Politics

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — A federal appeals court on Friday said it would hear more arguments involving an extremely close election in November for a North Carolina Supreme Court seat where the trailing candidate has argued that tens of thousands of ballots cast should not have been counted.

After reviewing several legal filings this week, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Virginia, scheduled oral arguments for Jan. 27 as well as briefing deadlines. The order means that both the federal appeals court and the state Supreme Court likely will consider simultaneously substantial matters related to the race between Democratic Associate Justice Allison Riggs and Republican challenger Jefferson Griffin.

Election results show Riggs ahead of Griffin by 734 votes from over 5.5 million ballots cast. But attorneys for Griffin — a state Court of Appeals judge — argued in formal election protests that well over 60,000 ballots came from ineligible voters.

Most of those being challenged were cast by voters whose registration records lacked either a driver’s license number or the last four digits of a Social Security number. A state law has required that such numbers be sought in registration applications since 2004.

The State Board of Elections dismissed Griffin’s protests last month and had been poised to certify Riggs as the winner on Friday. Griffin had already gone to the state Supreme Court asking it to intervene, but the board removed that matter to federal court, saying it involved many federal election and voting laws. Griffin wanted the matter to remain before the state Supreme Court, which has a Republican majority of justices.

But on Monday, U.S. District Judge Richard Myers ruled that North Carolina state courts were the proper venue to hear Griffin’s arguments and returned Griffin’s appeals to the state Supreme Court. The next day, the Supreme Court’s justices in a 4-2 decision agreed to block the election certification. Riggs recused herself from the deliberations. The justices asked for briefs to be filed in a schedule that ran through Jan. 24.

Meanwhile, the state elections board asked the 4th Circuit this week to decide whether Myers should have retained jurisdiction of Griffin’s case and ultimately reject Griffin’s demand for a preliminary injunction.

Riggs’ attorneys also weighed in and asked the 4th Circuit to speed up the process. Riggs, who is one of two Democrats on court and seeks an eight-year term, wants a decision in this appeal before the Supreme Court begins hearing its own cases this year on Feb. 11, her lawyers wrote. The 4th Circuit, in Friday’s order that listed no judges, granted Riggs’ motion for expedited legal briefing and oral argument.

It’s unclear how separate rulings in the federal and state appeals in this election will shake out. Griffin’s claims largely focus on state laws and the state constitution. Attorney for Riggs and the election board have argued that federal laws and the U.S. Constitution play a large role in the case, however.

Other categories of votes that Griffin is challenging were cast by overseas voters who have never lived in the U.S. but whose parents were deemed North Carolina residents; and by military or overseas voters who did not provide copies of photo identification with their ballots.

Earlier Friday, a state trial judge denied a request by Republican Party groups and two voters to order ballots cast by voters whose registration records lack driver’s license or Social Security numbers and found not to be valid voters to be removed from final election counts for state elections in November.

The state board has said there are many reasons why a voter record lacks such a number. A lawyer representing the board Friday in Wake County court said that evidence has been presented showing the voters at issue were ineligible to cast ballots.

The Democratic National Committee, which joined with the board in opposing the GOP request, said in a brief that such a demand was yet another attempt by the GOP in recent months to “engage in mass voter suppression.”

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By Luc Cohen

NEW YORK (Reuters) – On Friday, a New York judge imposed a sentence that ensures Donald Trump will be the first convicted felon to enter the White House when he is sworn in as president on Jan. 20.

It was a brief and relatively calm final encounter of Trump’s relationship with Justice Juan Merchan over 21 months and featured accusations of political bias from the former and stern dressings-down from the latter.

Prosecutors charged Trump, 78, in April 2023 with falsifying business records to cover up hush money paid to a porn star.

Although Trump will avoid jail, fines and probation, Merchan’s sentence of unconditional discharge puts Trump’s May 2024 conviction by a jury on his permanent record. 

Outside the courtroom during a six-week trial, the former and future president assailed Merchan, making the judge a centerpiece of his public relations campaign vilifying the indictment. 

The Republican businessman-turned-politician called Merchan, 62, a “radical partisan” in league with Trump’s Democratic rivals. His lawyers sought the judge’s disqualification, citing Merchan’s daughter’s work for a Democratic consultancy. 

Trump even alluded to Merchan’s Colombian heritage as evidence of bias, telling reporters on May 21 last year to “take a look at where he comes from.” 

