(MARANA, Ariz.) — Two people were confirmed dead after two small planes collided midair at Marana Regional Airport in Arizona on Wednesday.
There were two people onboard each aircraft, a Lancair and a Cessna, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.
The aircrafts collided while upwind of runway 12, according to preliminary information from the National Transportation Safety Board.
“The Cessna landed uneventfully; the Lancair impacted terrain near runway 3 and a post-impact fire ensued,” according to the NTSB.
The planes collided around 8:30 a.m. local time.
The FAA and NTSB will investigate, and NTSB investigators are on their way to the scene with two more on the way, officials said.
The Marana Regional Airport is an uncontrolled field — it does not have an operating ATC control tower. Pilots utilize a Common Traffic Advisory Frequency to announce their position to other aircrafts. The pilot in command is responsible for maintaining a safe distance from other aircrafts.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
Deb Cohn-Orbach/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images
(NEW YORK) — The U.S. Department of Transportation said the Federal Highway Administration has “terminated approval” of New York City’s congestion pricing plan, the first of its kind in the nation, which went into effect earlier this year.
The DOT shared a letter from Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy to New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, in which he said a review found that the “scope of this pilot project as approved exceeds the authority authorized by Congress” under the Federal Highway Administration’s Value Pricing Pilot Program.
“New York State’s congestion pricing plan is a slap in the face to working class Americans and small business owners,” Duffy said in a statement on Wednesday. “Commuters using the highway system to enter New York City have already financed the construction and improvement of these highways through the payment of gas taxes and other taxes. But now the toll program leaves drivers without any free highway alternative, and instead, takes more money from working people to pay for a transit system and not highways. It’s backwards and unfair.”
In response to the letter, a New York state official said that whatever the Trump administration intends, the state will fight in court to preserve congestion pricing.
The congestion pricing plan, which launched on Jan. 5, newly charged passenger vehicles $9 to access Manhattan below 60th Street during peak hours as part of an effort to ease congestion and raise funds for the city’s public transit system. During peak hours, small trucks and charter buses were charged $14.40 and large trucks and tour buses $21.60.
On Donald Trump’s first day in office, New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy asked the president and his administration to “reexamine” the highly debated congestion pricing plan and its impact on the Garden State.
In a letter to Trump, Murphy requested that “New York’s congestion pricing scheme receive the close look it deserved but did not receive from the federal government last year.”
In his letter to Hochul, Duffy noted that Trump asked him to review the Federal Highway Administration’s approval of the congestion pricing program upon assuming his position as secretary last month.
“In particular, the President expressed his concerns about the extent of the tolling that was approved by the Department of Transportation on highways that have been constructed with funds under the Federal-aid Highway Program and the significant burdens on the New York City residents, businesses, and area commuters (including those from New Jersey and Connecticut) who regularly use the highway network in the CBD tolling area,” Duffy said.
Duffy also mentioned Murphy’s letter to Trump, in which the governor “expressed significant concerns about the impacts that the imposition of tolls” on New Jersey commuters and residents.
The secretary also said there are pending legal challenges over the plan “which question whether the scope of the project exceeds the authority of VPPP.”
Duffy said the Federal Highway Administration will contact the New York State Department of Transportation “to discuss the orderly cessation of toll operations under this terminated pilot project.”
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which manages the city’s subways as well as bridges and commuter rails, has said the toll would enable it to issue $15 billion in bonds to help fund capital projects.
In response to Murphy’s letter to Trump, Hochul told reporters that if the congestion pricing plan is ultimately killed, “that comes with $15 billion more” the federal government will need to give to New York.
(NEW YORK) — The nation’s largest LGBTQ advocacy organization is urging New York prosecutors to pursue hate crime charges against five suspects arrested in what authorities described as a prolonged “torture” killing of a transgender man.
The group, GLAAD, issued a statement calling on Ontario County District Attorney James Riffs to consider hate crime charges in the homicide of Sam Nordquist, whose body was found in a field in Benton, New York, in Yates County last week.
