Seven terror suspects arrested in Denmark, Germany, Netherlands
COPENHAGEN, Denmark — Denmark and Germany announced Thursday the arrests of several terror suspects, including alleged Hamas members suspected of plotting attacks on Jews and Jewish institutions in Europe over the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.
The announcements were issued separately, and it was unclear how the arrests were connected and if they were the result of coordinated actions, or even possibly one operation spanning the continent.
Danish police said three people were arrested across Denmark while a fourth person was detained in the Netherlands on suspicion of plotting to carry out “an act of terror.”
Officials in Copenhagen did not provide any details beyond saying the arrests had “threads abroad” and were “related to criminal gangs,” singling out the banned, predominantly immigrant gang Loyal to Familia that had long been behind feuds, violence, robberies, extortion and drug sales in the Danish capital.
However, Flemming Drejer, the operative head of Denmark’s Security and Intelligence Service, cryptically said police had “a special focus” on Jewish institutions. He said Denmark was not changing its terror threat level, which has been at “serious,” the second highest level, since 2010.
In the Netherlands, police said a 57-year-old Dutch man was arrested in the city of Rotterdam, based on a request from German authorities, according to spokesman Jesse Brobbel.
On Tuesday, the Dutch counterterrorism agency raised the country’s threat alert to its second highest level, saying the possibility of an attack in the country is now “substantial.”
In Germany, authorities said three suspected members of the Palestinian militant Hamas group who were allegedly planning attacks on Jewish institutions in Europe were arrested Thursday.
Two men were arrested in Berlin and one in the Dutch city of Rotterdam, while a fourth suspect was temporarily detained in Berlin, Germany’s federal prosecutor said. Authorities only identified the men by their first names and the first initial of their last name, in line with German privacy rules.
German Justice Minister Marco Buschmann thanked the authorities for the arrests and said that “attacks on Jews and Jewish institutions have also increased in our country in recent weeks” due to the Israel-Hamas war.
Trump gag order: A New York appeals court has again upheld a gag order that bars Donald Trump from commenting about court personnel in his civil fraud trial, ruling Thursday that the former president’s lawyers used the wrong legal mechanism to fight the restriction.
A four-judge panel in the state’s mid-level appellate court ruled Thursday that Trump’s lawyers erred by suing trial Judge Arthur Engoron, who imposed the gag order in October after Trump disparaged his law clerk.
Instead, the appellate judges wrote, Trump’s lawyers should have followed the normal appeals process by asking Engoron to reverse the gag order and then, if denied, fighting that decision in a higher court.
The appeals court ruling came a day after testimony wrapped in the 2½-month trial in New York Attorney General Letitia James’ lawsuit. Closing arguments are scheduled for Jan. 11 in the case, which threatens Trump’s real estate empire. Engoron said he hopes to have a verdict by the end of January.
US drug prices: Hundreds of thousands of older Americans could pay less for some of their outpatient drug treatments beginning early next year, the Biden administration announced Thursday.
The White House unveiled a list of 48 drugs — from chemotherapy treatments to growth hormones used to treat endocrine disorders — whose prices increased faster than the rate of inflation this year. Under a new law, drugmakers will have to pay rebates to the federal government because of those price increases. The money will be used to lower the price Medicare enrollees pay on the drugs early next year.
This is the first time drugmakers will have to pay the penalties for outpatient drug treatments under the Inflation Reduction Act, passed by Congress last year. The rebates will translate into a wide range of savings — from as little as $1 to as much as $2,700 — on the drugs that the White House estimates are used every year by 750,000 older Americans.
Not seeking reelection:
Republican Rep. Drew Ferguson said Thursday that he won’t seek reelection to his Georgia seat in 2024.
He said he plans to serve the remainder of his fourth term, which expires at the end of next year, in western Georgia’s 3rd District.
The announcement comes two months after Ferguson said his family had received death threats amid the inner turmoil Republicans faced in electing a new House speaker following the ouster of Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif.
The threats came after Ferguson withdrew his support for GOP Rep. Jim
Jordan of Ohio, a favorite of hard-right conservatives.
Aiding Russian oligarch:
A former top FBI counterintelligence official was ordered Thursday to spend over four years in prison for violating sanctions on Russia by going to work for a Russian oligarch seeking dirt on a wealthy rival after he finished his government career.
Charles McGonigal, 55, was sentenced to four years and two months in prison in Manhattan federal court by Judge Jennifer H. Rearden, who said McGonigal harmed national security by repeatedly flouting sanctions meant to put economic pressure on Russia to get results without military force. He was also fined $40,000 and ordered to forfeit $17,500.
She imposed the sentence after a prosecutor cast McGonigal’s crime as a greedy money grab that leveraged the knowledge he gained in his FBI career to cozy up to a notorious Russian oligarch, billionaire industrialist Oleg Deripaska, a person he once investigated.
Deripaska has been under U.S. sanctions since 2018 for reasons related to Russia’s occupation of Crimea.
Actor’s assault trial: A Manhattan jury will soon decide if Jonathan Majors, 34, is guilty of assaulting his girlfriend following two weeks of clashing narratives about whether the rising Hollywood star was the aggressor or victim during a struggle in the backseat of a car.
The court case has centered on allegations brought by Grace Jabbari, 30, a British dancer who said the “Creed III” actor struck her on the side of the head, twisted her arm and squeezed her finger until it broke during a dispute last spring.
In closing arguments Thursday, an attorney for Majors portrayed Jabbari as a compulsive liar. Majors did not testify during the trial.