Merchan did not engage with Trump’s personal attacks but let it be known he did not appreciate his out-of-court rhetoric. 

GAG ORDER, FINES

Before the trial, the judge imposed a gag order restricting Trump’s comments on some people involved in the case. He fined Trump $10,000 for violating the order several times and threatened to jail him if he ran afoul of it again. 

After the trial, on Jan. 3, Merchan slammed Trump’s “lack of respect for judges, juries, grand juries and the justice system as a whole” and rejected his last-ditch bid to have the verdict tossed due to his victory in the Nov. 5 presidential election.

The case represented a career pinnacle for Merchan, who emigrated with his family from Colombia to New York City as a child, became a prosecutor in 1994 and was appointed a judge to the New York City Family Court in 2006. He took the bench where he now presides in 2009.

But the case, as the first-ever criminal trial of a U.S. president past or present, presented unprecedented challenges.

The judge delayed Trump’s sentencing, initially scheduled for July 11, three times. In a September ruling pushing the sentencing back until after the election at Trump’s request, Merchan wrote that he did not want to be perceived as having a political motive.

Those delays, together with Trump’s victory and looming return to the White House, left Merchan with little choice but to sentence Trump to unconditional discharge, meaning no jail or other legal punishment.

“The considerable, indeed extraordinary, legal protection afforded by the office of the chief executive is a factor that overrides all others,” Merchan said. “Despite the extraordinary breadth of those protections, one power they do not provide is the power to erase jury verdicts.” 

Friday’s half-hour hearing, largely a formality after Merchan previewed the sentence he intended to impose, lacked the invective that had come to characterize their relationship. 

“I was treated very, very unfairly, and I thank you very much,” Trump said. 

In the end Merchan said: “Sir, I wish you Godspeed as you assume your second term in office.”

(Reporting by Luc Cohen; Editing by Howard Goller)

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By Mike Scarcella

(Reuters) – A U.S. appeals court on Friday said former Democratic Florida prosecutor Andrew Warren cannot pursue a lawsuit claiming he was wrongfully suspended by Republican Governor Ron DeSantis.

In a brief order, the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the case was moot because Warren lost his re-election bid in November and cannot be reinstated.

The court threw out a prior decision that revived Warren’s lawsuit against DeSantis, which accused the governor of retaliating against him over his support for transgender care and abortion rights.

The ruling comes one year after an 11th Circuit panel revived Warren’s case over his suspension as the Tampa-area state prosecutor. Florida asked the full appeals court to review the order, and then Warren complained in July that the court was dragging its feet in deciding Florida’s request as the election fast approached.

Warren’s lawyers in a statement criticized the timing of the new 11th Circuit ruling, saying the court “allowed the clock to run out.” They called the decision “a sledgehammer not only to the First Amendment, but also to the rule of law, at a time when our nation urgently needs unfractured confidence in both.”

A representative for DeSantis did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Warren in November lost his election bid to Republican Suzy Lopez.

DeSantis suspended Warren in 2022 after he pledged he would not bring criminal cases against people seeking or providing abortions despite legal restrictions that Florida has placed on the procedure.

DeSantis has maintained he suspended Warren for “neglect of duty” after Warren and other prosecutors signed a statement supporting abortion rights.

Warren’s lawsuit failed in the trial court, but the 11th Circuit in January 2024 said the case should proceed.

“The First Amendment prevents DeSantis from identifying a reform prosecutor and then suspending him to garner political benefit,” the appeals panel said.

The case is Warren v. DeSantis, 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, No. 23-10459.

For Warren: David O’Neil of Debevoise & Plimpton; Jean-Jacques Cabou of Perkins Coie

For DeSantis: Henry Whitaker of the Florida Attorney General’s Office; George Levesque of GrayRobinson

Read more:

Ousted Fla. prosecutor slams appeals court for dragging out case against DeSantis

Florida’s DeSantis must face ousted prosecutor’s retaliation lawsuit

(Reporting by Mike Scarcella)

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NEW YORK (AP) — A Brooklyn real estate magnate pleaded guilty Friday to working with a Turkish government official to funnel illegal campaign contributions to New York City Mayor Eric Adams.

Erden Arkan, 76, entered the plea to a conspiracy charge in Manhattan federal court, telling a judge that he knowingly violated the law by reimbursing employees of his construction firm for their donations to the Democrat’s campaign.

“When I wrote the checks, I knew the Eric Adams campaign would use the checks to apply for public matching funds,” he said.