Riffs said the five suspects in Norquist’s killing were arrested on suspicion of second-degree murder under the state’s depraved indifference statute.
In a statement to ABC News on Wednesday morning, Ritts’ office said that prosecutors filed a certification with the Hopewell Town Court “indicating that the Grand Jury of the County of Ontario voted at least one felony charge against all 5 defendants charged in connection with the death of Sam Nordquist.”
The suspects arrested in the case were identified by New York State Police as Precious Arzuaga, 38, of Canandaigua, New York; Jennifer “Brooklyn” Quijano, 30, of Geneva, New York; Kyle Sage, 33, of Rochester, New York; Patrick Goodwin, 30, also of Canandaigua; and Emily Motyka, 19, of Lima, New York.
The statement from Ritts’ office says the felony charge in the indictment against the suspects will be disclosed once it is filed in Ontario County Court.
“As this is an ongoing investigation and law prohibits us from disclosing any additional information at this time. This is the only update we can provide today,” according to the statement.
A criminal complaint filed in the case alleged that the suspects sexually assaulted Nordquist with a “table leg and broomstick.” The complaint further alleges that the suspects subjected Nordquist to “prolonged beatings by punching, kicking and striking [Nordquist] with numerous objects, including but not limited to sticks, dog toys, rope, bottles, belts, canes and wooden boards.”
According to the complaint, the torture allegedly took place in room 22 at Patty’s Lodge in Hopewell, New York, in Ontario County between Jan. 1 and Feb. 2.
In a joint statement released on Sunday, the state police and Ritts addressed whether investigators are pursuing hate crime charges against the suspects.
“At this time we have no indication that Sam’s murder was a hate crime,” the joint statement reads. “To help alleviate the understandable concern his murder could be a hate crime, we are disclosing that Sam and his assailants were known to each other, identified as LGBTQ+, and at least one of the defendants lived with Sam in the time period leading up to the instant offense.”
Authorities said they released the information after getting “multiple inquiries from across our community, New York State and the entire nation.”
In the statement, officials noted that under the New York State penal code, a hate crime is defined as an offense committed “in whole or in substantial part because of a belief or perception regarding the race, color, national origin, ancestry, gender, gender identity or expression, religion, religious practice, age, disability or sexual orientation of a person regardless of whether the belief or perception is correct.”
In response, GLAAD released a statement Tuesday, saying, “While we are encouraged to see law enforcement act swiftly to investigate this horrific act, we caution investigators from ruling out hate crime charges.”
“Anti-LGBTQ hate can be perpetuated by anyone, regardless of their relationship to the victim or their own gender identity or sexual orientation,” GLAAD said.
Sarah Kate Ellis, president and CEO of GLAAD, added, “Our hearts are broken over the loss of Sam Nordquist.”
“Sam was more than just a statistic — he was a son, a brother, a friend, and and bright light in the lives of those who knew him,” Ellis said in a statement. “His life was stolen from him after enduring unspeakable cruelty. We stand in solidarity with Sam’s family, friends, and community as they demand justice. We refuse to let Sam’s story fade into silence. We demand accountability, we demand justice, and we demand a world where transgender people are safe, respected, and able to live freely.”
Nordquist’s family filed a missing person report with the New York State Police on Feb. 9, after last hearing from Nordquist on Jan. 1, according to a missing-person flyer issued by the Missing People in America organization.
According to the flyer, Nordquist’s family said he left Minnesota on Sept. 28, 2024, with a round-trip plane ticket to New York. The family, according to the flyer, alleged that Nordquist met a woman online who convinced him to visit her.
The family claimed Nordquist was planning to fly back to Minnesota within two weeks, but never boarded his return flight.
“I don’t understand why someone would do that to another person,” Kayla Nordquist, Sam’s sister, told Saint Paul, Minnesota, ABC affiliate KSTP-TV. “Sam was amazing and would give the shirt off his back to anyone.”
