Cohen. It was the first time a U.S. president – former or sitting – had been convicted of or charged with a criminal offense.

Trump pleaded not guilty in the case.

Trump was charged in three additional state and federal criminal cases in 2023, one involving classified documents he kept after leaving office and two others involving his efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss.

He pleaded not guilty in all three cases. The Justice Department moved to dismiss the two federal cases after Trump’s election victory.

(Reporting by Luc Cohen in New York; Editing by Jonathan Oatis and Daniel Wallis)

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COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — The South Carolina House opened its newest session Tuesday with an unsuccessful long shot challenge of the Speaker that could be a preview of fighting among Republicans over which group truly deserves to identify as conservative.

House Speaker Murrell Smith was elected to a second two-year term by a 102-17 vote as the Republicans’ Freedom Caucus tried to show its strength.

The intraparty fight has brewed throughout most of the last two years. The Freedom Caucus said most Republicans aren’t conservative enough because they gave tax breaks to corporations, failed to pass a total abortion ban and let Democrats, who have only 35 of the body’s 124 seats, run a few subcommittees.

Mainstream Republicans say the caucus members seem more determined to score points on social media and defeat fellow Republicans in primaries than to do the work of governing. Some in the larger group even mock caucus members online. More importantly, caucus members have been left off the most important House committees, like the budget writing Ways and Means Committee.

The 17 votes for speaker for Republican Rep. Bill Chumley of Spartanburg County were about the level of support the Freedom Caucus had last year. But the decision to challenge Smith at all, as well as the Freedom Caucus holding a news conference on its goals last month, the same day the Republican House leadership met to shape its agenda, show the caucus doesn’t plan to fall in line.

“We need conservative leadership, bold leadership — not malicious — willing to work with everybody. Willing to be fair,” said the caucus leader, Rep. Jordan Pace of Goose Creek.

Smith didn’t mention the challenge during his post-election speech, which called for more tax cuts and economic development to continue South Carolina’s rapid growth. The Sumter Republican also asked that everyone listen to each other and work together, Democrats and Republicans, to make the state better.

“It is our duty to show the people of South Carolina that their government works for the — that we can disagree without being disagreeable,” Smith said.

The mainstream Republican rebuke was left to House Speaker Pro Tem Tommy Pope of York, who focused his criticism on the kind of politics and misinformation that fuels the caucus. Pope said the distrust has to be stopped so the House can get important work done.

“If we do disagree, let’s disagree in truth,” Pope said.

The session opened with the House’s longest serving member, Democratic Rep. Gilda Cobb-Hunter, briefly presiding until the Speaker could be elected. One thing she’s learned in her 32 years in the chamber, she said, is that a representative’s achievements often mirror their reasons for running. Are you looking for something on a resume? Did you think you could make a difference? Do you like to serve people?

“Do you. Be you. There is only one person in here who can vote for you and that’s you,” Cobb-Hunter said.

A key member of the Freedom Caucus showed up for Tuesday’s organizational session. Rep. R.J. May of Lexington spent most of the time standing by a members-and-staff-only exit door and not venturing into the mix of lawmakers on the House floor.

In October, federal prosecutors filed court papers saying the investigators seized a number of electronic devices from May, and they anticipated filing a criminal indictment in three months. The documents sought to keep the devices longer without a formal hearing, and did not provide additional details.

Freedom Caucus members said they hadn’t heard from May for months. May didn’t talk about the specifics of his legal problems Tuesday, but reminded reporters he was reelected without Democratic opposition last month.

“I’ve been elected to do a job and I’m going to continue to do that job and that’s to be one of the most conservative members of the House,” May said.

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RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — The very close election for a North Carolina Supreme Court seat heads next to a hand recount even as election officials announced a machine recount of over 5.5 million ballots resulted in no margin change between the candidates.

The statewide machine recount — in which ballots were run again through tabulators — that wrapped up this week showed Democratic Associate Justice Allison Riggs with a 734-vote lead over Republican challenger Jefferson Griffin, who is a Court of Appeals judge.

Most county election boards reported minor vote changes from the machine recount requested by Griffin. But State Board of Elections data showed the post-recount lead exactly the same as what Riggs held after all 100 counties fully completed their ballot canvass in November. Griffin led Riggs by about 10,000 votes on election night, but that lead dwindled and flipped to Riggs as tens of thousands of qualifying provisional and absentee ballots were added to the totals through the canvass.