Arkan is one of several individuals implicated in a sprawling bribery and illegal campaign finance indictment brought against Adams in September. He is the first to plead guilty during a public proceeding.

At Friday’s hearing, prosecutors told Judge Dale E. Ho that they had a raft of evidence, including recordings and email, proving that Arkan conspired with a Turkish consular official to deliver the illegal straw donations.

They allege that Adams personally solicited the donations from Arkan and the Turkish official at a April 2021 dinner. The following month, Arkan held a fundraiser at the headquarters of his construction company, KSK, in which 10 employees donated between $1,200 and $1,500 to the campaign. They were later reimbursed by Arkan, making them illegal straw donations.

Adams then used those funds to fraudulently obtain public money under the city’s matching funds program, which provides a generous match for small-dollar donations, prosecutors allege.

Arkan and his attorney, Jonathan Rosen, declined to comment as they exited the courtroom Friday.

An attorney for Adams, Alex Spiro, has said the guilty plea would have “no bearing on the mayor’s case whatsoever.”

A well-known member of New York’s Turkish community, Arkan’s ties to Adams first emerged in November 2023 after federal investigators searched the businessman’s home, along with the home of Adams’ chief fundraiser and his liaison to the Turkish community.

Adams was subsequently charged with accepting bribes in the form of luxury travel benefits and illegal campaign contributions from a Turkish official and other foreign nationals hoping to buy his influence for their benefit. He has pleaded not guilty and vowed to remain in office as he fights the charge “with every ounce of my strength and my spirit.”

Adams is set to stand trial April 21st. Arkan will be sentenced in August.

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NEW YORK (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump was sentenced Friday in his hush money case, but the judge declined to impose any punishment, an outcome that cements his conviction while freeing him to return to the White House unencumbered by the threat of a jail term or a fine.

The punishment-free judgment marks a quiet end to an extraordinary case that for the first time put a former president and major presidential candidate in a courtroom as a criminal defendant. The case was the only one of four criminal indictments that has gone to trial and possibly the only one that ever will.

Manhattan Judge Juan M. Merchan could have sentenced the 78-year-old Republican to up to four years in prison. Instead, he chose a sentence that sidestepped thorny constitutional issues by effectively ending the case but assured that Trump will become the first person convicted of a felony to assume the presidency.

Unlike his trial last year, when Trump brought allies to the courthouse and addressed waiting reporters outside, the former president did not appear in person Friday, instead making a brief virtual appearance from his home in Palm Beach, Florida.

Trump, wearing a dark suit and seated next to one of his lawyers with an American flag in the background, appeared on a video screen as he again insisted he did not commit a crime.

“It’s been a political witch hunt. It was done to damage my reputation so that I would lose the election, and, obviously, that didn’t work,” Trump said.

Trump called the case “a weaponization of government” and “an embarrassment to New York.”

After it was over, Trump said in a post on his social media network that the hearing had been a “despicable charade” and that he planned to appeal his conviction.

Trump’s sentence of an unconditional discharge, a rarity for felony convictions, caps a norm-smashing case that saw the former and future president charged with 34 felonies, put on trial for almost two months and convicted by a jury on every count. Yet, the legal detour — and sordid details aired in court of a plot to bury affair allegations — didn’t hurt him with voters, who elected him to a second term.

Merchan said that like when facing any other defendant, he must consider any aggravating factors before imposing a sentence, but the legal protection that Trump will have as president “is a factor that overrides all others.”

“Despite the extraordinary breadth of those legal protections, one power they do not provide is that they do not erase a jury verdict,” Merchan said.

As the judge noted that voters had returned Trump to power, the soon-to-be-president relaxed back into his chair.

Trump spoke for about six minutes as he addressed the court by video. He said his criminal trial and conviction have “been a very terrible experience” and insisted he committed no crime.

Before Friday’s hearing, Merchan had indicated he planned the no-penalty sentence, which meant no jail time, no probation and no fines would be imposed.

Prosecutors said Friday that they supported a no-penalty sentence, but they chided Trump’s attacks on the legal system throughout and after the case.

“The once and future President of the United States has engaged in a coordinated campaign to undermine its legitimacy,” prosecutor Joshua Steinglass said.

Rather than show remorse, Trump has “bred disdain” for the jury verdict and the criminal justice system, Steinglass said, and his calls for retaliation against those involved in the case, including calling for the judge to be disbarred, “has caused enduring damage to public perception of the criminal justice system and has put officers of the court in harm’s way.”