When asked at a news conference on Friday about the missing-person flyer, Capt. Kelly Swift, a New York State Police investigator, declined to comment.
Swift would not disclose details of the abuse, saying the investigation is in its early stages. However, she said, Nordquist was “subjected to repeated acts of violence and torture in a manner that ultimately led to his death.”
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said in a statement Sunday that she had directed the State Police to provide any support and resources to Ritts’ office “as they continue their investigation, including into whether this was a hate crime.” The statement further said that Hochul had directed the New York State Division of Human Rights Hate and Bias Prevention Unit to offer assistance and support “to all community members affected by this terrible act of violence,” adding, “There must be justice for Sam Nordquist.”
Hochul also said that she had instructed the New York State Office of Victim Services to offer support to Nordquist’s family.
“The charges against these individuals are sickening and all New Yorkers should join together to condemn this horrific act,” Hochul said in the statement. “We are praying for Sam Nordquist’s family, community and loved ones who are experiencing unimaginable grief.”
New York Attorney General Letitia James also said in a statement, “This is beyond horrifying, and those responsible for this terrible act must be held accountable.”
(MIAMI) — A Florida man has been arrested and charged for shooting 17 times at two men who he mistakenly thought were Palestinian. The victims were actually tourists from Israel, according to police.
Mordechai Brafman, 27, has been charged with two counts of second degree attempted murder, according to state records. The Miami State Attorney’s Office Hate Crimes unit is reviewing the case to see if it meets that statutory requirements for a penalty enhancement.
Florida does not have a hate crime offense, but charges can be enhanced which increases the seriousness of the penalty for a crime if a defendant is convicted, according to the attorney’s office.
Brafman is accused of stopping his truck in a parallel lane, directly in front of the victim’s vehicle before exiting his vehicle on Saturday. As the victims drove past him, Brafman allegedly shot at the vehicle 17 times, “unprovoked,” striking both victims, according to an arrest affidavit.
While in custody, Brafman allegedly said that he saw two Palestinians while driving his truck and he shot and killed both, according to a police report.
One victim sustained a gunshot wound to the left shoulder while the second victim sustained a graze wound to the left forearm, according to the affidavit.
The victims and the defendant do not know each other, according to the affidavit.
Brafman is being held in jail without bond. He is scheduled to be arraigned on March 10.
(NEW YORK) — At least 10 states from Louisiana to Delaware are under snow and ice alerts as this latest winter storm moves east.
On Tuesday, the storm brought 11 inches of snow to Missouri, 8 inches to Kansas and more than 2 inches to Oklahoma.
Freezing rain and sleet fell in Oklahoma and Arkansas, leaving roads extremely dangerous.
On Wednesday morning, the snow fell from Tupelo, Mississippi, to Nashville, Tennessee, to Lexington, Kentucky. Schools in Nashville are closed on Wednesday.
In Kentucky, where the death toll has risen to 14 from severe flooding that struck earlier in the week, this new storm is dropping 2 to 8 inches of snow.
In eastern Kentucky, some officials are unable to get equipment on the roads to clear the snow, Gov. Andy Beshear said Wednesday.
Further south, heavy rain was reported in New Orleans Wednesday morning.
By Wednesday afternoon, the snow is forecast to move into the Carolinas, Virginia, Maryland and Delaware.
The heaviest snow — 5 to 10 inches — will be from just northeast of Raleigh, North Carolina, to Norfolk, Virginia, and Ocean City, Maryland.
South of Raleigh and into South Carolina, an icy mix is possible.
This storm will end by Wednesday night.
But behind the storm is an Arctic blast.