Griffin, who already has pending election protests challenging the validity of more than 60,000 ballots counted statewide, has asked for a partial hand-to-eye recount, which county boards will start Wednesday or Thursday.

The partial hand recount applies to ballots in 3% of the voting sites in all 100 counties, chosen at random Tuesday by the state board. Once the partial recount is complete, a statewide hand recount would be ordered if the sample results differ enough from the machine recount that the result would be reversed if the difference were extrapolated to all ballots.

Riggs, who was appointed to the Supreme Court in 2023 and now seeks an eight-year term, again claimed victory Tuesday. In a campaign news release, spokesperson Embry Owen said Griffin “needs to immediately concede – losing candidates must respect the will of voters and not needlessly waste state resources.” Riggs is one of two Democrats on the seven-member court.

Through attorneys, Griffin has challenged ballots that he says may not qualify for several reasons and cast doubt on the election result. Among them: voter registration records of some voters casting ballots lack driver’s license or partial Social Security numbers, and overseas voters never living in North Carolina may run afoul of state residency requirements.

State and county boards are considering the protests. Griffin’s attorneys on Monday asked the state board to accelerate the matters before it and make a final ruling early next week.

“Our priority remains ensuring that every legal vote is counted and that the public can trust the integrity of this election,” state Republican Party spokesperson Matt Mercer said in a news release. Final rulings by the state board can be appealed to state court.

Joining Griffin in protests are three Republican legislative candidates who still trailed narrowly in their respective races after the machine recounts. The Supreme Court race and two of these three legislative races have not been called by The Associated Press.

The key pending legislative race is for a House seat covering Granville County and parts of Vance County. Republican Rep. Frank Sossamon trails Democratic challenger Bryan Cohn by 228 votes, down from 233 votes before the recount. Sossamon also asked for a partial hard recount in his race, which was to begin Tuesday.

Should Cohn win, Republicans will fall one seat short of the 72 needed in the 120-member House to retain its veto-proof majority — giving more leverage to Democratic Gov.-elect Josh Stein in 2025. Senate Republicans already have won 30 of the 50 seats needed to retain its supermajority in their chamber.

The AP on Tuesday did call another legislative race not subject to a protest, as Mecklenburg County GOP Rep. Tricia Cotham won her reelection bid over Democrat Nicole Sidman. A machine recount showed Cotham ahead of Sidman by 213 votes, compared to 216 after the county canvass. Cotham’s switch from the Democrats to the Republicans in April 2023 secured the Republicans’ 72-seat veto-proof majority so that Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper’s vetoes could be overridden by relying solely on GOP lawmakers.

Cotham had already claimed victory weeks ago. Sidman said Tuesday in a written statement: “After a fair vote and a recount following established procedure, I accept the result in my race. In the interest of respecting the will of North Carolina’s voters, I urge all candidates to accept the results in their races as well.”

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DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa officials on Tuesday sued the Biden administration for access to information on the citizenship status of more than 2,000 registered voters they had questioned in the weeks leading up to the 2024 election.

The complaint details a back and forth with the federal government after state election officials checked voter rolls against a list of people who identified themselves as noncitizens with the state’s Department of Transportation. The vast majority of the 2,176 names had subsequently registered to vote or voted, meaning that some of those individuals could have become naturalized citizens in the lapsed time.

Secretary of State Paul Pate’s office requested information from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security on the citizenship status of those individuals but did not get it, the complaint alleges. The Associated Press left email messages with DHS on Tuesday seeking comment on the lawsuit.

Federal authorities’ “failure meant that the State had to rely on the best — imperfect — data it had available to ensure that no Iowan’s vote was canceled by an illegal, noncitizen vote,” a joint statement from Pate and Attorney General Brenna Bird said.

Two weeks before Election Day, when early voting was already underway, Pate told county elections officials to challenge those voters’ ballots and have them cast a provisional ballot instead.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa then sued Pate on Oct. 30 on behalf of four voters who are naturalized citizens but were named on the list, calling into question the accuracy of the DOT’s information and alleging Pate infringed upon their right to vote. Their request for a stop to the ballot challenges was denied by a federal judge on Nov. 3.

It is illegal for non-U.S. citizens to vote in federal elections, but there is no evidence that it is occurring in significant numbers, though Iowa and some other states say they have identified dozens of such cases.