As he appeared from his Mar-a-Lago home, the former president was seated with his lawyer Todd Blanche, whom he’s tapped to serve as the second-highest ranking Justice Department official in his incoming administration.

“The American voters got a chance to see and decide for themselves whether this was the kind of case that should’ve been brought. And they decided,” Blanche said. “And that’s why in 10 days President Trump is going to assume the office of the president of the United States.”

The entire hearing lasted a little more than a half an hour.

After, Trump was expected to return to the business of planning for his new administration and host conservative House Republicans as they gathered to discuss GOP priorities.

Before the hearing, a handful of Trump supporters and critics gathered outside. One group held a banner that read, “Trump is guilty.” The other held one that said, “Stop partisan conspiracy” and “Stop political witch hunt.”

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, whose office brought the charges, is a Democrat.

The hush money case accused Trump of fudging his business’ records to veil a $130,000 payoff to porn actor Stormy Daniels. She was paid, late in Trump’s 2016 campaign, not to tell the public about a sexual encounter she maintains the two had a decade earlier. He says nothing sexual happened between them, and he contends that his political adversaries spun up a bogus prosecution to try to damage him.

Bragg’s office said in a court filing Monday that Trump committed “serious offenses that caused extensive harm to the sanctity of the electoral process and to the integrity of New York’s financial marketplace.”

While the specific charges were about checks and ledgers, the underlying accusations were seamy and deeply entangled with Trump’s political rise. Prosecutors said Daniels was paid off — through Trump’s personal attorney at the time, Michael Cohen — as part of a wider effort to keep voters from hearing about Trump’s alleged extramarital escapades.

Trump denies the alleged encounters occurred. His lawyers said he wanted to squelch the stories to protect his family, not his campaign. And while prosecutors said Cohen’s reimbursements for paying Daniels were deceptively logged as legal expenses, Trump says that’s simply what they were.

Trump’s lawyers tried unsuccessfully to forestall a trial. Since his May conviction on 34 counts of falsifying business records, they have pulled virtually every legal lever within reach to try to get the conviction overturned, the case dismissed or at least the sentencing postponed.

The Trump attorneys have leaned heavily into assertions of presidential immunity from prosecution, and they got a boost in July from a Supreme Court decision that affords former commanders-in-chief considerable immunity.

Trump was a private citizen and presidential candidate when Daniels was paid in 2016. He was president when the reimbursements to Cohen were made and recorded the following year.

Merchan, a Democrat, repeatedly postponed the sentencing, initially set for July. But last week, he set Friday’s date, citing a need for “finality.”

Trump’s lawyers then launched a flurry of last-minute efforts to block the sentencing. Their last hope vanished Thursday night with a 5-4 Supreme Court ruling that declined to delay the sentencing.

Meanwhile, the other criminal cases that once loomed over Trump have ended or stalled ahead of trial.

After Trump’s election, special counsel Jack Smith closed out the federal prosecutions over Trump’s handling of classified documents and his efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss to Democrat Joe Biden. A state-level Georgia election interference case is locked in uncertainty after prosecutorFaniWillis was removed from it.

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WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden will deliver a farewell address to the nation Wednesday from the Oval Office, five days before President-elect Donald Trump is sworn in.

The president’s remarks at 8 p.m. Eastern are set to be his last significant opportunity to speak to Americans and the world before he leaves office at noon Jan. 20. They will follow a speech Monday at the State Department, where he will deliver an address focused on his foreign policy legacy.

Press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters earlier Friday that Biden would reflect on his “50-plus years as a public official.”

“He has some thoughts on the future, not just of the country, but how this country moves forward as a leader, when you think about global events, important global issues, and certainly he will lay that out,” she said.

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By Jonathan Stempel

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Robert Menendez, the disgraced former U.S. senator from New Jersey, should spend at least 15 years in prison following his corruption conviction, after he betrayed voters by putting his office “up for sale” in exchange for bribes, U.S. prosecutors said.

The recommendation was filed on Thursday night in Manhattan federal court, a week after Menendez’s lawyers pleaded for leniency, citing the 71-year-old’s age, decades of public service, charitable works, devotion to family, and financial and professional ruin.

Probation officers recommended a 12-year prison term, which Menendez’s lawyers described as an effective “death sentence.”