Many cities recorded record low temperatures Wednesday morning, including: negative 25 degrees in Rapid City, South Dakota; negative 15 degrees in Billings, Montana; 1 degree in Wichita, Kansas; and2 degrees in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
The wind chill — what temperature it feels like — is even colder, clocking in at minus 1 degree in Dallas; minus 16 degrees in Oklahoma City; minus 18 degrees in Wichita; and minus 25 degrees in Minneapolis.
The record cold temperatures will spread further south into the Gulf Coast on Thursday and Friday, with record lows possible in Dallas; Corpus Christi, Texas; Birmingham, Alabama; and Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
It will warm up this weekend, and by next week, temperatures will climb to the 60s and 70s in the South.
A Georgia woman is suing a fertility clinic after an in vitro fertilization (IVF) mix-up allegedly led to staff implanting the wrong embryo and to her giving birth to another couple’s biological child.
Krystena Murray, 38, of Savannah, said she selected a sperm donor who looked like her “with dirty blonde hair and blue eyes.” She became pregnant and delivered a baby in December 2023, according to the lawsuit.
However, Murray, who is white and who, according to the complaint, had a white sperm donor, was shocked when she gave birth and the baby boy she delivered was African American, the suit states.
Murray bonded with the baby and wanted to keep him, despite knowing that the clinic, Coastal Fertility Specialists (CFS), had likely implanted somebody else’s embryo, according to the lawsuit.
She requested a DNA test which confirmed her fears that the baby was not genetically related to her. When Murray contacted the clinic, staff alerted the baby’s biological parents of the mix-up, according to the lawsuit.
The other couple sued Murray for custody, and she turned over the baby five months after giving birth. She said she has not seen him since.
“I questioned at first whether I was meant to be a mom, because I had tried for so long,” she told ABC News. “This is something that actually happens, and it’s devastating, and it can ruin someone’s life, and realize that it is an actual possibility.”
A lawsuit was filed on Tuesday afternoon in the State Court of Chatham County, in Georgia.
Murray said she had dreamed of being a mother. When she was asked at a young age what she wanted to be, her response was: a mom.
“They were actually referring to career but, my young mind, that’s what I wanted to do with my life was to be a mom,” she said. “I spent the majority of my younger years thinking I needed to have the perfect person or spouse to start a family and, once I started getting older, I realized that my priorities changed, and I wanted to pursue being a mother sooner rather than later.”
For about 18 months prior to contacting CFS, she said she attempted intrauterine insemination without success. During a press conference on Tuesday, Murray said she contacted CFS, which operates clinics in Georgia and South Carolina, in either late 2022 or early 2023.
Over several months, Murray said she attended many appointments that included follow-up exams and blood tests. She also underwent daily injections over a two-week period to stimulate the ovaries to increase egg production, the lawsuit states.
Murray went through one egg retrieval surgery and became pregnant during her second transfer in May 2023, she said. She gave birth in late December 2023.
“So, the first time I saw my son, like any mom, he was beautiful and literally the best thing I’ve ever seen, but it was also immediately apparent that he was African American,” Murray said during the press conference. “I would like to say my first thought is, ‘He’s beautiful.’ My second thought was, ‘What happened? Did they mess up the embryo, or did they mess up the sperm? And if they messed up the embryo, can someone take my son?’ That was all within the course of the first 10 or 15 seconds of me seeing him.”
Murray said she loved the baby and bonded with him, breastfeeding him and taking him to doctors’ appointments, but she knew the clinic had made a mistake somehow.
She purchased an at-home DNA test and received results in late January 2024, confirming the baby was not genetically related to her, according to the lawsuit.
Murray’s attorneys reached out to CFS in February 2024 to share Murray’s fears, the lawsuit states. In March 2024, the clinic realized its mistake and reached out to the biological parents to let them know their embryo had been transferred into Murray, according to the lawsuit.
The biological parents sued Murray for custody of the child. Another DNA test confirmed the baby was genetically related to them, the lawsuit states.
Murray said she wanted to keep the baby and hired a family law attorney but, after a “tremendous amount of money and time,” they told her that she would likely lose her case.
