© Adaline Pete, via Associated Press
© Brian Stevenson/Vermont Public
© Bill Adair, Duke University
NEW YORK — The Vermont state senator involved in the hate-filled Young Republican group chat uncovered by POLITICO announced his resignation Friday.
Sam Douglass, a state lawmaker who represented an area near the Canadian border, said in a statement that “if my Governor asks me to do something, I will act, because I believe in what he’s trying to do,” referring to Vermont Republican Governor Phil Scott’s call for Douglass to step down.
Douglass was the only elected official in the group chat, though four others worked for elected officials at the time the messages were being sent. Those officials include New York’s state senate minority leader and the Kansas attorney general. One member of the chat worked in President Donald Trump’s Small Business Administration.
“I know that this decision will upset many, and delight others, but in this political climate I must keep my family safe,” Douglass said, adding that his resignation will be effective Monday at noon. “Since the story broke, I have reached out to the majority of my Jewish and BIPOC friends and colleagues to ensure that they can be honest and upfront with me, and I know that as a young person I have a duty to set a good example for others.”
His lengthy statement also cites hateful messages he received from others in his state since the story broke.
Douglass’ resignation comes as at least six others in the chat are out of jobs since POLITICO began reporting on the exchanges. He served as the chair of Vermont’s Young Republicans organization.
In one portion of the chat, Douglass refers to an Indian woman as someone who “just didn’t bathe often.” In another instance, Brianna Douglass, Sam’s wife and the Vermont Young Republican’s national committee member, says her husband may have erred by “expecting the Jew to be honest.”
The Vermont state lawmaker initially resisted strident calls to resign from top state Republican leaders — including Scott and the GOP conferences in the state’s House and Senate.
One day after POLITICO published its initial story about the Telegram group, Douglass apologized for the chat, saying “I am weighing all my options.”
Douglass was a first-year lawmaker and said Friday he was proud to pass his first bill on agriculture and begin his work to reform the state’s welfare system.
“I will continue to do what I have done my entire life, the very reasons why I was elected; I will help others in my community, be active, foster communication, and look out for others,” he said.
Liz Crampton contributed reporting
© Vermont Legislature
美国媒体报导，因“处理机密信息不当”罪名被起诉的前美国国家安全顾问博尔顿17日在庭审时表示不认罪。博尔顿曾在美国总统特朗普第一个任期担任国家安全顾问17个月，后来转为特朗普的公开批评者。
美国有线电视新闻网（CNN）报导，博尔顿（John Bolton）面临18项刑事指控，包括传递及持有最高国防机密信息，他17日在马里兰州（Maryland）格林贝（Greenbelt）法庭上进行无罪答辩。
报导说，博尔顿庭后无保请回，下次开庭的日期定于11月21日。
博尔顿于16日遭起诉，起诉书指控他透过电子邮件将机密文件分享给两名“未经授权的人士”，虽然没有指名，但外界相信这两人是他的妻子与女儿。
美国司法部表示，这些文件“揭露了有关未来攻击、外国对手以及外交政策关系的情报”。
每一项罪名最高可判处10年监禁。
博尔顿在声明中否认指控，并表示自己“已成为司法部政治化运作下的最新受害者”。
博尔顿如今已成为近几周内第3位被起诉的特朗普批评者。此前，已被起诉的包括联邦调查局（FBI）前局长柯米（James Comey）及纽约州检察长利蒂希娅·詹姆斯（Letitia James）。
© Gabriela Bhaskar for The New York Times
© Johnny Milano for The New York Times
© Jamie Kelter Davis for The New York Times
© Kyle Dean Reinford for The New York Times
© Mark Abramson for The New York Times
BBCIsrael's military says the Red Cross has retrieved a coffin of a deceased hostage in the southern Gaza Strip and is now "on the way to IDF [Israel Defence Forces] troops" in the territory.
Posting on X, the IDF urged the public to "act with sensitivity and wait for the official identification, which will first be provided to the families".
It also stressed that Hamas was required to "return all the deceased hostages" in accordance with a Gaza ceasefire agreement.
This follows an earlier statement from Hamas that it would hand over the body of an Israeli hostage to the Red Cross.
Hamas has returned the bodies of nine of the 28 dead hostages in Gaza, and freed all 20 living hostages.
Israel has freed 250 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails and 1,718 detainees from Gaza as part of the US-brokered ceasefire deal.
This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly. Please refresh the page for the fullest version.
You can receive Breaking News on a smartphone or tablet via the BBC News App. You can also follow @BBCBreaking on X to get the latest alerts.
Omar Marques/Getty ImagesA Polish judge has refused to extradite a Ukrainian citizen – suspected by Germany of sabotaging the Nord Stream gas pipelines in September 2022 – arguing that if Ukraine was responsible for the attack, then it was a "just" act.