Menendez, a Democrat who spent 18-1/2 years in the Senate and chaired the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, was convicted last July on all 16 counts he faced, including acting as an agent of a foreign government.

Prosecutors said Menendez accepted gold, cash, a Mercedes-Benz and other rewards in exchange for political favors, including shepherding of military aid to Egypt and providing assistance to Qatar, as part of a bribery conspiracy.

In Thursday’s filing, prosecutors also recommended that two New Jersey businessmen convicted with Menendez, Wael Hana and Fred Daibes, should spend at least 10 years and nine years in prison, respectively.

Motivated by “naked greed,” the defendants engaged in crimes that were “an extraordinary attempt, at the highest levels of the legislative branch, to corrupt the nation’s core sovereign powers over foreign relations and law enforcement,” prosecutors said.

The defendants have requested short prison terms, none more than two years, or no time behind bars. They are scheduled to be sentenced on Jan. 29 in Manhattan federal court.

Menendez’s wife, Nadine Menendez, is trying to postpone her Feb. 5 trial on related charges, citing potential negative publicity from her husband’s sentencing.

SENSE OF ENTITLEMENT

In their sentencing recommendation, prosecutors said Menendez is the first senator convicted for abusing a Senate committee leadership position, and the first person convicted of serving as a foreign agent while being a public official.

Menendez was also accused of trying to disrupt criminal probes in New Jersey on behalf of Daibes and a one-time insurance broker, Jose Uribe. Uribe testified at trial for the government.

Prosecutors said Menendez committed crimes even after a Senate ethics committee admonished him for receiving gifts from a wealthy donor, Salomon Melgen, without required approval and disclosures.

The relationship between Menendez and Melgen underlay a 2017 corruption case against the senator, which ended in a mistrial after jurors deadlocked.

“Menendez’s willingness to engage in the charged scheme immediately after receiving a formal admonition for such similar conduct speaks volumes about his character,” prosecutors said.

In addition, prosecutors said arguments that Menendez has been punished enough reflect a “deeply misplaced sense of entitlement.”

Robert Menendez has maintained his innocence and is expected to appeal his conviction.

The appeal may include an argument that jurors were improperly allowed during deliberations to review evidence that was not presented at trial.

Menendez’s lawyers requested a prison term “substantially” below the 21 to 27 months they say are recommended under federal sentencing guidelines. Probation officers estimated the guidelines recommendation at 24-1/2 to 30-1/2 years.

Hana and Daibes have requested sentences of no more than one year and two years, respectively.

Lawyers for Menendez and Daibes did not immediately respond on Friday to requests for comment.

Hana’s lawyer Lawrence Lustberg called a 10-year sentence for his client “inhumane and unjust.” Nadine Menendez’s lawyer Barry Coburn declined to comment.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Alistair Bell)

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WASHINGTON (AP) — The massive wildfires that have killed 10 people in the Los Angeles area and caused billions of dollars in property damage are the latest sign of the growing threat posed by climate change — one that President-elect Donald Trump will have to take more seriously than he did in his first term, a top adviser to President Joe Biden said.

John Podesta, Biden’s senior adviser for international climate policy, said one of the iconic images of Trump’s first term showed him tossing paper towels to people in Puerto Rico who had been been ravaged by a hurricane. Many critics called Trump’s action disrespectful, especially after he disputed a death count from Hurricane Maria that reached nearly 3,000 people.

“You would think hopefully he would have learned from the public’s reaction to that — that you have to take the science seriously. You have to take the facts seriously. You have to take the threat seriously,” Podesta said in an interview with The Associated Press.

As the unfolding disaster in California demonstrates, “these challenges from extreme weather events that are induced by climate change are just getting worse and worse,” Podesta said. “I think that, hopefully, the second Trump administration will indeed take this more seriously” than in Trump’s first term.

Trump, a Republican, has not been offering much sympathy as the wildfires rage. Instead, he claimed this week that he could do a better job managing the crisis, casting blame on California’s Democratic governor.

Trump has criticized his longtime political foe Gov. Gavin Newsom’s forest management policies and falsely claimed the state’s fish conservation efforts are responsible for fire hydrants running dry in urban areas.

Trump and his transition team have signaled that they will seek to reverse many of the mitigation actions the Biden administration has taken to reduce planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions, including tighter pollution standards for power plants and cars and trucks. But Podesta suggested that when it comes to climate resilience — including hardening infrastructure to make it more resistant to climate change — Trump should listen to scientists and other experts.