During a family court hearing in May 2024, Murray said she voluntarily turned the baby over to the other couple, marking the last time she saw him.
Murray said surrendering him over to his biological parents was “the hardest day of my life.”
“I think about him every single day. There’s not a day that I don’t wonder what he’s doing,” she told ABC News. “I raised him for five months, but I didn’t get to see his first steps. I don’t know what his first words are. I don’t know, what milestones he’s hitting.”
“I’m not privy to what type of person he’s becoming or how he’s growing and developing, and it is very hard, and I do think of him every single day and wonder how he is,” she added.
According to her lawsuit, Murray said she doesn’t know what happened to her own embryo, whether it was also mistakenly transferred to another couple or resulted in a pregnancy.
Murray said the process made her question motherhood, but she said she is currently getting treatment at another clinic and hopes she can become a mother soon.
Her lawsuit against CFS and some of its staff was filed by the law firm Peiffer Wolf Carr Kane Conway & Wise for negligence, gross negligence, bailment, breach of fiduciary duty, fraudulent concealment, battery, lack of informed consent, violations of the Georgia Fair Business Practices Act and violations of the South Carolina Unfair Trade Practices Act.
The attorneys are seeking a judgment in excess of $75,000 as well as punitive damages, recovered attorney fees, recovered treble damages and all other costs. CFS did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment.
Murray’s attorney, Adam Wolf, said he has represented more than 1,000 people against fertility clinics due to errors that allegedly occurred during their treatments. He described Murray’s experience as a patient’s “wildest fear.”
“Having done this work for 13 years now, when you go into a fertility clinic, there’s a risk that they might not get as many eggs as you had hoped, or create as many embryos as you wanted,” he told ABC News. “You might come out of that process without having any embryos. But what you never think in your wildest fear is that your fertility clinic is going to transfer to you an embryo that belongs to somebody else. That is beyond the pale, and it should never happen at a fertility clinic.”
He said he hopes this leads CFS to change its processes and procedures so a mistake like this doesn’t happen again and that more safeguards are put in place across the fertility industry nationwide.
Murray said she hopes to bring more awareness by sharing her story and to let other patients going through something similar know they are not alone.
“You’re not alone and use your voice. Don’t be silenced,” she said. “I feel like if we don’t come forward and we don’t speak our truth and we don’t share our experiences, then there will never be change, and this will just be a repetitive cycle. And use your voice, if not for you, because we can’t change the situation that we’re in, then do it for someone else.”
The family of a passenger who died in the midair collision near Washington, D.C., filed legal claims against the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the United States Army, seeking $250 million in compensation for each claim.
The filings are likely the beginning of a lengthy legal battle stemming from the deadliest aviation incident in the U.S. over the last quarter century, killing all 64 aboard the American Airlines passenger jet and three servicemembers in the Blackhawk helicopter on Jan. 29.
“This was a disaster waiting to happen, and it just so happened that particular night. Everything came together to create this preventable tragedy,” said Robert Clifford, a lawyer representing the family of Casey Crafton. “We want to get to the bottom of it, and this gets us going.”
Crafton was on board the American Airlines regional jet returning from a business trip to his home in Salem, Connecticut, where he lived with his wife, Rachel, and his three young sons. Crafton worked as a technical support manager for an aviation consulting firm after studying aviation management at Bob Jones University.
“Casey was an incredible human being. He was a giver. He was a loving husband and father. He enjoyed coaching his boys on their youth soccer and little league baseball teams. They will be grieving him for the rest of their lives that will never be the same,” Clifford said.
Clifford Law Offices filed two forms yesterday required under the Federal Tort Claims Act to bring claims against both the FAA and Army, seeking $250 million for each claim. Each claim was filed on behalf of Rachel Crafton, Casey’s wife.
Clifford described the $250 million number as a ceiling for the claim made “out of an abundance of caution.”