Some individuals in Iowa had registered to vote or voted before identifying themselves as noncitizens to the DOT, so Pate’s office sent those names to law enforcement and Bird’s office for investigation and potential prosecution. But Pate’s critics have said even those individuals might be wrongly identified as noncitizens since the DOT data has proven unreliable.

Pate’s office has not released any additional information on the number of individuals who turned out to vote, whose ballots were challenged or whose citizenship status was ultimately confirmed. The Des Moines Register, based on preliminary information collected from 97 of the state’s 99 counties, found at least 500 of the identified individuals proved their citizenship status and had their votes counted.

Another 74 ballots were rejected, according to the Register, mostly because those individuals did not return to prove their citizenship status.

The majority of the people on Pate’s list did not vote in the 2024 election, according to the Register’s data from county auditors.

Concern about elections being undermined by noncitizen voting had been a focus of political messaging this year from President-elect Donald Trump and other Republicans, even though such voting is rare in American elections.

Since no voter had been removed from Iowa’s lists, Pate tried to differentiate Iowa from other states, such as Virginia, where more than 1,600 voters were purged from the voter registration list in the past two months in a program enacted through an Aug. 7 executive order from Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin.

The Justice Department and a coalition of private groups sued Virginia in early October, arguing that state election officials violated federal law’s 90-day “quiet period” ahead of elections. The U.S. Supreme Court’s conservative majority said that Virginia could continue.

Ahead of the Nov. 5 election, Pate said the DOT information was the “only list that we have available to us” without access to federal immigration records.

“We’re balancing this process. We want everyone to be able to vote. That’s why none of them have been taken off the voter rolls,” he said. But “we do owe an obligation to make sure that they are citizens now.”

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MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A judge’s overturning of Wisconsin’s 13-year-old law that effectively ended collective bargaining for teachers and most state government employees has rekindled a battle over labor rights in a state where the first public sector unions were formed 65 years ago.

But before unions head back to the bargaining table, more legal fights await. Here are five things to know about the law, the current challenge and what happens next:

At its core, the battle is over whether tens of thousands of teachers, nurses, prison guards and other state government employees can bargain over their workplace conditions and salary.

The law, known as Act 10, was enacted in 2011 and limits bargaining to only wage increases no greater than the inflation rate. That means that other issues, such as benefits, safety and working conditions, and vacations, are not negotiable.

The law also requires every public sector union to vote annually on maintaining its own certification. In order to pass, at least 51% of each union’s members must vote yes, not just 51% of those voting.

Union members were also required to pay more for their benefits, which reduced their take home pay and effectively served as a pay cut.

Supporters say the law has saved school districts and local governments billions of dollars. Opponents say the law has kneecapped unions that traditionally back Democrats and hurt workers’ morale and income.

Passage of the law helped ease the way for the Legislature in 2015 to approve a so-called right-to-work law that limited the power of private-sector unions.

Then- Gov. Scott Walker introduced the proposal shortly after taking office in 2011. That sparked weeks of massive protests, a walkout by Democratic state senators in a failed attempt to block passage of the law, and recall elections targeting Walker and Republicans who voted for it.

The fight thrust Wisconsin into the the center of the battle over union rights in the U.S. Walker rode the attention, survived the 2012 recall attempt and then mounted a campaign for president a few years later. He dropped out, though, in the fall of 2015 as Donald Trump’s support grew.

The battle lines then and now are largely the same. The law is opposed by Democrats and unions. It is supported by Republicans, conservative groups and powerful organizations like Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce, the largest business lobbying group in Wisconsin.

Numerous legal challenges have been filed challenging the law in state and federal courts. None of them succeeded until now.

The latest challenge was filed last year by seven unions representing teachers and other public-sector workers and three individuals.

This lawsuit alleges that Act 10’s exemption of some police, firefighters and other public safety workers from the bargaining restrictions violates the Wisconsin Constitution’s equal protection guarantee.

A similar argument was made in a federal lawsuit alleging that Act 10 violated the equal protection guarantee in the U.S. Constitution. But a federal appeals court in 2013 said the state was free to draw a line between public safety and other unions, and the following year again ruled that the law was constitutional.

The Wisconsin Supreme Court in 2014 also upheld the law as constitutional, rejecting a lawsuit brought by teachers and Milwaukee public workers. That case raised different arguments than the current lawsuit. And in 2019, a federal judge rejected a lawsuit brought by two arms of the International Union of Operating Engineers that argued the law violates free speech and free association under the First Amendment.