“At least when it comes to this question of resilience and adaptation, I think, that is not a liberal or conservative issue. That’s not a red state or blue state issue. It’s happening all across the country,” he said, citing Hurricane Helene, which devastated North Carolina and other states last fall.

“North Carolina was used to hurricane damage, but not in the mountains and not in Asheville,” Podesta said.

Trump and his team “would do well to understand — and listen to the experts in NASA and NOAA — and begin to plan and prepare for what is likely to be, again, an increasing risk across the country from these extreme weather challenges,” he said.

Podesta and Ali Zaidi, Biden’s domestic climate adviser, spoke to the AP as the White House released a report Friday on national adaptation and resilience planning strategy for climate change.

“Across the United States, climate change is accelerating the frequency and fueling the severity of extreme weather events, resulting in tragedies and new realities that once seemed unimaginable,” the report said. The Phoenix area experienced 113 consecutive days of temperatures in excess of 100 degrees Fahrenheit last year, leading to heat emergencies that disrupted schools and businesses, while devastating floods in Iowa and Minnesota forced thousands to evacuate and wiped out roads and rail lines, the report said.

Hurricanes supercharged by warm ocean water ravaged communities in the Southeast, killing hundreds and cutting communities off from power and water, while wildfires in New Mexico, Oregon and California destroyed entire neighborhoods, the report added.

While the nation is moving to address the projected risks and impacts of climate change, there is far more work to do in the years ahead, the report said, urging an “all-hands-on deck effort across all levels of government,” including federal, state, local, Tribal and territorial leaders.

The climate adaptation report, submitted under the framework of the United Nations, reflects the reality that the United States is not exempt from climate damage that has ravaged developing countries and island nations, Zaidi said.

“Development status does not grant any country climate-haven status,” he said. “Just because the U.S. has the biggest, most prosperous economy in the world does not mean climate risk stops at our borders. In our own communities, no place is impervious to this risk. All of us are on the hook to step up in a big way.”

While Trump has pledged to undo many of Biden’s actions on climate change, Podesta and Zaidi were confident that the Democratic president’s signature climate law will continue in the new administration. The Inflation Reduction Act, passed in 2022 with only Democratic support, authorizes about $270 billion for clean energy such as wind and solar power, with many projects located in Republican congressional districts.

“There’s no question that the public supports the buildout of clean power and wants to see that move forward,” Podesta said, adding that many Republican governors are excited about new battery plants, manufacturing jobs and other investments in their states.

“I think they’ll want to try to do what they can to defend those investments and the jobs that go with them,” he said, noting that more than 400,000 jobs have been created as a result of the IRA and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law approved in 2021.

“Walking away from all that would just be, not only bad policy, but really bad politics,” he said.

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WASHINGTON (AP) — The FBI must remain independent, above the partisan fray and “committed to upholding the rule of law,” outgoing Director Christopher Wray said in a farewell address just days before his expected retirement at the conclusion of the Biden administration following more than seven years on the job.

“No matter what’s happening out there,” Wray said, “in here, we’ve got to stay committed to doing our work the right way every time, with professionalism, with rigor, with integrity. That means following the facts wherever they lead, no matter who likes it or doesn’t — because trust me, if there’s anything I’ve learned in this job, there’s always someone who doesn’t like you.”

The remarks at the packed farewell ceremony at FBI headquarters steered clear of any direct political reference, with no overt mention of President-elect Donald Trump’s scathing criticism of him or the turmoil the bureau has encountered amid a spate of highly charged investigations into both Trump and President Joe Biden. But the backdrop was unmistakable, coming amid concerns that Trump — who last month forced Wray’s departure by naming loyalist Kash Patel to the job — could seek to use the FBI’s law enforcement powers to exact retribution against adversaries.

Adhering to the rule of law, Wray added, “means conducting investigations without fear or favor and it means not pursuing investigations when the predication’s not there. That’s what the rule of law is all about. We’ve got to maintain our independence and objectivity, staying above partisanship and politics because that’s what the American people expect and I think that’s what they deserve.”

Wray has announced his intent to resign ahead of Trump’s inauguration on Jan. 20, roughly three years short of the 10-year tenure given to FBI directors. The move followed Trump’s statement that he would install Patel, a former Justice Department prosecutor who has sharply criticized FBI investigations into Trump, called for major overhauls of the bureau and talked about going after members of the so-called “deep state” in Washington — a pejorative term Trump and his allies used for entrenched civil servants.