“You can always go down, you cannot go up. And if you look at, you know, wrongful death claims across the country, it’s not unheard of to have a number that high,” he told ABC News. “You’re talking about a father of three children and a loving wife. It’s a substantial claim.”
The firm has not filed claims against American Airlines, PSA Airlines, Sikorsky Aircraft or Collins Aerospace — though it sent preservation letters to each — as they await more information about the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigation, according to the firm’s press release.
Separately, Clifford Law said it has begun an “investigation into potential claims of willful neglect” by airlines operating in the airspace near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, where the crash occurred.
The NTSB — which is leading the investigation– has not yet identified a cause for the collision.
Clifford, who described the incident as “preventable,” alleged that the airlines that fly in and out of Washington, D.C., failed to take “sufficient precautions to protect its passengers.”
With the pre-case claim against the FAA and Army filed, each entity has six months to respond; after six months without a response or if the claims are rejected, Clifford Law could file lawsuits in federal court.
An FAA spokesperson declined to comment on potential litigation.
(WASHINGTON) — A judge on Tuesday will consider whether to temporarily block the Trump administration from carrying out mass layoffs across the federal government, in one of several lawsuits challenging Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency’s large-scale effort to slash the federal workforce.
The lawsuit, filed last week by a coalition of five federal workers’ unions, alleges that the Trump administration’s ongoing effort to fire massive numbers of federal employees across multiple agencies — including its recent deferred resignation offer to more than 2 million federal employees — violates Congress’ power to establish a federal workforce, as well as federal procedures that dictate how the workforce should be reduced.
“The Executive Branch acting as the ‘woodchipper for bureaucracy’ conflicts with Congress’s role as the creator, funder, and mission setter for the executive branch agencies,” the lawsuit said.
The unions, which represent hundreds of thousands of employees across dozens of federal agencies and departments, are seeking a temporary restraining order against the Trump administration, claiming that the mass reduction of the federal work force will lead to a “critical” loss of revenues for unions as well as their influence at the bargaining table.
The National Treasury Employees Union, the unions claimed, stands to lose “as much as half of its dues revenue and around half of the workers that it represents.”
Lawyers with the Department of Justice have pushed back against the allegations, arguing that an order blocking the changes would “interfere with the President’s ability to manage, shape, and streamline the federal workforce to more closely reflect policy preferences and the needs of the American public.”
“[T]he President is charged with directing the Executive Branch workforce, and he has determined that the politically accountable heads of his agencies should take steps to streamline and modernize the workforce through measures including voluntary deferred resignations, removal of certain probationary employees, and RIFs [reductions in force],” the Justice Department wrote in a court filing.
The government also claimed that President Donald Trump’s executive action ordering the reductions is “consistent with applicable law,” and dismissed the unions’ concerns over their potential loss of revenues and bargaining power as “speculative.”
Since Trump returned to the White House, Musk, named by Trump as the head of DOGE, has been spearheading efforts to reduce the size of government, slash thousands of federal contracts, cut programs deemed to be wasteful, and root out fraud.
After ending its deferred resignation offer last week amid court battles challenging the program, the Trump administration has begun layoffs by targeting mostly probationary employees — recent hires who joined the federal workforce within the last one to two years, depending on the agency, and have fewer protections.
This initial round of layoffs could impact more than 200,000 workers hired by the federal government within the last two years, according to data from the Office of Personnel Management.
This video — which was given to investigators, who are now reviewing it — shows the plane reach the ground, erupt in flames, bounce on the runway and then overturn.
The aircraft came to a stop upside-down on the snow covered Toronto runway.
The 76 passengers and four crew evacuated the plane, which originated in Minneapolis.
Everyone survived, but at least 21 people were taken to hospitals. As of Tuesday morning, 19 have been released, according to Delta.
The Transportation Safety Board of Canada is leading the investigation. Investigators from the FAA and National Transportation Safety Board are assisting.
The CRJ 900 aircraft was operated by Endeavor Air.