Walker, whose legacy is largely defined by his fight with the unions, called the ruling “brazen political activism.”

The judge who struck down the law, Dane County Circuit Judge Jacob Frost, was appointed by Wisconsin’s current governor, Democrat Tony Evers. It also appears that Frost signed the petition to recall Walker.

Republican leaders of the Legislature echoed Walker’s comments, decrying the ruling and calling Frost an “activist.”

Evers called the decision “great news” and said, “I’ve always believed workers should have a seat at the table in decisions that affect their daily lives and livelihoods.”

Unions applauded the ruling while conservative groups warned that undoing the law would dramatically increase costs on local governments, leading to service cuts and tax increases.

The Legislature has appealed the case. That would typically send it to the state court of appeals, unless the unions ask the Wisconsin Supreme Court to take the case directly.

Opponents of the law are anxious for the state Supreme Court to get the case while it is controlled 4-3 by liberal justices. An election in April will determine whether liberals maintain control or the court flips back to conservatives, who held sway there from before Act 10 was passed until 2023. The newly elected justice will start work next August.

Even if the current court takes the case, it’s unclear what justices would hear it.

Justice Janet Protasiewicz, whose win last year gave liberals the majority, said during her campaign that she believes Act 10 is unconstitutional. She also said she would consider recusing herself from any case challenging the law. Protasiewicz participated in protests against the law and signed the petition to recall Walker.

Conservative Justice Brian Hagedorn was Walker’s chief legal counsel and had a role in drafting the Act 10 law. But during his successful run for the court in 2015, Hagedorn would not promise to recuse himself if a case challenging Act 10 came before the court.

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TBILISI, Georgia (AP) — Thousands of demonstrators in the Georgian capital converged on parliament again on Tuesday, venting outrage against the governing party’s decision to suspend negotiations on joining the European Union.

Over five previous nights, riot police used water cannons and tear gas to disperse protesters, who threw fireworks at police and built barricades on the Georgian capital’s central boulevard. Nearly 300 protesters have been detained, and 26 people, including three police officers, have been hospitalized with injuries.

“The more force they use, the angrier people become, because everyone they arrest has relatives, and everyone understands that this is injustice,” said Tamar Kordzaia, a member of Unity National Movement opposition group.

Kordzaia voiced confidence that the protesters will achieve their goal of calling new elections and joining the EU, noting that police on Monday “looked very tired. I am sure we need to withstand a little longer.”

The ruling Georgian Dream party retained control of parliament in the disputed Oct. 26 parliamentary election, which was widely seen as a referendum on Georgia’s EU aspirations. The opposition and the pro-Western president have accused the governing party of rigging the vote with neighboring Russia’s help and boycotted parliament sessions.

Mass opposition protests sparked by the vote gained new momentum after the governing party’s decision on Thursday to put the EU accession talks on hold.

“We are fighting for our democracy, to protect human rights, human dignity,” said Rusudan Chanturia, who attended Tuesday’s protest.

Another demonstrator, David Jandieri, said the daily protests must continue until the demonstrators achieve their goal. “In fact, we do not have another choice,” he said.

Georgia’s Interior Ministry said Tuesday that 293 protesters were detained on administrative charges and five arrested on criminal charges.

Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili has refused to recognize the official election results and contested them in the Constitutional Court, which rejected her appeal on Tuesday. Zourabichvili, who plays a largely ceremonial role, has declared that she would stay on the job even after her six-year term ends later this month to lead the opposition demand for a new parliamentary election.

The EU granted Georgia candidate status in December 2023 on condition that it meet the bloc’s recommendations, but put its accession on hold and cut financial support in June after the passage of a “foreign influence” law that widely seen as a blow to democratic freedoms. It requires organizations that receive more than 20% of their funding from abroad to register as “pursuing the interest of a foreign power,” similar to a Russian law used to discredit organizations critical of the government.

The Georgian government’s announcement of the EU accession talks’ suspension came hours after the European Parliament adopted a resolution criticizing October’s election as neither free nor fair.

On Monday, the EU reiterated its “serious concerns about the continuous democratic backsliding of the country.”

Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze of Georgian Dream declared Tuesday that the government is willing to open EU accession talks if the bloc ends its “blackmail.”

“I want to remind European bureaucrats and politicians, including those who are artificially hindering our country’s European integration, to bring negotiations to the table, and we will sign immediately, on the same day, at that very moment,” he said.

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