Volodymyr Zhuravlyov, who was brought to Warsaw District Court in handcuffs, was detained in Poland last month on a European arrest warrant.
Judge Dariusz Lubowski ordered his release, after a ruling that was met with a ripple of surprise from the crowd in court and a smile from the man in the dock.
Mr Zhuravlyov, along with others, is suspected of planting explosives deep beneath the Baltic Sea on the pipelines leading from Russia to Germany.
Blame for the blasts, which crippled a long-controversial energy supply line from Russia to Germany, initially focused on Moscow until signs of Ukrainian involvement began to emerge.
Officials in Kyiv have repeatedly denied any role.
Extradition cases within the EU are usually quick and straightforward, but the Nord Stream case is proving to be very different.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, whose government is a key ally of war-torn Ukraine, immediately posted on X that the ruling was right.
"Case closed," he wrote.
Inside the giant district courthouse in Warsaw, Judge Lubowski announced his decision to the suspect, his family and legal team – and a large cluster of TV cameras.
In a long and passionate speech, he said he was considering only the request to send Mr Zhuravlyov to Germany, not the substance of the case itself. But he was clear that the context of the war in Ukraine was critical.
The judge described Russia's invasion as "a bloody and genocidal attack" and argued, quoting Aristotle and Saint Thomas Aquinas, saying that Ukraine had the legal right to defend itself.
"If Ukraine and its special forces… organised an armed mission to destroy enemy pipelines – which the court does not prejudge – then these actions were not unlawful.
"On the contrary, they were justified, rational and just," he told the court.
BBC/Sarah RainsfordHe said the attack had "deprived the enemy of billions of euros paid by Germany for the gas… and weakened Russia's military potential".
What could be seen as terrorism or sabotage in peace time, the judge said, was different in a time of war.
Germany had in fact halted use of the two Nord Stream 1 pipelines after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine and Nord Stream 2 had not yet entered service.
Poland has always been a vocal critic of that project for making Berlin too dependent on Moscow. The route deprived Poland of transit fees for the gas. Ukraine and the US were also longstanding opponents of the pipelines.
Judge Lubowski insisted, though, that his ruling was a legal one, and not emotional or political.
He also questioned whether Germany had jurisdiction even to bring its case, as the explosions were in international waters on pipelines with majority Russian state ownership.
Announcing that Mr Zhuravlyov would be released from custody, he said the Ukrainian would also get compensation from the Polish state.
"I am happy… it was a really very hard three weeks," Mr Zhuravlyov's wife, Yulianna, told the BBC in court after the judge's verdict.
"For me, as a Ukrainian, it was very important to hear that he understands us."
She said the family planned to stay in Poland, where they have lived since February 2022.
Earlier, she described her husband's arrest at their home just outside Warsaw and said he denied any involvement in the sabotage.
Volodymyr Zhuravlyov is a deep-sea diver, his wife has confirmed, but she called it a hobby and said he had no military role.
He has a business in Poland installing air conditioners. Mrs Zhuravlyova could not tell the BBC exactly where her husband was when three of the four Nord Stream pipelines were blown up, because she said no-one had asked her to check.
He is not the only suspect on Germany's list: another Ukrainian man was detained in Italy in August when he was on holiday.
Serhiy Kuznetsov was also accused of "unconstitutional sabotage" and has denied any connection to the blasts. He is currently in a high security prison in northern Italy.
A court in Bologna did rule he should be extradited to Berlin but earlier this week that verdict was annulled by the top appeals court in Rome and the case has been returned to Bologna to begin all over again.
Asked about the decision, Germany's foreign minister said he respected the ruling and it was not the job of government to interfere with the courts.
© Adam Gray for The New York Times
© Ruth Fremson/The New York Times
© Tierney L. Cross/The New York Times
BBCIsrael's military says the Red Cross has retrieved a coffin of a deceased hostage in the southern Gaza Strip and is now "on the way to IDF [Israel Defence Forces] troops" in the territory.
Posting on X, the IDF urged the public to "act with sensitivity and wait for the official identification, which will first be provided to the families".
It also stressed that Hamas was required to "return all the deceased hostages" in accordance with a Gaza ceasefire agreement.
This follows an earlier statement from Hamas that it would hand over the body of an Israeli hostage to the Red Cross.
Hamas has returned the bodies of nine of the 28 dead hostages in Gaza, and freed all 20 living hostages.
Israel has freed 250 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails and 1,718 detainees from Gaza as part of the US-brokered ceasefire deal.
This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly. Please refresh the page for the fullest version.
You can receive Breaking News on a smartphone or tablet via the BBC News App. You can also follow @BBCBreaking on X to get the latest alerts.
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