“Our most pressing priority remains taking care of all customers and Endeavor crew members who were involved,” Delta CEO Ed Bastian said. “We’ll do everything we can to support them and their families in the days ahead, and I know the hearts, thoughts and prayers of the entire Delta community are with them. We are grateful for all the first responders and medical teams who have been caring for them.”
(WASHINGTON) — While President Donald Trump’s comments about wanting to “clean out” Gaza and forcibly displace its nearly 2 million Palestinians have stirred outrage and accusations of ethnic cleansing among U.S. allies and international law experts, some members of the Arab American community still believe he was a better choice than Vice President Kamala Harris.
“I don’t regret having supported the president. He promised us an end to the war, and he was able to get a ceasefire for us in Gaza, and for that we are grateful. Imagine how many hundreds of Palestinians we’ve been able to save because of the ceasefire,” Bishara Bahbah, the chairman for Arab Americans for Peace told ABC News.
The Biden-Harris administration faced criticism from the Arab American community due to its perceived unconditional support for Israel in its war on Gaza. More than 48,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the war began after Hamas’ surprise attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killed 1,200 people and hundreds more were taken captive.
“President Biden was asleep at the wheel, ignoring our our pleas with him. So we decided to tell President Biden that because you have ignored us, we are going to punish you at the polls, and that’s one of the major reasons why we decided to establish Arab Americans for Trump,” Bahbah said.
Many prominent Arab-American advocacy groups and community leaders threw their support behind Trump or Green Party candidate Jill Stein due to the Biden administration’s stance on Gaza.
“For many people, this was very painful. This was not an easy choice, because they were looking at what was going on in Gaza, it was very hard for them to support President Biden,” and later Vice President Harris, James Zoghby, the cofounder of the Arab American Institute, a political and policy organization that did not support Trump, told ABC News.
Now, with Trump proposing the forcible displacement of Palestinians, and attempting to pressure Egypt and Jordan to take in Palestinians from Gaza — by threatening to cut billions in aid — some groups have maintained their support of Trump and are waiting to see what actions he takes and are maintaining their opposition to Harris and Biden.
“These were grotesque comments. They’re unacceptable comments, they’re absolutely horrific comments. But you know, at the end of the day, when you put them on a scale, they’re comments. It’s rhetoric, and I don’t feel it is appropriate, nor is it honest to sit here and conflate it with the actions of the Biden-Harris administration, or to try and use that rhetoric to use it as a ‘gotcha’ moment to people who voted against the Biden-Harris administration,” Hudhayfah Ahmad, the head of media for the Abandon Harris campaign, told ABC News.
The Abandon Harris campaign, which started as the Abandon Biden campaign, gave both Democratic Party candidates an ultimatum, asking for them to call for an unconditional ceasefire or lose the group’s support. Biden and Harris did not meet the deadline set by the group to call for a ceasefire, according to Ahmad.
The Trump campaign was able to garner support from the Muslim American community largely in the last four weeks before the election by making public calls for a ceasefire and vowing to make it happen, Ahmad said.
“There was never really any support before that,” Ahmad said.
“A considerable chunk of people who had previously committed to voting third party, said that I’m going to vote the Trump-Vance ticket at the top of the ticket, and I’ll vote Green Party down ballot. I heard this from multiple people in multiple swing states,” Ahmad said.
But some community leaders felt that despite the actions of the Biden Administration in Gaza, Trump would be worse.
“I was very much opposed to the hucksters who were trying to sell Jill Stein and to the folks who supported Donald Trump. It was a really not just a bad call, it was a dangerous call. And I felt that despite the insult, despite the hurt, we had a responsibility to think big. [Biden and Harris] were at fault for making our job more difficult,” Zoghby said.
“The pain that we knew would occur if Donald Trump got back into the White House was too great to too many people,” Zoghby said. “Even though [Biden and Harris] didn’t give us what we needed, we still had to recognize that letting Donald Trump back into the White House was was going to be a disaster.”