Wray’s tenure saw the emergence of increasingly sophisticated Chinese cyberespionage campaigns, brazen assassination plots by Iran — including one that targeted Trump — and, most recently, a New Year’s Day attack in New Orleans that killed 14 revelers and that the FBI is investigating as an act of terror.

But the FBI in recent years has found itself mired in politically explosive investigations that have dominated attention and affected public perception of the bureau.

Those include investigations into Trump’s hoarding of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate — agents searched the Florida property in 2022 — and his efforts to undo the 2020 presidential election, both of which resulted in indictments. The FBI also investigated Biden’s handling of classified information and the president’s son, Hunter, on tax and gun violations. Biden was not charged but his son was convicted and was eventually pardoned.

The specifics of those investigations went unmentioned during the packed farewell ceremony, attended by current and former FBI colleagues, Justice Department leaders, state law enforcement officers and intelligence officials like CIA Director William Burns. The speakers who paid tribute to Wray focused instead on his dedication to the job as well as to the workforce he has led.

“Going forward, as we continue to collaborate with our good friends at FBI, CIA officers will keep asking ourselves one thing: What would Chris want us to do?” said Burns, who called the relationship between his agency and the bureau closer than it’s ever been.

Wray was appointed by Trump in 2017 after the then-president fired his predecessor James Comey, giving up a successful law career in Atlanta and returning to Washington and to public service following an earlier stint as a senior Justice Department official.

“He had certainly enjoyed the right to stay there and never come back,” Attorney General Merrick Garland, drawing laughs from the audience. “His life could have been a relaxing stream of practicing ”big law, tailgating at (Georgia) Bulldogs games, watching his beloved New York Giants on television and, most important, walking his dog without a protective detail.”

“Chris Wray,” Garland added, “is public-spirited to the core. So no one was surprised in 2017 when he once again answered the call, this time to fill one of the most critical and difficult rules in all of government.”

Garland said his favorite part of the day is the morning briefing on threats to the homeland that he and Wray attend together, where no politics are discussed.

“If the American people could witness those meetings, they would be so proud,” he said.

___

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WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — The American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit Thursday accusing Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis of failing to fulfill his constitutional obligation to call special elections for two seats in the state House and Senate.

The seats in question were vacated in November by state Rep. Joel Rudman and state Sen. Randy Fine, who resigned to run for two congressional seats that opened up when President-elect Donald Trump named U.S. Reps. Matt Gaetz and Mike Waltz as Cabinet picks.

Shortly after Gaetz and Waltz resigned, DeSantis called for special congressional elections with a Jan. 28 primary and an April 1 general. He has yet to set elections for the state-level openings, however.

“I don’t understand why the governor resists calling special elections in a timely manner. From Jeb Bush to Rick Scott, past governors moved quickly to ensure the people retained their voice in government. DeSantis’s refusal to do so is both troubling and illegal,” said Nicholas Warren, a staff attorney for the ACLU of Florida.

Asked about the lawsuit, the governor’s office referred comment to the Florida Department of State, which did not immediately respond.

Florida law requires state lawmakers to resign if they want to run for open congressional seats, and their vacated positions must be filled through special election.

Rudman’s resignation was effective Jan. 1, and Fine’s takes effect March 31 after the state legislative session gets underway.

In 2021, DeSantis was sued over a delay in setting a special election for a heavily Democratic South Florida congressional district. Days later the governor set an election date for nine months after U.S. Rep. Alcee Hastings died.

Similarly, in 2023 the ACLU filed a lawsuit against DeSantis over a special election in a state House district in Miami-Dade County. Days later he set a date for that vote.

Rudman, who is seeking to replace Gaetz, faces an uphill battle in a race that features numerous candidates including the apparent front-runner, Trump-endorsed state Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis.

Fine, meanwhile, is vying for the Waltz seat and is backed by Trump.

Waltz is set to join the incoming Trump administration as national security adviser, while Gaetz withdrew as nominee for attorney general after both Democrats and Republicans voiced skepticism over the pick due to his personal controversies.

The House Ethics panel has since released a report accusing Gaetz of misconduct including paying a 17-year-old for sex and possessing illegal drugs.

Gaetz, now a host on the One America News Network, said Wednesday on his show that he was considering running for governor after DeSantis finishes his second and final term.

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