Arab Americans for Peace — an advocacy group formerly called Arab Americans for Trump — changed its name this month after hearing some of Trump’s rhetoric surrounding the displacement of Palestinians, but a leader told ABC News they have not yet withdrawn their support for Trump.
“Our objective from the very beginning for supporting Trump was peace. We were telling the Biden administration continuously to stop its aid to the Israelis because the Israelis are committing genocide with the arms that are provided by the United States and Western Europe,” Bahbah said.
“The change of the name does not mean that we are withdrawing our support for President Trump. It just means that we are going back to the root cause of our very existence, which is the promotion of peace in the Middle East,” Bahbah said.
Even community leaders who did not support Trump as a candidate argued that he secured a ceasefire.
“Trump did this ceasefire solely for his own self interest and self image and self benefit. Nothing humanitarian about it at all,” Ahmad said.
“It’s hard to say that anyone feels regret [for supporting Trump] when you take into consideration that we are no longer seeing a daily influx of videos and pictures of children, men, women, elderly, being butchered with U.S. weaponry. That has stopped completely,” Ahmad said.
Despite some holding onto support for Trump, his comments on forcibly displacing Palestinians drew sharp criticism from Arab Americans.
“We are totally opposed to the idea of displacing Palestinians out of Gaza. Gaza belongs to the Palestinians, and it is not for anyone in the world to tell the Palestinians to leave that territory,” Bahbah said.
“Like my father, Palestinians are prepared to die on their homeland. And will not immigrate or be forced out of their homeland,” Bahbah said.
“There’s time to wait and see how things will evolve before I can say ‘I am really angry with the president, and I no longer supporting him.’ That is not the case right now, because it’s just the beginning of that process. But I also believe that the coming four years are going to be critical for the Israel-Arab conflict,” Bahbah said.
He said Arab Americans for Peace decided to support Trump because he promised to end the war in Gaza and ensure lasting peace in the Middle East.
He believes Trump’s pressure on Netanyahu stopped the war in Gaza.
But Bahbah said he believes Trump’s recent comments on Gaza are providing Israel cover to “destroy” the West Bank, drawing attention away from what is happening there.
Other leaders in the Arab community strongly disagreed with Trump’s comments on Gaza, and are skeptical of the motivations behind Trump’s comments on wanting to forcibly displace Palestinians.
“I think the purpose is to provide Netanyahu the cover to end this ceasefire after phase one and secure the hostages and go no further. Because I don’t think Trump is interested at all in seeing this through on the terms that were negotiated — which ultimately requires a full Israeli withdrawal and the reconstruction,” Zoghby said.
Netanyahu has faced criticism for not laying out a plan for what happens in Gaza after the war is over. The ceasefire agreement requires a complete withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza, but remains unclear if the ceasefire will reach its final stages.
“I could get as indignant as everybody else about [Trump’s comments] and it being illegal, but there’s so much in that involves Israel’s behavior toward Palestinians — and the U.S.’s enablement of Israel doing it — that is illegal, immoral,” Zoghby said.
Now they are awaiting on Trump to deliver lasting peace, Bahbah said.
“We continue to insist and be a voice of reason, telling the president what we want as an Arab American community, and that is lasting peace in the Middle East based on a two state solution, keeping in mind that what brought us to this point is the Biden-Harris administration by allowing Israel to literally destroy the Gaza Strip,” Bahbah said.
But support for Trump is conditional on what actions he takes, some activists say.
“We are not beholden to anybody or to any party. We will support whomever we think will end the wars and provide a permanent resolution to the Arab Israeli conflict and peace in the Middle East,” Bahbah said.
The group Abandon Harris plans to throw its support behind third-party candidates in the future, Ahmad said.
“Our movement is solely structured behind morals, values, principles — not parties, not individuals, not candidates,” Ahmad said.
